Noctua vs Arctic

jsbombjack · 27 Jul 2020 at 13:29

Most times on this forum there seems to be a push for the Arctic P12 fans vs any other.

Here's a comparison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwftVMGPOiI

alec · 27 Jul 2020 at 14:36

before watching: noctua best, arctic almost as good but cheaper

close enough?

Edit: yep. Except arctic was actually just as good, with minor weird motor noise issue at some rpms

M1k3H · 27 Jul 2020 at 15:05

I just received the P14s today to replace some (very old) Noctua 120mm fans that I had re-used from my old system.

I can't comment on noise comparison as these are 140mm vs 120mm, but on build quality the Noctua fans are so much better. From the vibration pads to wiring sleeves, it looks like a well engineered product. Looking at the fans compared, if installing on a case/radiator I would go for whichever of the two, however if installing on a cooler I'd go for the Noctua as it has anti-vibration padding. Fans on CPU coolers are loosely installed, so there can be some vibration noise where those pads would be useful, but for case mounting where the fans are rigidly attached, not so much.

I have also had exemplary customer service from Noctua (once in 2009 when I struggled to install my cooler, and once last month, when I ordered an AM4 mounting kit for the same cooler I got back in 2009!), so would rather spend my money on them, however on this occasion went for the Arctic's due to availability.

Ross Thomson · 27 Jul 2020 at 15:18

can you tel

M1k3H said:
I just received the P14s today to replace some (very old) Noctua 120mm fans that I had re-used from my old system.

I can't comment on noise comparison as these are 140mm vs 120mm, but on build quality the Noctua fans are so much better. From the vibration pads to wiring sleeves, it looks like a well engineered product. Looking at the fans compared, if installing on a case/radiator I would go for whichever of the two, however if installing on a cooler I'd go for the Noctua as it has anti-vibration padding. Fans on CPU coolers are loosely installed, so there can be some vibration noise where those pads would be useful, but for case mounting where the fans are rigidly attached, not so much.

I have also had exemplary customer service from Noctua (once in 2009 when I struggled to install my cooler, and once last month, when I ordered an AM4 mounting kit for the same cooler I got back in 2009!), so would rather spend my money on them, however on this occasion went for the Arctic's due to availability.

TBH I can't tell the quality of the fan given they are on radiators. Don't need the vibration pads either (have tried them on air coolers too). If someone wants to spend 20-30 on a fan because it "feels" better that is obviously up to them.

M1k3H · 27 Jul 2020 at 15:30

Ross Thomson said:
TBH I can't tell the quality of the fan given they are on radiators. Don't need the vibration pads either (have tried them on air coolers too). If someone wants to spend 20-30 on a fan because it "feels" better that is obviously up to them.

I use a fan without vibration pads for my CPU cooler and have the anti-vibration 'strips' for that and it's fine. I won't install a second fan as when I tried it I sometimes got an audible noise from the vibration contact to the cooler. So, if I were buying another fan for my CPU cooler, I'd get one with vibration pads.

You don't have to spend £30.... you can get Noctua fans for £14, which is still double the amount of the Arctic one, but like I said, depends on application. Note that the reviewer pointed out that the Noctua had no motor noise, whereas the Arctic did at 1,000RPM.

Unseul · 27 Jul 2020 at 15:34

M1k3H said:
I use a fan without vibration pads for my CPU cooler and have the anti-vibration 'strips' for that and it's fine. I won't install a second fan as when I tried it I sometimes got an audible noise from the vibration contact to the cooler. So, if I were buying another fan for my CPU cooler, I'd get one with vibration pads.

You don't have to spend £30.... you can get Noctua fans for £14, which is still double the amount of the Arctic one, but like I said, depends on application. Note that the reviewer pointed out that the Noctua had no motor noise, whereas the Arctic did at 1,000RPM.

It was only at 1000 rpm though, higher or lower and it went away, easily enough avoided on a setup.

M1k3H · 27 Jul 2020 at 15:46

Unseul said:
It was only at 1000 rpm though, higher or lower and it went away, easily enough avoided on a setup.

I know, like I said I bought these fans! For the price they are extremely good.

Armageus · 27 Jul 2020 at 15:56

M1k3H said:
You don't have to spend £30.... you can get Noctua fans for £14, which is still double the amount of the Arctic one

While you can get a Noctua for £14, they (Noctua Redux) don't come with the anti-vibration mounts, Low Noise Adapters and other parts that make it feel like a "premium" product.

The Noctua NF-A12x25 in the above youtube video is £30 vs a £6 Arctic P12 PWM PST ...

The Arctic's have a 10 year warranty vs 6 for the Noctua.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Arctic Cooling P12 PWM PST Black Fan - 120mm= £5.95
1 x Noctua NF-P12 Redux 1700rpm PWM Fan - 120mm= £12.95
1 x Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Fan - 120mm= £29.99

Total: £57.59 (includes shipping: £8.70)

M1k3H · 27 Jul 2020 at 16:53

Armageus said:
While you can get a Noctua for £14, they (Noctua Redux) don't come with the anti-vibration mounts, Low Noise Adapters and other parts that make it feel like a "premium" product.

The Noctua NF-A12x25 in the above youtube video is £30 vs a £6 Arctic P12 PWM PST ...

The Arctic's have a 10 year warranty vs 6 for the Noctua.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Arctic Cooling P12 PWM PST Black Fan - 120mm= £5.95

1 x Noctua NF-P12 Redux 1700rpm PWM Fan - 120mm= £12.95

1 x Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Fan - 120mm= £29.99

Total: £57.59 (includes shipping: £8.70)

Fair enough on the price, didn't spot the lack of vibration mounts.

The Noctua's have a rated MTBF of 150,000hours, whereas the Arctic's don't quote one. 150,000 hours is running them continuously for 17 years!

I will repeat again, cause people seem to have missed the point and think I'm dissing the Arcticts:

- The P14s are great fans for their price point.
- The Noctua's are the best fans, albeit more expensive.
- Depending on application I would buy either (and I have).
- The Noctua's have better build quality overall, and from my own experience exemplary customer service, which to me, coupled with the slight performance advantage, justifies the price.

ttaskmaster · 27 Jul 2020 at 18:30

Any reason why he's matching noise levels, rather than rpm to measure performance?

Unseul · 27 Jul 2020 at 18:37

ttaskmaster said:
Any reason why he's matching noise levels, rather than rpm to measure performance?

I would guess that a lot of people will prefer to find a volume that they're happy to use, rather than an RPM. Only skipped through the results, but did they do a max RPM test, just to see what could cool the most, for those with headphones etc.

Ross Thomson · 27 Jul 2020 at 18:56

ttaskmaster said:
Any reason why he's matching noise levels, rather than rpm to measure performance?

noise is a major factor for people.

tamzzy · 27 Jul 2020 at 19:24

The latest and greatest
v
The grand-daddy
v
The value champ

Nice to see the gentle typhoons holding up after ~10 years
and damn. the Arctic P12 ain't shabby either!

EsaT · 27 Jul 2020 at 19:27

M1k3H said:
From the vibration pads to wiring sleeves, it looks like a well engineered product. Looking at the fans compared, if installing on a case/radiator I would go for whichever of the two, however if installing on a cooler I'd go for the Noctua as it has anti-vibration padding. Fans on CPU coolers are loosely installed, so there can be some vibration noise where those pads would be useful, but for case mounting where the fans are rigidly attached, not so much.

Good fans don't vibrate much.
Something Noctua didn't master while focusing on marketing instead of actual product engineering.
I've had both NF-P12 and NF-F12 come with heatsinks and in vibration those are absolutely the way worst fans I've touched in 20 years PC has had fans.
At least NF-P12 has OK good noise profile, but NF-F12's marketing geometry gives it restless noise profile with sharp spikes in it.

And you're completely wrong about case and fan vibration.
If you care about noise, vibrating fans are the worst thing to add into case:
Case is made of really big thin metal sheets, which lack rigidity to resist vibration and start acting as loudspeaker diaphgram when exposed to vibration.
That vibration amplified by case has always been the biggest noise source in mechanical HDDs.
Hence soft HDD mounting is all above budget level cases in last dozen+ years.
And fan isn't any different if it's badly vibrating.
(maybe Noctua finally copied also motor besides main blade geometry from Gentle Typhoon)

ttaskmaster said:
Any reason why he's matching noise levels, rather than rpm to measure performance?

If noise isn't concern, you shouldn't be looking at Noctuas at all but Deltas.

tamzzy · 27 Jul 2020 at 19:27

M1k3H said:
- The Noctua's have better build quality overall, and from my own experience exemplary customer service, which to me, coupled with the slight performance advantage, justifies the price.

not sure if true. the NF P12 is terrible in comparison to the newer (and cheaper) fans

M1k3H · 27 Jul 2020 at 20:37

EsaT said:
Good fans don't vibrate much.
Something Noctua didn't master while focusing on marketing instead of actual product engineering.
I've had both NF-P12 and NF-F12 come with heatsinks and in vibration those are absolutely the way worst fans I've touched in 20 years PC has had fans.
At least NF-P12 has OK good noise profile, but NF-F12's marketing geometry gives it restless noise profile with sharp spikes in it.

And you're completely wrong about case and fan vibration.
If you care about noise, vibrating fans are the worst thing to add into case:
Case is made of really big thin metal sheets, which lack rigidity to resist vibration and start acting as loudspeaker diaphgram when exposed to vibration.
That vibration amplified by case has always been the biggest noise source in mechanical HDDs.
Hence soft HDD mounting is all above budget level cases in last dozen+ years.
And fan isn't any different if it's badly vibrating.
(maybe Noctua finally copied also motor besides main blade geometry from Gentle Typhoon)

From my experience, my Noctuas have been the best fans I ever owned, along with the Akasa Apache. I would also say, that Noctuas seem to be some of the best engineered fans/cpu coolers I've ever seen.

Never had any issues, and still have them after 11 years. Retired them as my new case can take 140mm fans, which, as expected can push more air, so opted for 140mm fans.

In terms of vibration, I said the same. Rigidly attached fans have more tendency to resist vibration, whilst loosely attached fans no so much, hence saying for cpu coolers, I would opt for something with vibration mounts.

PhoenixUK · 28 Jul 2020 at 00:16

I just returned a whole set of P12's - they're decent but they don't handle low RPM well and make a weird modulating sound. It's not "smooth".
I guess it's fine for normal air case build but if you run custom water and want to run silent PC with low RPM, spend a bit extra on something better.

Ross Thomson · 28 Jul 2020 at 00:42

PhoenixUK said:
I just returned a whole set of P12's - they're decent but they don't handle low RPM well and make a weird modulating sound. It's not "smooth".
I guess it's fine for normal air case build but if you run custom water and want to run silent PC with low RPM, spend a bit extra on something better.

got 8 of them in my case without any issue. Guessing your rads were vibrating on something.

PhoenixUK · 28 Jul 2020 at 08:58

Ross Thomson said:
got 8 of them in my case without any issue. Guessing your rads were vibrating on something.

Like I said it's only when you spin them to very low rpm. Changed them for phanteks and no issue there.
Maybe a dodgy batch... although it has been mentioned before so is clearly a thing with these.

Actually it was the p14 and not 12 maybe it's just the 14s.

ttaskmaster · 28 Jul 2020 at 10:59

Unseul said:
I would guess that a lot of people will prefer to find a volume that they're happy to use, rather than an RPM. Only skipped through the results, but did they do a max RPM test, just to see what could cool the most, for those with headphones etc.

No, they didn't, because that would further skew the results. For example, the ML120s on his list will do 2400rpm and cool much better than a maxed out Arctic.
Most fans are pretty silent below 1000rpm anyway.

Ross Thomson said:
noise is a major factor for people.

But highly subjective and dependent upon the specific components used in each individual case, so not really an accurate or particularly useful measure.
It would have been better to chart noise and performance at regular rpm intervals.

EsaT said:
If noise isn't concern, you shouldn't be looking at Noctuas at all but Deltas.

Is that what MartinsLiquidLab says to do, yeh? Because fans are like car engine noises, yeh?

It's a balance between fan noise and performance, for which Noctua have always been the benchmark, generally.

PhoenixUK said:
Like I said it's only when you spin them to very low rpm. Changed them for phanteks and no issue there.
Maybe a dodgy batch... although it has been mentioned before so is clearly a thing with these.

It depends on the rad thickness and fins per inch. Different fans work better with different rads. The modulating sound is stalled airflow causing back pressure which is forced to leak out the sides of the intake fans. I got that on my high FPI XSPC rads, but it vanished when I switched to low FPI Alphacool ones. You can also swap from Push to Pull, but that sometimes has an inverted form of the same stall effect.