- Joined
- 7 Sep 2020
- Posts
- 107
I've never really done proper testing — no equipment, no skill, no practice, etc., so this is going to be very layman's terms-ish to you guys, but after comparing 2xP14 vs 2xTY-141 on my CPU this is how I feel:
The winner is? Dunno. And it's largely apples vs oranges. Those are very different fans.
In terms of overall profile:
In terms of what they sound like:
P14 is extremely reminiscent of high-quality GPUs. It simply sounds like a graphics card. As you crank up the speed, it sounds like a highly stressed quiet GPU. In a way it resembles the acoustic profile of a high-quality small fan.
TY-141 sounds more in line with traditional, older CPU fans and 12/14cm fans. The sound is not especially annoying, it's not markedly coarse, but it's clearly not a softened sound. It doesn't bring to mind those things which people say about Noctua fans being less annoying for the same SPL than most other fans (while Arctic does).
What else?
Overall, however, I think I prefer the Arctics. On a purely emotional level, I was happy to put my Arctics back in there after testing the Thermalrights.
I still, however, have a suspicion TY-141 may be better somewhere in the mid range than P14. And maybe in idle?
I can't help thinking I would love to see the effect on TY-141 of so much engineering as went into the optimization and fine-tuning of P14. That would be a blast of a fan.
I can definitely say that most people wouldn't and shouldn't like to 'upgrade' P14 to TY-141. Too much of a sidegrade unless someone does proper testing and contradicts me. This is all the more so if you consider the cost and the fact that P14 PWM PST avoids needing a splitter and comes with a longer cord. I would say don't bother with anything else really as a case fan. But maybe optimize for CPU if you really feel like it. But you won't go wrong with a daisy chain of 3 CPU fans on a dual tower plus case exhaust as fourth, all four plugged into the same header.
To be fair, however P14 is still very much a mass-produced budget fan, which people say can go bad after a year or two or even be faulty already on arrival, probably due to the limitations of the materials and the manufacturing process. So perhaps out of 10 purchased at least one or two are going to be suboptimal? Not so the Thermalrights. On the other hand, as far as Thermalrights go, you will most likely be buying them used, and that obviously incurs similar risks as buying new budget fans — some will inevitably be bad in every 10 or so.
Not sure how this translates into TY-143 or TY-147 expectations (or other, more exotic Thermalrights).
And hence I don't know if I really should be buying the TY-143 and TY-147. But I guess there's one way of finding out, although I'm gonna end up with fans to sell or stash away in the end.
Oh, one last thing — the power-plant sound from P14, which either is there or not. It seems to be somehow connected with the fan's placement and thus position. I'm not sure how stability would relate to coil whine or (which is different) electric sounds, but perhaps the angle matters, as in a skewed position.
I didn't retest the Silent Wings 3 hispeeds at this time, though perhaps I should.
The winner is? Dunno. And it's largely apples vs oranges. Those are very different fans.
In terms of overall profile:
- TY-141 is a blast from the past. Former top athlete that has aged. P14 is a very modern budget fan. Great performance and parameters but not the same solid quality foundation.
- P14 doubtless is quieter. It's quieter on the exact same curve, even though it runs up to 1700 rather than 1300 rpm, hence the same percentage means more rpms.
- On the other hand, the rpms definitely aren't telling the whole story here.
- By just putting your hand like a blade between CPU exhaust and case exhaust, TY-141 doubtless feels to move more air, by far. Even at 1700 rpm you won't feel P14 as strongly on your hand as TY-141 sub-1000.
- However, in terms of watching the temps while running Prime, this doesn't actually seem to give you better temps on the Thermalright.
- On the contrary, P14 seems to achieve ever so slightly better temps despite lass palpable air movement. The difference is like 1 degree in 80–85 range (cores) in TY's favour, but as far as I feel it definitely is there. I doubt my reliability, by however wrong I might be I'm still sure I do feel it.
- Tthe Arctics seem to develop nasty acoustics depending on how the ghetto placement goes — zip-tied 9mm gaskets for vibration isolation and much-needed spacing.
- The comparison isn't really fair because the Thermalrights don't get gaskets because of their shape, but they also don't need them.
- Depending on the placement, P14s produce coil whine, transformer-like sounds (makes you feel like you're in a power plant), or various sorts of rattle.
- You can make this sound go away with great difficulty if you find the lucky balance. This is even though sometimes those issues persist even after you remove the fan from the heatsink and just hold it out in the open. Perhaps some sort of quality limitations?
- TY-140 is impervious to the majority of P14's placement problems, which appears to be in connection with simply being a better quality fan in general, but it might also be due to some sort of optimization by Arctic like using up all space available. But do not I'm using 9mm gaskets and still seeing the blades sometimes collide with the fins, so rotor stability with higher rotation speeds must be involved in this.
- TY-141 has a tendency to produce a sand-like sound — probably not from long service, as the previous owner claims they've only worked roughly 900 hours each, which would be like 2 months in my PC.
In terms of what they sound like:
P14 is extremely reminiscent of high-quality GPUs. It simply sounds like a graphics card. As you crank up the speed, it sounds like a highly stressed quiet GPU. In a way it resembles the acoustic profile of a high-quality small fan.
TY-141 sounds more in line with traditional, older CPU fans and 12/14cm fans. The sound is not especially annoying, it's not markedly coarse, but it's clearly not a softened sound. It doesn't bring to mind those things which people say about Noctua fans being less annoying for the same SPL than most other fans (while Arctic does).
What else?
Overall, however, I think I prefer the Arctics. On a purely emotional level, I was happy to put my Arctics back in there after testing the Thermalrights.
I still, however, have a suspicion TY-141 may be better somewhere in the mid range than P14. And maybe in idle?
I can't help thinking I would love to see the effect on TY-141 of so much engineering as went into the optimization and fine-tuning of P14. That would be a blast of a fan.
I can definitely say that most people wouldn't and shouldn't like to 'upgrade' P14 to TY-141. Too much of a sidegrade unless someone does proper testing and contradicts me. This is all the more so if you consider the cost and the fact that P14 PWM PST avoids needing a splitter and comes with a longer cord. I would say don't bother with anything else really as a case fan. But maybe optimize for CPU if you really feel like it. But you won't go wrong with a daisy chain of 3 CPU fans on a dual tower plus case exhaust as fourth, all four plugged into the same header.
To be fair, however P14 is still very much a mass-produced budget fan, which people say can go bad after a year or two or even be faulty already on arrival, probably due to the limitations of the materials and the manufacturing process. So perhaps out of 10 purchased at least one or two are going to be suboptimal? Not so the Thermalrights. On the other hand, as far as Thermalrights go, you will most likely be buying them used, and that obviously incurs similar risks as buying new budget fans — some will inevitably be bad in every 10 or so.
Not sure how this translates into TY-143 or TY-147 expectations (or other, more exotic Thermalrights).
And hence I don't know if I really should be buying the TY-143 and TY-147. But I guess there's one way of finding out, although I'm gonna end up with fans to sell or stash away in the end.
Oh, one last thing — the power-plant sound from P14, which either is there or not. It seems to be somehow connected with the fan's placement and thus position. I'm not sure how stability would relate to coil whine or (which is different) electric sounds, but perhaps the angle matters, as in a skewed position.
I didn't retest the Silent Wings 3 hispeeds at this time, though perhaps I should.
