Phantek T30 - one fan to rule them all?

Grim5 · 12 Aug 2021 at 13:45

It would seem Noctua has been dethroned along with other pretenders.

It's taken a few years but finally someone has produced a fan that beats Noctua and every other fan on the market in all categories for radiator cooling.

As the below TPU review shows, it appears to simply be the best performing radiator fan on the market today.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/phanteks-t30-120-fan/4.html

Jay85 · 12 Aug 2021 at 14:06

Wow daisy chainable as well, thats peaked my interest! Would sit nicely on the Mo-RA3 when it turns up.

Being a 30mm fan is quite interesting too, would be ideal for external setups and large cases. Can imagine it being abit of a pain if your abit constrained with space.

Jay85 · 12 Aug 2021 at 14:14

Okay the price has put me off lol, will be around £70-80 for a pack of 3! Jeez, still doesn't top the price/performance of the arctic cooling P12 PST fans.

JohnG7 · 12 Aug 2021 at 14:20

Noctua fans are now older but the new gen is out soon (be it later than originally intended) so late 2021/early 2022.

Also see they are 30mm thick so that will help as in the past a lot of Heatsink/Rad fans were 35mm thick till they made the fins less dense to make it quieter so 25mm was now the standard thickness.

Jay85 · 12 Aug 2021 at 16:12

▷ Phanteks T30 High Performance PWM Triple Mode… | OcUK (overclockers.co.uk)

Live on OCUK's site now, i can't imagine buying 9 of these if i was to go with them for my setup, thats £240 on fans!

ttaskmaster · 12 Aug 2021 at 16:54

Grim5 said:
It's taken a few years but finally someone has produced a fan that beats Noctua and every other fan on the market in all categories for radiator cooling.

Actually, it doesn't quite beat Noctua fans...

This T30 runs up to 3000rpm. The Noctua NF-F12 IndustrialPPC is also 3000rpm. That would be a fairer comparison, rather than the standard NF12 that only goes up to 1500.
For that you're looking at 101CFM versus Noctua's 109, and 7.11mm/H2O versus 7.63.

Moreover, a lot more depends on which radiator you choose to pair with the fan - For example, the ML120 Pro (non-RGB) beats most fans on an Alphacool Xflow, both in terms of noise and performance, not because it has better specs (which are pretty good as is) but because of the airflow spread and other characteristsics.
This T30 could be the whizziest thing ever, even better than an EK Vardar F5, but similarly sound like a banshee in a blender and perform about as well, if it does not match the chosen rad.

The truth is, it's only about as good as most reputable fans, with barely anything between them, and not enough difference to make a difference in the grand scheme of things... except when you get to the checkout!!!
Seriously, those prices are ******* ridiculous.....

EsaT · 12 Aug 2021 at 17:54

ttaskmaster said:
Actually, it doesn't quite beat Noctua fans...

This T30 runs up to 3000rpm. The Noctua NF-F12 IndustrialPPC is also 3000rpm. That would be a fairer comparison, rather than the standard NF12 that only goes up to 1500.

Seriously, those prices are ******* ridiculous.....

It beats NF-F12 soundly in meaningfull terms: Airflow per noise.
In fact NF-F12 is the worst performer in that:
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/phanteks-t30-120-fan/5.html

Don't worry about price.
When people are willing to pay these prices someone will soon try even higher price with RGB etc.

Tanin'iver · 12 Aug 2021 at 18:09

They do look pretty good from those review numbers, though in terms of airflow/noise performance they aren't a huge step up from the Corsair ML120 I'm using right now. I think they are a bit expensive just to upgrade to when I've already got my current ones, but I'll certainly consider them in future!

Grim5 · 12 Aug 2021 at 20:07

ttaskmaster said:
Actually, it doesn't quite beat Noctua fans...

you're right it doesn't just beat the Noctua it's absolutely freaking destroys it

Hotwired · 12 Aug 2021 at 20:20

I assumed people were aware that a 30mm thick fan has an advantage over a 25mm thick fan.

I guess it's nice to see more 30mm options but it sure ain't new.

Grim5 · 12 Aug 2021 at 21:17

Hotwired said:
I assumed people were aware that a 30mm thick fan has an advantage over a 25mm thick fan.

I guess it's nice to see more 30mm options but it sure ain't new.

The thing is there have been other 30mm fans on the market, some new ones released quite recently and they failed to beat the best 25mm fans

ttaskmaster · 13 Aug 2021 at 10:53

EsaT said:
It beats NF-F12 soundly in meaningfull terms: Airflow per noise.
In fact NF-F12 is the worst performer in that:

Grim5 said:
you're right it doesn't just beat the Noctua it's absolutely freaking destroys it

Once again, for those of you in the cheap seats - Noctua NF-F12 INDUSTRIAL PPC, not the standard F12.......

A couple of reviews have asserted that Phanteks is "cheating" by going to 30mm, which is almost like crossing a weight class in boxing. The T30 is basically a 3000rpm Industrial fan, so should be compared to other Industrial fans. Otherwise you could just pull out some other Delta fan and 'absolutely freaking destroy' the T30, or compare any standard 25mm fan to the slim 15mm fans and shout about how the 25mm has them beaten.
Now, if other manufacturers also start going to 30mm, and we then start getting some real world usage results from different rad combinations, then it would be a good indicator. Until then, it remains a marketing trick.

JohnG7 · 13 Aug 2021 at 11:04

The D15S should have had a 30/35mm fan in its centre from the get go IMO.

Defy Belief · 13 Aug 2021 at 11:13

ttaskmaster said:
Once again, for those of you in the cheap seats - Noctua NF-F12 INDUSTRIAL PPC, not the standard F12.......

A couple of reviews have asserted that Phanteks is "cheating" by going to 30mm, which is almost like crossing a weight class in boxing. The T30 is basically a 3000rpm Industrial fan, so should be compared to other Industrial fans. Otherwise you could just pull out some other Delta fan and 'absolutely freaking destroy' the T30, or compare any standard 25mm fan to the slim 15mm fans and shout about how the 25mm has them beaten.
Now, if other manufacturers also start going to 30mm, and we then start getting some real world usage results from different rad combinations, then it would be a good indicator. Until then, it remains a marketing trick.

Weren't the EK Meltemi fans (at a huge 38mm) absolutely crap?

ttaskmaster · 13 Aug 2021 at 11:44

Defy Belief said:
Weren't the EK Meltemi fans (at a huge 38mm) absolutely crap?

They weren't especially bad... Roughly on par with Corsair SP HighPerf editions. They are static pressure optimised though and well above majority stats in that regard.
They're only 1800rpm, though, so not really Industrial fans.

More importantly, they are designed to be used in Pull not Push, so probably suffer in any comparison tests where reviewers dont RTFM.... TechPowerUp did just such a review, in which they still beat* the Noctua NF12 despite being in Push.

*Based on what this thread seems to think constitutes a win...

EsaT · 13 Aug 2021 at 14:15

ttaskmaster said:
Once again, for those of you in the cheap seats - Noctua NF-F12 INDUSTRIAL PPC, not the standard F12.......

Print in box makes absolutely zero difference to airflow per noise performance when fan itself is precisely same design!

ttaskmaster · 13 Aug 2021 at 14:29

EsaT said:
Print in box makes absolutely zero difference to airflow per noise performance when fan itself is precisely same design!

Good thing they're not the same, then.
The PPC fans have several differences, including materials and motor type.

EsaT · 13 Aug 2021 at 14:46

ttaskmaster said:
Good thing they're not the same, then.
The PPC fans have several differences, including materials and motor type.

It's blade geometry which decides nearly all of noise profile.
Though of course can't exclude possible change of motor to worser one and blade material to resonating one...
After all product page even mentions them not having been built for low noise.

JohnG7 · 13 Aug 2021 at 14:53

Wonder what happened to Noctua's active noise cancelling fan tech (no doubt cost).

ttaskmaster · 13 Aug 2021 at 15:01

EsaT said:
It's blade geometry which decides nearly all of noise profile.

In the open air and to a great extent, yes.... but remember, you're not a fan of "cars in free fall", and all that stuff, right?

Outside of that, you should be looking at 'real world' tests, which so far have been against just one single radiator and in no way indicative of the general end-user experience.

EsaT said:
Though of course can't exclude possible change of motor to worser one and blade material to resonating one...

Nor better ones, neither... But seemingly can conveniently exclude the obvious difference in thickness, so it makes Noctua look badder than they actually are..... oh, and other fans of course, but you don't hate them, right?

EsaT said:
After all product page even mentions them not having been built for low noise.

And yet they're still not very far off the T30 in terms of noise and slightly above for performance. Who'd a' thunk it.....!