Phantek T30 - one fan to rule them all?

Soldato
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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.


Nor better ones, neither... But seemingly can conveniently exclude the obvious difference in thickness, so it makes Noctua look badder than they actually are...
Yep, theoretical world PR figures are your bread and butter.
Like just now disparaging results showing your favourite brand product in not so good light on basis that results are from real world situation.

And funny thing that NF-F12 manages impressive feat of losing to all those other 25mm fans tested by TPU...
Including lot better standing achieving older NF-P12 design.
Whose noise profile is definitely smoother.
 
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For a money no object must need 3000rpm 30mm fan I would agree it is very very good and has no competition. However the performance to price for everyday usage is crap.

any data for everyday usage say less than 1000rpm.

Would be interesting to see how they do on thick rads mind you.
 
Soldato
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Yep, theoretical world PR figures are your bread and butter.
Like just now disparaging results showing your favourite brand product in not so good light on basis that results are from real world situation.
Favourite brand?
Oh, you mean Noctua?
Sorry mate, guess again - I haven't actually used them for several years now. Like I have often pointed out, this is clearly your own subjective beef with that brand colouring your ability to examine these results objectively... namely that 30mm is a completely different category of fan.

I always say, fan performance in the real world depends on what you pair it with, as different fans will give different results in each individual case. Whatever numbers you come up with only apply to that one rig you used and will not be the same in a different one.

For a money no object must need 3000rpm 30mm fan I would agree it is very very good and has no competition.
It currently has no competition from the gaming brands... but there are plenty of options from the more industrial sources.
 
Soldato
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namely that 30mm is a completely different category of fan.

I always say, fan performance in the real world depends on what you pair it with, as different fans will give different results in each individual case.
5mm difference isn't that much.
But 38mm fans are certainly entirely different class and capable to pushing air through lot harder impedance.

And that's why plain no back pressure airflow and static pressure don't matter that much, but what's the shape of the nearly always unpublished P-Q curve between those extremes.
Though highly forward swept blades seem to be common for all fans doing well in that real world operating area.
 
Soldato
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5mm difference keeps the slimline fans well below their 25mm counterparts, and here it's keeping those 25mm ones below this. It's precisely why they did it.

P-Q curves are as useless (or useful) and theoretical as every other supplied stat, because they're never done on an actual radiator and never done as an average across common radiator designs.
This is why some people go out and buy really high end fans, yet still find problems.
 
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I don't care if a fan is 25mm or 30mm, both will fit for me. If you feel it's unfair to compare the two, fair enough - find a review with only 30mm fans or ignore the rest of the fans in the comparison that are not 30mm.

Personally I don't mind the comparison, since it's useful to me to know if they will be better when both kinds will fit. I'm currently using Corsair ML120's, so they would be better for me. At the tested speeds, they would move 4-9% more air through a radiator, at noise levels (also tested on a radiator) between 1.5% higher (at the lowest speed) to 4.8% lower (at the highest speed). 2.3% quieter on average.

If Corsair happen to come out with their own 30mm fans too then I'll be interested to see how they perform in comparison.

If you read the review on TechPowerUp carefully, you'll see they mention their exact test setup, which is the same as the one for their DarkSide Gentle Typhoon 1450 RPM Black Edition:
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/darkside-gentle-typhoon-1450-black-edition/4.html

They are testing with a 120mm radiator - the Swiftech MCR120QP. They test them all with the same one to give consistent results.

Yes, they go up to 3000 RPM too, so you could claim they should only be compared against industrial fans. They do have that capability but the fan has a hardware control to select Hybrid, Performance or Advanced mode. Only the Advanced mode goes up to 3000 RPM, the performance mode only goes to 2000 RPM max (I'd certainly use that mode), and the comparison tables vs other fans only measure up to 1500 RPM!

They came out top of the table on airflow through radiator at 1000, 1250 and 1500 RPM, and 3rd place at 750 RPM. Noise/performance tests have them at the top in all four of those speeds.

Of course 4-9% more performance for (on average) 2.3% less noise isn't a massive difference - not enough for me to warrant replacing my existing fans which work fine - but I'll certainly keep these in mind for the future.
 
Soldato
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They are testing with a 120mm radiator - the Swiftech MCR120QP. They test them all with the same one to give consistent results.
That's the issue, though - They only test with that one particular rad...

You will often find performance varies greatly between rads. For example, an EK Vardar 120-ER will do relatively well on a Black Ice Nemesis GTS and be fairly quiet, while on an Alphacool X-Flow ST30 or ST45 it will perform slightly worse and sound like an F-14 taking off... yet will often still be better in a Push config behind a standard mesh intake filter than most other fans!!
This is why all these stats are just a starting point. You have to factor in all the other variables.
 
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Bought two of the triple packs for my WC setup that arrived today. I was using Arctic P12's before so wasn't expecting a huge upgrade in performance temperature wise, but the sound signature on these T30's is so much better. No turbulence noises, no humming at certain RPMs, and more importantly there is zero vibration now transferred to the case. Before with 6 P12's running at max RPM, the vibrations could be felt on the desk a couple of feet away. If you've held the P12's in your hand and felt the build quality, you'll know why. With these - absolutely nothing. Haven't looked in to temperature testing yet but those are my first impressions.

Im definitely not slating the P12's as the value they give is incredible. They get you 90% of the way there if you are willing to accept one or two annoying traits. I was using them as a stop gap until Noctua bought out their Black NF-A12's, but after two delays and nearly a year of waiting these fans came at just the right time.

As a side note, the daisy chaining feature is a very good idea and makes cable routing a lot easier. Also something to keep an eye on will be how these hold up after a while being mounted horizontally as I think I read somewhere that magnetic bearings don't really deal with horizontal mounting very well over the lifespan.

Thumbs up from me.
 
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Soldato
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I've bought 12 of these. The rad mounting screws are some dodgy thread that isn't compatible with my HWLabs rads. Think I need M4x35mm as replacements?
Yeah i think HWLABS which are the same as Corsair XR series use M4's but the ones that come with the T30's are 6/32's. I bought 9 of these and had to do the same thing for a MO-RA360 as they were compatible.
 
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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

doesnt beat Noctua until it last 10 years & still works as if it was new. THEN we can dethrone NOctua i bought some TT fans that beat Noctua in bunch of tests, 4 died in a year my 9 noctua still going after 12 years
 
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Associate
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doesnt beat Noctua until it last 10 years & still works as if it was new. THEN we can dethrone NOctua i bought some TT fans that beat Noctua in bunch of tests, 4 died in a year my 9 noctua still going after 12 years

6Y warranty on these - same as Noctua. At least they seem to have some confidence in the fans.

May get some for my next build - they look impressive.
 
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I've had fans that had a 1 year warranty and cost a fraction of the price last over 10 years. I can't say I'd go anywhere near spending this much per fan and not expect them to out-last me, let alone 6 years!
 
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I got a couple on the way for testing. Apparently they make a buzzing noise at 1200 or so.

Annoying thing is you need to get custom screws in - they do provide 2 sets but ofc that only works if they fit ur rad :)
 
Soldato
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I'm still running 9 of these on the MO-RA3 and so far no issues, i don't hear a buzzing noise at 1200rpm or so, they are literally dead quiet.

Screws are available from a certain online retailer, i just got a few packs for spares. It's unfortunate but radiator manufacturers haven't standardised the screw hole size or it would be so much easier.
 
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