ARCTIC F12-120 mm Standard Case Fan, quite motor, Computer, Push- or Pull Configuration, Fan Speed: 1350 RPM - Black, White

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The SWiF2 120: Coolink produced a fan with a unique impeller. It has a bullet hub and eleven blades. It came with vibration isolators as well, in electric green. The specimen here was bought at retail. Coolink 120P Corsair The Deepcool GF120 was a fine runner-up. Notice how much quieter the two winners were than their neighbors. They also pushed a lot more air through the restrictive rad than fans of similar unobstructed output. What made the Deepcool fan a runner-up and not one of the winners was the fact that it was a lot noisier than they were. Moreover, the refined ninja-knife impeller design not only improves the laminar airflow, but it also lowers the noise level. Tested by hundreds of simulations, the results are significant, airflow is over 20% higher compared with a generic 7-blade case fan. Higher airflow / higher noise level The Blade Master family of fans by Cooler Master have been around for some years. They have a wavy blade, and they’re pretty quiet. The two specimens in our testing were obtained at retail. Too bad they’re sleeve bearing fans. I won’t trust sleeve bearing fans on a heatsink.

Remembering all of these caveats you should be able to make an intelligent decision on which PWM fans to get. Thanks for reading our case fan roundup. Let us know your favorite PWM fans in the comments below. The PWM fan we are examining came from Tao Bao in China. The model number is D1225C12B6ZPA44, with a nominal speed of 2150 RPM. The Gentle Typhoon is known for several things. One is the low amount of airflow compared to its high RPM. Another is that the fan is very quiet for the air it moves. It is also known for its high static pressure. We will see how this all turns out. Nidec Gentle Typhoon NoctuaThe GlideStream PWM fan was supplied indirectly by Scythe when they provided the Ninja 4 for testing. The Glidestream has a 3-way switch, but the switch was left in H when the GlideStream was tested. Originally the house label for Newegg, Rosewill does offer their products for sale in other places these days. They produce a bewildering variety of fans. Not so bewildering are the Hyperborea fans, in 12 cm and 14 cm sizes. These have relatively low speeds as if the makers were aiming at their being used for case fans, as well as on heatsinks and rads. The two units here were obtained retail. Rosewill Hyperborea 12cm San Ace I thought I would never do it again, but soon I expect to see non-PWM voltage-controlled 120mm fans for review. It seems that OEM's still make them.Well, I got my Noctua NF-S12A fans tested, with their various resistor wires. Next come the Scythe Slip Stream 120DB's, the San Ace 9S fans, and a variety of oldies but goodies. I really didn't know I had so many! All sorts of products from heatsinks to fans are made by Deepcool. Their GF120 fans have special airflow channels. We can only speculate what they might do for unrestricted airflow, but as you will see below these fans are surprisingly good at pushing air through a rad.

Noctua’s industrialPPC line also uses a 3-phase motor. Most motors you see have four poles inside. These have six. PWM fans are used for lots of things now. A PWM fan can be used as a case fan, as a heatsink fan, or as a rad fan. AIO coolers simply expand the playing field for PWM fans. So I have collected twenty-four fans here for review in our 2016 case fan roundup. PWM fans can be used with PWM splitters, where they all get their power directly from the PSU while tghey get speed control from the motherboard.The ambient noise for the current testing was 30 dBA. To measure noise levels that were softer than that, the sound pressure level was measured 10 cm from each fan. The sound pressure level was adjusted to 1 meter by subtracting 20 dB. The sound pressure meter was a Tenma 72-942. This fan tester has a microphone that is not accurate under 30 dBA. That means an adjusted measurement of 10 – 15 dBA is not accurate; the fan could easily be quieter than that. But this is the limit of all but the most expensive SPL meters. Test Stand Conceived for industrial heavy duty applications that require enhanced cooling performance and advanced ingress protection, Noctua’s industrialPPC (Protected Performance Cooling) line comprises ruggedized high-speed versions of the company’s award-winning retail models. First the fans were placed in a test stand, where their free air RPM was observed. Then the fans’ noise was assessed. The standard proxy for what you can hear is the Sound Pressure Level (SPL), measured in decibels and given a type A weighting (dBA). A silent room is about 30 dBA. There were two clear winners here, the Nidec Gentle Typhoon PWM and the Medium speed San Ace “Silent” PWM fans. It is too bad that these fans are among the hardest to get.

FDB = Fluid Dynamic Bearing, a patented evolution of the sleeve bearing which causes the lubricating fluid to be recirculated within the bearing.The NF-F12’s, the NF-F12 industrialPPC’s, and the NF-P12 were provided by Noctua. Noctua NF-P12 Rosewill Noctua is a partnership between Rascom, an Austrian company, and Kolink International, a Taiwanese corporation. Noctua products are legendary, with heatsinks for enthusiasts and industry, and fans with diameters of 40 mm up through 140 mm, also for enthusiasts and industry. In this review, we are looking at a number of fans, two with Low Noise Adapters, which bring our total number of fan sets to 26. All the outputs all turned out to be underestimates, to one degree or another. The SPL varied. In some instances the fan made fewer dBA than specified.