17:17 I couldn’t talk more but thank for all your great work. For the past one year, I improved both my English and PC knowledge because of your passion in answering those tricky questions that geeks are truly looking for, many thanks man
I did my own testing with a few of these. The artics won out. I'm not RUclipsr or anything but a few packs of fans for some builds for friends and family and in almost every scenario the artics won out.
Arctic's fans are the superior fans. This has become clear to me after spending well over $100 on them. They may not technically be the best in all categories, especially noise when you really crank them, but damn it if they aren't top 5% or even 1% with literally unbeatable value.
@@merwinpique do you have f12's or p12's on your case? im using the same case and putting 3 f12's in the front 1 in the back for exhaust and two p14's at the top with the radiator
I only checked one other review before ordering the P14 PWM PST. Happy to see another reviewer liking it. Will use two of them in the front intake of a P400A
Oh wow, the Arctic P14 has a _really_ pleasant noise profile at 40dbA. Combined with its exceptional performance for the price, they seem like a very good choice.
This video is absolutely the best I've seen. My issue is that I hate high pitch fans with a passion. The Arctic P14 had the best sound imo, followed by the Noctua NF-A14. Obviously I chose the Arctic P14 since it was among the quietest and best performing. I have absolutely no regrets, It sounds FAN-tastic!
I REALLY appreciate that you went through the trouble of updating the links in your description with those new releases! I was hoping the TT one had a 140mm variant and you took that search time right out from under me.
I can only second all those positive comments. I'm glad you actually do content that matters, instead of going into specs you can hear from 638926 other TechTubers! Really looking forward to that Arctic P12 and P14 setup comparison!
Can confirm: Those DeepCool fans really howl at high RPM. I have a TF120S as my exhaust, set to 50% RPM and it can blow papers across my desk. But at Max RPM it sets off car alarms across the street :D Great video as always! Looking forward to more!
Awesome video man. As expected, the Arctic P-14 pwm that I voted for won this round up but surprisingly those Thermaltake rad fans look great and according to your test also performed very well for the price. Great informative video as usual and keep up the great tech content.
I was getting ready to splurge on some noctua 140s instead of the Arctic P14s 5 pack, now I have to go watch your case fan shoot out and look up the 6 vs 5 artic fanb video as well. Glad I found this though as I will gladly save $$ for the same or better performance
I just picked up some of those toughfan 12s. Been waiting for black x25s for a while now. I gotta say these thermaltake fans are amazingly quiet! Love them!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Would love to see you test them on a case with a closed off front panel. I got these to use as intake on a NZXT H700. I know they are designed to be used on radiators but they seem to work fine in this application. They seem to overcome the restricted intake very well and since they are so much quieter than my old 140mm redux fans, I can run them at a higher RPM and pull even more air into the case.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Update on the thermaltake Toughfans. I picked up a few of them for my H700 as I mentioned before( 6 in total) one has failed. Looks like the bearings are shot. It made a god awful sound before it eventually locked up. Lets hope it was just a one off and not a sign of overall quality.
Excellent test! Note that the Scythe rotates in the opposite direction to practically all other fans which opens up an interesting possibility - fan stacking. It's been tried in the past, but two stacked fans spinning in the same direction increases nothing but noise. Stacked *contra-rotating* fans produce double the pressure of a single one (but barely more flow). The Scythe and Noctua NF-A14 have almost identical blade configuration (although slightly different speeds, 1700RPM and 1500RPM) and could be used for this. As it happens I have the round frame version of the Scythe on the way (KF1425FD18-P) and the NF-A15 fan on my Noctua NH-U14S CPU Cooler is the round-frame version of the NF-A14 fan. Both are considerably lighter than the square versions, so the two of them hanging off one side of the cooler might be doable. I'm seriously tempted to try it out.
This counter-rotating effect is why the Scythe Fuma 2, which I've featured on the channel in dozens of videos, works so well despite its relatively small size and ultra-low noise levels. With a slim 120mm fan in the front and a standard 120mm Kaze Flex counter-rotating fan in the middle, it can compete with many 240mm AIO coolers. Your idea about the NF-U14S sounds good. You can of course control the RPMs of the Kaze Flex 140 and NF-A15 separately in order to match them, although they are not as similar as the blade designs would suggest, so I'm not sure that' necessary.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Interesting! I did think of mounting the Scythe on the back of the NH-U14S (it looks like the spare set of Noctua clips will work), but I assumed the fins on a CPU cooler work as vanes hence effectively turning any fan into a 'vane-axial', where the most of angular (spin/spiralling) motion of the air is deflected and converted into axial motion. If I try the stacked approach I'll make sure to report back - (could be useful if the summer here in the UK really heats up). Also, I've just remembered that I have an old Zalman reostat fan controller kicking about that I could use to tweak the speed of the Scythe down (and perhaps tune out any weird harmonics that might be set up between the two).
Thank you for another in-depth shootout, I'm always happy to see so much more data in a well produced video, especially when I'm looking at the Freezer II 280 to see which 140 fan to pair with it
I just realized Im way to deep into fans.. i watch these shootout video for entertaining purpose and the fan noise samples have a similar effect as some asmr videos on me :DD
The Artic P14 sounds pretty good. I wish, we all have wishes, you ran the speed test and the more typical rpms that most would, such as between 800-1000 rpms to hear how they sound. The Noctua 120 still has the best sound quality in my opinion. Thanks for the reviews.
Nice content,Thank you!I just pick eight Arctic P12 PWM and two P14 to change my 360+240 costum loop fan set up mostly Because your 3 video before，great value indeed！
I just bought an Arctic Freezer II 360 and 3 P14s ... Arctic are killing it in the cooling space at the moment. Best fan is also dirt cheap, widely available AND has the longest warranty. There practically isn't any competition at this point. Crazy.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru The Arctic Freezer II just replaced my Kraken X62 on a 7900X 10-Core and the P14s are replacing 3 Silent Wings 3 in my Dark Base 900 Pro. The 3090 has ... erm ... hidden costs ...
"I would never runs these Fans at such high speeds" *Brofist* Finally another Channnel who does proper Fan reviews! There really isn't enough out there. Being a silent freak, over the past 20 years I came from (back then experimental) Watercooling, to Air, to Semi-Passive, now back to Watercooling... and always were the Fans the most important part! I've had soooo many over the years but in my book the new Arctics have proven to be among the best ever, even without considering the Price. Simply unbeatable when price considered. So thanks for the exeptionally good work with all your Fan reviews. And keep going, your way of reviewing is... pleasant. Looking forward to see more from your channel. BTW: I don't think TT or Scythe are really copying Noctua here, but rather all 3 just either used licensed manufacturing of anothers design or just bought at the same Manufacturer and relabeled... namely: Nidec. One sees this design so often, also in industrial applications, it's either Nidecs or someones elses Patent and they all just piggyback on it / buy from them.
Thanks for the positive feedback! And yes, this is a Nidec design, and Noctua, Scythe, and Thermaltake have each used it at one time or another. I'm not sure about the licensing method, but Nidec is still very active in licensing its design so I'm sure they get a cut or file a legal claim!
My only real takeaway here, and it is valuable to be clear, is the noise that each fan makes. I don't feel like the thermals really much mattered, as there was a spread of literally only 2 degrees, when normalized.
Looking forward to this. Been at it for a month trying different case and radiator fans. Wayyyy too much fan swapping going on but I've settled on something and I'm looking forward to your results as I've taken your advice in the past. In the meantime, I've learned that it all ends up depending on my case, with it's quirks and restrictions (silent case). However, the fans you suggested are great and I love them. I've just had to change it up a bit to meet the "demands," of my silent case.
@@KW-pt9ke No way, I've only tried two cases and a whole bunch of fans but I can tell you what I've tried. First off, there is often something that is going to cause noise. I got all my stuff quiet and then bought a new graphics card with a bit of coil wine. yay. I can't win. However, the silent case kills high frequencies like that. That's the point and one advantage of a "silent," build, I guess. My first build used an Antec p101 silent case (cheap and really quiet case but generic door clasps broke and customer support failed to help.) Returned that case and got a Phanteks 600P Eclipse or something like that. The black one without glass and acoustic dampening on each panel...
This case isn't as silent but it has the option of opening up a front panel and top panel to allow for venting. This way you can have some fun overclocking and whatnot but then shut it up when you want your peace and quiet back. I first went with a Gamemax power supply after reading reviews but I personally found it too loud. The fan ran high and often. So I changed it out for a Be Quiet Straight Power 11 Platinum 750w modular power supply. Perfect! No more noise there. Now the fans. I've tried a whole bunch of radiator fans and tested them by their volume and ability to cool during an OC and stress test (no special measurements... just me running benchmarks and overclocking, all while intently listening and forming my own opinions and observations). I've settled on the Noctua nf12x25 push pull on 280 radiator using the adapter mounts. I also use Phobya shrouds to keep the fans off the radiator. This allows the air to expand, covering more ground and also helps with any fans that are sensitive to being right up on something or having to pull through a filter or mesh. However if a fan doesn't like to push or pull, no shroud is going to fix that, most likely. Keep looking. Those fans are pretty quiet and if you aren't overclocking and running prime95 small, you won't hear them. However, they maintained my lowest cpu temps out of all the fans I've rifled through. Also, the arctic AIO (280 in my case) is great because you can control the pump noise. So that is super important to my silent build. I like using an AIO because you can close off the case and not be afraid of strangling your air cooler. There are all these cool non aio air coolers now but you need a good airflow case for that. I also like that the AIO uses water and will absorb spikes in cpu usage before the computer goes full blower mode. Sure you can set you curves and whatnot with an air cooled rig but I'm using an AIO, so there! :)
So that pretty much did it for me. A silent case with acoustic dampening on the front, top, and sides. A silent power supply. An AIO with pump that can be controlled to silent levels (never all the way quiet but that's only if you open it up and stick your head in there. From your computer chair to the case, it's inaudible). Radiator fans that performed the best and are quiet/silent at idle levels are my Noctua nf12x25's but I also like the Thermal Take Toughfan 12's. They have a bit of motor noise compared to the Noctuas but they performed damn near the same in my little overclock and prime95 test. They have a deeper and darker tone than the Noctuas. Plus they are black and match the rest of my build. I'm keeping both sets. Noctuas are in now but I'm switching back tomorrow to continue to A/B.
Great video, I love how you're focused on a lot of the variables. I did, however, find your last fan video to be a bit better for two reasons; You pointed out the fan characteristics. E.g. How some fans only reach their potential when used with their identical other, some fans have a more narrow stream whilst others are broader. The other, you gave us a warning before changing off the close-up decibel test, the last video I didn't turn my headset volume up. Still, having seen that warning, it made me feel more comfortable about doing it this time. I felt like by doing that, I was able to compare it to my fans, even hearing the distinct type of sound it made, even if it did end with me hastily trying to turn my volume down once you began talking. I took the time to write that response of my opinion because from the brief content I've seen you dish out, I couldn't be more satisfied with having confidence in a purchase, whilst understanding more about the area you've discussed. Even if you don't characterise the fans, and hurt my ears from time to time, I'm still going to jump on your videos faster than anyone else's while I'm structuring a new machine.
Looking forward! Hope it also includes the 120mm Gentle Typhoons and (the noisy) 140mm Fractal's Venturi HP & Phanteks' PH-F140MP :) If not, these and the Bitfenix Spectre 1800rpm vs the quiet Arctics for the next time!
I mentioned it in a community post from TBG and he responded that from prior tests he didn't think it was competitive. From his and other tests I had a different opinion and predicted the noise-normalized results here, where everything was 1-2 degrees apart. The SW3 still by far have the best sound profile to my ears so I don't feel bad that I paid so much for them :) . I'm more than willing to sacrifice a few degrees for the sound, but not everyone builds a PC like I do. That's why it is great that TBG has had as many contenders over the course of these videos, everyone should be able to find something that works for them!
Awesome you got thermaltake's clone of the NF-A12x25! Would be interested to see how it performs, I don't really see myself switching out my P12s anytime soon though
I just ordered a 5 pack of Artic P14 PWM/PST's. Been listening to the drone on my stock corsair fan for a while. What's funny is my fans are so loud I couldn't hear the fan test on this video. I had to turn the volume up.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru OOOh now I'm really eager to. I was always told the stock corsair fans on corsair AIO's are decent working, but always on the louder side. Its amazing that the fans on my 3080 at 70%-75% are less audible than my corsair stock fans at around 35%. I was thinking of doing some Noctua's, and I'm sure the Noc's are awesome, but at around $30/fan and I needed 2, vs. $37/5 pack of P14's and its great performance is hard to pass up. I watched all 3 of your videos and subscribed. It was exactly what I was looking for.
Unsurprisingly the two Gentle Typhoon lookalikes sounds almost exactly the same and has almost exact performance with each other. It looks like now Seasonic is manufacturing Gentle Typhoons to use in their new PC cases, I wonder if they are going to sell them on their own since they do give the case reviewers extra fans. Previously Scythe did manufactured or have them branded as them as well but not anymore.
I hadn't noticed that the Seasonic Synchro uses Nidec fans. Interesting. But I doubt they'll start selling them. The case is just a one off to promote their new cable connect system, and I don't see it going anywhere. Also, the Nidec design really isn't optimized for cases, as I showed here: ruclips.net/video/WBoLyC0tSDQ/видео.html
nocturna a14 are still not bad, the graph said the noise was when at 800 rpm, and the fans work best at 1250 rpm, and if your a overclocker and gamer you would not mind a little more noise, although the temps were 2 degrees higher that can still be helped with 1 or 2 extra fans or 3 case fans on bottom sides and top, industrial means they are going to be loud but I would rather have a cooling system than trying to overclock on low profile case fans and have my AIO struggle on setting of 1200 or 1300 and no higher as you get with the pc case you purchase, im still glad i purchased the A14 nocturna 3000 rpm waterproof edition.
@@SUSHI4lyf I feel I can get similar performance but at noticibly lower noise levels/rpm with Arctic yes. I'm running sub 1000 rpm (usually 6-700 rpm) as low noise is my absolute first priority
So I bought a pack of 5 Arctic P14 PWM PST fans last week, and I had them installed in my system for all of 10 minutes before taking them out again. They produce an incredibly annoying low humming resonance that you can also definitely hear in this video (11:43). The best I can say about them is that they're cheap.
P-series fans do create a resonance at certain RPMs, but it wasn't in that video. I've never experienced it on the P14 actually, just the P12, where it is only between 1400 and 1500RPM.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Strange, I was excited to deck my system out in these fans, but from about 600rpm and then about every +200, the low humming would drive me mad. It's annoying, since I use the same 500DX case you have, so after watching this video I was sure I had bought some winners. :(
I continue to inquire into this issue with Arctic. Like I said, none of my P14 samples created any strange noises, but all of my P12 samples have at specific RPMs. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. Luckily, the fans in the 500DX are more than decent!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru They are. Certainly in my current setup the pure wings 2 fans provide more than adequate airflow to keep everything cool and quiet. I had thought about swapping them out for either shadow wings or silent wings fans, but getting 3 or 4 of those would cost way too much money for the minuscule improvement they would provide. Anyway, I thank you for these in-depth videos and for your responses. I will keep an eye on your channel.
I have a slim 120mm fan comparo in the works for early 2021, but it's very unlikely I'll do slim 140s anytime in the near future, as that's way too niche of a segment.
the toughfan 12 would be better if it had a flush design for the radiator and the rubber mounts isnt recessed to it just helps create a bigger gap on top of the one it has. It sounds great though and the only thing you hear is the air moving, no motor.
Hol' upm does the Kaze spin clockwise? And I do like the thrum of those arctic fans. Oh and the Tough fans aren't great for case fans. Quite nice though.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru woah, thats cool. Seeing as some gpus are spinning the middle fan in reverse because... reasons! maybe 3 120s in the font of a case with the middle in reverse will have some benefit. Probably not but might be another video =)
This guys quality..He even looks like he knows what hes talking about...like a pc techy Egon Spengler. Really seems to love those Arctic fans on his other fan vids to...I have actually just ordered a full fan replacement for my pc, with these P14s,on the strength of his videos. Lets see if they live up to the hype..
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Just a update with feedback .Fitted the P12 pwm fans,and can confirm for the ridiculously low price they cost for 5 fans,they are brilliant. Almost silent at idle..so much so,i checked they were actually spinning. Probably half the noise when being pushed hard. As per all Arctic products i have used,they offer incredible value for money,with performance to match.
Would have been best I think to test the Toughfan 14 and not the ToughFan 12 as it fills the void of the upcoming Noctua NF A14x25. I think it would have came out the winner.
LOL, that was announced after this video went live, and it's still not available, so it's a bit hard to test! But yes, I'm aware of it, and eventually I'll get around to reviewing it!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru You know what, I went back and checked the site and they still aren't for sale! Strange timing, I didn't know they were just announced. Good to hear though, looking forward to it!
Just noticed the kaze flex spins in the opposite direction to all other fans. Interesting that the flex was the best case fan but not recommended for radiators
Really good video, been looking for replacement fans for my CoolerMaster AIO as I found the fans it came with were very very loud, but I have to say, you sound exactly like Freakin' Reviews
I would love to see the audio tests on these fans after say 3-4 years of use. Depending on the bearing type used for each, there could be a significant difference in sound, as well especially for some types depending on orientation.
Well, you'll have to wait 3-4 years, then. Wait, that won't work, I'm not actually run all these fans for 3-4 years straight, so yeah, I can't do that for you!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Thanks for your reply. Do you think the Toughfan 12s are worth it over two Arcitc P12s on a 240mm radiator? The Thermaltakes do come out at a higher cost.
When the arctic p14 is a the best noise, performance, and budget fan, it just shows these fan manufacturers are lacking in 140mm innovation. Phanteks brought innovation with the t30, and artic is now the undisputed champions in the budget 120/140mm fan category. Their 5 pack deals are crazy good
I am looking for a 140mm radiator fan for my HZXT H1 and both the Arctic P14 and Scythe Kaze Flex are 27mm thick as opposed to the normal 25mm thick. The 2mm isn't much but the case is so tight that it makes the fan squish the AIO tubes just slightly as the case is closed. I wish there were some 25mm options in the roundup.
I understand what you're saying. I actually found that the P14 fans required a different screw than what was included with the Deepcool cooler came with. They were the thickest fans in this roundup. But that's really at the fan mounts, I don't think they are as thick throughout the frame. Check the specs on the Noctua NF-A14 - it may be 25mm thick.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Have you ever looked at the Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-14? Saw a video by another youtuber that showed it was better than the Noctua NF-A14 for radiators.
The Arctic fans are great value. I had a bunch of the 120mm fans in my previous ATX case but had to replace them as the motor whine at certain RPMs (usually around 1,000rpm) was annoying me. I guess everyone is sensitive to different tones/sounds but for me I couldn't bear them. Do the 140mm fans suffer from the same issue?
Here are two fans that in a direct comparison would be quite interesting: Silverstone's FHP-141 Vs. Noctua's NF-A14 iPPC-2000. Both are 2000 RPM 140mm PWM fans at similar price points however the Silverstone fan is 38mm thick which is now a rarity outside of delta fans, It's predictable that the FHP will be louder at any given RPM than the Noctua but if it's noise normalized will its raw performance defeat what is an NF-A14 on steroids? The FHP has a 1200 RPM mode switch built into the fan frame but Silverstone also sells a version where that switch reverses the fan's air flow and accordingly the fan blades on that model are symmetrical, I haven't figured out why someone would want or need a computer fan with that function but Silverstone has it.
Remember, RPM is a very poor indicator of cooling performance or noise. Many other factors have a bigger impact, like blade design. So this direct comparison at 2000RPM wouldn't be any more relevant than testing them at different speeds. With that said, the SilverStone fan is interesting due to the extra thickness, but I wouldn't review the Noctua. People shouldn't buy it. Just a loud version of an outdated design, and something people have been mistakenly buying for years thinking it will provide an upgrade to other fans.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Another 38mm thick, non-delta fan I have recently found which you might want to test are the " SilenX Ixtrema Pro Series" 120mm fans. The "IXP-76-18" is rated as 18dBA 90CFM @ 1400 RPM while the "XP-76-14" is rated as 14dBA 72CFM @ 1200 RPM. Also just throwing this fan out there as its uniqe, The Nexus brand 120mm "PWM Silent Case Fan" is probably the last of its kind 100% transparent fan.
you have done a great job but I miss on more test and is the performance of the fans at a normaliced speed, lets say 800 , 1100, 1300 and 1600, this is how you can really see which is the one that performs better in terms of disipation and noise.
Actually that is not a good way to compare fans. RPMs are not comparable across models. 800RPM on one fan may be powerful and loud, on another fan it may be weak and quiet, but it doesn't tell you anything about their performance. I am intentionally not using RPM-normalized tests because they are flawed and too many reviews in the past relied on them.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru I see, thank you so much for taking your time to answering me, anyway the test that you have done is really good for either the 120mm and for the 140mm .
Awesome fan comparison as usual ;) Arctic really has some killer fans with the P12/P14 series. Great perf/$, 10 year warranty, great performance overall. Just a shame, the Liquid Freezer II has only 2 years warranty which is a no go for me.
A bit of criticism in the testing methodology: The noise-normalized test should be repeated at more then 1 noise level to obtain a noise/temperature curve. Especially when you have results that are very similar like in this case. Each fan has a different efficiency/speed curve and maybe with your choice of sound level you are closer to the peak with some fans and farther with others. This video only tells me how the fans behave comparatively at 40 dB, but from that we cannot infer the permormance at other points in the termperature/noise curve. Apart from that I really like the sound samples.
Not going to do that. Previously gave 35dB and 40dB, but not min and max, and people complained. So this is what I've settled on. If you see complete curves elsewhere, they are meaningless. False precision. You can't differentiate between 39dB and 40dB and 41dB in terms of temps. You'd need to be able to measure temps in 10ths of a degree, which you can't do with monitoring software.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru 30dB and 40dB would be a good two step differentiation tho. 30dB is near silent ... and whoever performs best at that level is extremely interesting. Thanks for the awesome video tho!
With no nf-a14x25 available yet but a tough fan 14 exists, would be interesting to see how that fan stacks up against this lineup as well as the t30 and p140 bionix
I have a question regarding static pressure: I have a Corsair 4000D Airflow, which has a fine mesh filter in front of the frontal intake fans, to filter out dust. Is static pressure only important if there is something behind the fans, or is it significant as well, when there is resistance from the direction where air is sucked in from? Specifically I am wondering if airflow fans or static pressure fans are best for the Corsair 4000D Airflow frontal intake fan scenario, or similarly build cases. I am not even sure, if there is data on that :D
The filter certainly counts as static pressure, and most quality cases have a filter like that. But I have found that pure static pressure fans still don't excel in that application. Here's my case fan shootout: ruclips.net/video/PUdsTiRmuuU/видео.html
10 minutes into this very-enjoyable video, staring at the dB-normalized bar graph with a bowl of cereal, I suddenly sit back. There is a difference of 2 degrees between the best and worst of these fans; and I am truly a nerd. LOL. 🙂
@@TheTechBuyersGuru I love this type of content when I am ramping up for a new project. It is part of the fun of a new PC. Sadly, I'm not building one this time-just such a bad time for it-but I love SFF, so I finally settled on a prebuilt NZXT H1. But even with a prebuilt, I don't think I'd ever leave stock fans in a chassis, so I have found something fun to do researching replacements for the 140mm fan on the AIO (the only fan in that chassis, in case you maybe didn't care much about the H1). I have a pile of ToughFan 12s, and I have been trying to decide whether I should use one of those or opt for an A12x25 Chromax. Or maybe an Arctic P14 ARGB-less resonant *moan* on the ARGB version, I've heard?-so, I'm curious to know what you think. 🤔
Based on this shootout, I purchased 6 - Arctic P14s, in the case together they resonate like mad. Really annoying. I took 3 of them out and replaced them with NF-A14s and got rid of the resonance.
Very interesting. With three remaining there is no resonance? I'm guessing it was something wrong with one particular fan. I don't think there's a reason additional fans would create a resonance.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Yes, with 6 there is a resonance, and with 3 there is not a noticeable resonance. 3 of the fans are the plain bearing variety and 3 are the ball bearing (PWM PST CO), 1 of the 3 remaining is plain bearing and 2 are ball bearing, they are all mounted to an Arctic LF II 420. The Case is a Meshify 2 Mid. Yes it was an adventure to get that rad in that case, one of the fans and the motherboard heatsink lost corners to my Dremel tool. The 3 case fans have been changed to 140mm Noctuas. I should add that none of the Arctic 140mm fans are noisy when run by themselves. One thing I did notice is that while the Artcic fans all wobble a bit while running, the Noctuas run true.
Sounds like you've done your homework on this one. Interesting that you got that resonance effect from running more fans. I've only noticed it being RPM-related. I do wonder if when you have six in there, you had a different RPM setting.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru They would definitely go in and out of phase as they sped up, they would then go into full resonant song at full speed. All was quiet under light load or at idle. I only left it like that a couple of days. Currently I'm experimenting with a redux and an industrial from Noctua. The level of noise from the resonating fans was comparable to a single 3000 rpm industrial running flat out. The Noctua industrial moves so much air its like a 24" box fan stuffed into a 140mm frame. I think my end game will probably be NF-A14s in the case and possibly the industrial fans on the rad. I have a 5950x and its definitely thermal throttling. I'm beginning to suspect that I'm going to have to go full custom loop to get a stronger pump. Pump speed seems to be the strongest factor in controlling CPU temps. I'll be looking for pump reviews next. ps. thanks for the chat!
I'm shocked that your 5950X is throttling with an LFII 420. That's a ton of cooling power. You already have the best fans, although you could potentially try the ToughFan 14, which I haven't tested. 2-Pack for $50: amzn.to/3v0K8TX #ad 1-Pack for $30: amzn.to/3I2AGTL #ad It would DEFINITELY be better than the redux and industrial fan on your rad. Those are pretty low-performing designs for rad use in terms of dB-normalized performance. You could use the Arctics or the NF-A14s as your case fans, they are both good for that purpose.
Fuck it I am ordering two P14s. $16 total, need to get better intake fans than my Pure Wings 2, esp. ones with better static pressure and quieter (Pure Wings 2 are rated at 37 dba!!). If the humming is a problem I'll just return, not like they cost an arm and a leg. But if not, then I found my new intake fans!
Hmm if you have the fans pulling the air through the radiator you want max airflow if they are pushing it through you want max static pressure personally pulling the air through should give you better temp thresholds
You need to increase test duration, even fans off vs max fans dont really make a lot of difference if you dont run it just for a short time. 10 minute the very least.
I would love a retest of the 120 and 140 Arctic Bionix fans, they are the only ones that have 140mm available in white. In the first test you did with them I couldn't hear the fan noise as the mic was placed too close and got a lot of wind noise. It is currently the only review of it on youtube so I have no other way of finding this out. Also BTW, great video!
The BioniX fans are too loud. I won't retest them using my improved test methodology because I know what they actually sound like to my ears! But if Arctic releases a white version of the P14 PWM, you may have your solution.... and I have a "feeling" they're going to release these soon! By the way, perhaps you know that the P12 PWM is already available in white, which gives you an idea of what the P14 white will look like: amzn.to/3jw6nb3
The Noctua is far better at static pressure. NF 2000 industrial hits 4.2 mm h2o Vs Arctics 2.4. So for a radiator, there's no doubt what's better. And the new Arctic 420mm is equipped with the p14. Just FYI.
Just want to mention, this guy's a fantastic presenter. Easy to understand and speaks at a decent pace and volume.
Really nice of you to take the time to share that. I'll admit it took some work. In my early videos, I definitely talked too fast!
100% agreed on that
Arctic is really the value king when it comes to fans, OMG.
Yes!Exactly!
Just bought 4 P14 to equip my case, can't wait
Yes! Arctic is seriously the best. When I finally start my PC building business I really want to use them for all builds.
17:17 I couldn’t talk more but thank for all your great work. For the past one year, I improved both my English and PC knowledge because of your passion in answering those tricky questions that geeks are truly looking for, many thanks man
Thank you for sharing your experience, I'm glad to help you with both your English and PC knowledge!
oh man, I can't wait. Rooting for Arctic!
I did my own testing with a few of these. The artics won out. I'm not RUclipsr or anything but a few packs of fans for some builds for friends and family and in almost every scenario the artics won out.
Arctic's fans are the superior fans. This has become clear to me after spending well over $100 on them.
They may not technically be the best in all categories, especially noise when you really crank them, but damn it if they aren't top 5% or even 1% with literally unbeatable value.
@@LiveType I have four of them in my corsair 4000 d airflow. They are freaking amazing.
@@merwinpique do you have f12's or p12's on your case? im using the same case and putting 3 f12's in the front 1 in the back for exhaust and two p14's at the top with the radiator
@@goomi8908 I have the P12.
I only checked one other review before ordering the P14 PWM PST. Happy to see another reviewer liking it. Will use two of them in the front intake of a P400A
Oh wow, the Arctic P14 has a _really_ pleasant noise profile at 40dbA. Combined with its exceptional performance for the price, they seem like a very good choice.
Also very good as case fans: ruclips.net/video/PUdsTiRmuuU/видео.html
Another great roundup from TBG. Thanks for including the P14 Ari, we appreciate all you do!
Sure thing!
Is there a way to get P14 in Indonesia?
Damn, that Artic P14 really is a great cheap allround fan.
Great testing!
This video is absolutely the best I've seen.
My issue is that I hate high pitch fans with a passion.
The Arctic P14 had the best sound imo, followed by the Noctua NF-A14.
Obviously I chose the Arctic P14 since it was among the quietest and best performing.
I have absolutely no regrets, It sounds FAN-tastic!
Thanks for the feedback. And yeah, the P14 has a much lower-pitched sound than the others at the same dB level.
Bought Arctic 140 pwm pst 5 pack in Serbia for 26€...best money spent.
Welcome to to the Arctic club bro.
I REALLY appreciate that you went through the trouble of updating the links in your description with those new releases! I was hoping the TT one had a 140mm variant and you took that search time right out from under me.
I can only second all those positive comments. I'm glad you actually do content that matters, instead of going into specs you can hear from 638926 other TechTubers!
Really looking forward to that Arctic P12 and P14 setup comparison!
Thanks Paul, I try to be a bit different from the 638926 others! You sure it's not 638927, there's another every day!?!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru dang, you are right, it might be even 638929 by now, due to more people staying at home 😂
This is really an excellent educational material for people who are seeking changes to factory radiator fans. Thumbs up!
Can confirm: Those DeepCool fans really howl at high RPM. I have a TF120S as my exhaust, set to 50% RPM and it can blow papers across my desk. But at Max RPM it sets off car alarms across the street :D Great video as always! Looking forward to more!
Since I saw the TT Toughfan 12 it was love at 1st. sight, althought I'm very undecided with ARCTIC PWM PST 12.
I've been waiting for this I love these round ups! Nobody on yt does them like you!
Awesome video man. As expected, the Arctic P-14 pwm that I voted for won this round up but surprisingly those Thermaltake rad fans look great and according to your test also performed very well for the price. Great informative video as usual and keep up the great tech content.
You were right, good guess on those P14s! But the big surprise was the ToughFan 12, becomes my main recommendation for 120mm cooler/rad upgrades!
I was getting ready to splurge on some noctua 140s instead of the Arctic P14s 5 pack, now I have to go watch your case fan shoot out and look up the 6 vs 5 artic fanb video as well. Glad I found this though as I will gladly save $$ for the same or better performance
I just picked up some of those toughfan 12s. Been waiting for black x25s for a while now. I gotta say these thermaltake fans are amazingly quiet! Love them!
Glad you agree they perform well!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Would love to see you test them on a case with a closed off front panel. I got these to use as intake on a NZXT H700. I know they are designed to be used on radiators but they seem to work fine in this application. They seem to overcome the restricted intake very well and since they are so much quieter than my old 140mm redux fans, I can run them at a higher RPM and pull even more air into the case.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Update on the thermaltake Toughfans. I picked up a few of them for my H700 as I mentioned before( 6 in total) one has failed. Looks like the bearings are shot. It made a god awful sound before it eventually locked up. Lets hope it was just a one off and not a sign of overall quality.
Happy I don't need or ever am going to want to upgrade the fans on the Deepcool Castle 280EX that I recently bought. Nice!
Excellent test! Note that the Scythe rotates in the opposite direction to practically all other fans which opens up an interesting possibility - fan stacking. It's been tried in the past, but two stacked fans spinning in the same direction increases nothing but noise. Stacked *contra-rotating* fans produce double the pressure of a single one (but barely more flow). The Scythe and Noctua NF-A14 have almost identical blade configuration (although slightly different speeds, 1700RPM and 1500RPM) and could be used for this. As it happens I have the round frame version of the Scythe on the way (KF1425FD18-P) and the NF-A15 fan on my Noctua NH-U14S CPU Cooler is the round-frame version of the NF-A14 fan. Both are considerably lighter than the square versions, so the two of them hanging off one side of the cooler might be doable. I'm seriously tempted to try it out.
This counter-rotating effect is why the Scythe Fuma 2, which I've featured on the channel in dozens of videos, works so well despite its relatively small size and ultra-low noise levels. With a slim 120mm fan in the front and a standard 120mm Kaze Flex counter-rotating fan in the middle, it can compete with many 240mm AIO coolers. Your idea about the NF-U14S sounds good. You can of course control the RPMs of the Kaze Flex 140 and NF-A15 separately in order to match them, although they are not as similar as the blade designs would suggest, so I'm not sure that' necessary.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Interesting! I did think of mounting the Scythe on the back of the NH-U14S (it looks like the spare set of Noctua clips will work), but I assumed the fins on a CPU cooler work as vanes hence effectively turning any fan into a 'vane-axial', where the most of angular (spin/spiralling) motion of the air is deflected and converted into axial motion. If I try the stacked approach I'll make sure to report back - (could be useful if the summer here in the UK really heats up). Also, I've just remembered that I have an old Zalman reostat fan controller kicking about that I could use to tweak the speed of the Scythe down (and perhaps tune out any weird harmonics that might be set up between the two).
Great reviews! There's a serious dearth of 140mm fan comparisons.
Props to thermaltake. Decent looking fan and performs nicely. Appreciate the hard work you put into testing!
Glad you liked it, and yes, Thermaltake came through strong!
Thank you for another in-depth shootout, I'm always happy to see so much more data in a well produced video, especially when I'm looking at the Freezer II 280 to see which 140 fan to pair with it
Luckily for you, the LFII is best used with the fans it comes with!
I just realized Im way to deep into fans.. i watch these shootout video for entertaining purpose and the fan noise samples have a similar effect as some asmr videos on me :DD
I actually think that's why people like these reviews, LOL!
Lol, you are not alone!
you are the true fan of fans
The Artic P14 sounds pretty good. I wish, we all have wishes, you ran the speed test and the more typical rpms that most would, such as between 800-1000 rpms to hear how they sound. The Noctua 120 still has the best sound quality in my opinion. Thanks for the reviews.
Thermaltake also released a 140mm Toughfan 14. Damn they're kicking Noctua's ass in their own game!
Just saw that announced today. That's a big release, about a year ahead of Noctua (literally).
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Could you test TOUGHFAN 14 please?
Nice content,Thank you!I just pick eight Arctic P12 PWM and two P14 to change my 360+240 costum loop fan set up mostly Because your 3 video before，great value indeed！
Great to hear, that's a big upgrade!
Props for bringing up the noctua 140mm adapter. I have never seen anyone mention it. Subbed!
Such a low subs count for such quality videos !? Keep up the good work !
Working on it!
I just bought an Arctic Freezer II 360 and 3 P14s ... Arctic are killing it in the cooling space at the moment.
Best fan is also dirt cheap, widely available AND has the longest warranty.
There practically isn't any competition at this point. Crazy.
Agreed - definitely check out this AIO shootout if you haven't already! - ruclips.net/video/qr3bWJ033LY/видео.html
@@TheTechBuyersGuru The Arctic Freezer II just replaced my Kraken X62 on a 7900X 10-Core and the P14s are replacing 3 Silent Wings 3 in my Dark Base 900 Pro. The 3090 has ... erm ... hidden costs ...
Oh yeah, you need great case cooling if you're using a 3090!
I enjoy your channel, one of the most under rated channels. Keep it up!
Glad you enjoy it!
"I would never runs these Fans at such high speeds" *Brofist*
Finally another Channnel who does proper Fan reviews! There really isn't enough out there.
Being a silent freak, over the past 20 years I came from (back then experimental) Watercooling, to Air, to Semi-Passive, now back to Watercooling... and always were the Fans the most important part! I've had soooo many over the years but in my book the new Arctics have proven to be among the best ever, even without considering the Price. Simply unbeatable when price considered. So thanks for the exeptionally good work with all your Fan reviews. And keep going, your way of reviewing is... pleasant. Looking forward to see more from your channel.
BTW: I don't think TT or Scythe are really copying Noctua here, but rather all 3 just either used licensed manufacturing of anothers design or just bought at the same Manufacturer and relabeled... namely: Nidec. One sees this design so often, also in industrial applications, it's either Nidecs or someones elses Patent and they all just piggyback on it / buy from them.
Thanks for the positive feedback! And yes, this is a Nidec design, and Noctua, Scythe, and Thermaltake have each used it at one time or another. I'm not sure about the licensing method, but Nidec is still very active in licensing its design so I'm sure they get a cut or file a legal claim!
My only real takeaway here, and it is valuable to be clear, is the noise that each fan makes. I don't feel like the thermals really much mattered, as there was a spread of literally only 2 degrees, when normalized.
Looking forward to this. Been at it for a month trying different case and radiator fans. Wayyyy too much fan swapping going on but I've settled on something and I'm looking forward to your results as I've taken your advice in the past. In the meantime, I've learned that it all ends up depending on my case, with it's quirks and restrictions (silent case). However, the fans you suggested are great and I love them. I've just had to change it up a bit to meet the "demands," of my silent case.
Can you share your formula for a silent case?
@@KW-pt9ke No way, I've only tried two cases and a whole bunch of fans but I can tell you what I've tried. First off, there is often something that is going to cause noise. I got all my stuff quiet and then bought a new graphics card with a bit of coil wine. yay. I can't win. However, the silent case kills high frequencies like that. That's the point and one advantage of a "silent," build, I guess. My first build used an Antec p101 silent case (cheap and really quiet case but generic door clasps broke and customer support failed to help.) Returned that case and got a Phanteks 600P Eclipse or something like that. The black one without glass and acoustic dampening on each panel...
I'm breaking this up in case there is a message character limit... more to come
This case isn't as silent but it has the option of opening up a front panel and top panel to allow for venting. This way you can have some fun overclocking and whatnot but then shut it up when you want your peace and quiet back. I first went with a Gamemax power supply after reading reviews but I personally found it too loud. The fan ran high and often. So I changed it out for a Be Quiet Straight Power 11 Platinum 750w modular power supply. Perfect! No more noise there. Now the fans. I've tried a whole bunch of radiator fans and tested them by their volume and ability to cool during an OC and stress test (no special measurements... just me running benchmarks and overclocking, all while intently listening and forming my own opinions and observations). I've settled on the Noctua nf12x25 push pull on 280 radiator using the adapter mounts. I also use Phobya shrouds to keep the fans off the radiator. This allows the air to expand, covering more ground and also helps with any fans that are sensitive to being right up on something or having to pull through a filter or mesh. However if a fan doesn't like to push or pull, no shroud is going to fix that, most likely. Keep looking. Those fans are pretty quiet and if you aren't overclocking and running prime95 small, you won't hear them. However, they maintained my lowest cpu temps out of all the fans I've rifled through. Also, the arctic AIO (280 in my case) is great because you can control the pump noise. So that is super important to my silent build. I like using an AIO because you can close off the case and not be afraid of strangling your air cooler. There are all these cool non aio air coolers now but you need a good airflow case for that. I also like that the AIO uses water and will absorb spikes in cpu usage before the computer goes full blower mode. Sure you can set you curves and whatnot with an air cooled rig but I'm using an AIO, so there! :)
So that pretty much did it for me. A silent case with acoustic dampening on the front, top, and sides. A silent power supply. An AIO with pump that can be controlled to silent levels (never all the way quiet but that's only if you open it up and stick your head in there. From your computer chair to the case, it's inaudible). Radiator fans that performed the best and are quiet/silent at idle levels are my Noctua nf12x25's but I also like the Thermal Take Toughfan 12's. They have a bit of motor noise compared to the Noctuas but they performed damn near the same in my little overclock and prime95 test. They have a deeper and darker tone than the Noctuas. Plus they are black and match the rest of my build. I'm keeping both sets. Noctuas are in now but I'm switching back tomorrow to continue to A/B.
I was thinking about Arctic P14 vs Noctua NF-A14 2000pwm, highly wanted buy the Noctua one, but now I think Arctic are better? CPU - R9 5900X
Which cooler?
Great video, I love how you're focused on a lot of the variables.
I did, however, find your last fan video to be a bit better for two reasons;
You pointed out the fan characteristics. E.g. How some fans only reach their potential when used with their identical other, some fans have a more narrow stream whilst others are broader.
The other, you gave us a warning before changing off the close-up decibel test, the last video I didn't turn my headset volume up. Still, having seen that warning, it made me feel more comfortable about doing it this time. I felt like by doing that, I was able to compare it to my fans, even hearing the distinct type of sound it made, even if it did end with me hastily trying to turn my volume down once you began talking.
I took the time to write that response of my opinion because from the brief content I've seen you dish out, I couldn't be more satisfied with having confidence in a purchase, whilst understanding more about the area you've discussed. Even if you don't characterise the fans, and hurt my ears from time to time, I'm still going to jump on your videos faster than anyone else's while I'm structuring a new machine.
Looking forward! Hope it also includes the 120mm Gentle Typhoons and (the noisy) 140mm Fractal's Venturi HP & Phanteks' PH-F140MP :) If not, these and the Bitfenix Spectre 1800rpm vs the quiet Arctics for the next time!
I'm bummed the BQ Silent Wings 3 wasn't in here, but still a great video
I mentioned it in a community post from TBG and he responded that from prior tests he didn't think it was competitive. From his and other tests I had a different opinion and predicted the noise-normalized results here, where everything was 1-2 degrees apart. The SW3 still by far have the best sound profile to my ears so I don't feel bad that I paid so much for them :) .
I'm more than willing to sacrifice a few degrees for the sound, but not everyone builds a PC like I do. That's why it is great that TBG has had as many contenders over the course of these videos, everyone should be able to find something that works for them!
Awesome you got thermaltake's clone of the NF-A12x25! Would be interested to see how it performs, I don't really see myself switching out my P12s anytime soon though
Yeah, I specifically got it because a number of viewers asked me to test it, so here it is!
Cool, can't wait to see the results!
When you update this test, you should add the EK Vardar F3-120mm
I just ordered a 5 pack of Artic P14 PWM/PST's. Been listening to the drone on my stock corsair fan for a while.
What's funny is my fans are so loud I couldn't hear the fan test on this video. I had to turn the volume up.
Funny, you should go back and watch this video after you've installed your new fans and see if you can hear the video any better!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru OOOh now I'm really eager to. I was always told the stock corsair fans on corsair AIO's are decent working, but always on the louder side.
Its amazing that the fans on my 3080 at 70%-75% are less audible than my corsair stock fans at around 35%.
I was thinking of doing some Noctua's, and I'm sure the Noc's are awesome, but at around $30/fan and I needed 2, vs. $37/5 pack of P14's and its great performance is hard to pass up. I watched all 3 of your videos and subscribed. It was exactly what I was looking for.
Another great roundup. Surprised at the results. I actually use the P14 but I always assumed the NF-A14 were better.
I think a lot of people make that assumption... but probably not Noctua, which is why they are working on an NF-A14x25.
Extremely impressed with the thermaltake fans. I was debating between p14 and nf-a14, but I may go with the TT instead.
I hope you didn't
Very impresive job! It may be interesting to see how to the P12 on the Noctua adapter perform vs P14.
Thanks for the video. Just ordered a Tough Fan 12.
Glad I could help!
Unsurprisingly the two Gentle Typhoon lookalikes sounds almost exactly the same and has almost exact performance with each other. It looks like now Seasonic is manufacturing Gentle Typhoons to use in their new PC cases, I wonder if they are going to sell them on their own since they do give the case reviewers extra fans. Previously Scythe did manufactured or have them branded as them as well but not anymore.
I hadn't noticed that the Seasonic Synchro uses Nidec fans. Interesting. But I doubt they'll start selling them. The case is just a one off to promote their new cable connect system, and I don't see it going anywhere. Also, the Nidec design really isn't optimized for cases, as I showed here: ruclips.net/video/WBoLyC0tSDQ/видео.html
nocturna a14 are still not bad, the graph said the noise was when at 800 rpm, and the fans work best at 1250 rpm, and if your a overclocker and gamer you would not mind a little more noise, although the temps were 2 degrees higher that can still be helped with 1 or 2 extra fans or 3 case fans on bottom sides and top, industrial means they are going to be loud but I would rather have a cooling system than trying to overclock on low profile case fans and have my AIO struggle on setting of 1200 or 1300 and no higher as you get with the pc case you purchase, im still glad i purchased the A14 nocturna 3000 rpm waterproof edition.
I know it’s super overkill but I filled a PC 011 Air case with the P12 fans and my Vega has never ram cooler.
Also I'd love to see that Arctic P14 vs P12
I sold my 4x nf-a14 and bought Arctic 14pvms recently. Haven't looked back
Wait. So the P14's are better than the Noctuas? I already have the BioniX ones and was looking to switch to Noctuas.
Do not switch if you are using the P140 BioniX, but reduce the max RPM to 1800RPM. 1950RPM will be too loud.
@@SUSHI4lyf I feel I can get similar performance but at noticibly lower noise levels/rpm with Arctic yes.
I'm running sub 1000 rpm (usually 6-700 rpm) as low noise is my absolute first priority
I dont know why you dont have more subscribers. Your content is solid.
Thanks for checking out the channel!
So I bought a pack of 5 Arctic P14 PWM PST fans last week, and I had them installed in my system for all of 10 minutes before taking them out again. They produce an incredibly annoying low humming resonance that you can also definitely hear in this video (11:43). The best I can say about them is that they're cheap.
P-series fans do create a resonance at certain RPMs, but it wasn't in that video. I've never experienced it on the P14 actually, just the P12, where it is only between 1400 and 1500RPM.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Strange, I was excited to deck my system out in these fans, but from about 600rpm and then about every +200, the low humming would drive me mad. It's annoying, since I use the same 500DX case you have, so after watching this video I was sure I had bought some winners. :(
I continue to inquire into this issue with Arctic. Like I said, none of my P14 samples created any strange noises, but all of my P12 samples have at specific RPMs. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. Luckily, the fans in the 500DX are more than decent!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru They are. Certainly in my current setup the pure wings 2 fans provide more than adequate airflow to keep everything cool and quiet. I had thought about swapping them out for either shadow wings or silent wings fans, but getting 3 or 4 of those would cost way too much money for the minuscule improvement they would provide. Anyway, I thank you for these in-depth videos and for your responses. I will keep an eye on your channel.
We need a comparison of slim 120mm and slim 140mm fans.
I have a slim 120mm fan comparo in the works for early 2021, but it's very unlikely I'll do slim 140s anytime in the near future, as that's way too niche of a segment.
the toughfan 12 would be better if it had a flush design for the radiator and the rubber mounts isnt recessed to it just helps create a bigger gap on top of the one it has. It sounds great though and the only thing you hear is the air moving, no motor.
Hol' upm does the Kaze spin clockwise? And I do like the thrum of those arctic fans.
Oh and the Tough fans aren't great for case fans. Quite nice though.
Yes, Scythe Kaze Flex fans are oriented in mirror image of most fans, so they spin clockwise.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru woah, thats cool. Seeing as some gpus are spinning the middle fan in reverse because... reasons! maybe 3 120s in the font of a case with the middle in reverse will have some benefit. Probably not but might be another video =)
This guys quality..He even looks like he knows what hes talking about...like a pc techy Egon Spengler.
Really seems to love those Arctic fans on his other fan vids to...I have actually just ordered a full fan replacement for my pc, with these P14s,on the strength of his videos.
Lets see if they live up to the hype..
Appreciate the feedback. :)
Enjoy the fans!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Just a update with feedback
.Fitted the P12 pwm fans,and can confirm for the ridiculously low price they cost for 5 fans,they are brilliant.
Almost silent at idle..so much so,i checked they were actually spinning.
Probably half the noise when being pushed hard.
As per all Arctic products i have used,they offer incredible value for money,with performance to match.
Would have been best I think to test the Toughfan 14 and not the ToughFan 12 as it fills the void of the upcoming Noctua NF A14x25. I think it would have came out the winner.
LOL, that was announced after this video went live, and it's still not available, so it's a bit hard to test! But yes, I'm aware of it, and eventually I'll get around to reviewing it!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru You know what, I went back and checked the site and they still aren't for sale! Strange timing, I didn't know they were just announced. Good to hear though, looking forward to it!
Can you do a review on the toughfan 14
Yes, it would be great to see the Toughfan 14 in his reviews. Very few people have done reviews on it, but it's a unique fan.
Still waiting for the 140mm version of Noctuas NF-A12x25 PWM, but damn are they slow getting new products out?! :P
Love your fan shoot outs, very informative
Just noticed the kaze flex spins in the opposite direction to all other fans. Interesting that the flex was the best case fan but not recommended for radiators
Really good video, been looking for replacement fans for my CoolerMaster AIO as I found the fans it came with were very very loud, but I have to say, you sound exactly like Freakin' Reviews
More on this topic here: ruclips.net/video/agojNJedtR8/видео.html
The 140mm variant of the NF-A12 x 25 is due to arrive in Q3/4 in 2021 according to Noctua's webiste
Thanks for the update - that schedule is always subject to change, but hopefully they hit that target.
I would love to see the audio tests on these fans after say 3-4 years of use. Depending on the bearing type used for each, there could be a significant difference in sound, as well especially for some types depending on orientation.
Well, you'll have to wait 3-4 years, then. Wait, that won't work, I'm not actually run all these fans for 3-4 years straight, so yeah, I can't do that for you!
Please for the next fan shootout, make it the best slim fan. Some contenders are Arctic P12 slim, noctua A12x15, kaze flex slim, and id cooling.
I will be doing that eventually, not the next shootout but likely in April or May.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Thanks! Waiting for the vid, already subscribed.
Thanks for the video, really good presentation and information. Will definitely take a look at the Thermaltake fans.
Glad it was helpful! Yeah, if you need two, don't miss the 2-pack, which sometimes doesn't come up in searches: amzn.to/35D34tH #ad
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Thanks for your reply. Do you think the Toughfan 12s are worth it over two Arcitc P12s on a 240mm radiator? The Thermaltakes do come out at a higher cost.
They are significantly better than P12 fans. The Noctua was in this roundup because it defeated the Arctic. Thermaltake matches the Noctua for less.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Alright, thanks a lot.
When the arctic p14 is a the best noise, performance, and budget fan, it just shows these fan manufacturers are lacking in 140mm innovation. Phanteks brought innovation with the t30, and artic is now the undisputed champions in the budget 120/140mm fan category. Their 5 pack deals are crazy good
I am looking for a 140mm radiator fan for my HZXT H1 and both the Arctic P14 and Scythe Kaze Flex are 27mm thick as opposed to the normal 25mm thick. The 2mm isn't much but the case is so tight that it makes the fan squish the AIO tubes just slightly as the case is closed. I wish there were some 25mm options in the roundup.
I understand what you're saying. I actually found that the P14 fans required a different screw than what was included with the Deepcool cooler came with. They were the thickest fans in this roundup. But that's really at the fan mounts, I don't think they are as thick throughout the frame. Check the specs on the Noctua NF-A14 - it may be 25mm thick.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Have you ever looked at the Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-14? Saw a video by another youtuber that showed it was better than the Noctua NF-A14 for radiators.
Im using p14 and nf-a14, love them!
In which scenarios do you prefer each?
The Arctic fans are great value. I had a bunch of the 120mm fans in my previous ATX case but had to replace them as the motor whine at certain RPMs (usually around 1,000rpm) was annoying me. I guess everyone is sensitive to different tones/sounds but for me I couldn't bear them. Do the 140mm fans suffer from the same issue?
It isn't motor whine, it's blade resonance. The 140mm fans do not do it as much, in fact I've never heard it.
Here are two fans that in a direct comparison would be quite interesting: Silverstone's FHP-141 Vs. Noctua's NF-A14 iPPC-2000.
Both are 2000 RPM 140mm PWM fans at similar price points however the Silverstone fan is 38mm thick which is now a rarity outside of delta fans, It's predictable that the FHP will be louder at any given RPM than the Noctua but if it's noise normalized will its raw performance defeat what is an NF-A14 on steroids?
The FHP has a 1200 RPM mode switch built into the fan frame but Silverstone also sells a version where that switch reverses the fan's air flow and accordingly the fan blades on that model are symmetrical, I haven't figured out why someone would want or need a computer fan with that function but Silverstone has it.
Remember, RPM is a very poor indicator of cooling performance or noise. Many other factors have a bigger impact, like blade design. So this direct comparison at 2000RPM wouldn't be any more relevant than testing them at different speeds.
With that said, the SilverStone fan is interesting due to the extra thickness, but I wouldn't review the Noctua. People shouldn't buy it. Just a loud version of an outdated design, and something people have been mistakenly buying for years thinking it will provide an upgrade to other fans.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Another 38mm thick, non-delta fan I have recently found which you might want to test are the "
SilenX Ixtrema Pro Series" 120mm fans.
The "IXP-76-18" is rated as 18dBA 90CFM @ 1400 RPM while the "XP-76-14" is rated as 14dBA 72CFM @ 1200 RPM.
Also just throwing this fan out there as its uniqe, The
Nexus brand 120mm "PWM Silent Case Fan" is probably the last of its kind 100% transparent fan.
dude i love you
Glad i found this video haha. Do you still recomend P14 to put in front of the case? my aio is placed at the top, or there are better options?
you have done a great job but I miss on more test and is the performance of the fans at a normaliced speed, lets say 800 , 1100, 1300 and 1600, this is how you can really see which is the one that performs better in terms of disipation and noise.
Actually that is not a good way to compare fans. RPMs are not comparable across models. 800RPM on one fan may be powerful and loud, on another fan it may be weak and quiet, but it doesn't tell you anything about their performance.
I am intentionally not using RPM-normalized tests because they are flawed and too many reviews in the past relied on them.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru I see, thank you so much for taking your time to answering me, anyway the test that you have done is really good for either the 120mm and for the 140mm .
Thank you so much for the review !!!
The Thermtake might be a clone but the NF-A12x25 is a clone of the Gentle Typhoon (Nidec or Scythe) . What goes around comes around.
That is a very good point!
I would actually buy the Thermaltake in protest against noctuas decision of colors
😆 that's one way to do it!
noctua has black, what more do you want? white? paint it yourself.
@@chloekaftan black a12x25? where? Btw it's a great idea to buy the most expensive fan just to paint it.
Awesome fan comparison as usual ;)
Arctic really has some killer fans with the P12/P14 series.
Great perf/$, 10 year warranty, great performance overall.
Just a shame, the Liquid Freezer II has only 2 years warranty which is a no go for me.
I hear you on that - warranties are important with liquid coolers. I'll mention that to them!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Thanks, i appreciate that!
They make a 140mm Tough fan 14. Maybe it wasn't out in october
Actually still not out... just announced a few weeks ago.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Ah, my bad.
Do you expect them to be better than arctic 140mm p14s?
A bit of criticism in the testing methodology: The noise-normalized test should be repeated at more then 1 noise level to obtain a noise/temperature curve. Especially when you have results that are very similar like in this case. Each fan has a different efficiency/speed curve and maybe with your choice of sound level you are closer to the peak with some fans and farther with others. This video only tells me how the fans behave comparatively at 40 dB, but from that we cannot infer the permormance at other points in the termperature/noise curve. Apart from that I really like the sound samples.
Not going to do that. Previously gave 35dB and 40dB, but not min and max, and people complained. So this is what I've settled on. If you see complete curves elsewhere, they are meaningless. False precision. You can't differentiate between 39dB and 40dB and 41dB in terms of temps. You'd need to be able to measure temps in 10ths of a degree, which you can't do with monitoring software.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru 30dB and 40dB would be a good two step differentiation tho. 30dB is near silent ... and whoever performs best at that level is extremely interesting. Thanks for the awesome video tho!
With no nf-a14x25 available yet but a tough fan 14 exists, would be interesting to see how that fan stacks up against this lineup as well as the t30 and p140 bionix
I have a question regarding static pressure:
I have a Corsair 4000D Airflow, which has a fine mesh filter in front of the frontal intake fans, to filter out dust. Is static pressure only important if there is something behind the fans, or is it significant as well, when there is resistance from the direction where air is sucked in from?
Specifically I am wondering if airflow fans or static pressure fans are best for the Corsair 4000D Airflow frontal intake fan scenario, or similarly build cases.
I am not even sure, if there is data on that :D
The filter certainly counts as static pressure, and most quality cases have a filter like that. But I have found that pure static pressure fans still don't excel in that application. Here's my case fan shootout: ruclips.net/video/PUdsTiRmuuU/видео.html
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Nice! Thanks for the quick response :)
Arctic’s are awesome but a lot of the units seem to have a very annoying hum at certain RPMs
10 minutes into this very-enjoyable video, staring at the dB-normalized bar graph with a bowl of cereal, I suddenly sit back. There is a difference of 2 degrees between the best and worst of these fans; and I am truly a nerd. LOL. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it! Remember, these are all good fans... I got tired of testing bad ones, and luckily, I already know which ones those are. ;)
@@TheTechBuyersGuru I love this type of content when I am ramping up for a new project. It is part of the fun of a new PC. Sadly, I'm not building one this time-just such a bad time for it-but I love SFF, so I finally settled on a prebuilt NZXT H1.
But even with a prebuilt, I don't think I'd ever leave stock fans in a chassis, so I have found something fun to do researching replacements for the 140mm fan on the AIO (the only fan in that chassis, in case you maybe didn't care much about the H1).
I have a pile of ToughFan 12s, and I have been trying to decide whether I should use one of those or opt for an A12x25 Chromax. Or maybe an Arctic P14 ARGB-less resonant *moan* on the ARGB version, I've heard?-so, I'm curious to know what you think. 🤔
Based on this shootout, I purchased 6 - Arctic P14s, in the case together they resonate like mad. Really annoying. I took 3 of them out and replaced them with NF-A14s and got rid of the resonance.
Very interesting. With three remaining there is no resonance? I'm guessing it was something wrong with one particular fan. I don't think there's a reason additional fans would create a resonance.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Yes, with 6 there is a resonance, and with 3 there is not a noticeable resonance. 3 of the fans are the plain bearing variety and 3 are the ball bearing (PWM PST CO), 1 of the 3 remaining is plain bearing and 2 are ball bearing, they are all mounted to an Arctic LF II 420. The Case is a Meshify 2 Mid. Yes it was an adventure to get that rad in that case, one of the fans and the motherboard heatsink lost corners to my Dremel tool. The 3 case fans have been changed to 140mm Noctuas. I should add that none of the Arctic 140mm fans are noisy when run by themselves. One thing I did notice is that while the Artcic fans all wobble a bit while running, the Noctuas run true.
Sounds like you've done your homework on this one. Interesting that you got that resonance effect from running more fans. I've only noticed it being RPM-related. I do wonder if when you have six in there, you had a different RPM setting.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru They would definitely go in and out of phase as they sped up, they would then go into full resonant song at full speed. All was quiet under light load or at idle. I only left it like that a couple of days. Currently I'm experimenting with a redux and an industrial from Noctua. The level of noise from the resonating fans was comparable to a single 3000 rpm industrial running flat out. The Noctua industrial moves so much air its like a 24" box fan stuffed into a 140mm frame. I think my end game will probably be NF-A14s in the case and possibly the industrial fans on the rad. I have a 5950x and its definitely thermal throttling. I'm beginning to suspect that I'm going to have to go full custom loop to get a stronger pump. Pump speed seems to be the strongest factor in controlling CPU temps. I'll be looking for pump reviews next.
ps. thanks for the chat!
I'm shocked that your 5950X is throttling with an LFII 420. That's a ton of cooling power. You already have the best fans, although you could potentially try the ToughFan 14, which I haven't tested.
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It would DEFINITELY be better than the redux and industrial fan on your rad. Those are pretty low-performing designs for rad use in terms of dB-normalized performance. You could use the Arctics or the NF-A14s as your case fans, they are both good for that purpose.
Excellent review as always. Congratulation
Have you tried Phanteks PH-F140MP? How it is comparing to P14 in general and especially in low rpm mode on a radiator? Thanks
I had to pay $75 Cad including tax and shipping for the value 5 pack of the arctic p14 fans. Still not a bad price but they are hard to find nowadays.
Canada computers usually carry em
The mounting bracket on that case blocks a fair amount of air. How much of the 140mm sized fan's advantage is lost to this vs 120mm.
As I discussed in the video, all cases block some air from 140mm fans. The benchmarks give you the answers you need.
Fuck it I am ordering two P14s. $16 total, need to get better intake fans than my Pure Wings 2, esp. ones with better static pressure and quieter (Pure Wings 2 are rated at 37 dba!!).
If the humming is a problem I'll just return, not like they cost an arm and a leg. But if not, then I found my new intake fans!
So how's your experience with the P14? I'm also looking for some 140mm intake fans?
Hmm if you have the fans pulling the air through the radiator you want max airflow if they are pushing it through you want max static pressure personally pulling the air through should give you better temp thresholds
You need to increase test duration, even fans off vs max fans dont really make a lot of difference if you dont run it just for a short time.
10 minute the very least.
I would love a retest of the 120 and 140 Arctic Bionix fans, they are the only ones that have 140mm available in white. In the first test you did with them I couldn't hear the fan noise as the mic was placed too close and got a lot of wind noise. It is currently the only review of it on youtube so I have no other way of finding this out. Also BTW, great video!
The BioniX fans are too loud. I won't retest them using my improved test methodology because I know what they actually sound like to my ears! But if Arctic releases a white version of the P14 PWM, you may have your solution.... and I have a "feeling" they're going to release these soon! By the way, perhaps you know that the P12 PWM is already available in white, which gives you an idea of what the P14 white will look like: amzn.to/3jw6nb3
I'll go for the 3x P12 as Case and 2x P14 as CPU cooler fans
The Noctua is far better at static pressure. NF 2000 industrial hits 4.2 mm h2o Vs Arctics 2.4.
So for a radiator, there's no doubt what's better. And the new Arctic 420mm is equipped with the p14.
Just FYI.
Great video, I can't understand how people live with pump noise.
you make the best fan reviews
Much appreciated!