Noctua vs. Arctic, Nidec - Ultimate 120mm Fan Re-match!

Initial video: • Who Actually Makes the...
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[@Figureight]

I grabbed an Arctic P12 PWM fan and some P14 PWMs recently and very happy with them

[@DystopianOwl]

How does the P14 sound? Less motor-noise?

[@TroyaForceOne]

Im going for them too, they are good? not loud ? what RPM do you have?

[@joseph2235]

@@TroyaForceOne it says on the boxes.. 120mm 1800rpm max, 140mm 1700rpm max

[@HarryUnchained]

@@TroyaForceOne I have 2x P14 PWM as front intakes behind a mesh panel. The hum from the motor is quite noticeable if you running them at full speed, I run them at like 50-60% speed most of time and they're really silent. Keep in mind the case might have huge effect on the noise too. I have P300A which is not a quiet case to begin with. The cooling performance is great, I have thing to complaint about that.

[@redl5705]

@@DystopianOwl way less motor noise

[@cityofplant]

So glad the market for quiet and performance oriented fans are coming back!

[@PizzaPowerXYZ]

That's what every PC fan company wants their fans to be like

[@incognito8219]

Did it go away?

[@tinleo333]

@@incognito8219 They are back Jimbo

[@9034833838]

@@incognito8219 Corsair pretty much made a business out of shit performance RGB stuff.

[@simoSLJ89]

Right. I have some Corsair LL as case fans, while I stick with black Noctuas for the heatsink. But it would be great to have some good performance rgb fan.

[@matsudakodo]

I'm glad you include the fan sound recordings. A decibel reading is a summation of the sound pressure reaching the microphone, which is made up of a spectrum of frequencies. Some of those frequencies will be more annoying to humans than others. Therefore, fans that measure the same total dB level can sound completely different. If people are interested in a deeper dive, I would recommend doing an RTA reading on-screen during the recording to show the spectrum.

[@aaronprimus1300]

idk what an RTA reading is but it sounds like itll give more data that helps us understand so i second this XD

[@T_C_M_O]

I agree with you 50 dB at 1000Hz are more annoying for humans than 50 dB at for example 400Hz, but they measure in dBA. The "A" describes that the measured noise level is already adapted to the hearing behavior of the human ear.

[@tryllejens]

One nice thing to mention about the Arctic P12 PWM PST fans, is that they only draw 0.08 Amps each, so you can link a lot of them from a single PWM header on your motherboard, and Arctic foresaw this possibility and made little link connectors on each fan, so no PWM splitters are needed. You can essentially buy a 5 piece value pack and connect them all to the same header and cool your entire case if you want to.

[@kerlowkey]

Thanks for this info man!

[@Aj992588]

the cables are really short though.

[@seanchen9617]

what this means? How could I connect 5 fans in one header without a PWM splitter?

[@tryllejens]

@@seanchen9617 Each PST fan has a little splitter cable attached to it's connector, meaning you can link them together without buying a splitter separately.

[@seanchen9617]

@@tryllejens Thanks bro, you are my lifesaver :)

[@eposcorp]

you should do a 140mm version of this test

[@stumpymedia]

I 100% second this, some kind of comparison between 120mm and 140mm fans would be interesting too

[@maximgonchar6261]

For sure, a lot of 140mm

[@Aurummorituri]

Yeah. Got 5 Be Quiet! 140mm in my Luxe 2. Amazing fans.

[@christian430]

... and include the Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B14-PS

[@christoskaragiannis7973]

Yes please, i'd really love to see that too, noctua's 140mm fans don't get nearly as much praise, i'm really curious to see why .

[@VincentAndre_HK]

Glad to see you liked the P12, I will pass the message to the engineers. I do not know if Nick sent you the P14, but I think you'll like it too.

[@jeus_saaa]

we need you in South East Asia

[@singlsrvngfrnd]

Hey Vincent, can you set up a training program for the folks over at MSi? They need to learn from you and the other folks at Arctic!

[@xattr8403]

Vincent...do not only deliver the message to your engineers, KISS THEM!

[@maxxammax0]

Heck yeah those p14s are great, since I added a box of 5 of them to my case I can run my 8700k at 5ghz. Reccommended them to all friends/relatives.

[@logvjp]

Hey i'd love to have some rgb P12 in my system if they are on sale xD

[@RedBeardedRabbit]

Thank you SO MUCH for the high quality fan recordings starting at 4:53! What a huge difference, wow - I did not expect the venerable Gentle Typhoon to have such a grating sound, plus the Arctic's hum 6:17 at 1000 RPM is such an important finding - that would drive me crazy! Would it make sense to also include the matching frequency spectrum of these recordings? It would be nice to see the measured spectrum to point out what's audible - then we could easily compare charts as well to point out frequency peaks (e.g. the Arctic's hum sounds like a ~400Hz tone)

[@marsaustralis6881]

Gentle Typhoons are originally server-grade fans adapted for the watercooling scene. Nidec has long produced a range of them for the enterprise sector, but it was Scythe that began marketing them to the consumer PC water-cooling market, and they were quite revolutionary given the larger fan motor and quieter operation at certain ranges, as well as extreme cooling performance at the expense of noise (the 5400RPM AP-31s). Scythe eventually stopped marketing the GTs, and Darkside (IIRC, a DazMode brand) picked up the slack, also getting Nidec to jump on the PWM train with PWM versions of their GTs. However, Nidec has long refused to really modernize the design, since again, they produce fans mainly for the commercial/enterprise sector. The only major change was shifting from grey blades to black blades, and adopting PWM for modern cooling. Nidec themselves also don't directly sell to consumers; as users would usually have to buy through sites like Newark, Grainger, etc, and sometimes in bulk orders. EK would later try to replicate the performance and value of the GTs with their Vardars; hence the design similarity. However, the quality and feel just isn't the same compared to the classic GTs. Noctua's NF-A12x25 pretty much did what Nidec wouldn't; and that's modernizing their tried-and-true GT fan design to be quieter, PWM-capable, and operate in a wider RPM range.

[@panzer3279]

Adata has now partnered with Nidec for GT and I think these new ones have quieter ball bearings. GTs also beat NF-A12 in performance.

[@user-zy4kp9xp5s]

Swear this man is psychic, every time I need to go research something a magic OT appears

[@Loosmoose942]

Finally a real arctic p12 review!

[@ufanisoneetze]

Just remember to watch the important part at 06:03

[@klaszczbass]

@@ufanisoneetze always you can buy not pwm version and you free of pwn pulse

[@abdulmuhaimin5274]

AKA The Noctua Killer

[@Loosmoose942]

@@ufanisoneetze I have 10 of these in two systems and never noticed this. But it really isn't a dealbreaker. Just don't run them at exactly 1000 rpm.

[@Loosmoose942]

@@ThunderGoatz The 5 pack is 31$ which makes them even better. Just around 6$ per fan is incredible!

[@shawndesjardins4141]

Love how you stick to the facts, some channels can definitely overlook or miss things, but you point out even the most nuanced stuff, or reasoning behind designs. Thank you for your time, effort, and knowledge.

[@BrianHCohen]

Here's some context on the value of the P12's: for $60, you can add three of them to an Arctic Liquid Freezer ii 360 to make it push/pull, use six more to push/pull a 360 GPU radiator, and have an extra left over for a rear exhaust fan... or you can get two Noctuas.

[@39zack]

@zee-vc5wl that you don't know, and both has the same warranty of 6 years

[@807800]

2:30 Pretty sure NIDEC is the OEM and Scythe was just branding it.

[@DanPellegrino486]

That is right. Nidec was selling them to Scythe. I think they have a deal with Darkside now. They are 25 bucks with PWM (550 - 1850) over at PPCS.

[@dialcast]

Useless trivia: NIDEC Servo is the oldest company in PC cooling as they made the only fan in the original IBM PC when they were known as Japan Servo Co. Ltd. (PSU fan PXDC12B4)

[@ryantakahashi9130]

​@@DanPellegrino486 Yep they are. Nidec is the original OEM for them. I'm running the all black 2150RPM PWM version. Bought them off CoolerGuys. (China still has the grey blade design though, and I think those come with cable sleeving. I had to sleeve mine myself.) Closest thing to A12x25 until they get released in Black, probably sometime next year. Though they are a bit louder at 100% but I don't run them that high unless I'm doing full CPU+GPU load. At about 1200RPM they give off a very light hum, but it's barely noticeable. Any sound from my speakers drown them out completely at that speed.

[@kn9731]

This is why I love this guy he actually listened to us, and now more consumers can benefit from this with more cash in their pocket, God knows we need that in this uncertain times.

[@salami124]

Now it's XPG that is having a partnership with Nidec with a newer version of the Gentle Typhoon inreresting specs www.xpg.com/us/xpg/691

[@user-dibribhsvj36d]

You really cant beat p12 pwm 5 packs for $30.99 at amazon...price of 1 Nuctua A12.

[@luc_official]

The value is amazing. But so is the noise performance of the noctuas

[@Marquuuz]

I’ve bought the value packs of P8, P12 and P14. All PWM of course. Currently have the 140mm in my current tower, but if I ever need a fan, it’s gonna be arctic😂

[@md-im8qp]

Id go for the noctua anyway

[@elektrosmokes1911]

@@md-im8qp Same. I don't put garbage quality fans in my rigs regardless of the noise performance.

[@weavercs4014]

@@elektrosmokes1911 how are they garbage? Similar performance (0 real world difference unless you're an extreme OC'er) for 5x the price. Nice elitism for 0 gains

[@Thrashman138]

I'm consistently impressed with how good those Arctic fans are. I still use Noctuas almost exclusively in my personal builds, simply because I can afford the price premium, but damn those Arctics are great for the budget builds I sell. The price to performance is legit hard to understand. lol

[@gewinnste]

Thanks for that test! Most don't look at motor noise / point out a resonance of the P12s - which is a deal breaker for me.

[@wwyk1993]

Ma boy gentle typhoon delivering this level of performance ten years ago

[@MCJemFinch]

Yes, NIDEC is the original PC fan manufacturer and it looks like Noctua copied their design.

[@Spiggle.]

The motor noise on the gentle typhoons sucks, i took mine out because of it.. didn't even realise at first, they sound gritty like in this video

[@ps3guy22]

@@Spiggle. it's the bearings, If you add a drop of lube to em they sound better

[@xxtovarichxx]

I think he got a bad or even fake GT. That thing sounds terrible in his video. I have multiple GTs (I think the 2250rpms) and they don't sound like that at all.

[@typen3k0]

@@Spiggle. That's not been my experience and I have had my 4 gentle typhoons running for over 10 years. Motor hub noise test with a sample of one is pointless. There is so much variation between individual examples. The only valid testing here is the cooling ability of each fan. Also no fan is truly silent, if you are seeking that magical noise level vs your ambient in room sound, then you need a fan speed controller. Accept no substitutes.

[@keiwarcraft]

gentle typhoon is a legendary fan, I heard of it 10 years ago.

[@MrPhilip796]

Indeed. The NF-A12s are an ode to it's great performance

[@waynenotrooney]

It's the go to fan for my wc rig 10years back. Shame they didn't develop much with the pwm version.

[@orojacksson]

@@maverick7376 they're selling it on aliexpress i already bought it, but to be honest p12 pwm is better than both because i bought 3 of them and still cheaper than buying two fans from noctua and scythe

[@piotroliwkowski9034]

I still got them, work as new:)

[@pkpnyt4711]

These new ones aren't as good as the grey colored Japan made Gentle Typhoons (I still have 8 of them running on separate rigs). I still have my old AP-15s running to this day perfectly with hardly any noise. The PWM's (black version) from Nidec I bought have more noise than the old fans too.

[@VorTexX993]

Thought I was going mad myself, but yea, there is a low hum at certain rpm with my arctic fans as well... bit of faffery in bios fan curve and they are awesome and quiet ^^

[@BareFinn1986]

Nice to see that using P12 to populate all 9 slots in my PC-O11 Dynamic was a good move. It cost me about 8 USD per fan against around 20-25 USD per fan for Noctuas (this is a while ago and I cant remeber correctly what the Noctua cost. Also this is in Norway so prices are probably a bit different from elsewhere). It makes a huge difference when it's 9 fans... 🙃

[@altynspiryt1039]

Choose wisely: single NF-A12x25 vs 6 Arctic P12. In my country single p12 costs ~$6.66 with 23% VAT. No need to wait for A12x25 chromax edition btw.

[@abdulmuhaimin5274]

_minus LTT Edition_

[@meteormedia7021]

Same here. A Arctic P12 PWM here costs a fifth of the price of a single Noctua NF-A12

[@SafMan89]

Id go with Arctic 100%. As a case fan the Arctic P12s are better, Noctuas only win on radiators and heatsinks..

[@TransformerCoil]

S KR Artic P12, for the price, also mainly win on radiators. I used to run 2 Artics P12 on a Noctua air cooler heatsink and the temperatures are actually cooler on idle and slightly higher on an intensive load.

[@komi1834]

to be fair, a12x25 are noctuas do it all fan, they are not for static pressure like arctic p12, ofc arctic p12 will be on par in situation for which it's designed, there are noctua f12's and even old noctua p12's now under redux line($2 more expensive than arctic p12 at my place) both of which outperform a12x25 in static pressure, f12 on 1500rpm and older p12 on 1700rpm, only fans better at static pressure are new scythe aya kaze which are not globally available atm, they are as quiet as noctuas and rgb/argb ones are $10, single color(white, red...) are cheaper, not sure how much because they don't sell them at my place, but that's great price, even $30 would be acceptable price for RGB fans that outpeform f12's which are $30 for black chromax version

[@HaydenRoberts08]

Finally a modern test of the Legendary Gentle Typhoons! These were the champion radiator fan back when water cooling became popular in the LAN party hay day’s. They were incredibly hard to come by because of their popularity and small production runs. When they came in stock I nabbed 12 of them and I still use them all to this day!

[@thingsforotaku8082]

I have 8 of them in my pc but they are quite noisy compared to my noctua's. They hum a lot and 2 of them have some other noise.

[@techbuildspcs]

@@thingsforotaku8082 so not worth it to gofor them?

[@techbuildspcs]

@@thingsforotaku8082 also you should oil them I believe.

[@thingsforotaku8082]

@@techbuildspcs i would pick noctua over them myself, just because I've been using noctua since then and they've been more quiet

[@jimtekkit]

Thanks for discussing motor noises (like the Arctic P12 resonating at 1000rpm) because I find they're a dealbreaker for silent builds. I found that the Noctua NF-A14 resonates at around 680rpm (which they advised me was how it "normally sounds"). For 140mm fans I've moved to Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 and have had zero audible issues with them.

[@SuperTriod]

i have same problem with nf-a14

[@TheFeebleSpark]

I know this is an older video, but you should plot your noise levels on a log scale since a jump from 50 to 60 dBa represents a 10x increase in noise. Love the videos!

[@artes2000]

This is not true. Sound measures decibels over amplitude. Not over power. 10dB difference is factor ~3. Not 10.

[@abdolkarimmehrparvar6583]

Arctic has a bright future in the computer market.

[@ladmad9196]

always had. arctic were always great value

[@DSDSDS1235]

They had one, they are literally living said future rn and is legendary

[@Qalibrated]

@@ladmad9196 I remember when i bought a 3770k, i ran it at stockspeed with a 9€ Arctic cooler. Temps were good and it was pretty silent, great alternative to the stock cooler for almost no money. I recently bought a white Arctic Freezer 34 eSports DUO, haven't tested it yet but seems really nice, was only 40€ and came with 2x Arctic BioniX P120 in white, with white cable, white connector, white sleeving and you can daisy chain them. Those fans by themselves are 13€ each, which is still pretty cheap, but a 40€ cooler that comes with 26€ worth of fans, that's pretty nice imo!

[@Hornbowman]

Arctic has been quite underrated up to this point, I think. Never really got in the spotlights.

[@LyK0sa]

@@ladmad9196 yeah, but I don't ever remember them being considered top tier. They were an AMD-esque company, a good choice if you're working with a tighter budget, but there's better options out there if you can afford them. But much like AMD, they're now putting out products that embarrass the competition... But still for less money. When it comes to AIOs I can only think of 3 reasons not to pick Arctic; if your case can only accommodate a 30mm thick rad, if you desperately want RGB fans and don't want to buy them separately, or if you don't want to take a chance with a new design that hasn't had a chance to prove itself in terms of long term reliability. Only time will tell with the last point, although GN's teardown looked quite promising, especially compared to EK's attempt which was showing signs of blackening/residue/corrosion on a brand new unit. I'd expect better from EK, but judging by GN's teardown I've got a horrible feeling the EK AIOs are going to suffer from similar problems to the notorious enermax units.

[@achannelhasnoname5182]

The humming sound is probably caused by the resonance with the case at a specific frequency. It looks like the fans are not equipped with anti vibration pads, they might help with this problem.

[@pkpnyt4711]

The humming sound is from the bearing itself, the arctic's use cheap bearings that's why it sounds that way at certain RPM's. Many water cooling sites have already done hundreds of tests on this and unfortunately, that's the reason it's cheap. A simple workaround is to stick to a fixed rpm which a lot of water cooling enthusiasts normally do anyway.

[@arrowdynamlc]

@@pkpnyt4711 If these fans use a cheap motor, imagine what Arctic could do if they really tried on a premium fan, with a higher quality motor and maybe some of those vibration pads.

[@Simon74]

The Artics are available with Ball Bearings aswell as Fluid Dynamic Bearings.

[@pkpnyt4711]

@@Simon74 Not all ball bearings are made equally. Fluid Dynamic bearings are just a marketing gimmick, especially from Chinese manufacturers.

[@pkpnyt4711]

@@arrowdynamlc Then they would be priced like their more expensive competition. Why would a Chinese company invest in buying Japanese or German-made ball bearings in the first place? Their calling card has always been cheap and affordable.

[@bredman86]

I really like this channel. He is well spoken, to the point, and not annoying. Easy sub.

[@butcherleo999]

Got 4 120mm arctic pwm fans in my custom itx watercooling : very silent and efficient fans! And the daisy chan connector is very clever and usefull. And you get a full pack of 5 for the price of only one piece of several other brand.

[@petermuller7687]

Feels good when the Fans you literally picked up 30 minutes before get confirmed to be pretty good.

[@aaronprimus1300]

bruh, dont tell me u researched the best fans after making your purchase XD

[@petermuller7687]

@@aaronprimus1300 I looked them up and they seemed to be good enough, before the video was out, and then watched the video :D

[@sexyyoda7567]

@@aaronprimus1300 that's what majority of people do. LoL me included

[@getsideways7257]

@@sexyyoda7567 Good to know I'm not the only one :)

[@junkokonno]

this me rn

[@GITsL9I]

Ali, looks like the Arctics at 1000rpm are resonating, potentially with the case or rad fins, would be interesting to see if you get the same effect running them detached and standing solo... Might be worth a look.

[@medec10667]

Using rubber fan mounts eliminated this issue for me with 3x P12s behind a closed front panel.

[@Prootus]

@@medec10667 Can confirm.

[@karasugan]

This is actually not the case. You can take the fans out of the case and still reproduce the humming sound on certain RPMs. I guess this is relatively common, since just a while ago I had to return my Noctua NH-A14 PWM fans because of *horribly loud* humming at 870RPM. The humming seems to reproduce at certain RPM ranges. On NH-A14s case it was somewhere in the 600s, the 870 RPM one and then one range above 1k RPM (can't remember the exact RPMs anymore). Anyway, I replaced my Noctua fans to Be Quiet! SilentWings 3s and they did not have the humming sound over their whole PWM range. I also bought some Arctic P14s to test on my other computer, remains to be seen if they have the humming sound as well. I find it ridiculous that reviewers around the internet do not address this issue on, especially, the Noctua NH-A14. It is *not* as quiet a fan as is usually told. And no, don't give me the same "fix" as Noctua's customer service: "Set your fan control software to avoid that RPM range". :| If I buy a PWM fan, I buy it so that I can dynamically adjust the fan speed. That's the whole point. If the sound is intolerable at some PWM ranges, that is a dealbreaker for me. Reviewers, please address this issue and stop glorifying Noctuas. At that price they should not have any humming at any RPM.

[@karasugan]

​@@medec10667 Did you also notice how closing the front panel changes the humming sound because the RPM drops a bit due to intake resistance? I investigated this a lot recently and the humming sound on Noctua fans can be reproduced even when out of the case. I also first thought it was the case or resonance against it's frame - it was not. The RPM range was the key and even the slightest changes in the position of the fan change the RPM a bit. If the (loud) hum reproduces e.g. exactly at 870-874 RPM, moving the fan and thus changing the air resistance in some way is what makes the hum go away.

[@medec10667]

@@karasugan Yeah, that happens. It wasn't the problem for me, though. The Noctua sounds quite bad in comparison to these, whose (slight) vibrations are inaudible when unmounted. I've had similar experiences with many expensive Corsair and Cooler Master fans, though. Very loud clicking and rattling noises, and truly horrendous amounts of vibration. I feel it was just the natural resonance of the fan itself as it could be felt by touching the frame. It is barely perceptible and inaudible on its own, and only in a tiny range, but an intermittent hum became slightly audible in an otherwise silent case once they were bolted in AND harmonizing with the adjacent fans. The rubber pins eliminated that harmonization problem. I run them at 1200rpm anyway. If you're reading this, Optimum, hope it helps!

[@xcalibills]

7:44 you deserve a nobel prize for doing this Really well made video Mad respect

[@hiryublade]

For my build I was going for Noctuas, but once I saw the P12s were available on a 5-pack; it was decided. I'm building a dual top-bottom 360 loop, with the bottom one on push-pull. 10 fans were either $300+ or $60+. Great comparison!

[@Memelord4dayz]

How are they holding up a year later?

[@hiryublade]

@@Memelord4dayz just fine, with occassional maintenance dusting in between. They've been running at fixed speeds around 1200/1600 rpm for 8-12 hours every day.

[@DavideGranato]

Thanks for always unbiased and objective tests , loving it. I use P 14 since two years now , cleaning them within 2 or 3 months since then. Whilst I agree on every aspect you mentioned about P 12 I would like to share something I noticed , that hum you shown is real , bit weird , tho is temporary (two or three days ) but even weirder is that it returns and lasts a bit longer every time I clean the fans. it's not a really negative side , really honest and satisfying fans in the end. What I really dislike of these Arctic fans is ... they're made of crystal. Really don't let them drop on the floor , the material is too stiff , I ordered several 5 fans boxes for me and friends and every time one fan had a missing corner. For the rest great bang for the buck .

[@realolmec]

Thanks for these tests. I have the same issue with the P12 shown at 6:00. I didn't know it was caused by a specific RPM and spent a lot of time trouble shooting it and taking out parts of my PC to see if was caused by resonance but nothing I tried fixed it. It sounds really annoying too, like if someone is vacuuming the room next to you, and sometimes it goes away and then comes back even louder. Definitely a deal breaker for me. I suppose it's what you get if you buy cheap fans. Probably going for Noctua from now on.

[@impoppy9145]

Can't you just change the fan speed?

[@blackwolf616]

Im glad I discovered this channel, its a nice adition for my 2021. Keep the good work!

[@hydroin4764]

Super glad you revisited this one, its always a good thing to see people following up. more content like this would be incredibly appreciated by all of us. Keep up the great work!

[@dragos-lucian]

The weird sound the G.Typhoon ones produce would drive me insane.

[@EliteRock]

In case it hasn't already been pointed out, the Arctics come in plain bearing and ball-bearing versions, the latter with the suffix 'CO' ('continuous operation'), and they're the ones that should be used in horizontal orientation. They're a little bit more expensive (c.£9 vs. £8 UK) for the 12cm, the 14cm is considerably more (c. £14 vs. £10) but that's still a decent price. I just bought two of the 14's, one plain bearing and one CO (for horizontal mounting) and they're impressive so far - they're quieter and produce more pressure (as distinct from flow) at given RPM than the BeQuiets (Pure Wings/Silent Wings) and Noctua Redux's I already own. Wish I'd tried them a long time ago.

[@huzudra]

The P12 humming sounds like it may have been a resonance issue with the case made worse by the fact they lack any rubber pads to damp vibration transfer. I didn't have this issue when I built a system for a friend and tuned a custom fan curve for them but it was a different case than you were using. The issue I did have was a fan that was defective out of the box, the blade was partially broken at the hub and at higher speed the blade would spread and rub the frame. Arctic warranty was a breeze to deal with, I just called them up, gave them some info, and they sent a new one right out.

[@someonelse5847]

I have never had a Noctua go dead or starting to sound bad, although I was an early adopter , I had plenty of other cheaper silent fans starting to sound bad relatively soon, so for me that is also a factor.

[@est495]

The Arctics have a 10 year warranty, so I don't think the fan dying is much of a problem.

[@paulmueller100x]

There we go, Arctic is the PP King

[@floorgang420]

Big PP

[@WinterCharmVT]

Not *really* -- the Noctua still pulls ahead, and its motor noise is nonexistent.

[@Minkafighter]

@@WinterCharmVT and the Noctua fans cost 5x as much

[@ToWi1989]

@@Minkafighter no sure where youre from, but the noctuas are 25 eur vs 10 for the arctic.

[@YaksAttack]

@@ToWi1989 you can get a 5 pack of arctic's for the price of 1 noctua

[@KleinMeme]

Can confirm. The Artic ones motor on my Liquid freezer hum annoyingly around a specific RPM. Good work done there, thumbs up.

[@ter.iv.4336]

Thank you very much for the detailed review and the audio samples. I can also confirm the most recent comments from other viewers that the Arctic P series have quality issues. One week ago I bought a value pack with Arctic P14 PWM PST and I installed three of them in my case. The humming ist present at different rpm and drove me mad. It comes from the bearings and not from vibrations. So, you can't fix it. Arctic is marketing the P Series motors producing only 5% vibrations. That is why the fans lack the rubber pads. I can assure you that they cause more than 5%. Today, I contacted my retailer and I will send the Arctic fans back. Three years ago I bought for my build an Arctic Freezer 33 Plus cpu cooler that came with two fans of an older F series version. It was garbage in every aspect and the fans produced atrocius noise. After that I replaced it with a Noctua NH-U12S. I wanted to give Arctic a second chance but now I am done with their products.

[@treefiddy727]

Interesting. I'm reading quite a few comments here about the Arctic P-series fan motor noise. There was motor noises in another video too. Noctuas seem to perform consistent in nearly every review so I will just buy more of those for radiator fans. Thanks

[@ter.iv.4336]

@@treefiddy727 Sure thing. By the way, it was the Arctic support that I had contacted that told me to send the fans back. They said that no "strange" noises should come from the fans and unfortunately they didn't have any fans in stock in order to replace them. The cooling performance of the P14 was indeed very strong, but their cheap price can come with certain "side effects" like the humming or the vibrations. I used them as case fans and after that I replaced them with three Scythe Kaze Flex 140mm Square PWM (1200 rpm). These are excellent as case fans, no motor noise and no vibrations due to the rubber pads at their corners (there is also a version with a round frame, more static pressure and up to 1800 rpm - I guess these are more suited for radiators). I also think that your choice for the Noctua fans is probably the best, they are very expensive but at the same time you get an excellent product.

[@ellowell8160]

As much as I love my Arctic P12s, he is NOT kidding about the whining tone you get. The top Amazon review is almost creepily accurate -- OT says 1000RPM but the Amazon reviewer says 1170 is the culprit range and that is *exactly* where you hear the noise. You might think the sound in the video isn't that bad but trust me, you can hear it across a quiet room. It's not the kind of sound that's tolerable even if it's just spinning past that range. Just a few seconds is noticeable and really grating.

[@Filip1389_]

I don't know what blew me away more.. Your content or Noctua fan ;)

[@paulmueller100x]

XDD Nice one

[@ReverbedHub]

Lol haha

[@Filip1389_]

@@paulmueller100x Thanks :)

[@DungNguyen-fk4bc]

Smooth

[@triliner254]

Amazing joke lmao

[@Pixel_FX]

Thanks for covering this subject with a practical testing methodology. Went with P12 PWN fans and i am super impressed.

[@Xqrement]

I currently have three Arctic P12 fans on my PC and they're super nice and quiet. However, I was just thinking of exchanging them for Noctua fans thinking they would be worth it and would be quieter, but not anymore after watching this video since the Arctic fans perform practically the same and by costing way less, how cool!

[@HoldMeForever]

Where I live, the 5 pack Arctic P12 PST are barely $23 bucks while the Noctua NH A12X25 are over $30 dollars a piece.

[@LazyFoxClub]

Remember, its on NZXT’s AIO, for pure air cooling the tables can turn. And i think most of us use air cooling for there systems. So air cooling tests would be awesome. Never the less, brilliant testing as always.

[@BoogieDownProduction]

Yes this is a test showing fans with high pressure - good for AIO or behind a restrictive filter/case design or a restrictive heatsink

[@DrNitin14]

Thanks you exactly pinpointed the noise I'm hearing from my arctic freezer 360s. I'm going to put nf 12s on instead.

[@joshuatatro4503]

FWIW, I think that hum on the Arctic P12 is actually vibration resonance on the fan blades at those specific RPMs, not motor noise. Having built and tested systems with both the P12s and P14s as well as the Noctuas, I can attest that they do (or at least can) make that sound, but it's not something that sounds much like motor or bearing noise in person. Likewise, the thing I've noticed build quality-wise between the Noctuas and the Arctic P-series (but not so much the F-series) is that the blades are "springy," for lack of a better word, which is to say the plastic used is firm but not entirely unyielding (might also have to do with their unusual length/shape), and if you gently pluck the very tip of a blade it will vibrate at a pretty similar tone/frequency to what you hear when it's spinning at lower RPMs. What's more, when you make one blade vibrate like that it will transfer through the hub and vibrate the rest of the blades as well, which bodes ill for excess noise if there's an airspeed/flow that can also cause that kind of resonance. That said, it's kind of a moot point in the sense that they do/can make that noise regardless of what's actually causing it

[@EZPCTECH]

That's what I was worrying about. That Arctic's noise at 1000 rpm would drive me nuts

[@jeffkuzzen]

just make a fan curve that makes it never sit at 1000rpm

[@dasKeks28]

I love the P12 for their performance, price and noise. However, the 1000 RPM hum is actually really noticeable. From the video the Noctua really has by far the most pleasing sound. If they bring out black or white ones, I'm probably going to switch.

[@Huaie]

So, did you switch?

[@fiz1018]

there is also the artic p12 max

[@garethevans9789]

I've put Arctic P12's on a Noctua D14 heatsink and it works well with a 3950x (the stock Noctua fans only go up to ~1350rpm). I've got 5x P14's and 1x P12 case fans (they do 5x packs). Right now my CPU is downclocked to 3.6GHZ @ .94 volts and the power usage is massively reduced (by 40w idle, 80+ load). CPU fans are 36c @620rpm (can go lower, but these keep the spikes down) front fans (2xP14 + P12) 575rpm, rear P14 is 370rpm, I also have a P14 (using the front header for now) directed at the PCH to stop that little 6astard hitting 1500rpm where it starts to bug me. side fan is 0rpm. Motherboard temp is 30c. Oh, and the case is a Fractal XL from 2011 (I like it). There's also a 5700XT (also downvolted, but overclocked 10% ~200watts) AMD hates the planet with their stock voltages. Oh, I need to plug in this 4TB of NVMe (had it on my desk since Tuesday! - busy week + kitchen got flooded)

[@ShadowsProducers]

Not sure if it's been commented, but for additional detail, Scythe's GTs were Nidec Servo OEM. Scythe stopped rebranding them, they disappeared for a while and Nidec Servo sells them directly in some cases, Darkside has also picked up rebranding them. They are a very tested and proven fan.

[@SaNjA2659]

Just want to say those visuals are absolutely spectacular!

[@reinulf656]

The Noctua is just phenomenal!

[@brettwebb6789]

When I was younger, I purchased Arctic fans almost religiously. I still think they're, far and away, the best bang for the buck you can get, and damned good fans in their own right. Though, anymore, I've switched over to Noctua NF A12x25's for my 240mm radiators and my rear case fan. I'll be swapping out my P14's with NF A14x25's if Noctua ever actually decides to release them. The engineering that goes into Noctua is insane, and that's something I really appreciate.

[@seanobrien9849]

Thanks for the noise vs speed plot, I have watched several similar vids and this quick summary was somehow missing from everyone else's.

[@rtyzxc]

I was going to like the Arctic P12 but when you showed that motor noise I must reconsider. My current Pure Wings 2 120mm fans do just that kind of whine when it ramps up and down and it drove me so crazy that I spent ages optimizing the fan and temperature curve so that it doesn't happen in my favourite games. Not sure if that was when I bought them or if they are just getting old. In comparison, that Silverstone AirBlaster 120R sounds very pleasant. Perceived noise is a huge factor, not just dB readings, and actually, for future comparisons, I would suggest making a smooth (and slow enough) ramp up and down 0%-100% for each fan, I wonder if there's a program for that. Deep review channels like this and Gamers Nexus are generally good for the market, but no testing methodology can cover all the sides, which can lead to manufacturers focus on wrong things, and for example, overlook actually unpleasant hums and whines in favor of better numbers in charts.

[@tamasmasable]

Hey I'm just curious why the motor noise made you "reconsider". I mean how quiet is your environment that it is noticeable? Because I don't feel like I have a noisy house but the ambient noise of my furnace/ceiling fan/traffic outside/weather/cat licking itself has caused me to think of my arctic p12 as absolutely silent, because I never hear it over anything else, and it is alwayd running at 100% speed because it's strapped to my GPU. Plus, I'm usually wearing headphones or listening to something through my speakers, and that also drowns it out entirely. I'm just curious how quiet your home/office must be.

[@sicebae4988]

If you need more performance, Gentle Typhoon got a 3000 pwn version. And I also suggest you test out these fans They are lesser known from the west but quite famous in the chinese community. Thermalright TL-C12 PRO Delta AK12B

[@BoogieDownProduction]

Thermalright is an old school brand in the US, known for great heatsinks. They look nice.

[@pseudobacon8814]

Definitely would be interesting. www.bilibili.com/video/BV1eV411z7Ft?from=search&seid=9003024602292387132 in this video the tester puts the P12 beating the AK12B, www.bilibili.com/video/BV1n54y1H7iy?from=search&seid=8296143189892211917 and in this video the tester puts the A12x25 ahead of the C12, GT2150, C12 Pro, AK12B on noise but the AK12B, GT2150, C12 Pro, A12x25 on temperature

[@RobinParmar]

Excellent test. So glad you actually gave us something to listen to and not just the numeric tests. The average loudness in dB masks a variety of different acoustic frequency profiles. This is so obvious when listening.

[@Derpuwolf]

I FINALLY KNOW WHAT THAT HUMMING IS ON MY PC! I have my arctic fans tuned to be between 900-1200 rpm and the hum would come and go and I never really focused on finding out what it was.

[@glynkatkin]

Homie, you slept on Noiseblocker PL-PS or eLoops again, both are in Noctua and GT territory. Still good to see you add in extra fans.

[@Aurummorituri]

Those funky fans are cool AF, but Molex is so gauche in 2020. I don't even have a Molex cable hooked up.

[@glynkatkin]

@@Aurummorituri Huh? Molex connectors? What fans you looking at? Both of those come in 3pin or 4pin PWM...and you'd use Molex if you had D5 pumps in your build like I do, shit I got like 5 things that require Molex connections, I need a splitter to power it all lol.

[@Aurummorituri]

​@@glynkatkin Oh...they updated? They used to use bloody Molex. Especially the blue ones for Alphacool.

[@Kathdath]

@@glynkatkin my D5 has standard fan header, not molex.

[@glynkatkin]

@@Kathdath Yeah I realized as I said that, that there is PWM only D5's these days, I'm using the older RPM Vario type D5's, as I have a Koolance fan and pump controller

[@ydihtty]

"Silverstone Air Blaster" Isn't it called the Air Blazer?

[@Ephem13]

I'm impressed you looked into these additional fans. I've always leaned to the Nidecs or BeQuiets for WC builds and Noctuas for air (they really are the crown holder here), but I was shook by the performance of the $10 Artic fans.

[@Kokinkun]

Gentle Typhoons are also susceptible to a "motor tick" at various RPM/PWM ranges. I used both 3pin DC and 4pin PWM 2150RPM GTs for almost a decade and while they have a nice low hum noise, the ticking always bothered me. Replaced them with Noctua NF-A12x25s and the difference in wind noise and almost non-existent motor noise was well worth the $30 per fan. The Noctuas come with high quality sleeving as well as other sleeved accessories (cable extension and lower noise cables). For my custom water loop, the GTs and Noctuas performed similarly but the Noctuas are able to go down to 200-300RPM (also supports 0-rpm mode) whereas my GTs could only go down to about 800-900RPM (no support for 0-rpm mode).

[@Fregatte86]

Arctics , here we go now

[@andersjrgensen6699]

What about the Arctic p120 Bionix, which is the Arctic p12 premium version?

[@sexyyoda7567]

That should be performing almost same, but they are basically a colored version of p12s

[@commonsensegamer3494]

Just picked up 3 x Arctic P12 120 fans for £5.50 each on Amazon. A steal based on this review. Thanks Optimum Tech.

[@neepheid]

Thanks for pointing out the slight whine from the Arctic fan at certain PWM - can't unhear it now! Joking aside, I have 3 Arctic 120mm fans in my case and I'm very happy with them. The cost difference is made worse when you want to buy multiples. I don't know how but I managed to score my Arctic fans at £5 each. So instead of spending £75 on case fans for my build I spent £15. Proof positive that cheap can be cheerful! Thanks for the video, your videos have been really helpful as I've got into ITX building.

[@haraldharstad7381]

Can you do a low profile fan round up. Love your content, keep it going!

[@thefrunj]

I've been running the grey gentle typhoon in my build since they were released, they had the best sound to performance for a radiator and still sound great after being used for so many years. Thanks for the testing against the modern Noctua, they are so much more expensive and not that much quieter!

[@ecohangout4481]

i hear the typhoons have this awful whine to them in this sound test.. do you hear that in person>

[@larrykozlowski6305]

Those artics get recommended a lot in the home server space. Cheap and quiet. My personal setup uses around 15 of them split between 3 4u racks.

[@emiliogarcia4496]

Love the PST daisy chain system on the arctic fans. No need for PWM controllers when you can hook up for P120s together and only need one Fan Header on the mobo.

[@chris746568462]

Gentle Typhoons are my favorite, they were here before all of the others and still hold strong even against noctua. I also like they have proven, trustworthy, replaceable ball bearings.

[@zoson]

Really great roundup! It's been a while since we've seen a head to head with the best fans on the market, so it's really nice to have a refresh to reference. The only gap I see here is you didn't do any 'what is the best performance I can get without noise normalizing between the three top fans?' How much louder is the GT at 2150RPM than the Noctua at 2000RPM? How much additional performance does that additional 150RPM and corresponding noise increase get you? Also, you can get the PWM 2150RPM GT's to run at a little under 900RPM by setting a PWM value of 0(leverage a motherboard with a full fan stop feature, or use a fan controller that allows a 0 pwm signal).

[@SAVA47-00]

the typhoons are the best, especially the XPG Vento pro they push more air

[@theqorkyone2512]

Just grabbed an Arctic p12 5 piece value pack for just under 30$ after watching your video! thanks!

[@kimsund8084]

I still set up most of the riggs i build with Noctua fans. And the reason is simple, i KNOW they will perform the same for the next years and last for easily a decade. The only time i don't go for Noctua is if it is a TIGHT budget or if the lad i am helping hates on them for some reason.

[@ConeJellos]

6:00 I had to return a 5 pack of Arctic p14's because the fan motor on them was insanely loud. The worst part is that it was super high pitched so it cut through all other noise. Also mine happened at every RPM.

[@jeffkuzzen]

I had 40+ of them (system builder). No issues

[@Artdeepmind]

the silverstone fans really have pleasing sound though.

[@acdbrn2000]

Agreed. If I have to hear a fan, that is a nicer sound profile then most.

[@BoogieDownProduction]

@@acdbrn2000 Its better to not have to hear the fan haha. My gentle tyhoons and noctua's are silent unless im gaming, and even then they're not annoying.

[@jch7807]

Nidec is the originator for this fan blade design and Scythe was a licensee of the Nidec design under the name Gently Typhoon. Noctua got inspiration from Nidec to create their line of A12x25 fans.

[@eric55406]

I have tried both Arctics P12 and also some of the Noctua. Happy with both of them but obviously the price on the Arctics is much better. I haven't noticed the motor noise from the Arctics so I am happy about that. The Noctua fans are slightly quieter in my subjective hearing test, but I find it hard to justify triple the price.

[@jaimelaviandeetleslegumes2734]

quiet strange but i never had eared this wine with my p12

[@robertkubrick3738]

Me neither.

[@ColeMarkusen]

Those Artic P12s look like a great bang for the buck! Love my noctua fans and have no plan on getting rid of them but hard to argue with the value there. Love competition

[@JakobNorthblood]

Thank you for including the Arctic P-12. I bought them for my case, partially because they come in all white. And, I was very impressed with how quiet they are. Amazing performance for the price.

[@jantube358]

Arctic says on their website to take the P12 for radiators and the F12 for normal case inlets/outlets.

[@hungryyelly]

Yes! Thank you for the vid mate, this is literally what I've been looking for :)

[@forbannitus]

Agree wholeheartedly.

[@GucciGamerTV]

I really wanted to settle with the Arctic P12 fans as they seemed to be a pretty equal match to the Noctua fans for a dramatically lower price. But as mentioned in the video, they do have a very annoying high pitched whine at certain RPMs. As mentioned in the video, it does have that whine at 1000RPM but I figured as long as I avoid that RPM range it would be fine. But unfortunately the Arctic P12 have that high pitched whine at serveral different RPM ranges. Not only at 1000RPM. Extremely noticeable as the fans ramp up or down and seems to have the noise much more noticeable at 500, 700, 1000RPM from my testing. As someone that is a silence freak and extremely sensitive to high pitched whine noises, I was extremely disappointed. In my area, you can get a pack of 5 P12 fans for $28 and one single Noctua fan is $25 but I’ve went ahead and pulled the trigger and just got all Noctua fans. For anyone that’s truly a silence freak, the Noctua fans are really the only way to go.

[@restive81]

I ordered P14 PWM and P12 PWM to replace ML140 (low speed version) and LL120. Very pleased with the results. P14 has also the same problem with the sound at ~ 1000 RPM. But Much less annoying than ML140 at ~850 RPM.

[@geerussell]

I got a couple noctua nf-a12x25s in my system and yes, they're fantastic fans with performance matching the reputation. Plus the included accessory cables (extension, splitter, low-noise adapter) actually did come in handy. Still, based on the information presented in this video if I had it to do over again I'd buy the arctics and pocket the savings.

[@tomchapman128]

I literally just bought an Arctic P12, I'm glad it's going to be good!

[@halistinejenkins5289]

i've used arctic fans for budget builds in the past. to my knowledge, they're still spinning the heat away.

[@XX-121]

i grabbed some of the "co" version arctics for my most recent build. suppose to last even longer than the regulars, but they are supposedly louder. well i still cant hear them and i run them full blast. i'm sold on arctic fans.

[@WimukthiBandara]

Nidec is the manufacturer and designer of the Gentle Typhoon. I won't be surprised if the Noctua is also a Nidec design. I only use Nidec or Delta fans on my rigs, nothing can beat their reliability and performance.

[@mafs13]

Put the P12's on my girlfriends old RX470 which was making a TON of noise. Temps are down from 78/80 celcius to around 60-ish and VERY quiet. Impressive fans!

[@001Piffi]

A slim fan test would be nice aswell!

[@XX-121]

why would want any slimmer than 25mm? there's a reason that it's standard.

[@KevinLimSG]

I replaced all my fans with Arctic P12s, and now I can't find my PC... 😂

[@nhytty7]

So it went to space?

[@KevinLimSG]

@@nhytty7 It created negative space, and generated its own black hole...

[@PremiumXII]

@Vablo Hate it when that happens

[@nhytty7]

@@KevinLimSG i am assuming it took your house with it?

[@KevinLimSG]

@@nhytty7 All I see is darkness now... :P

[@herr_L.]

Ouch! Those Nidec have a harsh sound, at least for me? Are other people not hearing that? :X And cool that you added the p12 ! Thanks for listening to us ^^ Looking forward to you doing the 140mm comparison next ! ;)

[@MrBlackmidi1234567890987654321]

Not just you, imo the Noctuas and the Arctic's have good sound profiles (minus the hum) :)

[@Anti3D-0]

bought 5 P14s and 7 P12s all for less than $100, set all of them fixed at 60% speed and forgot about it

[@cesarnono13]

Interested on how the InWin Crown Fans would fare against these for you. For me, they beat the noctua fans.

[@hovant6666]

InWin is a meme