Noctua vs be quiet!

[Lauen]

Alright LTT, I will order fans very soon (tonight if I decide quickly).

 

I am torn between two sets of fans. Noctua NF-A14 FLX, and be quiet! Silent Wings 2 140. I'm going for a quiet setup, with better airflow than my current Fractal Silent R2 140 mm fans, they are currently running at 7 volts to keep me satisfied soundwise. I do have a be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2, so the be quiet! fans would fit the cooler better, and are rated for less dB than the Noctua's, but they have half the warranty of the Noctua's, and are rated lower specwise. On the other hand, the Noctua's are probably better fans in general, but is it enough to justify the looks? and also the be quiet's cost more than Noctua's, but not by a lot.

[Izaya Orihara]

Be Quiet!!!!!!! 

[_ASSASSIN_]

Be Quiet!'s and undervolt em'

[DoubleY]

Gentle Typhoons are the quietest fans out there.

[acidydragon]

Go for the Be Quiet. The Noctuas are just... Ugghhhhh... Dem Aesthetics though...

 

 

Personally, I would get Gentile Typhoons, or Gelid Wings.

[Hans Christian | Teri]

Gentle Typhoons are the quietest fans out there.

 

The GT's are 120mm not 140mm.

 

I definitely prefer the Silent Wings 2, they are absolutely phenomenal fans, and that's coming from a guy who likes the look of the Noctuas and have owned both.

[KamiKatze]

@Lauen

 

You have a Define R4, if i am not mistaken. The front bracket actually doesn't make it easy to mount the bequiets in there. However i went and did it anyways with mine. The relief from the stock fractal fans is enourmos! However like i said, the mount in the front isn't as easy, because you have only two screw holes for each fan, which you have to use because the bequiet doesn't have a frame. It holds by itself very well, and doesn't really come loose but i don't trust it so i used two screws anyways. Please notice, that the pieces for the hard mounting of the bq are a piece of garbage and break easily with too much force. The rubber mount however is a breeze. so for the back I'd definitley go bequiet. (which i did aswell. )

 

Performance wise i can't compare them to noctuas becasue i have none, but they certainly are freaking quiet! they move a good amount of air and don't get suffocated by the front of the R4, even though they don't have that high of static pressure.

At 12V you can only hear a sublte woosh from the air. they're inaudible(!) until 9-10V.

It doesn't apply for the front of the R4 though. Since the fans are squished in there, they can transport vibrations rather freely. but the rubber lip around them helps with reducing. The vibrations aren't noticable as a rattleing at low rpm but more as a overall higher noise level when turning them to 12V, as compared to the back rubber-mounted bq.

 

However! After all they are orders of magnitude better than the FD stock fans. If you want more infos, feel free to ask.

 

Edit: i controll them via a fan controller, which allows me to do such testing. I had a row of fans before but i gave up and finally bought bequiets and mounted them in there somehow (worked better than expected). I would've gone with noctuas, if i haden't got a bq DR 2 already, and if noctuas weren't that fugly.

 

Edit 2: To clarify again, how freaking silent they are, i have to say it again: THEY ARE SILENT! i gotta admit that i wear closed headphones but tbh, my hard drive is actually the noisiest part in my system since i went all bequiet, and it's a Western Digital green! As soon as you have even any sound on your headphones by, videos, gaming, music, you won't be abled to hear your bequiet army, no matter what voltage you operate them at.

 

okay. enough bequiet fanboyism here... I'm done!

[Lauen]

You have a Define R4, if i am not mistaken. The front bracket actually doesn't make it easy to mount the bequiets in there. However i went and did it anyways with mine. The relief from the stock fractal fans is enourmos! However like i said, the mount in the front isn't as easy, because you have only two screw holes for each fan, which you have to use because the bequiet doesn't have a frame. It holds by itself very well, and doesn't really come loose but i don't trust it so i used two screws anyways. Please notice, that the pieces for the hard mounting of the bq are a piece of garbage and break easily with too much force. The rubber mount however is a breeze. so for the back I'd definitley go bequiet. (which i did aswell. )

 

Performance wise i can't compare them to noctuas becasue i have none, but they certainly are freaking quiet! they move a good amount of air and don't get suffocated by the front of the R4, even though they don't have that high of static pressure.

At 12V you can only hear a sublte woosh from the air. they're inaudible(!) until 9-10V.

It doesn't apply for the front of the R4 though. Since the fans are squished in there, they can transport vibrations rather freely. but the rubber lip around them helps with reducing. The vibrations aren't noticable as a rattleing at low rpm but more as a overall higher noise level when turning them to 12V, as compared to the back rubber-mounted bq.

 

However! After all they are orders of magnitude better than the FD stock fans. If you want more infos, feel free to ask.

 

Edit: i controll them via a fan controller, which allows me to do such testing. I had a row of fans before but i gave up and finally bought bequiets and mounted them in there somehow (worked better than expected). I would've gone with noctuas, if i haden't got a bq DR 2 already, and if noctuas weren't that fugly.

 

Edit 2: To clarify again, how freaking silent they are, i have to say it again: THEY ARE SILENT! i gotta admit that i wear closed headphones but tbh, my hard drive is actually the noisiest part in my system since i went all bequiet, and it's a Western Digital green! As soon as you have even any sound on your headphones by, videos, gaming, music, you won't be abled to hear your bequiet army, no matter what voltage you operate them at.

 

okay. enough bequiet fanboyism here... I'm done!

The frame thing in my R4 has all the screw holes, that's how I mounted my Silent Series R2's, cause the thing was so loose, the fans came off every now and again when I was gonna clean the filter. I will be using the R4's fan controller.

 

and to some other guys: 140 mm fans ONLY, why would I use 120 mm if I can use 140?

[Lauen]

wait a minute- only the PWM version is available here in Norway.. guess adapters would do the job!

[KamiKatze]

The frame thing in my R4 has all the screw holes, that's how I mounted my Silent Series R2's, cause the thing was so loose, the fans came off every now and again when I was gonna clean the filter. I will be using the R4's fan controller.

 

and to some other guys: 140 mm fans ONLY, why would I use 120 mm if I can use 140?

 

Mine has 4 120 mm screw holes for each fan but only 2 screw holes for 140 mm fans. The outer ones aren't there. errrm. i thought this is normal *takes out drill*. The R4's fan controller will definitley have your ears satisfied at 5 aswell as 7V. I'd say same goes for noctua but i can't verify it.

 

You would maybe use 120 mm bequiets because they have double the static pressure and therefor could move that amount of air more efficiently. But larger fans are mostly quieter, that's why I'd also say, 140>120

[Lauen]

Mine has 4 120 mm screw holes for each fan but only 2 screw holes for 140 mm fans. The outer ones aren't there. errrm. i thought this is normal *takes out drill*. The R4's fan controller will definitley have your ears satisfied at 5 aswell as 7V. I'd say same goes for noctua but i can't verify it.

 

You would maybe use 120 mm bequiets because they have double the static pressure and therefor could move that amount of air more efficiently. But larger fans are mostly quieter, that's why I'd also say, 140>120

yeah, I agree on the 120 vs 140.

 

Alright then, time to order! also, I was very surprised at the MTBF, 300 000 hours (amazing)

[KamiKatze]

yeah, I agree on the 120 vs 140.

 

Alright then, time to order! also, I was very surprised at the MTBF, 300 000 hours (amazing)

 

Yes that's an extraordinary claim. I know that my fan ony my DR 2 isn't that durable. tbh i tortured it quite a bit because i had it colored and then removed the color (lol). But, if operated correctly, i can see them spin for a while!

 

i convinced you of dem bequiets, huh? I don't want to be the bad guy if you run into incompatabilities or if the bequiets don't run as expected. btw bequiet is not my sponsor, i just happen to like them

[Lauen]

Yes that's an extraordinary claim. I know that my fan ony my DR 2 isn't that durable. tbh i tortured it quite a bit because i had it colored and then removed the color (lol). But, if operated correctly, i can see them spin for a while!

 

i convinced you of dem bequiets, huh? I don't want to be the bad guy if you run into incompatabilities or if the bequiets don't run as expected. btw bequiet is not my sponsor, i just happen to like them

not convinced, but just seeing how many people here told me to get them over the Noctuas, I assume they gotta be pretty good, and the color on the Noctua's just.. doesn't fit my system at all.

[KamiKatze]

not convinced, but just seeing how many people here told me to get them over the Noctuas, I assume they gotta be pretty good, and the color on the Noctua's just.. doesn't fit my system at all.

 

i guess the color is the main point why most of the people here bought, and recommend the bequiets. Hope you'll like em.