Corsair SP 120 vs. Noctua NF-F12

[Quantum]

So I'm about to buy a h100i in all likelyhood and I need fans that perform well and are pretty silent.  My choices are the Noctua NF-F12s or Corsair SP 120 Quiet Editions.  I can get 4 SP 120 Quiet Editions for $51.58 after tax and shipping and handling. If I do get SP 120s, I'll use 2 for the h100i and use the other 2 as a front intake.  I can get 2 NF-F12s for $41.26 after tax and shipping and handling. One thing to keep in mind is that my rig as of now is in a Define R4 with the internals being mostly black and white, so I personally think the NF-F12s would look fine in it. The looks of the fans aren't that big of a deal to me.  From what I read, the SP 120s Quiet Edition are more quiet than the NF-F12s, but they perform a few degrees worse than the NF-F12s.  Which do you think would be a better choice and why? Do you think the hefty price of the NF-F12 is worth the few degrees improvement over the SP 120 Quiet Editions?

Tl;dr - Are 2 NF-F12s reasonable to buy if I can get 2 more SP 120s for $10 more?

Thank you in advance  

   

[Bluethulhu]

Get the Noctuas. They are usually more expensive than the SP120s from my experience.

[Titanicium]

Get the Corsair ones They are quite awesome and I actually think that it is the other way around... The SP120s is the better performing but the Noctua ones are quieter...

[rhyseyness]

The stock fans which come with the H100i, which are similar to the SP120's are really really loud.

I use noctuas on my H100i, and they perform fantastically.

Personally, I'd go with the noctuas because they perform as well if not better and I think they will be significantly quieter than the quiet edition SP120's.

I think they are worth the extra cost/fan.

Getting 2 extra fans won't make that much of a difference either, just more noise really.

Hope this helps

[Quantum]

I'll probably go with NF-F12s.  Thanks guys, I really appreciate it . 

Get the Corsair ones They are quite awesome and I actually think that it is the other way around... The SP120s is the better performing but the Noctua ones are quieter...

I remember a graph from Linus showing that the SP 120 Quiet Editions being quieter. Wait, I rememeber, that was at 12 volts.  I'm sure it's the other way around when you use the low noise adapter which is 7 volts if I remember. 

 

 

The stock fans which come with the H100i, which are similar to the SP120's are really really loud.

I use noctuas on my H100i, and they perform fantastically.

Personally, I'd go with the noctuas because they perform as well if not better and I think they will be significantly quieter than the quiet edition SP120's.

I think they are worth the extra cost/fan.

Getting 2 extra fans won't make that much of a difference either, just more noise really.

Hope this helps

Are you using the low noise adapter?  How do they perform with it?  
Thanks for the help . 

 

 

Get the Noctuas. They are usually more expensive than the SP120s from my experience.

Alright thanks . 

[rhyseyness]

@Quantum

 

No I'm not. I control them through PWM.

Even at full speed they are much much quieter than my H100i fans.

I run my noctuas at about 50% (700rpm) and they are near silent

[Glo]

If you can, pick up a couple gentle typhoons over either of these.

[Ruan]

I'm wondering about the same thing. I have a H100 and those fans are sooo loud. its the loudest thing in my case. there's only one place in South-Africa that I could find that sells Noctua fans and there asking $35 for one fan where as the corsair fans are about $14 for one and is easy to find.

 

Would you say the noctua's are realy that worth it?

[KamiKatze]

Depends if your R4 is in the windowed version. If it does: SP; if not: noctua. The stock fractal fans are pretty good btw. you can keep them as front intake.

[AndyCapets]

Noctuas > SPs

Go for the Noctuas, they don't make any noise at all under full load, and even if the design isn't the best for some... Perfomance VS Price ? I recommend going for perfomance.

The Corsair ones are just bad, they make a hell of a noise when on full load.

[Kratikos]

Corsair isn't that bad, but if the extra $40 worth spending for that random fan load then do it.

Personally corsair h100i with stock fans work perfect. 46 Celsius under load while OCed.

[CthulDude]

I haven't gotten the chance to test the sp120 quiet ed. I have however tested both sp/af120 performance ed's and corsair understate their cfm/static pressure performance on their spec sheet. So, i would hope that their spec sheet for the quiet editions to be the same. The Noctua NF f12 is a very quiet fan at 7v, i will try to test it sometime today at 7v to tell you its performance. At 12v it has an audible whine. Based on it's specs and the smoke machine testing i have done with it i think it's a perfect case fan, because it is able to channel the air quite well whereas most fans make a mess, particularly near the sides of the fan. Here are the nf f12(12v) specs that i have recorded 52.8CFM and 1.95mmH2O at full blockage. I would be willing to bet that the corsair sp120 quiet ed are quieter than the NF F12 when theyre both at 12v, because i wouldn't really call the nf f12 at 12v quiet. If you look at the spec sheets linus did a while back it shows how close their performance is. Clearly the noctua is better at 7v, but at 12v, things are closer.

 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1PSGh26Ne0XcG01LU5LaU9XX2M/edit?usp=sharing

[iAmLuke]

If you're going for the Noctua NF-F12's and are atleast a bit bugged about their color scheme, I'd recommend waiting for about a month, since there will be a new version of these, the LTT version, the fan will be fully black and the 4 side corner things will be available in black, red, blue, yellow, green and of course, orange

[191x7]

I would point in a different direction - the Cooler Master JetFlo 120mm pressure&airflow optimized PWM (800-2000rpm) with up to 95 CFM.

[specialresident22]

I just boght the f12s to replace my sp120s, running at the same speed the sp120s are noticabley quioeter.  the f12s are quiet but I was expecting them to be a lot quieter than the sp120 and they aren't.  Id recommend corsair because of this and the cheaper price.  Its not a doubling louder its like the f12 is 2-3bda noisier again at same speeds.

[WoodenMarker]

Why use 120mm's when your case supports 140mm's?

Are you limited to these two options for some reason?

What are your specs?

[Ryoku]

On 2013-10-17 at 5:07 AM, Quantum said:

I'll probably go with NF-F12s.  Thanks guys, I really appreciate it . 

I remember a graph from Linus showing that the SP 120 Quiet Editions being quieter. Wait, I rememeber, that was at 12 volts.  I'm sure it's the other way around when you use the low noise adapter which is 7 volts if I remember. 
 

Are you using the low noise adapter?  How do they perform with it?  
Thanks for the help . 
 

Alright thanks . 

The LNA just limited the speed on the fan to keep it quiet, I'd assume for systems that don't have fan control built in.  If your motherboard has good fan control in the bios you can setup a fan curve.  My NF-F12 are pretty much silent at 40% speed (600rpm) and will ramp up as my system gets warmer through the fan curve set through AI Suite 3 which interacts with my BIOS to control the fans.

29 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Why use 120mm's when your case supports 140mm's?

Are you limited to these two options for some reason?

What are your specs?

He's getting a H100i so I guess that why, but I agree if he can fit a 280mm rad he should go with whatever is 280mm.

[mark_cameron]

20 hours ago, Ryoku said:

The LNA just limited the speed on the fan to keep it quiet, I'd assume for systems that don't have fan control built in.  If your motherboard has good fan control in the bios you can setup a fan curve.  My NF-F12 are pretty much silent at 40% speed (600rpm) and will ramp up as my system gets warmer through the fan curve set through AI Suite 3 which interacts with my BIOS to control the fans.

He's getting a H100i so I guess that why, but I agree if he can fit a 280mm rad he should go with whatever is 280mm.

Agree.

 

If you can fit 140 mm fans on a 280mm radiator do so with the H110i

 

Note!!!

 

I think that the OP @Quantum main problem is that 120 mm fans are always louder than 140mm fans as they have to run higher rpm than 120 mm to move the same air. Also the 120sp fans get noisy around 1400rpm

 

I have the H110i with push pull stock 140mm fans. I purchased 4 additional direct from corsair to mount push pull and additional top case fan mount and spares

 

 

The corsair 140 mm H110i fans are NOT noisy

 

By far the noisest fans I have are the sp120 white led fans mounted on hard drive cages. At > or = 1300 rpm

 

Anything mounted on a air restricted area will be made noisy at high rpm. This impacts smaller fans than larger fans.