Are Noctua fans really that good?

[vladonizer]

I don't know very much about Noctua fans since I am a bit of a corsair fanboy. But I am going to be upgrading my system and getting new fans/cooler for it soon. Are Noctua fans really that much better than the top of the line corsair fans? I couldn't find any tests that put them up against the LL series. Also if I am thinking about a air cooler instead of an AIO, any suggestions there that work just as good, but aren't so massive that it blocks my ram?

[LukeSavenije]

noctua fans are actually great... shame i only have one of them

 

@WoodenMarker does know more about cooling than me tho...

[Slayer3032]

I've never owned any of the good Corsair fans(nor any of the modern Noctua designs) but the junk stock fans they throw in cases rarely last more than a couple years at most before making tons of noise. I'm sure their Maglev fans are great quality, I don't think the Light Loops are actually their best fan designs but they're pretty damn cool.

 

My NH-D14's fans lived though 7 1/2 years of being ran at max speed in a fairly dusty room with many years of that exhausting out of the top of an Antec Nine Hundred. That also survived liquid damage which caused the top 200mm fan to explode into pieces a couple months later. That case ate 3 sets of cheaper 120mm's and a couple ATI 5870 blower fans and a full set of fans from my Corsair 450D before I replaced every fan it in along with both of the Noctua fans, only one of which was getting louder. Their Redux line is just their older designs but in grey.

 

 

I spent almost twice as much on the fans and Swiftech PWM fan splitter than on the case but that's only because I got the case on an Amazon lightning deal lol

[SolarNova]

In a word.. Yes

 

Especially their newer NF-A12x25

[vladonizer]

1 hour ago, Slayer3032 said:

 

 

1 hour ago, SolarNova said:

In a word.. Yes

 

Especially their newer NF-A12x25

Why can't other manufacturers get that type of.performance, I wish I could get that performance with the looks of the LL(I'm into pretty lights)

[SolarNova]

7 minutes ago, vladonizer said:

 

Why can't other manufacturers get that type of.performance, I wish I could get that performance with the looks of the LL(I'm into pretty lights)

Other fans can match performance ,, some even beat them, but not at the same noise level

[Slayer3032]

48 minutes ago, vladonizer said:

 

Why can't other manufacturers get that type of.performance, I wish I could get that performance with the looks of the LL(I'm into pretty lights)

Fans aren't really high volume and most people swap cases and hardware about when it's time to swap fans, or just run them until they completely die.

 

So there's not a large demand for high quality fans and with water coolers being made/sold by most case manufacturers they get to skimp out even more so on their stock case fans IF they even include them since it's likely you'll smack a radiator filled with fans somewhere in the case.

[WoodenMarker]

1 hour ago, vladonizer said:

Why can't other manufacturers get that type of.performance, I wish I could get that performance with the looks of the LL(I'm into pretty lights)

It took Noctua about a year just to get the sterrox material working with their signature colors. Getting that aesthetic into the same fan would probably be even more difficult. 

You can see some of the difficulties encountered and tech that goes into the NF-A12x25 linked here: 

It was also said at one of their booths (I think Computex) that they didn't have particularly smarter engineers but that the difference with Noctua is that they give the engineers the time they need to finish a product before shipping. 

 

Yes, Noctuas are better if you care at all about noise. Noctuas are very consistent with their noise even after prolonged used unlike most other fans that get noisier over time if not just failing. The NF-A12x25 is the only fan that I can call the best 120mm fan whereas it would come down to where a fan was being used before its release. LL's are alright but far from the best. They have shorter fan blades due to the thickness of the light loop that severely hold back performance. https://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php/artikel/hardware/kuehlung/46712-noctua-nf-a12x25-im-test-auf-dem-weg-zur-luefter-referenz.html?start=4

What are your specs and where are you planning to use the fans?

Where are you shopping / located? Budget?

[JoostinOnline]

1 hour ago, WoodenMarker said:

Yes, Noctuas are better if you care at all about noise.

The colors though.  They remind me of diarrhea.  I got some ML140 fans from Corsair because they offer close to Noctua levels of quiet while actually matching my case's aesthetic, but it was still a painful sacrifice.

 

Side note, I didn't realize how loud a hard drive actually was until I got super quiet fans.  I'm down the rabbit hole now.

[WoodenMarker]

35 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

Aside from there IPPC line, no Noctua fans are not that good. They're cheap overpriced flimsy plastic fans that hardly push any air. You can get scythe fans that move more air that are just as quite and cost way less.

the IPPC line of fans on the other hand are rather nice. But once more they're over priced. A quieter delta fan like a AFB series would be a far better buy.

How are they cheap and flimsy? They're sturdier and stay quiet longer than Scythes usually do. 

iPPC's are noisier than the normal counterparts even at the same rpm. If you're touting the iPPC's are the only good fans and saying that the other Noctuas don't push any air, it seems like you're only interested in high rpm fans as opposed to the usual case fan rpm range that usually goes up to 1500rpm. 

14 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

The colors though.  They remind me of diarrhea.  I got some ML140 fans from Corsair because they offer close to Noctua levels of quiet while actually matching my case's aesthetic, but it was still a painful sacrifice

Side note, I didn't realize how loud a hard drive actually was until I got super quiet fans.  I'm down the rabbit hole now.

ML's are pretty quiet for the airflow at least when measuring dBA but aren't as pleasant tonally. 

Noctuas also come in their Chromax black. https://noctua.at/en/products/product-lines/line-chromax

[vladonizer]

5 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

 

 

What are your specs and where are you planning to use the fans?

Where are you shopping / located? Budget?

I'm located in USA and currently have (parts I'm bringing over for now)

6800k

Asus Edition 10

MSI Gaming X 1080

Corsair 1000w PSU

1TB Samsung SSD

 

Plans are:

Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic

Custom loop with 360 rad(not sure if in top or side yet)

Probably 9 fans(yes I know it's pointless overkill)

 

Not really thinking too much about budget, since I am considering the white LL fans(now they are on sale for around $88 for 3 on Amazon)

 

If I use all 9 fans, the bottom will be intake at around 100-1200rpm, top exhaust, side either exhaust or intake, depending on if I get pretty LL fans or go with something not pretty. Exhaust without the Rad would be at a low RPM

 

[WoodenMarker]

38 minutes ago, vladonizer said:

Custom loop with 360 rad(not sure if in top or side yet)

Probably 9 fans(yes I know it's pointless overkill)

Not really thinking too much about budget, since I am considering the white LL fans(now they are on sale for around $88 for 3 on Amazon)

If you're not very sensitive to noise and would appreciate the LL aesthetic, they'd be perfectly fine for cooling your system and especially if you're using 9 fans. 

If you want the best of the best, the NF-A12x25 is probably it. 

What rad are you using?

30 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

Wile the plastic used is a tic better then some scythe fans like the slipstreems. But for the cost noctuas should be a much better higher quality fan. 

The ruber gaskets like to tare, the blades are flimsy and the housing is made of rather soft plastic. The LNA tend to fail, why they even come with such a device when a 5v rewire is far safer is something I don't know. 

However the rubber fan mounts they come with are the only rubber mounts worth uses in my option. 

Given my experience I seen more noctuas fail before scuthe fans. 

And wile noctuas iPPC line are louder, they are very easy controlled and can be just as quite as their lower RPM models. The beuild quality of the iPPC line is were (for the cost) the regular noctua fans should be. 

But once more the cost is way out if line, you can get few delta fans off ebay for the price of one iPPC fan. 

What would a higher quality fan entail?

Rubber screws dry and are easily torn over time. I've never encountered any that didn't have the same issue. They're generally fine for at least the first installation and if you're not constantly removing them. 

I'm not entirely sure why resistors are preferred over a rewire in this case but they're easy to make and generally very reliable. It makes a lot of sense at least for the ~7v resistors. That being said, I've never had a LNA fail on me. 

 

Here's an example of Noctuas that had been caked in mud and washed in water afterwards. They're currently running very quietly as if new and without the noise that's ever-present in ball bearing fans. I doubt the same would go for most other fans including Scythes. 

Whether iPPC's are just as quiet depends on your hearing sensitivity. At minimum rpm, they're definitely still noisier than the normal Noctuas.

Noctuas' Redux fans are generally affordable and a decent value for the reliability and bundled 6 year warranty. 

The 1700rpm NF-P12 in particular is very versatile given its design and rpm range. https://www.thelab.gr/reviews/heatsinks-coolers-watercooling-reviews/noctua-nf-a12x25-and-noctua-nf-p12-redux-series-fans-review-r701/

[Quadriplegic]

31 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

If you're not very sensitive to noise and would appreciate the LL aesthetic, they'd be perfectly fine for cooling your system and especially if you're using 9 fans. 

If you want the best of the best, the NF-A12x25 is probably it. 

 

I have been doing some digging for my situation (you  know, SP fans for rads), and I found this review database:

https://www.pcfanreviews.com/2018/11/19/arctic-fan-roundup/
https://bench.pcfanreviews.com/

I have no idea how legit the site/review methodology is, but Arctic F12 PWMs constantly outperformed Noctua A12x25 at same dbA for just airflow. Noctuas still might have better noise profile however. 
Edit: reviewer tested the fans without any restrictions. So in actual real world usage, Noctua is likely to be better. So you can just disregard this post as useless
 

duty cycle %                               0    10       20      30      40       50       60       70       80       90    100
Arctic F12 PWM PST m^3/h   0.0    0.0    23.0   46.6   57.1    67.6    70.3    80.1    82.7    88.7   92.6
Noctua NF-A12x25 m^3/h       0.0    6.6    17.7   24.3  30.2    42.0    47.3    61.1    55.2    69.6   70.3
duty cycle %                              0       10      20     30      40       50       60       70       80       90    100
Arctic F12 PWM PST db(A)    0.0      0.0     0.0  17.2   25.3    30.8    35.1    38.7    42.2    43.5    45.6
Noctua NF-A12x25 db(A)        0.0    18.5    7.5    8.9    25.2    30.8    35.4    39.4    41.7   45.2    47.5

 

/rant on

 

FFS, let me make a proper table

/rant off

[Constantin]

I thin Corsair ML PRO are one of the best fans out there...

[Settlerteo]

10 hours ago, vladonizer said:

I don't know very much about Noctua fans since I am a bit of a corsair fanboy. But I am going to be upgrading my system and getting new fans/cooler for it soon. Are Noctua fans really that much better than the top of the line corsair fans? I couldn't find any tests that put them up against the LL series. Also if I am thinking about a air cooler instead of an AIO, any suggestions there that work just as good, but aren't so massive that it blocks my ram?

Well Noctua are probably the best quiet fans out there. Be quiet is the second best choice in my opinion, and first choice considering aesthetics. That doesn't mean corsair has not great choices. Corsair ML series are great too but not that quiet when they speed up. In any case you can't go wrong with either LL or ML fans.

[WoodenMarker]

1 hour ago, Quadriplegic said:

I have been doing some digging for my situation (you  know, SP fans for rads), and I found this review database:

https://www.pcfanreviews.com/2018/11/19/arctic-fan-roundup/
https://bench.pcfanreviews.com/

I'm not sure how those results were achieved but here's an example of the NF-A12x25 used in push compared to the F12 PWM's in push / pull on the Liquid Freezer 240. 

[dgsddfgdfhgs]

Noctua fan are just unreasonably expensive!!

I can buy a good quality 18" household fan for similar price

[Quadriplegic]

5 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

I'm not sure how those results were achieved but here's an example of the NF-A12x25 used in push compared to the F12 PWM's in push / pull on the Liquid Freezer 240. 

Yeah, those reviews are basically useless as airflow was measured with no restrictions. I have edited my post with that info. 

[vladonizer]

6 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

If you're not very sensitive to noise and would appreciate the LL aesthetic, they'd be perfectly fine for cooling your system and especially if you're using 9 fans. 

If you want the best of the best, the NF-A12x25 is probably it. 

What rad are you using?

I'm looking at one of these

 

https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-coolstream-se-360-slim-triple

https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-coolstream-pe-360-triple

 

I also thought about their kits, but I want to pick out my own parts

[Quadriplegic]

59 minutes ago, vladonizer said:

I'm looking at one of these

 

https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-coolstream-se-360-slim-triple

https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-coolstream-pe-360-triple

 

I also thought about their kits, but I want to pick out my own parts

For the slim rad, LLs should be enough.

[Ankerson]

19 hours ago, vladonizer said:

I don't know very much about Noctua fans since I am a bit of a corsair fanboy. But I am going to be upgrading my system and getting new fans/cooler for it soon. Are Noctua fans really that much better than the top of the line corsair fans? I couldn't find any tests that put them up against the LL series. Also if I am thinking about a air cooler instead of an AIO, any suggestions there that work just as good, but aren't so massive that it blocks my ram?

 

In short yes they are absolutely the best you can buy.

 

I have them in all 3 of my machines.