The Best 120mm Fans

[JDurden]

Hello, I recently tested 7 of the newest/most popular 120mm fans on the market to see which ones are the best.

 

I've attached my performance charts.

 

As you can see the NB-eLoop is a big winner, except in the radiator test where the NF-A12x25 wins. My budget picks would be the Kaze Flex ($14) and the BioniX P120 ($14).

 

I go over the full test procedure and all the details in this video: 

If you have any questions or comments I would be happy to answer here.

[Bombastinator]

So noise vs temps.  Nothing to do with bearing life or position.  I’d call this half a test.

[JDurden]

39 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

So noise vs temps.  Nothing to do with bearing life or position.  I’d call this half a test.

Can't really test bearing life unless I did a test for years . What do you mean by position?

[Bombastinator]

52 minutes ago, JDurden said:

Can't really test bearing life unless I did a test for years . What do you mean by position?

The direction a fan is blowing (up/down/side to side) can have a dramatic affect on bearing life.  Different bearings only work well in certain orientations.  Enlobal and sleeve, for example must be horizontal, where bearing fans need to be vertical, and modified rifles like FDB can be any direction but are often 3 times the price.  Sleeve fans are unusually quiet and very cheap, but if they are place vertically they will wear like crazy, whereas is they are placed horizontally they will have a useful life almost 80%as long as a modified rifle coating 3 times as much.

[Intergalacticbits]

Hey I watched that video and the one about the big cpu coolers too.

I enjoyed them both. 

I like that kind of practical stuff sometimes.

 

[JDurden]

On 2/16/2020 at 12:05 PM, Intergalacticbits said:

Hey I watched that video and the one about the big cpu coolers too.

I enjoyed them both. 

I like that kind of practical stuff sometimes.

 

Thanks man, glad you liked them.