Good 120mm case fans for the front side?

[Daethz]

The Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM fans are the best fans I have ever used especially for front intake, but they are expensive and ugly.

[Ralfi]

Ok well i've conducted some tests with the Arctic Bionix P120 ARGB fans. These were GPU focussed, so with the GPU (& CPU) Idle & then the GPU under load.

 

5600x over-clocked to 4.6Ghz

6700XT (Reference card) all default settings

16GB RAM @3600

Case has two exhaust fans (rear & top) in addition to the 3 front intake fans being tested

CPU has a Deepcool Gammaxx 400 v2 HSF

 

NOTE: I noticed the notorious Arctic 'hum' occurs roughly between 1000RPM & 1400RPM. I've altered my fan curves to avoid this range, so there's no issues in regards to this hum. @ 30% PWM, the hum is hardly noticeable, but it's where it begins. @40% PWM, it's more noticeable. With the GPU under load however, it's less noticeable at 30% PWM, but still there at 40% PWM. Though it's easily avoidable with a tweaking of fan curves so don't let this put you off.

 

Below are the results of Idle & Load scenarios, with 3, 2, 1 & 0 front intake fans...

- 'Quiet' fan profile was used along with the default GPU fan threshold of 66%.

- Front fans RPM were between 550-600RPM for all tests.

- CPU fan ranged from 950-1000RPM for all tests.

 

3 front fans - GPU/CPU Idle

Noise (average): 37dB 

GPU Junction (hot spot) Temp: 50 (GPU fan @ 0RPM) 

GPU Edge Temp: 48

CPU Temp: 37

 

2 front fans - GPU/CPU Idle

Noise (average): 37dB 

GPU Junction (hot spot) Temp: 51 (GPU fan @ 0RPM)

GPU Edge Temp: 49

CPU Temp: 38

 

1 front fan - GPU/CPU Idle

Noise (average): 35dB

GPU Junction (hot spot) Temp: 53 (GPU fan @ 0RPM)

GPU Edge Temp: 50

CPU Temp: 38

 

0 front fans - GPU/CPU Idle

Noise (average): 36dB

GPU Junction (hot spot) Temp: 53 (GPU fan @ 547RPM)

GPU Edge Temp: 51

CPU Temp: 49

 

So 3 degree improvement on the GPU & 12 degree improvement on the CPU going from 0 intake fans to 3. This is with no discernible sacrifice of noise.

 

----

 

3 front fans - GPU Under Load

Noise (average): 39dB 

GPU Junction (hot spot) Temp: 98 (GPU fan @ 1567RPM)

GPU Edge Temp: 86

CPU Temp: 42

 

2 front fans - GPU Under Load

Noise (average): 39dB

GPU Junction (hot spot) Temp: 99 (GPU fan @ 15000RPM)

GPU Edge Temp: 85

CPU Temp: 42

 

1 front fan - GPU Under Load

Noise (average): 38dB

GPU Junction (hot spot) Temp: 95 (GPU fan @ 12900RPM)

GPU Edge Temp: 83

CPU Temp: 39

 

0 front fans - GPU Under Load

Noise (average): 38dB

GPU Junction (hot spot) Temp: 97 (GPU fan @ 1418RPM)

GPU Edge Temp: 85

CPU Temp: 44

 

So no real difference between 0 & 3 fans under load. 1-2 degree difference (margin of error). I expected more of an improvement under load, but I guess this highlights the airflow efficiency of the case i'm using. Other cases may see more of a benefit in having more front intake fans.

[TudorF]

@Ralfi

Yeah, those results are in line with what I've seen done by youtubers. They get an improvement in temps of about a few degrees.

So I guess it's the CPU cooler and the GPU fans that have the biggest impact on cooling still.

Case fans can improve things a bit but they won't solve a major cooling problem if the CPU cooler or GPU fans are deficient.

And that's probably assuming a baseline case in which the PC case is not some all-glass hot box.

[Ralfi]

8 hours ago, TudorF said:

@Ralfi

Yeah, those results are in line with what I've seen done by youtubers. They get an improvement in temps of about a few degrees.

So I guess it's the CPU cooler and the GPU fans that have the biggest impact on cooling still.

Case fans can improve things a bit but they won't solve a major cooling problem if the CPU cooler or GPU fans are deficient.

And that's probably assuming a baseline case in which the PC case is not some all-glass hot box.

If I were to do the same comparisons & stress tested the CPU instead of the GPU, more improvement may be noticed.

[TudorF]

On 6/12/2021 at 11:37 PM, NorKris said:

Get Arctic P12 ARGB. Trust me

I got these. They seem ok for the price.

 

 

 

 

My mobo software (RGB Fusion 2.0) doesn't allow creating custom profiles using gradients of multiple colours, though. I can only cycle through some built-in profiles.

I even tried the Aura software but it doesn't see any ARGB device.

Despite them being advertised as 0dB, I have to say these fans aren't really that silent. But they're not that noisy either, they add a bit of background hum, even at the low RPM they run by default (about 500). But they were cheap, they blow a bit of cool air into the Noctua CPU cooler and add a nice hue to the case.

[NorKris]

1 hour ago, TudorF said:

I got these. They seem ok for the price.

 

 

 

 

My mobo software (RGB Fusion 2.0) doesn't allow creating custom profiles using gradients of multiple colours, though. I can only cycle through some built-in profiles.

I even tried the Aura software but it doesn't see any ARGB device.

Despite them being advertised as 0dB, I have to say these fans aren't really that silent. But they're not that noisy either, they add a bit of background hum, even at the low RPM they run by default (about 500). But they were cheap, they blow a bit of cool air into the Noctua CPU cooler and add a nice hue to the case.

Ye u need the software from ur MB.

Looking good tho. 

The 0db has to do with a auto shutdown on lower rpms, i think. For the hums, i have have not noticed it with these fans myself   

[Ralfi]

5 hours ago, TudorF said:

they add a bit of background hum, even at the low RPM they run by default (about 500).

Are you able to adjust the fan curves in your motherboard software, so that 500RPM can be avoided? 

[TudorF]

43 minutes ago, Ralfi said:

Are you able to adjust the fan curves in your motherboard software, so that 500RPM can be avoided? 

Yeah. Both in the BIOS and the MB software. The default setting is a sloping line that defines how the RPM should adjust to the temps.

Which is normal, since the mobo supports PWM fans and all the fans I put inside the case are PWM.

[Daethz]

I love the Noctua A12x25x's even in their poop brown glory