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What is the best 120mm case fan aside from NOCTUA?

Jason Jamelo
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 I'm planning to get 4 pieces of Corsair AF 120mm quiet edition fans http://www.corsair.com/en-in/air-series-af120-quiet-edition-high-airflow-120mm-fan . 2 for intake, and 2 for exhaust .  Can I get your suggestions if this kind of fans are good enough or there is much way better aside from NOCTUA fans? Since my budget is limited to buy 2 sets of noctua fans.. I mean, we all know it's very expensive for a fan.

 

Will be very glad to hear your thoughts. 

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I have also af 120/140's. 5 of them. They are quiet and good.  

CPU: Intel I7 4790K 4.8 Ghz || Mobo: ASUS ROG Maximus Hero 6 Z87 || Ram: Corsair Vengeance 16 GB 1600 Mhz || GPU: ASUS GTX 980 Ti STRIX || Storage: 2 x SSD Samsung 840 EVO 250 GB RAID 0 HDD Western Digital 1 TB Black || PSU: Corsair AX 860 watt || Cooling: 2 x AF 140mm (front), 2 AF120 Blue LED (bottom and back), 2 SP120 (top on radiator) ||  CPU cooler: Corsair H100i GTX || Case: Corsair obsidian 750D <3 <3 <3 

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I have also af 120/140's. 5 of them. They are quiet and good.  

thanks man really appreciate it  :)

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Scythe Gentle Typhoons?

Bitfenix Spectre Pros?

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I've used both AF120s and Bitfenix Spectre Pros, both were loud for my tastes (even at lower RPM), although both did look good and moved plenty of air.

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Corsair fans are good performers and look good for the money. They're not the silentest however, even the 'quiet' editions are loud if you ask a silence enthusiast.

 

For silence I'd recommend

 

Bitfenix Spectre Pros (a bit louder for my taste)

Scythe GT

bequiet silent wings 2

cougar vortex

 

There are one or two more but i can't remember them right now. :D

who cares...

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Corsair fans are good performers and look good for the money. They're not the silentest however, even the 'quiet' editions are loud if you ask a silence enthusiast.

 

For silence I'd recommend

 

Bitfenix Spectre Pros (a bit louder for my taste)

Scythe GT

bequiet silent wings 2

cougar vortex

 

There are one or two more but i can't remember them right now. :D

thanks a lot.. I'll be checking its specs and prices  :D

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Noiseblocker e-loops and gentle typhoons are the only ones that are on par with noctua's, anythjbg else is below.

CPU: i7 3770k@ 4.6Ghz@ 1.23v - GPU: Palit GTX 660ti - MOBO: Asrock Extreme 4 - RAM: Corsair vengeance 8GB 1600Mhz - PSU: OCZ 650watt - STORAGE: 128Gb corsair force GT SSD/ 1TB seagate barracuda 7200rpm

                                                                                         COOLING: NH-U14s/ 3x Noiseblocker blacksilent pros/ Silverstone Air Penetrator/ 2 corsair AF120s

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 I'm planning to get 4 pieces of Corsair AF 120mm quiet edition fans http://www.corsair.com/en-in/air-series-af120-quiet-edition-high-airflow-120mm-fan . 2 for intake, and 2 for exhaust .  Can I get your suggestions if this kind of fans are good enough or there is much way better aside from NOCTUA fans? Since my budget is limited to buy 2 sets of noctua fans.. I mean, we all know it's very expensive for a fan.

 

Will be very glad to hear your thoughts. 

The best and IMO on par with Noctua's is the Akasa Apache's, Vipers and Piranha.  

 

 

 

 

This  :ph34r: will karate NSA vigorously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A water-cooled mid-tier gaming PC.

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Quiet - Scythe Gentle Typhoon

 

Power - Delta high RPM fans. -25mm thick go with the 4,000 RPM

                                               -38mm thick go with the 5,000 RPM

 

Sunon and Sanyo also make great fans. These high RPM fans are not that loud with a fan controller.

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Corair, not because they are the ''best'' but because the look f**king awsome haha! All six of my fan are corsair in my 540 air. 4 of them are sp120 QE and the 2 that blow directly at the GPU are af120 performance edition.

Case : Corsiar Air 540 CPU : Intel i5 8600k GPU : Asus Nvidia 970 DirectCUII RAM : 16gb DDR4 MB : ASUS Prime z370-p PSU : OCZ Modxtreme 700w SSD : Samsung 840 EVO 250gb 

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The best and IMO on par with Noctua's is the Akasa Apache's, Vipers and Piranha.  

 

 

 

 

This  :ph34r: will karate NSA vigorously!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have used both Noctua and Akasa fans?

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You have used both Noctua and Akasa fans?

I have not used the new NF-F12 but the old NF-F12 and i can say the the Akasa Apache's 120mm work just as great and no 140mm fan can come close to the Apache 140mm in terms of noise to performance to price. The vipers are also excellent but a bit noisier than the apache's at 12v.

A water-cooled mid-tier gaming PC.

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I have not used the new NF-F12 but the old NF-F12 and i can say the the Akasa Apache's 120mm work just as great and no 140mm fan can come close to the Apache 140mm in terms of noise to performance to price. The vipers are also excellent but a bit noisier than the apache's at 12v.

I'm always trying to find an excuse to get the Akasa Vipers for the color... *sigh* :(

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I'm always trying to find an excuse to get the Akasa Vipers for the color... *sigh* :(

The yellow color is the reason i used the Apache's in my build as my build is black and blue but i installed the Vipers in a z87 build i did for a client and i have to say they provide a bit more cooling that the Apache's but they also make more noise. For me, the Apache's are the best of both worlds....silence and performance and black goes with every thing. 

 

I too was always though Noctua fans were the best but my mind changed when the good people at frozencpu told me about the Apache's and i have never looked for any other fans. I just cannot justify the price of the Noctua's with the Apache's on the market. I live in the Caribbean and with the Apache's in push pull i get an overall 59C on full load with the fans on 1300rpm.  

A water-cooled mid-tier gaming PC.

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The yellow color is the reason i used the Apache's in my build as my build is black and blue but i installed the Vipers in a z87 build i did for a client and i have to say they provide a bit more cooling that the Apache's but they also make more noise. For me, the Apache's are the best of both worlds....silence and performance and black goes with every thing. 

 

I too was always though Noctua fans were the best but my mind changed when the good people at frozencpu told me about the Apache's and i have never looked for any other fans. I just cannot justify the price of the Noctua's with the Apache's on the market. I live in the Caribbean and with the Apache's in push pull i get an overall 59C on full load with the fans on 1300rpm.  

Yeah, in Puerto Rico it can get really hot, main reason I want some good performance fans.

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I have also af 120/140's. 5 of them. They are quiet and good.  

They're loud fans.

| CPU: Intel Core i7 2600k | Mootherboard: ASUS P8z68v-Pro | GPU: EVGA GTX780Ti 3GB | RAM: Kingston HyperX Genesis 8GB (4GBx2) 1600mhz | PSU: Corsair AX760 | STORAGE: Samsung 840 Pro 512GB | COOLER: Noctua NH-C14 | CASE: Fractal Design Define R4 Pearl Black | Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit |

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personally i like the corsair ones, but nzxt fans are not bad either.

I run my own indie game company called Color Dragon Studios where we are currently making a 2d platformer game called Small Earth.

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Corair, not because they are the ''best'' but because the look f**king awsome haha! All six of my fan are corsair in my 540 air. 4 of them are sp120 QE and the 2 that blow directly at the GPU are af120 performance edition.

hmmmm is it quiet enough sir? I mean in full load or in gaming?

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Cougar Vortex, Rosewill Hyperborea/Akasa Apache, and Arctic F12 PWM CO are better.

 

hmmmm is it quiet enough sir? I mean in full load or in gaming?

'Quiet enough' depends on the person. Corsair fans are pretty far from quiet in general compared to other quieter fans. 

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hmmmm is it quiet enough sir? I mean in full load or in gaming?

The AF120 PE are not installed yet, i just received them like 2 hours ago haha! if they are, i'll just put on the low noise adapter that they come with and problem resolved. For now with the SP120 QE, my rig is qiuet enough for my taste, and keep in mind that the air 540 is'nt excactly a ''quiet'' case. In gaming the gpu become the louder parts in the rig, so it doesn't matters, I have a 7970 direct CUII.

Case : Corsiar Air 540 CPU : Intel i5 8600k GPU : Asus Nvidia 970 DirectCUII RAM : 16gb DDR4 MB : ASUS Prime z370-p PSU : OCZ Modxtreme 700w SSD : Samsung 840 EVO 250gb 

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Cougar Vortex, Rosewill Hyperborea/Akasa Apache, and Arctic F12 PWM CO are better.

 

'Quiet enough' depends on the person. Corsair fans are pretty far from quiet in general compared to other quieter fans. 

Agree. they are quiet enough for my taste. On load the GPU is louder anyway.

Case : Corsiar Air 540 CPU : Intel i5 8600k GPU : Asus Nvidia 970 DirectCUII RAM : 16gb DDR4 MB : ASUS Prime z370-p PSU : OCZ Modxtreme 700w SSD : Samsung 840 EVO 250gb 

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I love my silverstone ap121 and the old 120.

 

pretty silent too maybe not comparable to the silence of the noctua but I don't hear any of them in my rig.

Live your life like a dream.

 
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