H100i Stock Fans Vs NF F12 - Analysis and Review

[mikogekz]

Hi guys, first review here so go easy on me. I decided to run some actual temperature benchmarks on the h100i using both the stock and the NF F12 fans from Noctua. I did this as I was not able to find this data anywhere on the internet. I know the NF F12's are much quieter than the stock fans on the h100i, but what about actual temperature differences? Read on to find out!

 

Testing Setup:

CPU: 4770K @ 4.5Ghz 1.31V (it's a voltage hungry processor)

CPU Cooler: H100i (obviously, haha)

RAM: 16Gb GSkill Trident X @2400MHz

Motherboard: MSI Z87-GD65

PSU: Thermaltake Gold 850W

Graphics: Gigabyte OC 2G GTX 770

SSD: Samsung 840 pro 256GB

HDD: 2 x Samsung 1TB 

Case: Fractal Arc Midi (R1)

Cooling:

Front Intake: 2 140mm bitfenix spectre green LED

Bottom Intake: 1 140mm Fractal R2 Case Fan

Rear Exhaust: 1 140mm Fractal R2 Case Fan

Top Exhaust: 2 120mm fans on the h100i (changed for each test)

 

Testing Methodology:

Each set of fans was allowed to run for 10 minutes on an Aida 64 stability test to allow the temperatures to even out. This was repeated for 3 different speed settings for each set of fans. Speed settings were taken to be 1000rpm, 60% of the fan max speed and fan max speed. The recorded temperature was taken as the average of the maximum core temperatures at the end of the 10 minutes using CoreTemp software. The fans were controlled using a Lamptron touch fan controller. The Lamptron touch fan controller was also used to determine ambient temperatures with one of its temperature probes directly behind the front intake fan. All temperatures have been normalized to 20 degrees as there was some slight variance in the ambient temperatures during testing. All tests were conducted in the case will all side panels on.

 

Images of the testing setup can be viewed in the links below:

 

Results:

The results are summarized in the table below for each of the situations as described by the table headings.

 

Stock Fans Max Temperature:

  Speed          Ambient Temperature          Recorded Temperature          Adjusted Temperature

1000rpm                      23                                          87                                         84

   60%                          22                                          83                                         81

   Max                           23                                          81                                         78

 

NF F12 Fans Max Temperature:

  Speed          Ambient Temperature          Recorded Temperature          Adjusted Temperature

1000rpm                      22                                         84.5                                      82.5

   60%                          22                                          85                                         82

   Max                           22                                         81.5                                      79.5

 

Analysis:

1000rpm: The clear winner in this category is the NF F12 fans. The provide lower core temperatures by a couple of degrees while being slightly quieter than the stock fans. At this speed the stock fans are quiet, but still slightly louder than the NF F12 fans.

 

60%: There was a large difference in rpm at the 60% fan speed. The stock fans were operating much faster than the NF F12 fans in this case and gave them a lead over the NF F12 fans. However, the corsair stock fans produce a very audible noise, while the NF F12 fans remained very quiet from where I was sitting.

 

Max: The stock fans once again provide better temperatures than the NF F12 fans. However, the stock fans sound like a mini jet engine at this speed and I feel my PC may take off at any second. The NF F12 fans are clearly audible at this speed, but produce a much quieter, and more pleasing to the ear noise. The noise level produced by the NF F12s is so bearable that I could sleep with my PC running like this and would consider leaving these fans at full speed during a gaming session. The same cannot be said for the stock fans.

 

Conclusion:

If you want the very best performance from the h100i and you do not care about overall noise levels, then the stock fans are very suiting to the task. However, if you would like to keep the noise levels down on your PC, then the NF F12s become a clear winner. They are able to produce temperatures that are lower than the stock fans while producing less noise. I would say that running the NF F12 fans at 100% is still quieter (or more pleasing to the ear, not sure the best way to describe it) than running the stock fans at 60%. In my books, the NF F12 fans come out the winner here.

 

Thank you for reading, I hope this helps someone make a decision on whether the NF F12 fans are worth your money. Any feedback on ways I can improve further reviews would be greatly appreciated!

[ShadowCaptain]

Wow my 4770k is not overclocked and I have never broken 50 degrees on my h100i (normally like 40ish)

 

its amazing how much extra heat that thing kicks out when Oced

 

Nice review

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Any chance you can give us the stats with the NF-F12's as push intakes?

[mikogekz]

A not overclocked k series processor, that doesn't sound right to me! I think you should overclock it to a modest 4GHz, free extra performance and not much more heat generation! Then again, you might not need the CPU power so it's up to you. 

 

I could try out the top fans as intake, but I feel it would go against the whole principle of heat rising, etc. Also, I don't think it would effect these results much as I was only running a CPU test and nothing on the GPU. Could be worth a shot in future though, I'll consider it if I ever find myself wondering if the performance could be improved!