Is it worth it to get premium fans?

[josephting]

My current system has only 1 exhaust case fan and I'm planning to install more fan to improve my case's airflow.

In my research, I didn't felt convinced that premium fans such as Noctua NF-P12 is really worth the money.

 

Here's the specs of NF-P12 and a cheap CoolerMaster Silent Fan.

 

Noctua NF-P12 (Full speed)

Airflow: 92,3 m³/h

Acoustical Noise: 19,8 dB(A)

Price: 69 MYR (~$21 USD)

 

CoolerMaster Silent Fan

Airflow: 44.73 CFM or 76 m³/h (calculated by Air Flow Conversion Calculator)

Acoustical Noise: 19.1 dB(A)

Price: 39 MYR (~$12 USD) for 4 pieces or 9.75 MYR (~$3 USD) per piece

 

That's a whopping 7x in price while the performance in airflow is around 20% below.

I know the life expectancy is an issue where CM's fan has a mere 30k hours of MTBF while NF-P12 has over 150k hours (>5x better) but when CM's fan is much cheaper, it should be easily replaced without any hard feelings.

 

What do you guys think?

[beebskadoo]

Depending on if you care about 5 or so degrees difference (mileage may vary) and a generally quieter system.

[josephting]

Depending on if you care about 5 or so degrees difference (mileage may vary) and a generally quieter system.

Even if I'm only using them for case fans? Not for heat sinks or radiators?

[Mooshi]

Every fan will be annoyingly loud at their max rpm, some more than others. Noctuas are not dead silent when you run them all out. If you're thinking premium fans = dead quiet at max, think again. However, more premium fans can deliver more airflow/better static pressure and be considerably quieter than stock if both are running the same RPM.

[beebskadoo]

Even if I'm only using them for case fans? Not for heat sinks or radiators?

no, you won't see that big of a difference in temps unless you have a lot of GPU's or something, but if that's the case, the fan location is more important that the quality. 

Noctua fans are fantastic, they're the best but you pay a price for that last little bit of performance. Honestly, you won't notice a difference. 

[josephting]

I also just found out that Noctua's fans uses SSO bearing which will stay relatively quiet after long hours while cheaper fans' sleeve bearing will become significantly louder as it approaches its time of failure.

 

Thanks for all your inputs. It really helped.

[beebskadoo]

I also just found out that Noctua's fans uses SSO bearing which will stay relatively quiet after long hours while cheaper fans' sleeve bearing will become significantly louder as it approaches its time of failure.

 

Thanks for all your inputs. It really helped.

You are most welcome....that'll be $5

[josephting]

You are most welcome....that'll be $5

Haha... Very funny. 

[onionring]

Cm fans are know to put out random specs that do not represent real life in any way.

 

That said, premium fans are good if you want to go quiet, if you just want it to be cool and don t give a **** about noise, cheapo 5$ fans are just as good as 25$ noctua fans.

Also loud cheap fan at full rpm will be more effective at cooling than premium fans at low speed obviously.

 

You can either buy premium fans and be quiet

 

or do like I did for my htpc and

just load the case with 8 cheapish fans (cougar are quite good when undervolted but that s not what I did)

and run them at 12V in an other room and just run usb and hdmi cables in the wall or thru the floor.

It ll be loud, in another room, in my case that s in the basement where no body ever goes so it wont bother anyone

 

It IS quieter than any premium fans could ever be.

Well silent(to you) in fact while premium fans can only be quiet.

(and if I compare my htpc setup to my other computer running 4 antec truequiet 500rpm 11db fans, it is definitely quieter)

Also you can put any videocard in there and just run it at 100% fan speed to get low temps and even if it sounds like a hair drier, it wouldn t matter.

[Wtalk2]

In my opinion premium fans are only worth it if you want the build to be quiet. To me noise doesn't matter since I use headphones and I don't mind it at night so I just use whatever fans I can get. The difference between using something like a Noctua fan and a cheap stock fan on a Rad or Heatsink will only be a couple of degrees and even less if they are case fans. The premium fans will just be quieter and last longer (Usually). 

[onionring]

its only worth it if you want less noise in your system

 

yes or for high fin density radiators(not aio), but if you re watercooling, money is pretty much no object.

[applebook]

There are only a few parts in a budget limited PC that I believe are worth premiums: fans, cooling, the PSU, and the case. The reason why spending extra on these is worth it is because these parts should survive 2-3 (or more over a 5+ year period) builds. I wouldn't spend the ultra premium on a GPU or a CPU that are just 10-20% better since these will be replaced in a few years anyway.

[Jumper118]

on heatsinks and rads yes. just for general case fans no. as long as you have good airflow it shouldn't make a difference. and fans with speed reducers should be fine noise wise.

[TheMissxu]

I think running at the same temp but lower noise is worth it.

[onionring]

I think running at the same temp but lower noise is worth it.

 

yes lower noise is always nice but the best way to get lower noise isn t better fans, it s just putting the computer in another room as it gets silent not just quiet. and a 25ft hdmi cable and usb cable is 20$ or about the premium for a single fan.