4-pin or 3-pin? Simple question.

[WoodenMarker]

1 hour ago, redsquirrel0249 said:

I know static pressure and airflow are both necessary. But one can be more important when it comes to certain materials/situations. It's like right and left hands. They're both important, but if you don't have your right hand, you can't write (most people). For me, if I don't have a left hand, I can't play violin. They're equal importance generally, but in specific applications they shift in importance. In the context of the honeycomb, I'm just looking to quantify the relative importance of static pressure. again, hard to do, but I just wanted an opinion.

And yes, I was asking about performance for P12s. And I know the Meshify front isn't terrible, I'm just trying consider options and what will be effective for different areas.

Also, any idea why hardware.info tests would yield higher dB values for the S12B than P12?

Side note: are Noctua fans powered through molex or motherboard?

There's no static pressure without airflow and vice-versa. They're not only important but necessary. Saying one is more important than the other is like saying hydrogen or oxygen is more important to making water.

Because they can't be separated, it makes a lot more sense to look at individual fans and how they might perform against a mesh instead of figuring out how important static pressure is.

Both the NF-P12 and NF-S12B are effective against the mesh in different ways.

I'm not sure why they have higher dB values but they explain their testing methodology here: https://us.hardware.info/reviews/5770/2/103-12cm-case-fans-review-new-test-method

The Noctuas mentioned come in 3pin and 4pin variants with standard fan headers. They can be plugged into a motherboard fan header.

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker Hydrogen is more important in water's composition: there are two of them. But oxygen has more weight and is rarer in the universe. Of course, you could say either, but more important is why and in what context. It depends what aspect you look at in any situation, and certain parts of a whole are more important for different focuses.

 

I don't know how you gauge a fan against mesh without knowing the importance of a fan's static pressure rating. How good a fan is against resistance in general is what static pressure is, so how good it is against mesh falls under that category.

 

How can they be effective in different ways? If I put three of a particular model in the case by the mesh, one model will pull more air through, and one will pull less. Just focusing performance in this example.

 

I just wondered, saw the new A15x25 was molex according to newegg. And brown with molex sounds gross. $30 sounds gross, too. Bleh.

[WoodenMarker]

3 hours ago, redsquirrel0249 said:

I don't know how you gauge a fan against mesh without knowing the importance of a fan's static pressure rating. How good a fan is against resistance in general is what static pressure is, so how good it is against mesh falls under that category.

 

How can they be effective in different ways? If I put three of a particular model in the case by the mesh, one model will pull more air through, and one will pull less. Just focusing performance in this example.

 

I just wondered, saw the new A15x25 was molex according to newegg. And brown with molex sounds gross. $30 sounds gross, too. Bleh.

I gauge a fan's performance against a mesh by looking at relevant benchmarks of similar case fans through meshes and extrapolating from that. The importance of the fan's static pressure is already difficult to quantify and to say that this importance is known is giving educated guesses more credit than it's due.

As mentioned in the articles I linked, what's accounted for is the amount of performance necessary in airflow and static pressure and the rest is hard to predict. In the case of PC's, just about any random case fan already performs well enough.

 

The NF-P12 provides more static pressure whereas the NF-S12B is quieter.

If you're just focusing on performance, that's a different discussion than this thread.

 

There are no noctuas with molex connectors as far as I know. Are you looking at a molex fan adapter?

You should also proofread the model names you're mentioning because  I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to.

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker I guess I'm back to looking for meshify C threads, then. lol

 

How is that discussion different than this thread? Do you simply mean I should create a thread specifically for my case? I think that would just bring a bunch of random, unhelpful opinions, but I suppose it would be worth it to try.

 

Odd that newegg cites molex. I'm talking about the new NF-A12x25. Sorry if that was unclear, it seemed implied with brown and $30 in context. I didn't mention any other models, so I have no idea what you're confused about if it's not that.

[WoodenMarker]

3 hours ago, redsquirrel0249 said:

How is that discussion different than this thread? 

 

Odd that newegg cites molex. I'm talking about the new NF-A12x25. Sorry if that was unclear, it seemed implied with brown and $30 in context. I didn't mention any other models, so I have no idea what you're confused about if it's not that.

You mentioned that you were focusing on 'just performance' in that example which I assume meant isolated from acoustics. That hasn't been the topic of this thread so far and would be a different discussion altogether but would basically result in 'get the highest rpm fan'.

 

I assume it's just a mistake on newegg's part. A 3pin molex connector is uncommon and I don't even know where you would get pwm from with it yet they list it on their pwm model.

Here's an example of the pin functions for 4pin pwm fans:

 

Technically, you could have the voltage modulated on the power supply side but that's be a strange design choice for a number of reasons.

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker I thought we were past all the semantics. Obviously if I wanted maximum performance, I'd just custom water cool or sit a box fan on the side of my case. I'm specifically discerning these models in this circumstance, so I don't know why it's so hard to say which one is better for the application. I obviously don't want crazy high RPM because of the downsides that that would inevitably entail

 

That's why I was confused... but Newegg doesn't have a reputation for the most accurate of product details, I suppose. You've already told me how PWM works. That was literally the start of the discussion. For that matter, I knew the difference, I just wondered how those differences would end up applying in real world use.

[WoodenMarker]

Just now, redsquirrel0249 said:

I don't know why it's so hard to say which one is better for the application.

One probably performs better and the other is probably quieter. Take your pick. One isn't better than the other in all categories.

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker What do you mean by probably? Again, I'm specifically asking airflow through mesh. I never asked all categories. I don't consider sound performance anymore than I consider color performance. It's largely subjective, and has nothing to do with its ability to cool.

[WoodenMarker]

Just now, redsquirrel0249 said:

Again, I'm specifically asking airflow through mesh.

It's hard to predict how much the mesh affects cooling or acoustics for either fan.

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker I can probably guess acoustics, but ok. I'll just go with what I expect then, 3 P12s in the front, 2 S12Bs in the back.

 

One more thing: Why are P12 redux models so much cheaper than the regular NF-P12s? Do they just charge a premium for the chocolate paint? Makes no sense to me since they seem statistically identical.

[WoodenMarker]

Just now, redsquirrel0249 said:

One more thing: Why are P12 redux models so much cheaper than the regular NF-P12s? Do they just charge a premium for the chocolate paint? Makes no sense to me since they seem statistically identical.

Fewer included accessories and packaging with the Redux --they just come with screws.

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker good, I wasn't looking to pay $8 for whatever low noise adapters do.

 

And the product page shows pictures of a molex connector for something, so it's not nonsense...

 

[WoodenMarker]

5 minutes ago, redsquirrel0249 said:

@WoodenMarker good, I wasn't looking to pay $8 for whatever low noise adapters do.

And the product page shows pictures of a molex connector for something, so it's not nonsense...

The adapters are resistors that lower the voltage to 5v and 7v.

Like I said and as the photo clearly shows, it's a molex adapter, not even 3pin, and not the fan's native connector.

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker Odd feature for a fan with PWM to have an adapter for lower voltage. I suppose it makes it more efficient (quieter) at lower RPM.

 

I know it's molex. I know the fan is PWM. I was just referencing the newegg ad for another Noctua fan. It's even clearly an adapter. You don't have to put words in my mouth.

[WoodenMarker]

21 minutes ago, redsquirrel0249 said:

@WoodenMarker Odd feature for a fan with PWM to have an adapter for lower voltage. I suppose it makes it more efficient (quieter) at lower RPM.

No, it's not for efficiency. It's for people who don't otherwise have any form of fan control.

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker so for people who need molex? Seems you could control it with 3 or 4 pin, right? Or maybe certain mobos don't do voltage modulation on 3-pins.

[WoodenMarker]

3 hours ago, redsquirrel0249 said:

@WoodenMarker so for people who need molex? Seems you could control it with 3 or 4 pin, right? Or maybe certain mobos don't do voltage modulation on 3-pins.

Yes, there are motherboards with headers that don't have many or any fan control options.