Noctua Fans Super Test – Which Ones Are Right for You?

Final Thoughts

How Much Does it Cost?

120mm fans are highly popular purchases for PCs for various reasons. Some buy them to upgrade from the stock fan/s provided with their CPU cooler. Some buy them to replace the fans pre-installed on their chassis. Either way though, it was a bit no-brainer from the beginning that Noctua would always be a fantastic upgrade to almost any 120mm fan. The test results show, however, that even within their own branding, Noctua fans are surprisingly varied. Below are the prices (as of September 2018) for the models tested.

• NF-A12x25 ULN – £29.37
• NF-A12x25 PWM – £26.44
• NF-P12 Redux-900 – £13.98
• NF-P12 Redux-1300 PWM – £15.57
• NF-F12 PWM – £17.45
• NF-P12 Redux-1700 PWM – £14.28

These prices are a little bit higher than your usual 120mm fan. That being said though, the performance you gain from the Noctua branding is clear for all to see. You are exceptionally well advised to spend the extra to get a fan which gives a whole lot more performance than your blinding (and often sub £10) RGB model which might look nice, but lacks punch!

Which Model is Right For Me?

Well, this depends on exactly on where your priorities lie. We should note that although we tested these fans as CPU replacements, they are just as viable (and perhaps more aimed towards) chassis fans. It is, however, a bit hard to test a chassis fan in a comparative way.

If noise is a key factor, then the lower speed ULN models clearly give excellent results. It is no exaggeration to say that they were remarkably quiet during operation and near silent. In a full system, even if you had 2-3 of these (maybe more), the chances are you wouldn’t notice them.

If performance is a key factor, then the Redux-1700 and NF-A12x25 models are all clearly very impressive. In terms of better temperature control though, its quite obvious that a faster airflow usually means a lower CPU temperature.

As can be seen though, those I haven’t named yet fall into that middle ground beautifully. They balance both noise and performance impressively well and as such, are equally worth your consideration.

Conclusion

I have had these fans in my possession for a little while now and although I really wanted to just dive in, it was clear that to provide any results of use, a lot of thought would be needed in the testing and methodology to specifically provide results that were not only informative, but from which conclusions could clearly be drawn.

Despite all the test results though, the conclusion is actually remarkably straightforward. Noctua makes great system fans.

As above, the decision of which one/s you should get is ultimately directed by what your requirements are. The ULN models are a little more expensive than their standard models, but you get an excellently quiet performance and still remarkably good results. The better performing fans (in terms of speed) give excellent airflow but obviously run a little louder when put to the test.

There is, of course, always an elephant in the room with Noctua products. Namely that they are not the best looking in terms of aesthetics. That is, however, because Noctua places all their emphasis on quality. If you were to mention RGB to their design team, they’d probably throw you out of the building (possibly from the top floor).

In conclusion, if you are looking towards some 120mm fans for your system, you can’t go wrong with Noctua. They might not be the best looking, but you will never fail to be impressed with them!