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The Ultimate Cooling Fan Grouptest 2012 Review
Posted by: Ed Hume on: 31-07-2012 [ 6 comment(s) ]
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The Ultimate Cooling Fan Grouptest 2012 Review
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Helios1234 Posts: 2570 Joined: 2009-02-17 |
#26038 Posted on: 01.08.2012 18:22:29
Excellent round-up and article there ehume! Stunning work with some very scientific analysis. I've been looking forward to this for a very long time. I can imagine people will be referring to this countless times in the future given how you have covered all the major/popular brands and fans. If anything, these tests also confirm a lot of the work carried out by xbitlabs. It's always good to see different tests reinforcing each other's results, especially when done as scientifically as this. As such, I'm not surprised that the Thermalright TY-140 gave such excellent results. Looking at some of the other fans, I'm glad to see that the Akasa Apache performing as poorly as it did. It only reaffirms my beliefs that its rated specifications is more marketing than anything. To have the much quieter X-Silent 140s performing just as well certainly highlights just how good Thermalright fans can be, especially at a mere 900RPM. Sure, it is a 140mm fan compared to other 120mm fans but seeing how 140mm is becoming a standard, having products such as the X-Silent 140 ensures we can still have brilliant cooling at low noise levels and most importantly, cheaply! The only surprising element was the Noctua getting the gold. I noticed the GT AP15s were producing slightly better results at lower noise levels. Is there any particular reason why the Noctua would be the better option? I guess PWM is always a plus at these speeds. Saying that, I just noticed that the Arctic F12 PWM also performs quite very favourably against the Noctua. Also, a thumbs up to the Prolimatech which performs pretty decently there although I personally found them to perform slightly worse relative to the NF-P14. Otherwise, great article! I'll definitely be referring to this when recommending fans to people. |
The Ultimate Cooling Fan Grouptest 2012 Review
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ehume Posts: 89 Joined: 2009-11-14 |
#26044 Posted on: 03.08.2012 02:39:41
The NF-F12 involves more than its cooling performance and its SPL. It just plain sounds nice. Noctua went to a lot of effort to achieve that. There are a number of minor features I did not cover that all contribute to the fan's lower perceptual noise. You can't fool an SPL meter, of course, but some fans that put out a large SPL do not sound loud. Then there is the clickless PWM. Some users -- especially younger ones -- hear those clicks right through a case wall. Then the stator vanes on a 25mm fan. With the spacing varied. I used to try to figure out how to make a fan with blades that had varied angular spacing to reduce that beat noise you get with fans. Noctua came up with an ever so much more practical approach. So Noctua gets the Gold for a combination of performance and innovation. As for the GT's and the Arctic F12 PWM -- I suppose we could have had four elite awards, but that would have cluttered the awards section. I really wish Scythe would sell a PWM version of its GT range. That would be a Platinum fan. |
The Ultimate Cooling Fan Grouptest 2012 Review
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esoteric Posts: 36 Joined: 2012-06-21 |
#26046 Posted on: 03.08.2012 11:36:04
a very nice review, loads of detail and fans |
The Ultimate Cooling Fan Grouptest 2012 Review
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Helios1234 Posts: 2570 Joined: 2009-02-17 |
#26050 Posted on: 03.08.2012 15:10:45
Quote:
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The Ultimate Cooling Fan Grouptest 2012 Review
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ehume Posts: 89 Joined: 2009-11-14 |
#26053 Posted on: 04.08.2012 03:44:29
I still have the test setup, so I can add more fans. I already have some fans ready to add. I'll be removing the really noisy fans from the lineup. With those three gone I can bring the colors to Vortez normal. We will then see separate articles on each fan or set of fans. Each article will use the previous testing as a comparison field, in the same way one of our stellar reviewers has a field of heatsinks. ;-) I'm discussing review products with a brand seller now. So I might have more to add. And yes, those new Corsairs look interesting. Ditto some NZXT and some Zalman. And I would like to look at some BitFenix, some Cooler Master, some Noiseblocker. Lots of holes in my lineup I'd love to fill. So yes, more to add, and I love to see even more. |
The Ultimate Cooling Fan Grouptest 2012 Review
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Helios1234 Posts: 2570 Joined: 2009-02-17 |
#26055 Posted on: 04.08.2012 22:07:27
I look forward to seeing those! |
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