Noctua NF-F12 PWM Fan Review

Posted by: James Clewer on: 25-01-2012 [ 5 comment(s) ]

Noctua's new fan is on the test bench, featuring their new focus flow frame technology will the NF-F12 offer better performance than other Noctua cooling fans?

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Tagged as: Noctua

Noctua NF-F12 PWM Fan Review

I3R0K3N7FEET Posts: 612 Joined: 2011-02-26

#22762 Posted on: 25.01.2012 11:24:28 Great review however 1 gripe. The rubbery braiding is NOT a pro. They look and feel disgusting and get easily stuck against metal and other cables while you are trying to route cables in a case. after a while they wear and tear pretty easy too. I have had to do countless rebraiding over fans with this kind of braiding and would rather a fan have NO braiding than that stuff..

Noctua NF-F12 PWM Fan Review

PCplod Posts: 759 Joined: 2011-10-13

#22764 Posted on: 25.01.2012 13:13:27 Good to see some great in depth review on fans! I have never been a fan of the Noctua fans (no pun lol) I feel while they are very well designed and high quality think they are overpriced, ugly, and don't perform as well as other fans at the same noise level and cost less.. and look nice. IMO the whole Noctua fan is a bit of a gimmick (although not completely, they are still very well designed high quality fans) and many people buy them just because they are noctua and think they are the best because they are popular and expensive and are an ugly colour that stands out from the crowd :P. Cant be said for the D-14 though lol, that is a beast and works very well with their fans, looking forward to their new heat sinks this year actually

Noctua NF-F12 PWM Fan Review

I3R0K3N7FEET Posts: 612 Joined: 2011-02-26

#22768 Posted on: 25.01.2012 14:50:37 have you used their fans PC Plod? They are some of the best performing to noise ratio. many other brands advertise misleading performance figures so keep your wits about you.

Noctua NF-F12 PWM Fan Review

PCplod Posts: 759 Joined: 2011-10-13

#22770 Posted on: 25.01.2012 15:11:31 Yeh I wouldn't say anything like that without basis, just from my own experience. I had a little test with my friend and we compared the Noctua nf-s12p, Akasa apache, and BeQuiet silentwings. Although not a scientific test with instruments to measure the values and whatnot but it was pretty clear to judge by ear and hand with the differences. First off the Akasa and BeQuiet fans were £10, and the Noctua was £17. The Noctua was very quiet but pushed noticeably less air than the other two. And when we turned the Apache and Silent wings down to match the noise they pushed notably more air, tried it with 1200, 900, and 600 rpm. The Silentwings and Apache's were both pretty much on par give or take for airflow/noise, but the Noctua was definitely behind, not by too much, but was a sure difference in airflow. All the fans were brand new and good units, just that the Noctua looks like it had been designed for ultra low noise, with good static pressure for the noise (put a dense fan filter on the output of the fans, and the Noctua pushed air through it pretty good, but not better than the other fans for the noise, roughly on par) but not very good airflow and was very expensive, and not better build quality and pretty much on par in that sense so I couldnt see how they were 2/3's more expensive. Although these fans are obviously new and I havent had experience with them and they could be very good, judging by the reveiw they are. But I was just expressing im not a 'fan' of the Noctua fans in general because of the price they are and think they are a bit of a gimmick for this reason.

Noctua NF-F12 PWM Fan Review

John.W VTZ Newbie Posts: 10 Joined: 2011-11-18

#23923 Posted on: 15.03.2012 11:09:45 I'm not sure I like the look of this case fan even the performance is good :-( This color would look really strange in my rig. Wish they have a different color on this one.

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