The Antec TrueQuiet™ 120 and 140 were tested on the same Megahalems setup as the recent Ultimate Cooling Fan Grouptest 2012 Review.
Test Setup
CPU Intel Core i7 860 at 3.6GHz and stock
Cooling Prolimatech Megahalems
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3P
Memory G.Skill 8GB 1600MHz low profile RAM
Storage Kingston SSDNow V+100 64GB SSD
PSU Seasonic X-750
Sound Level Meter Tenma 72-942
Stress software and CPU temp logger OCCT 3.1
Cooling Prolimatech Megahalems
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3P
Memory G.Skill 8GB 1600MHz low profile RAM
Storage Kingston SSDNow V+100 64GB SSD
PSU Seasonic X-750
Sound Level Meter Tenma 72-942
Stress software and CPU temp logger OCCT 3.1
At their High setting the fans were each tested at least five times on the 3.6GHz overclocked system, with the results averaged. After establishing that both fans did not fare well on the overclocked system at their Low setting, they were each tested three times at stock -- switches set to Low. The results were then averaged.
The Antec TrueQuiet™ were also tested in the open. At the High setting the 120mm ran at 1138 rpm in free air, with an equivalent one-meter sound pressure level (SPL) of 21 dBA. Antec specifications are 1000 RPM, 19.9 dBA. At Low the 120mm ran 715 RPM, 12.5 dBA. Remember that this setup cannot measure noise below about 12-13 dBA, so the fan was probably quieter than what was measured. Antec specifications are 600 RPM, 8.9 dBA for this fan at the Low speed setting.
At High the 140mm TrueQuiet™ ran at 770 RPM in free air, making an equivalent one-meter sound pressure level (SPL) of 16.5 dBA. Antecs specifications are 800 RPM and 20.0 dBA. At Low the 140mm ran at 525 RPM and 13 dBA (probably quieter). Antec specs are 500 RPM and 9.8 dBA.
The next three pages will show the fan performance on the heatsink, arranged by name, by temperature over ambient, and by sound pressure level. A fourth page will show performance on the non-overclocked system.
