faceless105 Selfmade Modder
Joined: Jun 30, 2006
Posts: 4262
Post Subject: Noctua NF-P12 Case Fan
Posted on: Jul 14, 2008
Cooling is one great topic that we love to cover because there are so many aspects to it. Today we'll be covering case fans, which in itself can be a large discussion. Today we'll be reviewing a case fan from a company that prides itself on keeping noise to a minimum. Today we'll be reviewing the NF-P12 120mm Case Fan from Noctua.
Right out of the box, there are a few things to note on the NF-P12. For starters, I've never seen an ordinary black fan from this company. Now of course this really has nothing to do with performance, but style is a pretty big part for most people in their projects, so this is something that I though was worth a mention. Personally I think these look great compared to the everyday standard black pieces.
The NF-P12 has been designed to offer higher pressure air movement and it aimed towards being able to work directly with CPU Coolers. The NF-P12 is able to reach a strong 54.34 CFM (or 92.3 m³/h) with a static air pressure of 1.68 mm H2O. This is all done while keeping noise to a minimum. Take a look at the stats and compare them to the NF-S12 (previously reviewed here).
* At max power, the P12 will really start out performing the S12
* The P12 will also have much strong air flow at the same RPM.
* Finally, where it really counts, the P12 is able to keep noise fairly consistent, and only at the highest RPMs will it start to produce more noise than the S12.
Now that we've spent some time on the stats it's time to get to some of the other features. Part of the fans ability to create the air pressure comes from the notched, nine blade fan. Another area that contributes is of course the size of the fan. It's a 120mm fan, so it's able to keep the RPMs down, while maintaining a higher air flow.
In addition to the blades, the fan comes with normal and rubber screws. The rubber screws are an excellent route to take for almost any installation. The design allows you to mount the fan in place like an ordinary fan, but since they use rubber holders, it lowers the vibrations coming from both your case and fans, reducing noise even more.
* If installed, you would have the computer case trapped between the fan and the rubber backing.
A final feature that comes with the NF-P12 are the Low and Ultra Low Noise Adapters. These allow you to step down the voltage of the fan. In the event that you thought things were to loud initially, you can lower the RPM to a minimum of 900 RPM, the CFM down to 37.31 (or 63.4 m³/h), and the dBA down to 12.6, which is something that absolutely will not be audible in the vast majority of computers out there.
Overall the NF-P12 performs excellently. Running at full power you can feel a strong air flow which is all we can really ask for in most instances. Additionally just running the fan outside of the case to try it out, the noise is still barely audible, and once inside the case, everything is completely silent. These would be most ideal for HTPCs because of the degree of silence you're able to achieve. If anyone is looking for a strong cooling solution with an emphasis on silence, I'd definitely recommend checking out the NF-P12 120mm Fan as well as any other products from Noctua.
I know this covered a lot of information for a case fan, so if anyone ahs any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them :)
I can say from first hand experience that this is the fan for the silent case guy. I replaced two fans which are "unseen" in the case with these noctua's, and I am thoroughly impressed. the lack of leds is easily overlooked by the addition of power clip management, which not only eliminates excess wires, works phenomenally for those of us with bus controllers.
An interesting note which I have inadvertently discovered, these babies react marvelously to black light and blue led light.
excellent fan !
**safety note**
try not to think of the price of the part your cutting in half.
I wasn't able to get very cool shots. The lighting really seems to only make a difference at some extremly close distances. Now obviously in a computer case, just about everything is close range, but I used a standard 12 in" black light, so I was hoping the effects would be a bit stronger at a distance.
The lighting was cool, but not to extreme :(
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
