Choosing the Best 120mm Radiator Fan: Testing Eight Fans with Corsair's H80
by Dustin Sklavos on August 23, 2012 12:01 AM ESTCorsair H80 Stock Fan
When I met with Corsair, I asked them specifically which fans they would recommend using with the H80 since they had just released their new SP120 line. Surprisingly, they suggested that unless you're going for extreme silence, the stock fans that come with the H80 would provide the most balanced performance. Part of the reason for this is that the H80 has a built-in three speed fan controller that can change settings just by pressing a button on the waterblock; you can read more about it in our review of the H80 itself here.
| Airflow (in CFM) | Static Pressure (in mm/H2O) | RPM | Rated dBA |
| 46-92 | 1.6-7.7 | up to 1300 (Low), 2000 (Medium), 2500 (High) | 22-39 |
Our own testing with the H80 on its own revealed a decent range of performance, with the Medium setting seeming to be the ideal one, but we'll be able to compare them to a broader range of fans this time to see if the H80's stock fan continues to be the best choice.
Corsair SP120 Quiet Edition and High Performance Edition
The "SP" in "SP120" stands for "Static Pressure"; Corsair recently released a series of fans geared for radiator and case use, with the SP line targeting radiators. The designs are fairly slick, with removable colored trim and rubber mounting posts to mitigate vibration noise. The Quiet Edition has its fan speed capped and is designed, as its nomenclature suggests, for quiet operation. Meanwhile, the High Performance Edition runs at a higher speed and produces more noise as a result.
| Fan | Airflow (in CFM) | Static Pressure (in mm/H2O) | RPM | Rated dBA |
| SP120 Quiet |
37.85 |
1.29 | 1450 | 23 |
| SP120 High Performance | 62.74 | 3.1 | 2350 | 35 |
The rated performance of these fans is interesting, especially taking into account the SP120 Quiet's specifications actually being lower than the lowest setting of the H80's stock fan.
SilverStone Air Penetrator AP121
It's interesting to note that this fan has been the subject of a lot of debate on forums as to how fit it is for use as a radiator fan. SilverStone advertises a high static pressure for the AP121 and its grill is designed to direct air, suggesting that it would be a potentially ideal radiator fan. At the same time, its grill also potentially obstructs a decent amount of airflow.
| Airflow (in CFM) | Static Pressure (in mm/H2O) | RPM | Rated dBA |
| 35.36 | 1.71 | 1500 | 22.4 |
The AP121 isn't much for airflow, bested even by the quiet SP120, but it sure fires that air with a decent amount of force. This is going to be one to watch; it should be a strong performer due to its solid static pressure, but we'll see.
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Streetwind - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
Yes, as far as I'm aware it's based on the Fan Xpert II software that's bundled with the Panther Point boards; it doesn't work directly from the UEFI.In fact, didn't Anand post a video earlier the year where an ASUS rep came over to you guys show off the fan control software in action?
maximumGPU - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
Yes they do, i have 7x Asus board and their fan control software is superb. it'll work with both PWM and non-PWM fans as in my case.It provides a lot of useful information too such as min and max rpm for each fan.
the only thing missing is the ability to create a fan profile that could be linked to temperature other than cpu temp, like motherboard for example.
Their software is what pushed me to chose their mobo instead of competitors.
Iketh - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
oh come on, they are not rare at alldanjw - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
Yes, I believe that the Z7x's can also voltage control. But PWM usually have a better range then with standard fans, voltage controlled. Also, I believe the Corsair Link controller does voltage control as well.ckevin1 - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
I have an Asus P8Z68-V Gen3, and last night I went through the pain of figuring out how to voltage control a 3-pin fan on it. It *can* be done.The CPU and SYS fan headers are PWM only, as I found, but the 4-pin Chassis fan header (near the slots & I/O panel) does support voltage control. Plain old fan XPert that they provide on the download site for my board can control it, and it can also be set up from the BIOS.
piroroadkill - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
You say this, but I had an MSI board back in the Pentium III era that had completely independant fan control on all headers.I also had an Abit board with µguru that had completely independant fan header control, for Pentium 4.
I also had an Abit board with µguru that had total control for Socket 775...
Now I have an Asus P8Z68-V Pro, and before I had another 775 Asus board, I've never had worse fan control. The headers are shared, each are a certain type of control.. It's pathetic.
In summary: abit had amazing fan control for many years, Asus is playing catch up, your comment is therefore amusing.
piroroadkill - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
Oh, and I wish I could edit, but I can't forget that the ASUS boards also prevent you from dropping the speed below a certain amount, which is awful. I had to fit resistors to my Corsair A70 and THEN fan control it to make it a reasonable noise level. I'd prefer to have the full range of speed available to me.ypsylon - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
InstaFAIL. By far most potent fans on the market. They combine supreme performance (120mm - 138.4m3=82CFM @ 1500rpm/26dB) with low noise and great price for performance. Running exclusively only AC Sharks now. Tested many fans, survived only 1 type.For liquid cooling solutions (even for such poor AIO kits) there is easy way to improve cooling a bit. Put spacer (gutted old fan or buy brand new one in shops trading LC things) between radiator and fan(s) on the intake side. That way radiator will be cooled equally on the entire surface. With default setup: fan straight to radiator, center of radiator is warmer than edges, simply because air straight below fan bearing cannot cool and move quickly enough.
Stupido - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
The idea of the spacer is an excellent one!Thanks for that!
JerWA - Thursday, August 23, 2012 - link
Any hopes of you guys snagging one of these to add to the test results?Gelid Wing 12 PL, P/N: FN-FW12BPL-18.
http://www.gelidsolutions.com/products/index.php?l...
I'm using 2 as the push in a push/pull H100 setup, and it'd be nice to know if there's a better option and just how they measure up in comparison.