120mm Radiator Fan Roundup Part 2: Fan Harder
by Dustin Sklavos on October 22, 2012 12:01 AM ESTConclusion: Who's King of the Hill?
Yes, undoubtedly I have omitted someone's favorite fan. The fact is that while these are fun tests to do, teasing out differences between fans is only really useful when you find an odd outlier that's either an exceptional performer and an exceptionally poor performer. I'm not of the impression that you can really get too much better than the ones at the tippy top of our lineup.
With all that said, with this many more data points, I feel much more comfortable making serious recommendations. For most users, at least of the Corsair H80, the stock fan is going to be mostly acceptable although I'd probably leave it on its "Low" setting. That stock fan is a surprisingly good inclusion and speaks well to Corsair's quality control. On the other hand, if you have a different 120mm radiator or if you want a notable difference in performance, there are some recommendations to make.
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First, if you're on the cheap and need a good fan, your buck pretty much starts and stops at Rosewill's Hyperborea. Exactly like I suspected, there was a diamond floating around in Rosewill's rough, so bargain hunters or people who need to replace their stock fan for whatever reason are going to be extremely well served by the Hyperborea. At $6.99 apiece it's really kind of hard to go wrong here, and it may very well be an excellent replacement fan for even a garden variety tower heatsink.
Next, if you want performance at all costs then my recommendation from the last roundup holds true again here: Corsair's SP120 High Performance is basically it. This isn't a quiet fan by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not the noise machine that many of the other entrants are. You can nab a single for $17.99 which is admittedly a little pricey, but Corsair also makes available handy two-packs for just $23.99, and that's a totally reasonable deal.
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Finally, if you want a proper balance of noise and performance, I'm mostly pleased to report that some of the common wisdom on forums is actually true: Noctua's NF-F12 and Enermax's Magma are both excellent fans. I think the Enermax Magma overall has to get my best in show award for producing performance that typically takes a much louder fan to achieve, and at $13.99 it's a pretty wicked deal. It's not perfect but it's mighty close.
Now, with that said, which one would I actually choose to put in my own system if money were no object? Honestly I'd probably go with the Noctua NF-F12. The NF-F12 is a more flexible fan with a pleasant noise character and excellent performance. That $29.99 sticker price is vicious, though. For most users, I'd strongly recommend sticking with the Enermax Magma for the best blend of performance and price.
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xxtypersxx - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Add me to the list of users baffled by the omission of GentleTyphoon fans from the testing. This is like excluding a Jeep Wrangler from an off roader comparison.scook9 - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
When I switched to water cooling, like any other good geek, I did an obsessive amount of research and reading online to find the best solution. Time and time again, I ended up with the same recommendation - the Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850 rpm (AP-15) model. I have about 10 of these in my house now and use them on everything (HTPC, server, desktop, laptop cooler). They are expensive fans but they will also last a LONG time while performing very well.You may not need to do a 3rd roundup, just a 1 page one-off for this fan to satisfy the masses :D
Slyne - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Dustin,I can't be bothered to chek all the fans but, at least in the case of the Scyte Slipstream and Nexus RealSilent, those are case fans, not CPU fans. It's pointless to include them in this test.
And I second others in stating that if you're interested in sufficently powerful yet almost silent CPU fans, you may want to check the Gentle Typhoon and Noiseblocker.
khanov - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
This exactly. After doing much research earlier this year I bought 2x gentle typhoon's and 2x Noiseblocker NB-Multiframe M12-P fans to add to my collection of Noctua's and other fans such as the excellent TR-TY140's.
After testing all of them the M12-P's stayed on my overclocked i7-3820 doing push/pull on a TRUE 120 heatsink. They are the business, quiet and powerful. Gentle typhoon's ran a close 2nd and are great fans also.
The fact that you don't include two of the best fans around for heatsink use seems odd to me. Looking forward to part 3 =)
BlueReason - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
"Corsair's solutions"Really? It's a fan. Reconsider your use of the word "solution" as a replacement for everything. Sometimes it makes sense, but often it's just a silly fad word that has gotten out of control.
Streetwind - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
hen you are writing a longer text, it is considered good form to occasionally replace often-repeating words with substitutions to improve the reading flow. If every sentence had the word "fan" in it, you'd eventually get dizzy. It's like starting every sentence in a story with "Then", that's just a no-go.Hulk - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
I think it would be helpful to isolate fan performance.When reviewing cooling fans how about connecting each fan to be tested to a variable speed controller and set the speed of the fan to a predetermined cfm so that the fans can be evaluated on a level playing field. This way noise can be evaluated in an even playing field.
In the same manner speed can be increased/decreased to a predefined level and cfm and be measured.
Because in the end what we're really trying to determine is which fan moves the most air while being the most quiet while doing it.
Or, if you won't want to deal with cfm measurements, just load the test bed and increase/decrease the fan speed until the temperature is at a predetermined level. Then measure the noise.
JonnyDough - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
No mention that CoolerMaster's Turbine is based on the compressor section of a turbofan jet engine? Hmm.nianiania - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
You're testing the cooling capacity of fans for a radiator, in an environment this type of solution WILL NEVER BE USED IN. Broken right from the start. If someone's investing 60-120$ in a water cooler, the chances they're building an HTPC without a graphics card in the system are slim to none.This should have at least a 650 or 660 in the box to get a more real-world result. It's not often you let us down Anandtech, but this one is a pretty obvious failing on your part.
gcor - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
I would quite like to know how many amps each of the fans actually draw, as it has been my experience that the spec sheets frequently list a value that is not accurate. In future reviews/round ups, would it be possible to measure and list the actual amps drawn please?