I need help choosing 120mm 4-pin PWM silent fans

[yorsh12]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for two 120mm fans for my PC case. Being silent is a must.
What do you think about these alternatives?

Noctua NF-P12 Redux 1700rpm or 1300rpm PWM
Be quiet! pure wings 2
Arctic P12 PWM

All of the are worth around 10 euros.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Aeacus]

Out of the four listed; Be Quiet! Pure Wings 2 fan is 3-pin (DC) and not 4-pin (PWM), so it's out of the running. NF-P12 Redux 1700 RPM PWM outputs 25.1 dB(A), Arctic P12 PWM outputs 0.3 sone (22.5 dB(A)) and NF-P12 Redux 1300 RPM PWM outputs 19.8 dB(A), making the latter the winner when to comes to the silent operation.

For more quieter 120mm PWM fan than those above, you can go with: Noctua NF-S12A PWM (17.8 dB(A)),
specs: https://noctua.at/en/products/fan/nf-s12a-pwm/specification

 

[yorsh12]

Actually, I'm looking at the Pure Wings 2 PWM version!
That Noctua NF-S12A seems to be amazing! The problem is that it doubles the price, and I'm on a tight budget at the momment.
Maybe the 1300 RPM version of the NF-P12 Redux would be the best choice.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[anotherdrew]

There is a pure wings 2 PWM ... https://www.bequiet.com/en/casefans/617 ... 51 CFM at 20 db(A)

 

[Aeacus]

For cheaper (around €10), 4-pin (PWM), and quieter than NF-P12 Redux 1300 RPM PWM fan (19.8 dB(A)), you can look towards these two as well:

19 dB(A) - Cryorig QF120 Silent, specs: http://www.cryorig.com/qf120_us.php
16.9 dB(A) - Nanoxia Deep Silence 120 mm PWM, specs: http://nanoxia-world.com/en/products/fans/deep-silence-pwm/247/deep-silence-120-mm-pwm
pcpp: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/CMJwrH,mYJkcf/

 

[phoenixmanz]

The Cooler Master Silencio FP120 PWM seems to be a great option.
http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/case-fan/silencio-fp-120-pwm/
44 CFM airflow, 14dBA noise level and a $10 price tag.
Just ordered a pair and will see how they perform once I get them ^_^

 

[yorsh12]

The Cooler Master Silencio FP120 PWM seems to be a great option.
http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/case-fan/silencio-fp-120-pwm/
44 CFM airflow, 14dBA noise level and a $10 price tag.
Just ordered a pair and will see how they perform once I get them ^_^

wow, that pair seems nice, but couldn't find them in my country!

Another thing I didn't comment: My case is a Cooler Master Silencio 352, with sound dampening panels.
Would it be better to use a pair of fans focused on static pressure or airflow?

 

[Aeacus]

Take your pick:
Airflow fans - quiet operation but less airflow due to the restrictions (solid front panel)
SP fans - louder but better airflow

I personally, would go with high-end CFM/SP fans, e.g Corsair ML Pro series or Noctua industrial since to get the best possible airflow with the least amount of noise, install as many fans in your case as possible. Preferably 140mm rather than 120mm since 140mm fan moves more air and does that more quietly than it's (same spec) 120mm counterpart.
While installing 5x to 7x fans in your PC may look like that you'd get extremely loud noise out of your PC, it's actually vice-versa. The trick is that the more fans you have inside the case, the less each fan has to work to maintain the airflow and the less noise fans produce.
And that is also a main reason why i have 7x high-end case fans in my Skylake and Haswell builds. Mostly 140mm but few 120mm as well. Full specs with pics in my sig. Since i have that many case fans, i can keep all of my case fans spinning between 800 - 1100 RPM and thanks to this, my PCs are very quiet while still having proper airflow inside my full-tower ATX cases.

Oh, those CM Silencio fans are available in amazon.de as well, (€14 per fan),
pcpp: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/ywzZxr/cooler-master-case-fan-r4sfnl14pkr1

 

[anotherdrew]

I'm going to disagree a bit. At the same noise level, an SP fan will move less air than airflow fan ... but, the SP fan will move more air through a restriction than the airflow fan. So, if you have a large amount of restriction (heatsink or a radiator), you want an high SP fan. If you have a small amount restriction (mesh cover, stack of hard drives) go with a balanced fan. If you have little to no restriction (rear port) go with an airflow fan.

 

[phoenixmanz]

The Cooler Master Silencio FP120 PWM seems to be a great option.
http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/case-fan/silencio-fp-120-pwm/
44 CFM airflow, 14dBA noise level and a $10 price tag.
Just ordered a pair and will see how they perform once I get them ^_^

wow, that pair seems nice, but couldn't find them in my country!

Another thing I didn't comment: My case is a Cooler Master Silencio 352, with sound dampening panels.
Would it be better to use a pair of fans focused on static pressure or airflow?

I agree with anotherdrew.
This excellent explanation by Linus might help you understand more, and decide for yourself ^_^

For a sound dampened case I would personally prefer an SP fan over an AF. But choosing a fan that is well rounded off between SP and AF is never a bad idea. As per the general opinion, it is said that SP fans usually perform well as replacements to AF fans (but NOT the other way around).

Best of luck to you!

 

[yorsh12]

The Cooler Master Silencio FP120 PWM seems to be a great option.
http://www.coolermaster.com/cooling/case-fan/silencio-fp-120-pwm/
44 CFM airflow, 14dBA noise level and a $10 price tag.
Just ordered a pair and will see how they perform once I get them ^_^

wow, that pair seems nice, but couldn't find them in my country!

Another thing I didn't comment: My case is a Cooler Master Silencio 352, with sound dampening panels.
Would it be better to use a pair of fans focused on static pressure or airflow?

I agree with anotherdrew.
This excellent explanation by Linus might help you understand more, and decide for yourself ^_^

For a sound dampened case I would personally prefer an SP fan over an AF. But choosing a fan that is well rounded off between SP and AF is never a bad idea. As per the general opinion, it is said that SP fans usually perform well as replacements to AF fans (but NOT the other way around).

Best of luck to you!

Thank to all of you!

Linus is a genius! haha

I ended up buying the Pure Wings 2, they seem to be a good balance between SP and AF. I've got a pair of them from Amazon but they sent me the wrong ones, the 3 pin ones, so when the PWM ones arrive I'll post how they worked with the Noctua splitters.