News Noctua’s highly anticipated second-gen NF-A12x25 G2 120mm fans hit retail at $34.90 — redesigned fan blades and hub boost cooling performance

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True story: I bought the old version for the same price ($35) on Amazon about 6 weeks ago! They were going out-of-stock quite frequently there & elsewhere, and I even saw people selling them at scalper prices on ebay!

So, I think the new fan isn't really more expensive than the old one. Whatever is going on with pricing is something else. According to the price history, the old one cost $33 for most of the time since it was introduced:
 
These fans are always interesting to me because there's no denying they are among the best I just don't see the value for most uses. The only Noctua fans I've ever bought was a set of redux for an old server box (they were barely a premium over anyone else and the build quality made it totally worth it) and a 40mm for a router box I skimped on the case for so it needed some airflow and I had to trust the fan to not fail. I could see the high end fans being useful for someone particularly noise sensitive as Noctua seems to be the best here.

There are of course plenty of reasons to buy them it's just the value aspect that rarely works out to me.

These ones do appear to be the 120mm fan to get if you want the best though: https://www.hwcooling.net/en/noctua-nf-a12x25-g2-pwm-the-king-is-dead-long-live-the-king-review/
 
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thestryker said:
I could see the high end fans being useful for someone particularly noise sensitive as Noctua seems to be the best here.
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For the noise they make, their A-series fans are unrivaled in applications where you need good static pressure and decent airflow. If you can accept more noise or less static pressure, there are certainly cheaper alternatives.

There are also higher-pressure and higher-flow fans that make more noise.
 
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The former generation from 2018 was more or less a copy of the classic fan Gentle Typhoon — an industrial fan only sometimes resold for PC uses under several brands. The GT was once the king of fans used for water-cooling.
It also had a large fan hub, for an extra strong motor, and made from a fibreglass-reinforced polymer that was tougher than regular PC fans — properties that Noctua also copied.

Interesting to see that they have found how to improve on its shape.

BTW. The GT has a ball bearing which does not wear/dry out when mounted vertical airflow, like some liquid bearing fans do. But the bearing makes a noise at certain RPMs. It needed to be mounted in a rubber gasket to cut down on vibrations, because it did not come with rubber corners. And the classic model was not available with PWM, so they had to be voltage-controlled.
 
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Findecanor said:
The former generation from 2018 was more or less a copy of the classic fan Gentle Typhoon — an industrial fan only sometimes resold for PC uses under several brands. The GT was once the king of fans used for water-cooling.
It also had a large fan hub, for an extra strong motor, and made from a fibreglass-reinforced polymer that was tougher than regular PC fans — properties that Noctua also copied.

Interesting to see that they have found how to improve on its shape.
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The charts in the article @thestryker linked in post #3 includes a "NS Gentle Typhoon D1225C" that does pretty well in their thin & thick radiator tests, but only once you go above the lowest noise levels.
 
scottscholzpdx said:
These are the monster cables of PC fans.
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You ought to check out the review linked in post #3. They performed noise normalized + max comparisons to over 60 other fans, in 6 different usage scenarios, measuring air speed, static pressure, vibration, and frequency distribution.

www.hwcooling.net

Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 PWM: The king is dead, long live the king! - HWCooling.net

We won’t keep you in suspense – the Noctua NF-A12x25 G2 (PWM) is the most efficient fan we’ve ever tested. It clearly outperforms its predecessor (NF-A12x25 “G1”), as well as the Phanteks T30 and all competing 120 mm fans in the extensive database we’ve built so far. The NF-A12x25 G2...
www.hwcooling.net www.hwcooling.net

The data doesn't lie: the performance advantage is real.

The only con/negative they found was the price.
 
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Notton said:
Having said that, Arctic P12 PWM PST goes for as low as $28 for a 5-pk.
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Lately, it's more like $45.

Notton said:
They are not as good as Noctua, but have good enough static pressure and noise profile.
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And they seem to be getting discontinued? I recently saw this article, but the body doesn't seem to support the first part of the headline:

www.hwcooling.net

Arctic sunsets P12/P14 fans, but Pro line gets a 140 mm model - HWCooling.net

Arctic at Computex 2025In connection with Arctic, we were most interested in the details surrounding the new “Pro” P-series fans featuring seven blades. These recently appeared on the Liquid Freezer III Pro coolers, and not only are these fans heading for individual sale, but their aerodynamic...
www.hwcooling.net www.hwcooling.net
 
Notton said:
really? that's news to me. That's a shame, they were like the 2020 version of Scythe Gentle Typhoons.
Get them while they're in stock then.
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Maybe they meant to say the P12 Max? It would make much more sense for those to be getting replaced by the Pro than the regular P12.

Then again, the P12 has a resonance problem with its blade design. So, maybe there's a replacement in the works that uses the outer ring like all of the P12's successors (i.e. the RGB, Max, and Pro) have done.

Here's an article focusing on the P12's noise profile, stemming from its blade design:

www.hwcooling.net

Arctic P12 PWM PST: The most famous rumbling fan - HWCooling.net

There are a lot of droning or downright rumbling fans out there, but none have been as popularized by this sound profile as the Arctic P12. Probably also because this acoustic deficiency is really pronounced here and has pushed the manufacturer to make design changes in newer models that are...
www.hwcooling.net www.hwcooling.net

FWIW, I bought two P12's for use as case fans, where I don't expect them to run fast enough that the "rumbling" is an issue. So, I'm not here to trash the P12's.

P.S. The "PST" thing (Power-Sharing Technology) is just in reference to the way you can daisy-chain multiple fans. It's a option they offer on several different models. When I got my P12's, the PST version cost an extra $0.50, so I opted for it. Not sure if I'll use it, but it seemed like a nice option to have.
 
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There is literally no benefit in doubling or tripling the cost of a simple cooling component that offers marginally better performance other than ego stimulation.
 
bit_user said:
It's funny how many are hating on the price (while being completely wrong about the product's performance), yet not one person has so far complained about the color scheme. Okay, @SkyBill40 did make the point about wanting it in Chromax Black.
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That brownish and tan scheme just doesn't work for me. And I'm not polluting my very nice looking case with that bleh color stuff no matter how well they worked.

CHROMAX BLACK OR NOT AT ALL! 😉
 
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