Noctua fans - are they worth it?

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MadMorigan

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Nov 24, 2014
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I've been looking at these black versions of the noctua fan:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFCRATC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1LE98FTJFK3FY&coliid=IU4LS7VZNFKRZ

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFCRF1A/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1LE98FTJFK3FY&coliid=IOV58J54LMUB0

I absolutely don't want to destroy the look of my case by adding the disgusting-looking brown + pukewhite versions so that's why i want black.
Case is a Corsair 780T case and supports both 120 and 140mm fans. I have a 360mm rad that has fans that are a lil louder than i'd like but I'm not sure if I want to shell out $200-$250 for noctua fans in push/pull; they just seem so outrageously priced. I'm looking to replace almost all my fans so I would need about eight or nine120mm or 6x 120mm + 2 x 140mm, whichever seems best.

right now, with mods i got 15 x 120mm (with 6 in rad)

Are there any alternatives to noctua fans?
 
Solution
jmsellars1
You don't need to go with the brown fans at all if you don't want to. There's the redux range which are *slightly* lower quality and don't come with accessories but they're cheaper and there's the industrial range in all black which give better performance but are more expensive. Make sure to get the PWM versions and plug them into a PWM (4 pin socket) if you get those though or they will be quite noisy because they get up to high RPM's.

Bear in mind that the 'F' range (ie. NF-F12) are designed for radiators and are good as intakes too, the 'S' range (ie. NF-S12B) are very quiet and are great as exhaust fans. The P range (ie. NF-P12) are all purpose so they're OK for radiators, fairly quiet and OK as case fans. I think the A series are...
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For radiators, I like the corsair SP120 / 140 series myself; Good airflow, low noise, nice clean shape and LEDs to complement your build if you want. For Intake and exhaust fans, the corsair AF120 / 140 is my pick - for all the the same reasons as above :)! The AF120 2 pack usually retails for around $20 on amazon.
 
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Yes, they are absolutely worth it. They are both quiet and move plenty of air. Personally, I am not a fan (all pun intended) of the Corsair SP series. Yes, they are ok, but at higher speeds the quality of the noctua fans becomes very apparent. And I think they look great too. Expensive, but you get what you pay for.

They also work very well with radiators.
 
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The Noctua are great fans with great QA and they know it. That's why they don't care if their color scheme is ugly. Personally when I had a water cooler setup the water pump was the loudest part of my PC.

That said I only recommend buying them if you are obsessed with trying to get your PC as quiet as possible. If all you care about is airflow there are other cheaper and black fans you can buy.
 
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two for the price of one noctua fan, i might just lean to your solution.

i think i might buy two noctua fans and two corsair fans and see which are truly better; then i can return two of them and order some more of the ones i like.

although i did see that the black noctua fans have 3000 rpm which is incredibly high and possibly worth it for that much more power
decisions, decisions
 
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That sounds like a good compromise! You can use both for a few days and see which one you like better, and get first hand experience on what they look and sound like, and how they perform.
 
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Completely agree. I own the D-15, while it is a great cooler I find the individual fans are overpriced.

I have heard bad things about the Corsair quiet edition fans, they are the opposite of what they claim to be.
 
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Thanks guys, a lot of new info for me here!
i didn't know that about the black noctua fans being louder. Well the ugly brown and yellow-white fans are out of the question so i think i will try out the silvery-white noctua ones bossyfins recommended and see how they work out.
 
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I exclusively use Noctua fans, I've spent a lot of money doing it but they make the best fans in the industry. If you care about quietness and/or overclocking, they're worth it. If you don't then they're not worth it in my opinion.

I also appreciate the fact that they provide exceptional aftercare and a long warranty.
 
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Great feedback guys, this is what i will do, let me know if i should change fan models:

so i'm thinking i will buy 4 x 140mm silvery-white noctua fans bossyfins recommended(2 in middle, 1 in bottom, 1 as back exhaust) and then next month i will be replacing my 6 x 120mm fans in radiator to the noctua redux 120mm; the ugly colors i can live with since i wouldn't be able to see them in my case anyways as long as the performance is great.
 
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You don't need to go with the brown fans at all if you don't want to. There's the redux range which are *slightly* lower quality and don't come with accessories but they're cheaper and there's the industrial range in all black which give better performance but are more expensive. Make sure to get the PWM versions and plug them into a PWM (4 pin socket) if you get those though or they will be quite noisy because they get up to high RPM's.

Bear in mind that the 'F' range (ie. NF-F12) are designed for radiators and are good as intakes too, the 'S' range (ie. NF-S12B) are very quiet and are great as exhaust fans. The P range (ie. NF-P12) are all purpose so they're OK for radiators, fairly quiet and OK as case fans. I think the A series are just the same as the P's but they're 140mm.

I would recommend the NF-P14 redux to use as your case fans and NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 PWM's on your radiator if you can afford it, NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM if you need something a bit cheaper.
 
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Solution
thanks, you're awesome. I do have a fan controller that i could use. I also do have spendable money left-over for a skylake upgrade i was going to do but sadly skylake gaming performance wasn't worth the hype...
I realize now that by cheaping out on my fans in the past, i now have a pretty good stack of fans that got noisier over time so i lost $. I've heard nothing but good things about noctua so i think i will go big or go home this time around.

So you're saying that the industrial fans are as quiet as the regular fans as long as they stay at low rpm? for ex: if i run a 2000rpm industrial fun @70%, it'll be as quiet as the nf-12? I really really love the black looks of it
 
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The industrial one at 500RPM should be the pretty much the same noise as a regular one at 500RPM, the difference is that the industrial ones only go down to 450RPM rather than 300RPM and go as high as 2000RPM rather than 1400RPM or whatever it is. If they're controlled by PWM though, you can quite easily just keep them in the 450-1000 range and they will be quiet. The added bonus is that if you change your mind and don't mind a bit of noise you can run them at 2000RPM and have ridiculous performance.

If you're using 6 radiator fans I'd go for a 6 way PWM splitter and just plug them all into the CPU fan header on the motherboard rather than using a fan controller, obviously up to you though.
 
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