What fans do I need

[RHurbungs]

Hi,

I am planning to upgrade my motherboard and CPU and wanna buy 3 case fan with it. Now I am wondering which fans I need to buy. I need one 140mm fan and two 120mm fans (120mm are exausts).

I do want to buy one brand so because of my CPU cooler ( noctua NH-L12) I also wanna buy 3 noctua case fans. Can you guys maybe help me about which fans I need because on the internet I see FLX/PMW ( maybe more) and I do not know which one's are the best for me.

My setup as now:

Asrock b75 pro3-M ( will upgrade to the b85 pro4-M
I5 2500k (will upgrade to i7 4790 no K) for rendering
Noctua NH-L12
MSI GTX970
Kingston HyperX 16gb
Kingston HyperX 120GB SSD
1,5TB HDD
Corsair HX650

Also will the same fans fit into my current motherboard? So I can buy the fans before I will buy my new motherboard and cpu

 

[martinch]

Looking at Noctua's 120mm range ...

S12's: high airflow, low pressure, low noise - good for shifting a lot of air, but not so good at pulling/sucking through fan filters or obstructions
P12's: a balanced design, good as a general purpose fan
F12's: high airflow, high pressure, louder - designed for use on heatsinks, and obstructed/enclosed areas

If your case has a nice open mesh, then the S12's would be good, otherwise go for the P12's.

For the 140mm, there's only really the A14.

With regard to FLX vs PWM ... PWM fans have a 4-pin connector, and are designed to be RPM-controlled by the motherboard headers. The FLX's have 3 pins and spin at a fixed speed (although your motherboard can control them if it can do DC fan control, e.g. ASUS boards). Some Noctua fans' names end in "ULN", which denotes low noise (i.e. they spin slower than the normal version).

Noctua also do a "Redux" range, which is generally an older model which doesn't come with (m)any accessories but is cheaper, and in a grey colour-scheme rather than brown.

FYI, Noctua's support guys are very helpful - if you tell them your case and what's going in it, they'll suggest which fans to put where.

 

[RHurbungs]

Looking at Noctua's 120mm range ...

S12's: high airflow, low pressure, low noise - good for shifting a lot of air, but not so good at pulling/sucking through fan filters or obstructions
P12's: a balanced design, good as a general purpose fan
F12's: high airflow, high pressure, louder - designed for use on heatsinks, and obstructed/enclosed areas

If your case has a nice open mesh, then the S12's would be good, otherwise go for the P12's.

For the 140mm, there's only really the A14.

With regard to FLX vs PWM ... PWM fans have a 4-pin connector, and are designed to be RPM-controlled by the motherboard headers. The FLX's have 3 pins and spin at a fixed speed (although your motherboard can control them if it can do DC fan control, e.g. ASUS boards). Some Noctua fans' names end in "ULN", which denotes low noise (i.e. they spin slower than the normal version).

Noctua also do a "Redux" range, which is generally an older model which doesn't come with (m)any accessories but is cheaper, and in a grey colour-scheme rather than brown.

FYI, Noctua's support guys are very helpful - if you tell them your case and what's going in it, they'll suggest which fans to put where.

So actually you are saying that if I want to control the fan speed I need to take the PWM fans and if there is no need for controlling the fans speed FLX is good enough? WIll the fixed speed be at it max? Like if the max RPM is 1200 it will be 1200 RPM. My computer is in a cabinet so I really want to buy fans. Also my computer case is a Cooltek GT-05 the inside is quit small so I really want a good airflow

 

[martinch]

So actually you are saying that if I want to control the fan speed I need to take the PWM fans and if there is no need for controlling the fans speed FLX is good enough?

Basically. All motherboards that I'm aware of will control 4-pin (PWM) fans off the fan headers on the motherboard. Some motherboards (e.g. Asus' Z97 line) can control 3-pin (DC) fans off the fan headers on the motherboard. When the motherboard doesn't know how to control the fan speed (or it's powered directly off the PSU), it'll spin at it's maximum rated speed. Noctua's non-redux line all come with low noise adaptors, which can be used to reduce the maximum spin speed, if desired.

As an example, my Noctua NF-A14 FLX's are powered directly by the PSU, and are connected to my case's in-built fan controller. This has 3 settings - 12V (max speed), 7V, and 5V. I have them set to 7V, and I can barely hear them, yet the 3 fans (2 Noctua's + 1 Fractal Design) are pulling in around 150cf/m of air(!). To be honest, the 5V setting would pull in enough air, but the extra noise of the fans at 7V drowns out the slightly annoying sound of my GPU's fan at idle...

Does that help?

WIll the fixed speed be at it max? Like if the max RPM is 1200 it will be 1200 RPM.

Yes.

P.S. The A14's are quite loud at maximum spin (but not objectionable as they're not "whiny"), but spin them down a little and they are very quiet.

 

[RHurbungs]

So actually you are saying that if I want to control the fan speed I need to take the PWM fans and if there is no need for controlling the fans speed FLX is good enough?

Basically. All motherboards that I'm aware of will control 4-pin (PWM) fans off the fan headers on the motherboard. Some motherboards (e.g. Asus' Z97 line) can control 3-pin (DC) fans off the fan headers on the motherboard. When the motherboard doesn't know how to control the fan speed (or it's powered directly off the PSU), it'll spin at it's maximum rated speed. Noctua's non-redux line all come with low noise adaptors, which can be used to reduce the maximum spin speed, if desired.

As an example, my Noctua NF-A14 FLX's are powered directly by the PSU, and are connected to my case's in-built fan controller. This has 3 settings - 12V (max speed), 7V, and 5V. I have them set to 7V, and I can barely hear them, yet the 3 fans (2 Noctua's + 1 Fractal Design) are pulling in around 150cf/m of air(!). To be honest, the 5V setting would pull in enough air, but the extra noise of the fans at 7V drowns out the slightly annoying sound of my GPU's fan at idle...

Does that help?

WIll the fixed speed be at it max? Like if the max RPM is 1200 it will be 1200 RPM.

Yes.

P.S. The A14's are quite loud at maximum spin (but not objectionable as they're not "whiny"), but spin them down a little and they are very quiet.

Heey! Many thanks for helping I bought the P12 and A14 they are awsome! My computer is around 28C* idle and 55-65C* when gaming.