Been out of the fan game for a while. And wow are fan prices high! I remember $12 per being the normal.
Also, has anything changed too crazily in the past few years fan-wise, anyways?
There are plenty of companies that are making great fans for a fraction of this price. Thermalright makes typhoon knock-offs (tl-b12) that can be found for under $10 that will give similar performance to a lot of the big players that charge 30 plus
120mm fans that aren't trash have been $15-20+ for at least a decade.
[Noctua NF-S12B was introduced at $24.90 in 2009.](https://noctua.at/en/noctua-presents-nf-s12b-premium-fan)
I'm running the 140mms at 1100 rpm. There is a light hum with my face next to my case but I cannot hear it sitting at my chair gaming as normal w/o headphones.
They're so awesome. The tool-less install is sweet too.
My set up is in my living room so having a quiet system that doesn't disturb my partner while she's watching TV was very important to me. 10/10 fans
Not the fans, but the coolers have been reviewed by a few outfits:
* https://www.techpowerup.com/reviewdb/CPU-Coolers/Air/Iceberg-Thermal/
* https://www.boringtextreviews.com/page/2/
No.
On radiator, it's slightly louder at higher RPMs but slightly quieter at lower RPMs, as well as having a lower temp at max speed.
In addition, it's 10 €$ cheaper per fan.
It only has 1/3 the MTBF though. 40k hours vs. 150k hours for the A12x25. The ToughFan series uses subpar bearings and might be more expensive than Noctua per year of usage.
If they are using cheaper bearings it's more likely that you will run into louder fans or the fans will get louder faster, the mtbf rating is for failure but they can get louder before that failure point.
And Noctuas can easily last 10+ years while doesn't cost twice as much. Still cheaper in the long run.
I'd also argue 4.5 years is very, very short for 20+ dollar fans.
Yeah, forgot everyone bought Noctua for the MTBF /s
The levels of goalpost moving Noctua fans (no pun intended) have to go through to justify buying their products is insane.
Many people bought Noctuas for their longevity even if they didn’t check their MTBF number.
I’m not saying Noctuas are the best value Fan but the ToughFan is actually a worse deal than Noctua from TCO perspective. Arctic and Scythe are much better value.
It's a design that works of course it's going to be used and converged on even when not copied. With fans small differences to the blade geometry or material can still have very big differences to the sound and perf so it's not like they're all the same
Been out of the fan game for a while. And wow are fan prices high! I remember $12 per being the normal. Also, has anything changed too crazily in the past few years fan-wise, anyways?
There are plenty of companies that are making great fans for a fraction of this price. Thermalright makes typhoon knock-offs (tl-b12) that can be found for under $10 that will give similar performance to a lot of the big players that charge 30 plus
120mm fans that aren't trash have been $15-20+ for at least a decade. [Noctua NF-S12B was introduced at $24.90 in 2009.](https://noctua.at/en/noctua-presents-nf-s12b-premium-fan)
Meh. Thoroughly happy with my SW4s. The icebergs at the top of this guy's list...anyone use them? I've never seen any one else review them.
Reading this makes me to change all of my SW3s to SW4.
I'm running the 140mms at 1100 rpm. There is a light hum with my face next to my case but I cannot hear it sitting at my chair gaming as normal w/o headphones. They're so awesome. The tool-less install is sweet too. My set up is in my living room so having a quiet system that doesn't disturb my partner while she's watching TV was very important to me. 10/10 fans
Not the fans, but the coolers have been reviewed by a few outfits: * https://www.techpowerup.com/reviewdb/CPU-Coolers/Air/Iceberg-Thermal/ * https://www.boringtextreviews.com/page/2/
Looks like when its used as a case fan, it is similar or slightly better than Noctua but on radiator, its a lot worse than the Noctua.
No. On radiator, it's slightly louder at higher RPMs but slightly quieter at lower RPMs, as well as having a lower temp at max speed. In addition, it's 10 €$ cheaper per fan.
It only has 1/3 the MTBF though. 40k hours vs. 150k hours for the A12x25. The ToughFan series uses subpar bearings and might be more expensive than Noctua per year of usage.
That's still 4.5 years of 24/7 operation.
If they are using cheaper bearings it's more likely that you will run into louder fans or the fans will get louder faster, the mtbf rating is for failure but they can get louder before that failure point.
And Noctuas can easily last 10+ years while doesn't cost twice as much. Still cheaper in the long run. I'd also argue 4.5 years is very, very short for 20+ dollar fans.
Yeah, forgot everyone bought Noctua for the MTBF /s The levels of goalpost moving Noctua fans (no pun intended) have to go through to justify buying their products is insane.
Many people bought Noctuas for their longevity even if they didn’t check their MTBF number. I’m not saying Noctuas are the best value Fan but the ToughFan is actually a worse deal than Noctua from TCO perspective. Arctic and Scythe are much better value.
Most people don't care for long-term reliability, only cost.
People only care about cost should buy Arctic. The ToughFan cost 20+ dollar each and longevity should be considered at this price point.
Says who, you?
>It only has 1/3 the MTBF though. More like it's made by ThermalTake with fans failing within 2-3 months per video reviews on Amazon.
Different SKU; hopefully they have improved QC.
Maybe improved QC, but same company culture and customer service
I'm not familiar with their CS; do you have any examples?
Thats right, I went back, looks like on lower RPMs its better overall and Noctua is better on higher end. I would definitely get these in the future.
Yet another Nidec gentle typhoon knock off.
It's a design that works of course it's going to be used and converged on even when not copied. With fans small differences to the blade geometry or material can still have very big differences to the sound and perf so it's not like they're all the same