However, PWM won’t work if you connect a PWM fan to a three-pin fan header. If you want to use PWM, make sure you connect your four-pin fan to a matching four-pin header when installing it. How Many Case Fans Do You Need? Overall, we think that the Arctic P12 and P14 are some of the best PC case fans to come out in recent years. Both prove that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get quiet, high-performance fans for your rig. In the budget range, I had particularly counted on the Arctic fans, with the P12 and P12 Max also delivering upper-class performance at a very low price. The Arctic F12s unfortunately don’t quite make the cut of their 140mm sisters and lose out significantly to the P12 models. We think most average gamers will be more than happy with the Arctic P12 PWM or P14 PWM. They’re quiet, high-performance fans that compete with Noctua’s offerings at less than half the price. Of course, if you want the prestige of a high-end, premium fan, then Noctua’s NF-A12x25 PWM and NF-A14 PWM are still the fans to go for. Just remember that you’re not paying entirely for the performance there. The be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4, ENDORFY Fluctus 120 PWM ARGB, and Arctic P12 are not the overall winners, but deliver very solid results in all tests.

Active CPU coolers have a fan, which ensures continuous airflow to dissipate the heat generated by the CPU. The larger the fan diameter and the higher the speed of the fan, the better the cooling performance. Since an increase in the speed also causes an increased noise level, it is important to find an appropriate balance between the fan diameter, fan speed, and size of the heatsink for an effective CPU cooler. Quiet yet powerful case fans: Cooler Master Mobius (bottom left), MSI Silent Gale P12 (bottom right), DeepCool FK120 (top left) and Arctic P12 (top right)Another thing to keep in mind is that fans are generally specialized for one of two things. Either they are optimized to move a high volume of air (generally with large blades and high RPM) or generate high static pressure. High-airflow fans can run into problems when used in a case with restricted airflow – that’s what high static pressure fans are for. By far the weakest fans in this test remain the Alseye X12, apart from that the last places are occupied by the NZXT F120 RGB and the Alphacool Aurora Rise. Case fan at maximum power There are two types of PC case fans: static pressure fans and airflow fans. Static pressure fans excel at pulling or pushing air through restrictions such as dust filters, radiators, and drive cages. On the other hand, airflow fans work best at moving air as fast as possible, at the cost of reduced performance through the restrictions mentioned above.

The three DeepCool fans are therefore also the budget recommendation for very quiet systems. The FK120, FC120 and CF120 do not give much in this comparison: They offer decent performance even at low speeds. Value is all well and good, but what if you have the money to spare and want a truly premium case fan? If that sounds like you, you’ll want to make a beeline for Noctua’s NF-A12x25 PWM and NF-A14 PWM case fans. They’re modern classics of the case fan world for good reasons.

Passive CPU coolers, however, have no fans. The biggest advantage is the completely silent operation. The heat is conducted into the heatsink and discharged from there into the surrounding air. Since air, without additional airflow, is a poor conductor of heat, passive coolers need to have quite large heatsinks to achieve adequate cooling performance, yet are not as powerful as active coolers. I’m a big fan of cooling hardware that strikes a good balance between noise and performance, which is why the Arctic and mainline Noctua products top our list. But what if you don’t care about low noise operation and just need a ton of airflow and static pressure? Say hello to Noctua’s Industrial PPC fans. The NF-A12x25 PWM and the NF-A14 PWM are static pressure-focused fans, but they also offer more than enough airflow to make them viable for every position in a PC case. We particularly like the NF-A14 as an all-purpose cooling solution. Its 82.5 CFM of airflow trumps even some airflow-focused fans while still offering a decent 2.08 mm-H2O of static pressure for pulling air through dust filters and other intake obstructions. Adding two top intakes reduced CPU temperatures by a single degree and raised GPU temperatures by the same amount, although that may just be run-to-run variance. Even if it isn’t, a single degree Celsius reduction in CPU temps isn’t worth the additional cost of two extra fans. Let’s take Arctic’s 140 mm P14 and 120 mm P12 for example. The P14 boasts 72.8 CFM of airflow and 2.40 mm-H2O of static pressure at 1700 RPM. The P12, on the other hand, offers 56.3 CFM and 2.20 mm-H2O at a slightly higher 1800 RPM.

The easiest way to tell between the two fan types is by looking at the fan connectors: PWM fans use four-pin connectors, while DC fans use three-pin ones. Fans and fan headers are interchangeable, meaning you can connect a three-pin DC fan to a four-pin PWM connector (or vice versa). The MSI Silent Gale P12, DeepCool CF120, and Cooler Master Mobius 120 still perform very well in the 120mm case fan test, even when nearly inaudible. Most of the fans on our list use PWM, or pulse width modulation. PWM allows for fine-grained control of fan speeds without manipulating fan voltage. The main advantage of this approach is that it lets you slow fans down and even stop them without any adverse effects. Most voltage-controlled fans will stall below 5 volts, which stops them from working at ultra-low speeds. So PWM is important for achieving those 200 to 500 RPM speeds that silence enthusiasts may want. Noctua makes a few different versions, but the ones we’re interested in are the 3000 RPM versions, which are the best airflow fans in the range. Both the 120 mm and 140 mm versions offer more than 100 CFM of airflow, with the 140 mm fan, in particular, impressing with its 158.5 CFM. Static pressure is also impressive, and the 120 mm fan takes the cake here with a staggering 7.63 mm-H2O. I have to admit that I hadn’t heard of the Cooler Master Mobius before the case fan review of the 120mm fans, and I was definitely surprised by them. The same goes for the MSI Silent Gale P12s, which at first glance seem similar in design to the Noctua NF-A12x25s, but perform better as case fans. Due to the lower maximum speed, they fall a bit short in the final test, but they offer excellent performance in a normal volume setting.So, on paper, you should be able to run the P14 PWM at 1500 RPM (or less) and achieve cooling performance on par with the P12 PWM. If the 120 and 140 mm fans have a similar price, you might as well go with larger fans if they’ll fit in your case.

Fan noise (like everything else) is measured in decibels (or dBA), and the smaller the number, the quieter the fan. If noise is important, prioritize a fan with a low decibel level, or one with several modes you can switch between, so you’ll have quiet options without sacrificing performance when you need it. Also, as we said before, larger fans can spin more slowly, and therefore more quietly, while still moving lots of air, so it’s probably a good idea to get the largest fans your case can hold. With a name like be quiet!, you’d expect their products to focus on low-noise operation above all else. And that’s exactly what you get with the Silent Wings 3 PWM fans, in both 120 mm and 140 mm guises. The same benefits of more airflow at lower RPMs apply to 180 mm fans, but with the bonus of some truly impressive airflow if you crank the fan speeds up. Arctic’s P12 and P14 pressure-optimized case fans aren’t the outright best-performing fans you can buy, nor are they particularly premium. But what they do offer is virtually top-tier performance for budget-tier pricing. They’re incredible value, and we think that makes both of these fans excellent choices for almost any PC builder out there. Choosing the best case fans for your rig depends a lot on what you need out of your PC’s cooling solution. Some fans excel at near-silent running, while others crank the fan speeds up to push as much air as possible to feed your hot, power-hungry PC components regardless of noise. It’s all about finding the right fan for the job.The fans from the brands Noctua, Corsair and the majority of the models from be quiet! do not stand out much in this 120 mm case fan test. Overall, these brands fill the midfield, which is not a bad performance by any means, but just not an outstanding victory that might have been attributed to them without the comparison. At least it is noticeable that the Corsair QL120 does better than the 140 mm models from the corresponding parallel test. Conclusion Many RGB fans only have a single RGB ring on the intake side, limiting the visibility of the ring depending on their placement. Not so with the Corsair QL fans. These have RGB LED rings on the intake and exhaust sides; the upshot of this design is that you get that sweet RGB ring lighting no matter the fans’ orientation. If you’ve always been frustrated by the dull exhaust sides of many RGB fans, these Corsair QLs are for you. A surprisingly high performance has the DeepCool CF120, which achieved the best temperature results at the RPM, but due to the higher volume they are found a bit further down the list. The very loud and weak Alseye X12 attracted negative attention. Case fan at uniform 31 dB(A) Speaking of moving air, the stat you want to keep your eyes out for is “CFM,” which stands for “cubic feet per minute.” The higher the number, the more air the fan can move, the better. That said, fans with the highest CFM also tend to be loudest. Although nicer fans still aren’t that expensive (relative to other PC components), you still get what you pay for. Ball bearings, often found in the least expensive fans, tend to fail more often, while sleeve bearings are a step up in quality and longevity, and fluid bearings tend to be the most reliable, with the longest lifespans. Unlike most PC components, fans are mechanical systems meant to run continuously for years, so get good ones!