Noctua’s 120mm Fans Should Be on Your Parts List

When you’re building a gaming PC, often the fans that will sit inside and cool it are way down your list of priorities.

You’re researching video cards, you’re deciding what CPU fits with what motherboard, and the idea of actually cooling all of these heat-generating parts gets overlooked.

“I’ll worry about that later,” you tell yourself.

Well, I’m here today to tell you cooling should be bumped up that list of priorities, and specifically if you’re going to rely on air-cooling your system, you should be looking at investing in two or three Noctua 120mm fans.

Color

Why? Well read on and I’ll tell you.

First, let’s talk about the color of the fans.

The fans are designed in a brown and beige color scheme. It’s an odd choice, almost retro in its appeal, but this is a surface detail and I’m reliably informed by Noctua their fans do come in other colors too.

There’s a range of NF-S12A models available for the PC builder.

The fans come in three different types.

They are: the NF-S12A PWM, the NF-S12A ULN and the NF-S12A FLX.

Each of these designs is aimed at a different section of the market, with the PWM being the more standard model, while the ULN is marketed as being an ultra quiet version of the same fan, while the FLX is flexible enough (hence its name) to be used by both groups.

The build quality of all three of these models is impeccable and is backed by an industry-leading six-year warranty – almost unheard of in the realms of PC parts and hardware components.

Quality

The fans packaging oozes quality and inside the box you’ll find a wide range of adapters and connectors to help get you up and running.

Each package includes the fan, four screws, 4 vibration compensators, a manual, a Y-cable, 30cm extension cable and low noise adapters, for reducing unwanted noise even further.

This is great news for the novice builder as it means the box contains everything you need to get up and running, without having to order a random cable from Ebay then wait for it to be shipped from China before you get started – common sense right?

Most fan manufacturers are happy enough for you to rely on your case or motherboard supplier to bundle in extra cables you can use – not exactly a customer-focused approach, especially when you’re dealing with a relatively simple part.

The three different models outlined above all operate at slightly different fan speeds.

The FLX runs at 1200rpm, or 900rpm with the use of the low noise adapter; the ULN runs smoothly along at 800rpm, or 600rpm with the adapter; while the PWM runs at speeds varying between 1200rpm and 300rpm.

Knobs

You will notice that the seven fins of each fan contain several carefully placed bumps.

These are anti-stall knobs. Yes, I hear you. What exactly are anti-stall knobs?

Well, if you want the official explanation take a look at Noctua’s website, the simple answer is that the knobs on each fan blade help avoid performance drops and improve efficiency while the fan is in operation.

Each of the NF-S12A models also features AAO Frame, stepped inlet design, inner surface microstructures, smooth commutation Drive2, and SSO-Bearing.

The AAO Frame refers to the fan’s square frame and the rubber fittings in place on each of the frame’s corners to help reduce noise further.

The stepped inlet design helps improve air flow, while the inner surface microstructures – dimples on the inner wall of the fan frame – break up the air passing between the fan blades and the frame to reduce the vacuum between the two.

Performance

Each of the fans was easy to install, and fits quite comfortably in the case, with no gaps between case and fan.

With three fans installed in my test system and running a recently released game at maximum settings the fans maintained a slightly loud whisper, even under full load, but that’s partly down to the R9 390X I have installed, which can be noisy at full capacity.

When you’re sat at your computer surfing the internet or working the fans barely register as being on.

As I outlined at the start of this post, if you’re building a gaming PC, make sure to invest in two or three Noctua 120mm fans.

Below are the specifications of the PWM model:

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Further Reading

If you’re interested in Lian Li’s new case or any other custom gaming PC systems and components, please check out my other guides, or for the latest news and reviews head to the blog.

If you have any questions about Lian Li’s new case, or would like recommendations on other components or hardware you could use, drop me a line on Twitter, send me a picture on Instagram, or join my community on Facebook.

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