120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

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Lawrence Lee
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120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

Post by Lawrence Lee » Sun Oct 25, 2015 3:08 pm


quest_for_silence
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Re: 120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

Post by quest_for_silence » Mon Oct 26, 2015 3:06 pm

Thanks a lot, Lawrence! BTW, the article went in the wrong section (Cooling instead of Fans).

As far as you know, is Scythe the Reeven distributor?

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Re: 120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

Post by SometimesWarrior » Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:43 pm

Thank you, Lawrence, for presenting such a well-organized review and keeping the fan manufacturers honest! In your experience, do the "static pressure" fans cope better than typical fans when attached to dense radiators?

Also, it would be really neat if the comparison table included a column for your overall noise quality grade. For example, the table makes the Noiseblocker B12-2 look exceptional, but your review comments say otherwise. I thought that being able to compare the fans' frequency spectrums might give readers an at-a-glance quality comparison tool, but they aren't so easy to read for unpracticed eyes, and aren't as useful as your listening notes.

I made a demo page to compare frequency spectrums: http://output.jsbin.com/nikero (click a fan name to view the spectrum)

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Re: 120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

Post by quest_for_silence » Tue Oct 27, 2015 12:29 am

SometimesWarrior wrote:I made a demo page to compare frequency spectrums: http://output.jsbin.com/nikero (click a fan name to view the spectrum)
Very nice (thanks a lot!) though apparently the images don't load. :cry:

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Re: 120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

Post by SometimesWarrior » Tue Oct 27, 2015 2:42 am

quest_for_silence wrote:Very nice (thanks a lot!) though apparently the images don't load. :cry:
Whoops! I think SPCR prevents external linking. I didn't notice any problem when I wrote the tool because, while collecting the image links, they got cached by my browser.

Well... Lawrence's fan reviews are all very good, so you should read every page of them, then try the demo page again! :D

Lawrence Lee
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Re: 120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

Post by Lawrence Lee » Wed Oct 28, 2015 8:29 am

SometimesWarrior wrote:In your experience, do the "static pressure" fans cope better than typical fans when attached to dense radiators
I have not tried these specialized aftermarket fans on radiators but as I mentioned in the summary, the stock models included with the AIO coolers (that presumably are designed/chosen for this application) I've reviewed have never outperformed our reference fans by more than a slim margin.

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Re: 120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

Post by voriest » Wed Oct 28, 2015 8:15 pm

Perhaps I am missing something but why are there no Noctua fans on the list at the end of the article? I was sure they'd been reviewed before.

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Re: 120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

Post by quest_for_silence » Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:11 am

voriest wrote:Perhaps I am missing something but why are there no Noctua fans on the list at the end of the article? I was sure they'd been reviewed before.

AFAIK all the fans of the first two round ups were dropped, I guess due to different methodologies (airflow and noise), so that you can't find the S12 along the chart, while the other 120mm Noctuas (P12 and F12) were reviewed just with the relevant CPU coolers. Eventually, there are Noctua fans in the 140mm chart, IIRC.

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Re: 120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

Post by Bill Owen » Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:25 am

Surprised Fractal Design's new vortex fan wasn't included. They're made by GLOBE, who SPCR Mike liked as oem fan manufacturer. Maybe you weren't aware of them.

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Re: 120mm Fan Roundup: Scythe, 1stPlayer, Reeven, Phanteks

Post by pedromvu » Thu Jun 09, 2016 5:31 pm

My Nexus Silent 120 fan used on a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is starting to become a bit noisier than before (had it for 4 years) and I was wondering if I should just buy another since it is pretty cheap these days.

I was wondering if there is a better option for someone that is perfectly happy using the Nexus at full speed, it seems the Noiseblocker B-12-2 performs much better in terms of cooling but is not as pleasant to hear as others, are those 15db really noticeable compared to the Nexus 18db? I am also considering the Corsair AF120 Quiet but again it seems the noise profile is not as good, just wonder if it is something that should be noticeable on a regular house, since we are talking <17db here.

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