Why include ARX? I never heard of them, maybe someone else did, but I doubt it.
Other fan makes: Acoustifan, Aerocool, Akasa, Coolermaster, Enermax, Noiseblocker, Sharkoon would be worth reviewing.
My less than a month old C2D in P150 system has Nexus fans, no I have to go shopping for Noctua, grrr... joking!

They submitted samples, at least we gave them a go. Besides, you need some bad ones to contrast /compare against the good ones.

Very good job Noctua , now I'm curious to hear (...) the 8cm model, NF-R8-1800.

The grommets was reported as "firm", are they good enough or too rigid ?

And of course good review as usual



P.S. on page 2 there are 2 pics of the rear of the Nexus fan instead of rear and front

Yeah, good for Noctua. It got some bashing, in the forums, when it was first brought up. Good to see it was able to live up to the "hype".

I'm surprised to see that the Yate Loon and the Global Win Ceramic bearing fans were not included, I know you have some

IMHO the Noctua 1,200 rpm could be the ideal choice for a S12-430 fan swap. Starts at very low voltage and has SSO bearing.
It would be nice if SPCR tests the Nexus and the Noctua horizontally too, to find out noise levels differences with respect to vertically.

for anyone in the UK interested in those Nocua fans, I have found a Heatsink/Fan combo, and the fans on their own.

http://www.candccentral.co.uk/acatalog/ ... d_fan.html
http://www.candccentral.co.uk/acatalog/Noctua.html

I must have missed all of the hype about the Noctua fans, but they llok great, twice the airflow of a Nexus at 5v (1200rpm version), and the same noise. Its a real shame I have 3 Nexus fans


Andy

Speaking of places to buy it, I'm not seeing many US vendors selling noctua fans. Not even endpcnoise seems to carry them. I do see that NCIX has it in canada.

Interesting that now Noctua is getting the official SPCR nod. I'd seen them mentioned before (with some derogatory remarks some time ago), but now they seem to be making much better products.

And yeah, it really is a shame that sample variance kills the Nexus ratings. I know my Nexii don't quite live up to my expectations.

And they're even more expensive than the Nexii... I guess S-Flex's the cheapest of the trio, still ridiculous at almost $17.

IMO Nexus has no more or less sample variance than any other sleeve bearing fan. I don't know what your expectations were, but no fans are silent at 12V. Considering that the Nexus and Yate Loon are basically the same fan, you can buy 5 for $15 from jab-tech and cherry-pick.



Jab-tech ships to Canada for fairly reasonable shipping.

That's been my experience - I've also had bad luck with Nexus sample variance. When I discovered that the YL sounded identical at the same RPM, I stopped buying Nexus and went with the "bulk" YL technique. $20 or so for 6-7 fans will yeild at least 2 VERYgood samples - at a better price than the Nexus.

Good review, but I was also hoping to see a comparison between Yate-Loon and Nexus, to see if the Nexus' premium price is warranted--I expect it is not.

Also, Yate-Loons show up under a number of other names. For example, my Cooler-Master case fan is quite good, and it looks identical to a Yate-Loon and has the same model number. Another reason to subject them to tests.

I'm sure most here would agree that, within the bounds of sample variance, the D12SL from YL is identical to the Nexus120 at all RPMs.

Btw some of the jumpto-links don't work. For example on conclusions from page one. And Antec tri-cool links.

Fantastic article, it was a thoroughly good read However, I too am sad that the Yate Loon, Globalwin NCB and Sharkoon fans could not be included.

UK silence seekers can find the Scythe and Noctua fans fairly easily on Ebay, along with the Yate Loons. However, they are almost prohibitively expensive when compared to Silenco's fans.

Guys, I doubt this will be the only 120mm fan roundup. It's very likely the first of a number of fan roundups. Better to get some results now than wait another year for an article. I'm sure a lot more fans will be reviewed and since the methodology is steady, it'll be easy to compare.

Precisely what we promised a while ago.

Too bad there's no place in the US to buy the Noctua fans.

I'm glad you threw in a bad fan to review. Helps us justify the high prices of the good ones.

I'm wondering if the Noctua can supply the same back pressure as the other fans. Might be worth checking out. It would be kinda interesting to put these fans in a standard system like the power supply testing rig and measure the performance with some backpressure. Maybe we can make a box with a variable intake hole so we can measure the sensitivity to back pressure. Sorry to keep suggesting more work!

Hello,

Great job, and it is great to have a reference point for all these fans!

I didn't see any sound recordings for the medium speed (1200RPM) S-Flex -- did I miss it, or is it not included for some reason?

I'm wondering about which model Noctua you are recommending? Is the 800RPM one able to push as much as the Nexus, and do so quieter? Or, is the faster model required to beat the Nexus?

Same question for the S-Flex: is the 800RPM too noisy for it's air flow (due to the slight ticking), or is the 1200RPM model the recommended version, or the faster one?

There are no recordings for the medium speed S-Flex — You've already heard the same thing three times with the other three. I can do them later if people really miss them, but I don't think there's much point.

Our recommendations apply to all models of the Noctua and S-Flex lines. Because the recommendations are based primarily on how airflow for noise, the relative speed ratings aren't considered very important. All of the fans in one model line sound pretty much the same at a given speed, so they're all pretty much equal as far as we're concerned. You can decide for yourself which speed rating is best for you, but it's not something that factored into the recommendations.

Could you throw in a subjective description of the effect of orientation on noise output (motor axis parallel and perpendicular to ground)?

As the old Lone Ranger/Tonto joke ends, "What do you mean we, white man?" (Visions of autoboy with carpenter's saw in hand, working furiously.)

The diffrence between the "good" 120mm doesn't seem to be big, especially considering the sample variance. To me it doesn't seem to make that much of a diffrence if one chooses one the "quiet brands". Which there are quite a few of.

The Noctua is pretty interesting, with an unusual design, maybe I'll check it out if I can get it here in norway.

AtW

I have noticed one mistake in the article regarding the Noctua fans. The model number starts with NF-S12 as opposed to NS-S12.

Hello,

What type of bearing is the Noctua "SSO Bearing"? If it is a sleeve bearing, then has anyone had one for a significant length of time, to see how well it lasts? (Especially in warmer situations...).

And, it would be very important, it seems to me, to test the Noctua's ability to work against some static pressure, since the CFM and the noise may well go in the wrong direction. The narrow blades, and the large gap at the blade tips, would seem to have this weakness, to a degree somewhat greater than more typical fans, anyway.

These are two areas where the GlobalWin NCB fans will have some advantages.

It appears to be some kind of hydrodynamic bearing:

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=sso_bearing&lng=en

92!!! 92!!! We want more!!!

Great article, here's hoping that a 92mm roundup isn't far off!! Like around the holiday, perhaps?