How is the Scythe Slip Stream PWM 120MM SY1225SL12LM-P 200-1300 rpm noise wise and what's the life span like? Does it die in six months like the rest of Scythe Slip series? I leave my PC on almost 24/7 would the Scythe Slip Stream PWM 120MM be a bad choice. I was considering the Noctua NF-S12B FLX 1,200 rpm but they don't have the PWM option. Are they same fan that comes with the Scythe Mugen 2 REV.B.?

It hasn't been my experience that the slipstreams die in 6 months.

In any event, I would expect that if the fan was generally run at low rpms it will last longer and if at higher rpms it will last a shorter time.

If ou want something that will last a long time, the non pwm Scythe Gentle Typhoons are the only generally available PC fans with real ball bearings.

About every review on Newegg,NCIX has the slipstreams not lasting more then 6 months. I'm afraid the Scythe Gentle Typhoons aren't available to my builder and Scythe has replaced there best fan S-flex 1,200 rpm with the Karma Flow 2 at 1,400 rpm which I believe would be louder then the Noctua NF-S12B FLX 1,200 rpm.

Those must be people mounting them with a vertical fan axis or something silly. 6 months would make slip streams one of the worst fans around

I went and looked and it was only a few comments out of a 147 reviews. So while this might be happening, it doesn't seem to be that prevalent.

The only time I've seen a slipstream or other similarly contructed fan die that early was due to external force. If you do run the system 24/7 then it might be prudent to have a spare fan available in case it starts to slow down in a year or two. Some simply relubricate their fans but personally I'm too lazy for that. Faster running fans tend to have shorter life spans than slower ones too, so with a PWM the workload can make a difference.

Newegg also has 177 Mugen 2 reviews, and the Mugen 2 is of course fitted with the 120MM SY1225SL12LM-P PWM fan. Of the 177 comments there are a few negative ones mainly around size and compatibility issues but none refer to any problem with fan life.

If you think about it, for almost any user of any color or stripe, most of the time the CPU will will be idling. If that means that they PWM fan will be revolving at 200rpm during idle... that should bode well for an exceedingly long lifetime.

Not only will there be far fewer revolutions per day... but one revolution at 200 rpms has to be much less wearing an a revolution at 1300 rpm. At 200 rpm maybe even there is almost no wear.