Two Noctua NF-P12 vs one NF-F12 PWM for CPU cooling

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Stephen
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Location: Michigan, USA

Two Noctua NF-P12 vs one NF-F12 PWM for CPU cooling

Post by Stephen » Sun Aug 05, 2012 10:12 am

I am gettng a Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler for an i7-3770k system. I plan on some moderate overclocking. The cooler comes with 2 Noctua NF-P12 fans, which are not PWM. I'm considering replacing them with the Noctua NF-F12 PWM fans, which have slightly different specs. I'm interested in opinions on whether one of these PWM fans in a push configuration would suffice, rather than 2 in a push-pull config.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608014

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608004

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608026

ces
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Re: Two Noctua NF-P12 vs one NF-F12 PWM for CPU cooling

Post by ces » Sun Aug 05, 2012 10:36 am

1. Two slower fans are better than one faster fan. They will generate more air flow with less noise... all things being equal that is.

2. PMW fans tend to be louder than non PMW fans... at least when running at the same speed. SPRC has tested the Noctua PWM fan and it is somewhat loud at its higher speeds.

3. One of the benefits of a PWM fan is that most of the time it will be running at its lowest speed.

4. I would try the Noctua NH-U12P with its stock fans before getting fancy with the fans. Noctua fans are among the best if you run them at their lower settings. Try that with these stock fans.

5. The problem with the 3770k is that a lot of the heat never makes it to the heatsink. So getting a bigger and better heat sink with more air flow doesn't help as much as it does with previous generations of CPUs.

No matter what you do, a fair amount of its heat is going to end up being transmitted to the mother board.

Therefore you should consider one of the gigabyte boards with the double thick copper on the mother board... coupled with a down draft cooler, to help cool the board.

ghia
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Re: Two Noctua NF-P12 vs one NF-F12 PWM for CPU cooling

Post by ghia » Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:59 am

ces wrote:
No matter what you do, a fair amount of its heat is going to end up being transmitted to the mother board.

Therefore you should consider one of the gigabyte boards with the double thick copper on the mother board... coupled with a down draft cooler, to help cool the board.
or a prolimatech genesis

boost
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Re: Two Noctua NF-P12 vs one NF-F12 PWM for CPU cooling

Post by boost » Tue Aug 28, 2012 2:14 am

Get a Thermalright HR-02 Macho. It comes with single good PWM fan which can be controlled on most mainboards and it's cheaper than Noctua. It performs very well with little airflow (as good as U12P). Very few heatsinks are better (Genesis maybe) but none at the price.
A single fan should suffice for moderate oc. you can always add a second one later to improve oc and/or noise.

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