There is a review of the NA-SFMA1 by Xtreme Systems which found that replacing the 140mm fans on a NZXT Kraken X62 with NF-A12x25s resulted in both lower temperatures and lower noise levels.

This would explain why Noctua has released the NA-SFMA1 set of two 140mm adapters as an accessory to the NF-A12x25. To quote Noctua "... the NA-SFMA1 has been specifically designed to ensure an optimal fit of the NF-A12x25 fan on watercooling radiators. It is also compatible with the NF-F12, NF-S12A...

Thanks for that.

The most impressive part of the NF-A12x25 to me is the ability to idle from 250 rpm. This puts it in the same league as the other Noctua PWM 120mm fans and makes it potentially a replacement for all of them.

I notice the NF-A12x25 is available in ULN, PWM, and FLX like most other Noctua fans. For cooling, are any of these configurations better to have than the other? The FLX is a 3-pin version of the PWM fan with the same top speed. The ULN 3-pin fan has a top speed of 1200 rpm. One of the features of ...

The Armor is basically a lower cost version of the Gaming X. It uses the same circuit board, and GPU speed, boost etc aside the main difference is the cooler. The Gaming X uses a version of MSI's renowned TwinFrozr cooler. The Armor uses a simplified cooler, one less heat pipe for example. There is ...

If you think the Alpine AM4 Passive is expensive, take a look at the price of the Intel equivalent, the Alpine 12 Passive which I think we can safely say is the World's most costliest CPU cooler to date.

Fan comparisons are few and far between on tech sites and youtube. Almost no one is doing them. This review of the NF-A12x25, and the various Redux NF-P12s (in Italian) certainly makes some attempt to provide meaningful data. It seems to confirm the general impression so far that the NF-A12x25 at 2...

But there's also the... NF-P12 redux (4pin PWM) is 25.1 d/BA @1700 rpm...with 120.2 airflow and 2.83 static pressure The announcement that the original NF-P12 300-1300 PWM was being released in a Redux version along with the new 450-1700 PWM version that you mention was made at the same time at the...

With the use of an adapter plate this PSU could also be used in ATX cases. Silverstone's own adapter, the PP08, costs around £10 in the UK. So depending on how much this new Silverstone is priced at the SFX-L 450/PP08 combination could be an economic alternative to the current full size fan-less Pla...

Silverstone have announced the NJ450-SXL which is part of their Nightjar range of fan-less power supplies. Full details are here.

Yes, it is a different design from what Noctua normally do. Possibly all part of making the fan frame more rigid as an element of the low fan blade edge clearance design. As the fan clips are only a thin and fairly springy wire I don't see why they would not fit. Even if you have to distort the clip...

The other possibility you have with some Asus boards, for example the Prime Z370-A, is that there is a Thermal Sensor Connector header (2-pin T_SENSOR). A thermistor cable can be connected to this header and the sensor secured (typically using Kapton Tape) to any device you choose such as a GPU heat...

The standard Asus BIOS fan control profiles are Standard, Silent, Turbo, Full Speed and Manual. Of these, only Manual can be configured. On top of this is Fan Optimization. So for example using the Manual profile the minimum fan speed that can be set is 20% before Optimization, and after running Opt...

Good choice. Like most GTX 1050s the fans will stay off under idle/low stress conditions. The Gigabyte Xtreme Engine software (available as a free download from Gigabyte) includes an Eco Mode/Silent option to minimize fan speeds. There is also an advanced user option which will allow a degree of man...

The R5 build that I did was for one of my gamer family members. I didn't find the intake fans on the R5 were having much impact on CPU or GPU temperatures at all. For this reason they were set to stay off except under gaming conditions. The rear exhaust fan speed was linked to the CPU fan speed (sam...

I prefer to set a profile for all fans which keeps their speed as low as possible under idle or low stress conditions. This translates to around 200 to 250 rpm with the Redux P-14s 1200 PWM. In this scenario I have used it as both an exhaust and inlet fan without any issues.

Go for it. You could always add a second fan as well. For full info see the SPCR review of this particular Noctua cooler.

One potential replacement PWM fan for the standard 3-pin R5/R6 case fan is the Noctua Redux NF-P14s 1200 PWM. From my local supplier 25% cheaper than the Be Quiet. It also a slightly higher top speed at 1200 rpm, will turn off at 0% PWM duty cycle and can idle as low as 200 rpm.

This review of the Antec High Current Gamer 400w suggests around 70% efficiency at 25W, more than OK I would have thought.

...my system idles at around 25w. A test of the Seasonic Focus+ 550W by JonnyGuru puts the efficiency at 55w at around 83%. So I think you might see something more like 75 to 80% efficiency at 25w. However as it is only 25w this looks to me to be entirely acceptable. The only reason for suggesting ...

The cheapest Gold semi-passive PSU is probably the best solution. In practice, in the UK, if you want a fully modular PSU then there are a couple of potential choices both costing around £80. One is the Corsair 550 Watt Gold RM550X and the other is the Seasonic Focus Plus+ 550w Gold. The Focus+ is c...

If you like the read on SPCR on the kotetsu, you should also read the SPCR Scythe Ninja 4: A Legend Reborn it will make you want to buy it. The price of the Kotetsu is inflated in the UK because it is imported from Germany. It was originally intended to compete with the Cooler Master 212 and at fir...

The Gigabyte H370M D3H is certainly fully featured when it comes to fan control. One of these features is Fan Stop which allows a fan to be set to not run until a specified temperature is reached. This temperature is normally based on the CPU but as you have already noted there are other sensors tha...

The Hyper 212 EVO is a budget cooler. The main issue is that it has a 600 to 1600/2000 rpm fan (top speed varies in different markets). Idle speed is likely to be around 700 rpm and if this fits your definition of silent then it's not a problem. For a quieter cooler than this you could consider the ...

The use of PST fans and the cable will ensure that they all work correctly. The combined power draw of the PST fans and the CPU fan should be OK without being powered separately. The Arctic CO fans feature ball bearings with a much higher potential service life than fluid bearings. However some ball...

...The build is in a tower that has a 140mm intake fan and a 120mm exhaust fan, both fans are arctic PWMs (F12/F14). Both fans are connected to the CPU header with a three-way splitter. Artic Fans use a proprietary method of PWM sharing - PST (PWM Sharing Technology) - that does not work correctly ...

...Buy something like 1060 6GB which does 0DB idle mode, and then change fan curves to make it even quieter, maybe even fit a morpheous II cooler and some PWM fans ...Change all my fans (2 intake, 1 exhaust, both fans on the DH14 cooler) to PWM ...Have the controller either turn them all off at idl...

I have built systems using all three of the Noctua 120mm PWM fans. Essentially I would recommend using the NF-F12 for CPU cooler use only, though I have known of it being used it as an exhaust fan by other people. Of the other two I normally use the S12A PWM as an exhaust fan and the P12 PWM for int...

Incidentally this 135mm x 22mm x 9 blade SW3 fan was tested by SPCR in February 2015 as part of the review of the Dark Rock Pro 3.

I don't think the fans on the Dark Rock 4/Dark Rock Pro 4 are an innovation as the same 135mm x 22mm x 9 blade fan was also fitted to the Dark Rock 3 and Dark Rock Pro 3. Agreed there are variations in maximum speed between the two ranges but that's about it.