Teaming up eleven stator guide vanes with a specially conceived seven blade impeller, the NF-F12’s Focused Flow™ system creates outstanding static pressure and focuses the airflow for superior performance on heatsinks and radiators. At the same time, a wide range of advanced aerodynamic design measures, second generation SSO-Bearings and Noctua’s new, custom designed PWM IC for fully automatic control guarantee astounding quietness of operation. The NF-F12 comes with modular cabling, integrated anti-vibration pads and two speed settings for full flexibility. Its commanding performance, exhaustive set of features and Noctua’s trusted premium quality make it an elite choice for use on air coolers, radiators and other pressure demanding applications.
$ 19.39
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Unmatched in its class, but very specialized. UPDATED,
The NF-F12 is maybe slightly louder than the NF-P12 at similar rpm, which is to say anything other than the airflow is inaudible under 1k. I haven’t experienced the whining referred to in a previous review, but I don’t doubt it. I’ve seen that issue referred to by others, but all I can say is that my NF-F12 does not produce any such noise, other than possibly a low harmonic sound at 1300+ rpm when my head is literally inside my case. However, that could be my head rubbing up against it. Maybe I got lucky. Maybe I’m going deaf. Amazon has a pretty good return policy, so it’s your call, buddy. Running solo on either my Venomous-X or H80, the F12 idles at about 500rpm and hits 950rpm during load testing. After letting it run free with a wide pwm profile, I saw diminishing returns higher than 1k rpm. I think few heat sinks/rads can take advantage of the airflow the F12 produces at high speeds.
Which brings me to this: The F12 is for pushing air through a restrictive medium with minimal noise. Not that it’s bad as a case fan, but it’s just not necessary considering the cost. An exception would be for front intake placement on “silent” cases that have restrictive intakes; here I can see the F12 being a benefit, especially since it has such tightly directed, long throw of air.
For rads/heatsinks, note I said “pushing.” Look at the design: it’s that way for a reason. If you have this as a puller, don’t be surprised when it doesn’t outperform other high end fans. When pushing, it will, at least it outperforms my other fans. That includes beating out the GT-AP15; in both cooling and acoustics the F12 surpassed my GT hands-down. This is not the results of a pro-test, so ymmv, of course.
The accessories and stuff were typical Noctua, including a PWM splitter and small PWM extension cable. Noctua doesn’t skimp on the included goodies. Is it worth it? Hard to say. If you want to run only one fan on a heatsink, this is it. If you are doing a push/pull setup, there are probably cheaper options that will do just fine. Still testing with this sucker..may edit in more later.
Update:::One thing I’ve noticed: These fans do NOT like running on linear voltage, and that means a fan controller or normal mobo header. Noctua is using some proprietary pwm modulator; I dont know if that’s the reason, but I have noticed that they are much quieter when running off actual PWM. Also they do not make good case fans. Some high-pressure fans do, but the F12 is designed to achieve strong focus and relative pressure at low airspeed. In open air they will feel weak. Even more odd is that they are noisier in open air; its almost as if they require resistance to work properly. I have never used a fan so fine tuned for a single purpose.
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|Ugly, but well worth the money!,
I was VERY skeptical about the Noctua fans, but after owning a NH-D14, i knew the fans were going to do a bang up job on my H100. Even on highest setting, these things are VERY quiet. The stock fans on the Corsair H100 are good, but are pretty loud on full speed. I have a push/pull on my H100 with the NF-P12’s and temps are low, and just a slight hum from the 4 fans. Try that with your typical fan, and your going to get a bunch of unwanted noise in your case.
CON: Of course the price, but you pay for quality in this case. Good to see them under 20 bucks now. First 2 i bought were 25 bucks.
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|No better fan than this one!,
This fan is super quiet and it still provides very high static pressure. It is expensive but if you want a fan that will be quiet no matter what rpm you run at then this is the fan for you. I have them attached to a 240mm * 60mm radiator which is cooling my Ivy Bridge 3770k and at full load it never goes about 50c. I would recommend this to anyone that is going for silence or water cooling.
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