Asus’s efforts in the field of standalone PC fans are on the rise. After the premiere in the form of the ROG XF120, there is now the half-price TUF TF120, which also gives more attractive results in some applications. And that’s even compared to other, similar fans with ARGB LEDs. The geometry of the TF120 is quite sensible, which is why it often beats its competitors in its price range. Read more “Asus TUF Gaming TF120: Cheap, lighted and efficient fan”
That this or that can no longer be improved? It can only seem that way until someone points out the possible shortcomings. This also applies to the circular grille in front of fans, on which Noctua has found a few weak spots, where their solution (compared to traditional circular grilles) lead to higher efficiency – the drop in airflow is supposed to be even lower with an even smaller increase in noise. And all of it makes sense. Read more “The NA-FG1 or how Noctua perfected the circular grille”
Wake up, Steve! You kind of slept through a convenient opportunity to divulge what’s going on with the fan testing that your audience funded a long time ago. Never mind, I’ll blog a bit and shed some light on it myself. I understand that you’ve reached a difficult, stalemate situation that’s hard to come out with to the public and it’s more effective to sweep inconvenient things under the rug (again). That too is the style of Gamers Nexus, history repeats itself. Read more “Gamers Nexus fan testing won’t come, was it all talk”
Until recently, it looked like if Noctua failed to release the new generation of 140mm fans by the end of the year (2022), it would happen shortly after. But right now, even this year’s release is in jeopardy. The cause is a fault that, it seems, Noctua didn’t really expect. This delay, by the way, also significantly delays the planned sale of the successor to the NH-D15 CPU cooler. Read more “Expected 140mm Noctua fans hit by production issues”
Last year’s tally of fans tested ends at 34 models. We don’t know what number it will stop at one day over the years, but our plan for the next twelve months is clear: Push hard on fan topics. Not only by adding to the record number of fans, but also by popular education on the physics that is essential to a proper understanding of exactly how fans work. The goal is for you to have a clarity about everything. Read more “Year of the fan is here: by 2023, there will be 70 of them compared”
Illuminated fans from BeQuiet! have the advantage over many competing models in a more robust rotor design. This is also due to the fact that it is not made of “light conductive” material and therefore some may not like the Light Wings fans, but aerodynamically they have the edge over other models. This is not only because of the choice of raw materials and their robustness, but also the overall shape of the blades. Read more “BeQuiet! Light Wings (BL072): Sturdy rotor with ARGB LEDs”
This is not entirely new information. On the contrary, the news that Noctua won’t release 140mm fans made of “sterrox” this year after all is quite old. Still, it disappeared on Twitter among other posts, and the reach to the public is quite small. We, too, have only now gotten around to the delay of Noctua’s long-awaited fans. So if you’re still waiting and hoping, know that they won’t be coming this year, for certain. Read more “Noctua is behind schedule, new 140mm fans have been delayed”
On edges of blades of some fans there are small notches forming a kind of teeth, typically on the trailing edges, closer to the motor. These elements serve to break up tonal peaks, and it’s curious that manufacturers are abandoning them rather than adding them. In some designs, however, such a modification can be seen as a backwards move; elsewhere it’s an understandable one. We have a few examples for you. Read more “Removing notches on fan blades? Sometimes a mistake”
The EKWB Vardar fans are now discontinued, but there is a replacement in the form of fans from the new FPT series. These are designed primarily for what this company is most dedicated to – custom loops. Along with high airflow, the specs promise high static pressure, which is key on obstacles such as radiators to achieve the highest possible cooling efficiency (air performance to noise level ratio). Read more “Six new 120/140mm EK-Loop FPT fans on sale”
Six new models, with the slowest capping at 2,000 rpm and the fastest up to 4,000 rpm. It’s a mix of 120 and 140-millimeter fans, where with the larger format Alphacool reached for differently modeled rotors. This is also with a view to ensuring that a fan this fast and relatively large can operate at all at reasonably low vibration. Among Alphacool’s new products is therefore a fan with more robust blades as well. Read more “Alphacool introduces the “Core” series of high-speed fans”
The biggest advantage, but at the same time the biggest disadvantage of the DeepCool FC120 fan are its long and overall large blades, whose area exceeds that of competing models. Among illuminated fans, this one represents one of the most efficient solutions with ARGB LEDs, in optimal conditions. However, it is important to notice its downsides, which are a side effect of the chosen rotor design. Read more “DeepCool FC120: Big ARGB blades in a “small” cross-section”
Wondering how the Gentle Typhoon D1225C, the originator of the efficiently shaped rotor, is stacking up against much newer fans today? Very well. Outside the band of the most intense vibrations with annoying resonant frequencies, even from today’s perspective this fan has a top performance-to-noise ratio. In some ways it is even still unsurpassed, and the designers of the time built on strong physical foundations. Read more “Nidec Servo Gentle Typhoon D1225C won’t lose to just any”
Simple but clever. The Noctua NA-IS1-1x supplementary frames are an extension to the existing fan frames, which provide greater clearance from an obstacle, thus mitigating microturbulence, which naturally reduces the noise level of the entire cooling system. To what extent, you’ll find out later from our tests, for now let’s take a look at what it’s actually all about and how it all works. Read more “Noctua has frames (NA-IS1) to reduce microturbulence”
We come to the analysis of a fan that even if it dates back to cooling prehistory, many manufacturers are only now discovering the aerodynamic qualities of its design. Although the Gentle Typhoon is a great inspiration to many manufacturers (including Noctua), it does have one weakness. And a rather fundamental one. It is very high, excessive vibrations, which we will unusually devote a separate test to. Read more “Gentle Typhoon’s high vibrations resemble SilverStone’s sins”
The Noctua NF-A12x25 fan may be the closest to perfection of the 120mm fans, but even the best things have their weaknesses. This will be no exception and there are elements of the NF-A12x25 that make sense to get into. And that this is true, Noctua will prove sooner or later in the next generation of 120 mm fans. But we’ll discuss the topic of what exactly to tweak, to do neater, right now.. Read more “HWCooling tips to optimize the Noctua NF-A12x25 fan”
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