Thermaltake Toughfan 12/14 Pro
And they probably will. There will be significant intergenerational improvements in the latest fans for relatively simple reasons. The higher airflow and higher static pressure at the same speed for the Toughfan Pro has a clear explanation in the design details Thermaltake has worked on. It’s quite possible that you’re looking at fans that finally beat the Noctua NF-A12x25 in efficiency, even with the same profile thickness.
Thermaltake’s fan range is expanding with a new series – the Toughfan Pro. Compared to the existing Toughfan, the name “Pro” has been added to the name. This was done to indicate a technical advancement with more attractive parameters. While the Toughfan Pro at first glance seems very similar to the older fans (Toughfan), the changes in geometry are quite significant, you just have to take a close look at them. Since there hasn’t been a major change in shape, they are easy to overlook.
The fan rotors still have nine blades with a more pronounced leading edge curve, this has not changed. What is different now (and will make a difference in efficiency) is both the larger area per blade and the smaller inter-blade spacing. Due to the former – the larger blades – the increase in airflow at the same speed is supposed to be up to 21%. At 2000 rpm, 120.3 m3/hr is stated.
Larger blades in the same cross-section also mean that the inter-blade spacing has been reduced and thus the static pressure naturally rises, so that the impact of the obstacle resistance on the airflow drop is smaller, reportedly by as much as 24.5% (to 3.19 mm H2O). Basically, this is an application of the first and second tips we once gave on the possible efficiency increase of the Noctua NF-A12x25 fans.
Also contributing to the higher static pressure is the narrowing of the gap between the tips of the blades and the frame to 0.6 mm (this is therefore half the size of the Toughfan 12/14), so there is less cross-sectional area for air leakage, which is good. And whereas the Toughfan 12 is already close to Noctua’s elite 120mm fan in efficiency (though still lags behind), the Toughfan Pro will probably easily outperform it in terms of airflow and static pressure at the same speed. The question is at what noise level.
By the nature of using thick blades made of solid LCP, the acoustics will not be adversely affected by excessive vibration at blade level. Anyway, the higher airflow here (in the Toughfan 12/14 Pro) is somewhat achieved at the expense of higher noise levels. However, the increase in noise claimed by Thermaltake is only negligible, at 0.3 dBA. Whether it won’t be higher in the end, we don’t dare to guess. Noctua showed at Computex that it, too, has dabbled in prototypes in the past with very significant reductions in blade spacing, but those haven’t translated into practice in such an aggressive form. Next to the Lian Li UNI Fan P28, this is the second fan in a short period of time that has a realistic chance to be in the top 3 most efficient 120 mm fans..
In the 140 mm format, where the competition is weaker, Thermaltake aspires to be at the very top with the Toughfan 14 Pro. We’ll cover this fan in our tests before Noctua releases a “sterrox” competitor that also looks great on paper.
The internal structure of the hub is also supposed to be more robust than it used to be (for the Toughfan 12/14), with more steel used. Also new is the copper cover around the bearing, which, in addition to providing more stability for the axle, should also ensure a longer service life. The new hydraulic bearing is also expected to contribute to this.
The suggested price for the 120 mm Toughfan 12 Pro is 22.90 EUR and for the larger variant (Toughfan 14 Pro) 25.90 EUR. The 2-packs (for 40,90 EUR and 44,90 EUR) come out a bit cheaper on a per-piece basis.
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
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- Thermaltake Toughfan 12/14 Pro
Good to see that they are working on their own designs now instead of merely “taking inspiration” from the A12x25. The change for the 14 cm version in particular is quite noticeable.
They choosed the same impeller design for 140mm with 120mm’s heavily curved 9 blades. But.. there are similar 140mm fans in market such as Corsair AF140 Elite and Thermalright TL-B14. In my test result, they showed medium ~ medium-low efficiency in radiator and plastic filter.
If implementing the same design worked, Noctua would have disclosed 140mm fan that seems to have increased in size from NF-A12X25. But as we can see on Computex booth, the designs that are analogous with NF-A12X25 was rejected at EVT(Enginnering Validation Test, which evaluates performance and acoustics of a prototype.) process.
Heavily curved 9 blades design may be not the best option in 140mm world!
Noctua actually said that they were happy with the performance of the 2016 prototype, which looks quite similar to the A12x25, but it was not feasible for mass production. However, I could not find details on what the problem was, and how its performance compare to the current design. The most I could find is that the graph they showed states that the 2016 version passed the EVT but failed at the Thermal Creep Evaluation step.
It can be seen that Thermaltake doesn’t bother with details too much and probably doesn’t give development that much attention… Note that across the Toughfan 12/14 formats there is also an equal gap between the blade tips and the frame/stator tunnel. Noctua has increased this gap a bit for 140 mm fans, to 0.7 mm (for NF-A12x25 it’s 0.5 mm), as bigger deformation of blade tips during flight naturally occurs with longer blades. Still, I think Thoughfan 14 could be the most efficient fan in a restrictive environment. If only because they have thick LCP blades that could produce smaller tonal peaks than the 140mm Silent Wings Pro 4 or the fans you mention (Thermalright TL-B14 and Corsair AF140 Elite).
Is a review of 120mm version coming? Any estimate when? Both sizes seem to be top performers in reviews by other medias.
Of course, tests of Toughfan Pro fans are in the plan. We already have both formats in the editorial office, but we will start with the larger one to have the largest possible reference sample for Noctua 140 mm LCP fans for comparison. The sample is very small at the moment and the Tougfan 14 Pro fans will be key for the evaluation of Noctua fans later on (not only for the 140 mm ones, but of course also for the NF-A12x25). Naturally they have all the design prerequisites to compete fiercely with them.
So yes, there will be tests and I will do my best to make them as soon as possible. Exactly when that will be, as far as the 120mm variant is concerned, I can’t promise. Again, we are approaching a month in which we will have to devote a considerable amount of time to non-fan topics. In January, the low-power Intel raptor Lake processors, GeForce RTX 4000 Super graphics cards, but also, for example, the Radeon RX 7600 XT, will be released. We have to cover all this and none of it “can wait”. Not having tests of these things published on the day of their release would not do us any good, of course.