When color matters: Corsair AF120 Elite weaker in white

Results: Airflow through a hexagonal grille

It’s not a joke. It may sound silly, but know that we are not presenting you with anti-physics. On the contrary, the foundation in physics here is very good. Different colors of materials, as long as they are not just a surface finish but a homogeneous mass, can (and often do) affect their strength. Our sensitive measurements reveal well the differences that exist between the white and black variants.

Results: Airflow through a hexagonal grille








Why is there a missing value sometimes? There may be more reasons. Usually it is because the fan could not be adjusted to the target noise level. Some have a higher minimum speed (or the speed is low, but the motor is too noisy) or it is a slower fan that will not reach the higher decibels. But the results in the graphs are also missing if the rotor is brushing against the nylon filter mesh. In that case, we evaluate this combination as incompatible. And zero in the graphs is naturally also in situations where we measure 0.00. This is a common occurrence at extremely low speeds with obstructions or within vibration measurements.


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Comments (2) Add comment

  1. Hey, when are you going to Review the Noctua NF-A12x25 Brown and Chromax version? I’d love to see if it has the same issue as the Corsair AF120 and also see it’s general Performance. Also please Review the Phanteks T30 too, i would love to see how it compares to the Noctua.

    1. Billy, welcome. Thank you for your question. We have all these tests planned, including the comparison of brown and black Noctua NF-A12x25. In order to make these tests viable, we have to build them in some reasonable way, it can’t be all at once (although I understand that would be the most attractive for the readers). It’s a project for several years and we will get to everything sooner or later. But the NF-A12x25 PWM (brown) tests are really close. 🙂

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