When color matters: Corsair AF120 Elite weaker in white

Results: Frequency response of sound with 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: Frequency response of sound with a hexagonal grille

Measurements are performed in the TrueRTA application, which records sound in a range of 240 frequencies in the recorded range of 20–20,000 Hz. For the possibility of comparison across articles, we export the dominant frequency from the low (20–200 Hz), medium (201–2,000 Hz) and high (2,001–20,000 Hz) range to standard bar graphs.

However, for an even more detailed analysis of the sound expression, it is important to perceive the overall shape of the graph and the intensity of all frequencies/tones. If you don’t understand something in the graphs or tables below, you’ll find the answers to all your questions in this article. It explains how to read the measured data below correctly.

Noise levels in the tables below -85 dBu (but watch out for the negative sign, -70 dBu is louder than -80 dBu) can be ignored. They are in fact extremely weak and always far below the limit of human perception, and are often defined by the “noise” of the measurement string. Therefore, do not take even the dominant frequencies within the treble band that exceed 12 kHz too much into account.







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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