Epilogue
The high-speed version of the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM can only be found in the new Seasonic Prime Noctua Edition TX-1600 PSU. Although its higher speeds increase its performance, it still doesn’t stand out from the crowd. The build quality is top-notch, though, and thanks to the advanced SSO2 bearing, the fan will be an asset to the PSU’s reliability.
Let’s now look at 25 dBA noise normalized performance. I chose 25 dBA because it is low enough not to annoy most users while being high enough to allow for speeds that offer decent performance in airflow and static pressure.
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The high-speed version has no advantage in normalized noise output since the higher RPM it can achieve doesn’t play any role here. The performance difference between the plain and high-speed versions is relatively small and can be justified by sample variance. Both airflow and static pressure performance are not that impressive. In general, the NF-A12x25 started to show its age in these charts, and it is probably high time for Noctua to update this model and release something more competitive, as it did with the Noctua NF-A14x25r G2 fan.
For reference, at the time of the review, the following prices applied:
- Phanteks T30-120: $32
- Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM: $33
- XPG Vento Pro 120mm: $26
- Thermaltake Toughfan Pro 12: $25
- Scythe Grand Tornado 120mm: $20
- be quiet! Silent Wings 4 120mm High-Speed: $20
- Arctic P12 Max: $10
The Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM is expensive at $33, so it isn’t recommended, given that fans like the Arctic P12 Max cost less than 1/3 of that price while offering better performance. It is worth considering only if you are a fanatic supporter of the Noctua brand and you want a fan with top-build quality that will probably last forever if you don’t use it under extreme conditions.
Below, you will find several 120mm fan reviews to get more insights about this product category.
- Arctic P12 Max Showdown – Black (DBB) vs White (FDB)
- Arctic P12 Max (Black – Double Ball Bearing) Fan Review
- Phanteks T30-120 Cooling Fan Review – ReCheck!
- XPG Nidec Vento Pro 120 PWM Fan Review
- Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Pro Fan Review
- Scythe Grand Tornado 120mm Fan Review
To check all alternative fan offerings, read my Best Cooling Fans article before investing in new cooling solutions. You help me a lot by using my affiliate links, which don’t increase the product’s price. I get a commission from Amazon every time you do it, which can make a difference for me, especially now that I am on my own, working exclusively for my media and not for someone else.
- Top build quality
- Low power consumption
- High lifetime bearing
- PWM control
- Expensive
- Not impressive performance
- No daisy chain option (doesn’t need it for PSU use)
Buy be quiet! Silent Wings 4 120mm
Buy Scythe Grand Tornado 120mm
Buy Phanteks (PH-F120T30_BG) T30-120
Buy Thermaltake SWAFAN EX 12 ARGB Sync
Buy Cooler Master MasterFan MF120 Halo²
Buy Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black
Buy Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM
Buy Noctua NF-F12 PWM
Buy Cooler Master Mobius 120 OC
even the LS variant spins nearly 2x too fast for most uses if you care about noise so existence of this variant is bizarre to say the least
and if you want performance at all costs T30 or some monster from Delta will be your friend
The T30 is a monster, for 30mm thickness.
it’s a weird one, extra thickness and top speed make it less fit for the consumer grade, but it isn’t going as far as industrial/server fans relying on the brute force and thickness alone as it uses better materials and tight tip clearance like Noctua does
probably makes most sense when you don’t want to build a rack but have a technical room to put the machine in and just run these at full speed to not worry about anything
at low speeds it’s fine for regular use if your PWM controller doesn’t make it stop despite using it in performance or advanced mode (hybrid stopping at 50% makes no sense imo as that 50% is still loud) but requires some extra space and you won’t be using that extra speed at all