Why would you compare fans at >1400 RPM? Noise normalised tests or tests at lower RPM would've been more helpful. I don't know anyone running case or radiator fans at speeds like 2000 RPM unless they're going for some crazy OC benchmarks. Performance in the RPM range of 600-1400 RPM would be much more representative of day to day use, thats where most fans will operate during idle and under load with a proper fan curve that has silent operation in mind. Otherwise, great review!
Who even needs pwm-normalised performance? Guys, next time provide us with noise-normalised instead. This gives us a much more of an insight on how both fans perform. Now I’m interested about the difference between nf-A12 and phanteks in 39-40 dba range
So it's cardboard brown, vs sleek black, vs a fan that looked like it spent a week inside a dusty case 🤣 Phanteks has a nice presence here in Asia, I wonder when this fan will be available. Nice vid as always guys!
I use this monster on a Alpenföhn Black Ridge inside an NES. Caps at 60 C at 1100 rpm on Advanced and a custom PWM curve. I have also a Thermaltake Toughfan 12 but mine is the Turbo one. Starts spinning at 3V, and has 500 rpm more than the A12x25. With the same PWM curve it takes 1800 rpm to keep it at 60 C. Both fans actually make a pleasant noise to the ear, and I usually run all my fans at 12V via a Kaze Master fan controller but the fans are 4 Bitfenix Spectre Pro 230mm and 5 Arctic P14 (HAF X is blessed). This is the fan to use in a dense fin stack. The Black Ridge has 17 fins per inch, you don't need airflow, but pressure, and the T30 overpowers everything. It's probably going to be the only fan in the entire NES even if I would like to 3D print an exhaust with a 60 or 80mm fan around the GPU. The T30 fan blades are very sharp. Much sharper than the TT Toughfan12, so mind your fingers.
Nice testing setup. But I would have liked to see the graphs down to at least 1000 rpm, not only 1400rpm I am suspecting the issue you had in hybrid and performance modes is the same reported by Tech Buyers Guru, where it is said that in Asus motherboards the T30 does not work well in Auto mode, it must be set to PWM mode in BIOS. It is also stated that the issue is only on the CHA headers, and work fine on the CPU headers.
Dude, why are you making the same mistake that others made, by creating a noise/rpm graph? RPM shouldn't be used, instead the graph should be based on noise/CFM.
So, better cooling from the T30, but better noise levels from the AF12x25. I can see the T30 dethroning the AF12x25 in regular high performance builds, but I don't see it being dethroned for SFF builds where there is no real noise dampening on cases.
@@samgoff5289 For myself, a nicely designed fan at high speed should be as silent as possible especially when there is a wife sleeping while your using your computer....even propulsion with Rockets and Airliners are designed to be as quiet as possible.
@@hughw. The different modes are there exactly because of users like you... You can't make fan silent at 3000 rpm, its physically impossible. Just the sheer air flow/wind will make noise at that point. And GPU fans are always gonna be lot louder than this. I have all Noctua fans in the case and CPU cooler, but them being quiet doesn't mean anything when GPU fans ramp up. And if the GPU fans don't ramp up, the bloody thing just overheats. If you want as quiet system as possible, should just go with Noctua fans and watercool your CPU and especially GPU.
Good question. We're seeing this trend from a lot of manufacturers lately. Providing a short 'pig tail' cable off the fan and then providing a separate extension cable to make up the difference.
at 5:55 you didn't tell us if these measurements were "direct" or "radiator" measurements as per the two previous graphs. could you please clarify that? thanks
The T30 would be a great fan for a CPU cooler. It’s shown to be great at both static pressure and direct airflow applications, so as long as it’s added thickness doesn’t cause issues for your cooler, give it a shot!
If it was the same thickness as a noctua yes. What will you say if noctua bring out a 30mm thick fan? This fan is the first in its class. IE 30mm thick.
This isn't the first 30mm fan on the market or the first we've reviewed, that honor goes to the Arctic BionX P120 RGB fan. And Phanteks is directly targeting Noctua as their competition - it's one of the fans listed in their competitive marketing materials. It's hard to say if the extra 5mm of fan thickness or the blade design made the biggest difference in outperforming Noctua. But rest assured that if tomorrow Noctua dropped a 30mm version of the NF-A12 we'd be comparing it to the Phanteks T30! Thanks for the comment!
@@2GuysTek ok i was wrong in my statement, but the way reviewers are going on is like this 30mm fan is a new thing. So on another note if you knew another 30mm fan was on the market why did you not include it in the benchmark, so you can find out if thickness really plays a big part in performance.
Sorry for the late replay Glen. We didn’t test against another 30mm fan because Phanteks themselves are comparing the T30 to Noctua. Also, there isn’t a 30mm fan on the market that can compete with the T30 that we know.
@@2GuysTek if that is the case, you should include the fan you mentioned then you can say fan thickness makes no difference. Thats if the noctua can beat the other fan in performancs that would shut people like me up.
@@2GuysTek its both good and bad! maybe something cpu cooler makers have to accommodate in the future as components get more power hungry. Having to use thicker fans.
I use a scythe mugen 5 and managed to get the t30 on it. I used the original clamps, I just adapted a plastic ring in each of the four holes using plastic clamps. The result was excellent.
I replaced my Noctua fans on my NH-U12A CPU cooler with these T30's and find that the performance difference is around 300rpm. So I can run the T30's at 1100rpm for the same performance as running the Noctua fans at 1400rpm. I do find the T30's to be too noisy for me over 1200rpm so if you are sound sensitive and want max quiet performance like say running the Noctuas at 1600rpm which should be performing better than the T30's at 1200rpm then go Noctua esp now that Noctua just released their Chromax version of their NH-A12 fan. With the above said I would have liked to see the Airflow comparison graphs include lower RPM points. At least down to 1000rpm instead of 1400.
![NOCTUA Давай ДО СВИДАНИЯ [ PHANTEKS PH-F120T30 ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JjYtJi9YJ7s/mqdefault.jpg)
![NOCTUA Давай ДО СВИДАНИЯ [ PHANTEKS PH-F120T30 ]](/img/tr.png)
*PRODUCT LINKS!*
Phanteks T30-120 - Single: amzn.to/2XLTfdf
Phanteks T30-120 - 3-Pack: amzn.to/39ySarq
ThermalTake TOUGHFAN 12: amzn.to/3iKHCZ4
Noctua NF-A12x25: amzn.to/3kvIGAB
Why would you compare fans at >1400 RPM?
Noise normalised tests or tests at lower RPM would've been more helpful. I don't know anyone running case or radiator fans at speeds like 2000 RPM unless they're going for some crazy OC benchmarks.
Performance in the RPM range of 600-1400 RPM would be much more representative of day to day use, thats where most fans will operate during idle and under load with a proper fan curve that has silent operation in mind.
Otherwise, great review!
this fan is deff the new daddy of performance fans! im sold
noise normalized results please
Who even needs pwm-normalised performance? Guys, next time provide us with noise-normalised instead. This gives us a much more of an insight on how both fans perform.
Now I’m interested about the difference between nf-A12 and phanteks in 39-40 dba range
We definitely appreciate the suggestions! Thanks for watching!
I believe the switch should be reachable though the blades without removing. With some pen or screw driver at least.
So it's cardboard brown, vs sleek black, vs a fan that looked like it spent a week inside a dusty case 🤣
Phanteks has a nice presence here in Asia, I wonder when this fan will be available. Nice vid as always guys!
😂
I wish everyone did dBA per CFM as opposed to dBA per RPM
I use this monster on a Alpenföhn Black Ridge inside an NES. Caps at 60 C at 1100 rpm on Advanced and a custom PWM curve. I have also a Thermaltake Toughfan 12 but mine is the Turbo one. Starts spinning at 3V, and has 500 rpm more than the A12x25. With the same PWM curve it takes 1800 rpm to keep it at 60 C. Both fans actually make a pleasant noise to the ear, and I usually run all my fans at 12V via a Kaze Master fan controller but the fans are 4 Bitfenix Spectre Pro 230mm and 5 Arctic P14 (HAF X is blessed).
This is the fan to use in a dense fin stack. The Black Ridge has 17 fins per inch, you don't need airflow, but pressure, and the T30 overpowers everything. It's probably going to be the only fan in the entire NES even if I would like to 3D print an exhaust with a 60 or 80mm fan around the GPU.
The T30 fan blades are very sharp. Much sharper than the TT Toughfan12, so mind your fingers.
Nice testing setup. But I would have liked to see the graphs down to at least 1000 rpm, not only 1400rpm
I am suspecting the issue you had in hybrid and performance modes is the same reported by Tech Buyers Guru, where it is said that in Asus motherboards the T30 does not work well in Auto mode, it must be set to PWM mode in BIOS. It is also stated that the issue is only on the CHA headers, and work fine on the CPU headers.
Dude, why are you making the same mistake that others made, by creating a noise/rpm graph? RPM shouldn't be used, instead the graph should be based on noise/CFM.
So, better cooling from the T30, but better noise levels from the AF12x25. I can see the T30 dethroning the AF12x25 in regular high performance builds, but I don't see it being dethroned for SFF builds where there is no real noise dampening on cases.
This review is work of art I like it
This is what we love to hear!
Amazing fan review.
Glad you enjoyed it
I just ordered 7 of these...I hope it works out. LIAN LI PC-O11 Dynamic XL 3080 and 12900, want to keep things cool.
They'll do the trick!
@@2GuysTek The interesting part is my CPU AIO comes with TOUGHFAN 12 Turbo fans. Thanks for testing all the fans I will be using.
Got same case, and I'm considering buying three of these to my 360 aio at top. I just hope I have enough clearance for push pull
great vid subbed !
Thanks for the sub!
Go Phanteks! Great video, Rich, John, Brendon. 👍💰That fan switch is neat. Sad it gets loud at high speeds...still...Go Phanteks!
Thanks Hugh!
Why is it sad it get loud at high speed..that is a universally true thing no matter what it is
@@samgoff5289 For myself, a nicely designed fan at high speed should be as silent as possible especially when there is a wife sleeping while your using your computer....even propulsion with Rockets and Airliners are designed to be as quiet as possible.
@@hughw. The different modes are there exactly because of users like you... You can't make fan silent at 3000 rpm, its physically impossible. Just the sheer air flow/wind will make noise at that point. And GPU fans are always gonna be lot louder than this. I have all Noctua fans in the case and CPU cooler, but them being quiet doesn't mean anything when GPU fans ramp up. And if the GPU fans don't ramp up, the bloody thing just overheats. If you want as quiet system as possible, should just go with Noctua fans and watercool your CPU and especially GPU.
why the hell is the cable so short?
Good question. We're seeing this trend from a lot of manufacturers lately. Providing a short 'pig tail' cable off the fan and then providing a separate extension cable to make up the difference.
@@2GuysTek Oh ok thanks for the info.
Nice comparison! How does it compare to ek furious meltemi 3500rpm fans.?
at 5:55 you didn't tell us if these measurements were "direct" or "radiator" measurements as per the two previous graphs. could you please clarify that? thanks
Thanks for pointing this out! The noise testing was done in a direct, non-radiator mounted fashion. Thanks for the question and for watching!
What would be the best to ensure that all of my fans can run at 3000rpm i have 10pcs. Do i need a pwm fan hub?
That would do it.
I love competition! Why?? Because at the end of the day the consumer (us!) wins!
can i have my motherboard control that fan speed instead of me flipping that switch?
Yes. Use the full speed setting and use your motherboard’s header to control fan speed.
How about for a CPU cooler, what would you recommend?
The T30 would be a great fan for a CPU cooler. It’s shown to be great at both static pressure and direct airflow applications, so as long as it’s added thickness doesn’t cause issues for your cooler, give it a shot!
If it was the same thickness as a noctua yes. What will you say if noctua bring out a 30mm thick fan? This fan is the first in its class. IE 30mm thick.
This isn't the first 30mm fan on the market or the first we've reviewed, that honor goes to the Arctic BionX P120 RGB fan. And Phanteks is directly targeting Noctua as their competition - it's one of the fans listed in their competitive marketing materials.
It's hard to say if the extra 5mm of fan thickness or the blade design made the biggest difference in outperforming Noctua. But rest assured that if tomorrow Noctua dropped a 30mm version of the NF-A12 we'd be comparing it to the Phanteks T30! Thanks for the comment!
@@2GuysTek ok i was wrong in my statement, but the way reviewers are going on is like this 30mm fan is a new thing. So on another note if you knew another 30mm fan was on the market why did you not include it in the benchmark, so you can find out if thickness really plays a big part in performance.
Sorry for the late replay Glen. We didn’t test against another 30mm fan because Phanteks themselves are comparing the T30 to Noctua. Also, there isn’t a 30mm fan on the market that can compete with the T30 that we know.
@@2GuysTek if that is the case, you should include the fan you mentioned then you can say fan thickness makes no difference. Thats if the noctua can beat the other fan in performancs that would shut people like me up.
Sadly the fan won't fit my middle slot fuma 2 cpu cooler, so off to find another fan lol.
Yeah, that extra width’s gonna be a problem. :-/
@@2GuysTek its both good and bad! maybe something cpu cooler makers have to accommodate in the future as components get more power hungry. Having to use thicker fans.
I use a scythe mugen 5 and managed to get the t30 on it. I used the original clamps, I just adapted a plastic ring in each of the four holes using plastic clamps. The result was excellent.
I replaced my Noctua fans on my NH-U12A CPU cooler with these T30's and find that the performance difference is around 300rpm. So I can run the T30's at 1100rpm for the same performance as running the Noctua fans at 1400rpm. I do find the T30's to be too noisy for me over 1200rpm so if you are sound sensitive and want max quiet performance like say running the Noctuas at 1600rpm which should be performing better than the T30's at 1200rpm then go Noctua esp now that Noctua just released their Chromax version of their NH-A12 fan. With the above said I would have liked to see the Airflow comparison graphs include lower RPM points. At least down to 1000rpm instead of 1400.
Great insight! Thanks for sharing!
please for the love of god, put up a warning after a sound test that you will start talking again. thanks
Surprise!
@@2GuysTek
I would still choose the Noctua. I don't ever need 3,000 rpm fans and if I did I would get the Noctua industrial 3,000 rpm fans anyways.