SPCR

I've seen a lot of people on OCN bashing the noctua fan, stating that the gentle typhoon is superior in every way in addition to being cheaper. How can this even be? Does anyone have a little less biased point of view in terms of this? Most people on OCN are obviously not interested in silent cooling and only care about how much it costs based on CFM performance, but I would assume everyone on SPCR is

I my assumption had been that the noctua fans were better quality and would last longer. These are assumed to be used as heat sink fans on a Xigmatek HDT S-1283. I also have one as a case fan but there are probably better choices for that.

I have both of those fans. The Gentle Typhoon is better IMO. They are both very quiet, quality fans. My observation is that the Noctua has some vibration problems. In free air, it's just as quiet if not quieter than the Gentle Typhoon... that is until you attach it to something. Then the vibration of the Noctua is transmitted to the case and causes some nasty resonant noise. Although Noctua includes soft mounting grommets, I don't think they will overcome its tendency to resonate.

The Gentle Typhoon also resonates, but it's easier to mitigate than the Noctua. Are you considering any other fans?

I actually am not in the market for any fans, I just saw people bashing the noctua fans without any numbers besides cost to back them up and wanted a more knowledgeable opinion on it. Though I would like to know if there are alternatives to both of those fans out there that could possibly be even better!

Edit: Also, does that resonating tend to happen at full speed? I cannot run my noctuas on my HS at any less than full speed because my i7-920 is currently running at 4Ghz with hyper threading on, baby puts out a bit of heat.

acrimonus wrote:I actually am not in the market for any fans, I just saw people bashing the noctua fans without any numbers besides cost to back them up and wanted a more knowledgeable opinion on it. Though I would like to know if there are alternatives to both of those fans out there that could possibly be even better!

Edit: Also, does that resonating tend to happen at full speed? I cannot run my noctuas on my HS at any less than full speed because my i7-920 is currently running at 4Ghz with hyper threading on, baby puts out a bit of heat.

I don't have any numbers for you, but I'll vouch for Noctua fans vibrating a fair bit, all the way from 5v to 12v. I've played with both the P12 and S12B, they both have this vice.

As for an alternative 120mm fan, the good old Nexus Real Silent is always an option. It spins at 1080RPM at full speed (I've confirmed this in the BIOS), and it must be alright when it can match and even outperform Noctua fans on the NH-D14. It's also pleasant sounding. The low price is the icing on the cake.

To be fair, Noctua fans are excellent quality, but you can't beat the Real Silent for value.

Noctua's best fan, IMO, is the P12 : yes it does vibrate, but it also pushes a lot of air and if you use Nexus vibration grommets, the vibration goes away at around 9V (Noctua's LNA). That's what I have in my PSU (crappy Enermax fan) and I'm very happy with it.
The B9 and the S12 are not great at all : the B9 has this weird whinning noise, and the S12 has a chirping noise. They are both very quiet compared to other standard fans (read non quiet) but you can get better for less money (ie Nexus or Scythe).
The R8 has a good reputation it seems. People use it to replace PSU fans.

I've measured the Noctua's airflow at 12V to be ~49 CFM. If you really need that much airflow, then you might consider one of the Scythe sleeve-bearing fans. They probably won't have the durability of the Noctua, but they don't vibrate so much and have an excellent noise:CFM ratio. Alternatively, the Scythe S-FDB fans are very good, as is the aforementioned Scythe/Nidec Gentle Typhoon (but you lose a few CFM... ~44 CFM at 12V).