News Noctua Releases NF-A12x25 Chromax

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
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They've been talked about for months... or has it been years by now? Anyway, Noctua has finally released their black version of the NF-A12x25. You can currently buy them at Amazon and Newegg (and probably other places). At the time of writing, they aren't readily available at Amazon, but Newegg has them in stock.
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
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I've always liked Noctua fans (own quite a few of their various old school brown verities), and their A12x25 series are impressive in the performance/noise balance. However, the new black version is $35 + $4 shipping.

But at double the price as a fan like the Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 PWM fans (which are my current favorite fan series), these new fans are a very tough sell for me.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
I've always liked Noctua fans (own quite a few of their various old school brown verities), and their A12x25 series are impressive in the performance/noise balance. However, the new black version is $35 + $4 shipping.

But at double the price as a fan like the Be Quiet Silent Wings 3 PWM fans (which are my current favorite fan series), these new fans are a very tough sell for me.

One of the biggest things that I'd like to see is a system like Lian-Li uses where you can slot fans together for easy power relay. Although, you'd have to hope that the radiator that you use them on respects proper fan spacing, or it wouldn't work.

I was going to use Arctic fans with my build simply because they're far cheaper (~$10) and... while not as good performance, they're fine for radiator fans. I got their PST models, but I just didn't care for the method of daisy chaining the fans. The male connector that facilitates the daisy chaining wasn't really long enough, so it caused me to have to essentially reduce the cable length, and I ended up having to use an extension to even reach the fan controller. In the end, I bought a bunch of these Noctua fans to use on two builds.

$39... for a case fan? You must be joking!

The non-Chromax version of the NF-A12x25 is about $30 too. I mean... even if you go with the fairly spartan version that Noctua puts out, the fans are still around $15-20. One thing that I do like about the NF-A12x25 is that they come with rubber gaskets that you use in between the radiator and fan to help reduce air leakage around the fan's frame.

Awkwardly, one issue is that if you wanted the absolute best performance, Noctua fans offered the best cooling in regard to noise levels. Although, ever since Phanteks released their PH-F120T30 30mm thick fan, Noctua has some strong competition. Although, the fans are 5mm thicker and also pretty much out of stock everywhere. :p
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
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The non-Chromax version of the NF-A12x25 is about $30 too. I mean... even if you go with the fairly spartan version that Noctua puts out, the fans are still around $15-20. One thing that I do like about the NF-A12x25 is that they come with rubber gaskets that you use in between the radiator and fan to help reduce air leakage around the fan's frame.
I personally don't mind paying $15-$20 for a quality fan.

It's the same thing with components such as motherboards over $200, I just can't mentally justify to pay more than that for a fan.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
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I personally don't mind paying $15-$20 for a quality fan.

It's the same thing with components such as motherboards over $200, I just can't mentally justify to pay more than that for a fan.

For any PC component, I try to look at the value that I'm getting... especially comparative to other entries. Arguably, it can be hard to justify Noctua pricing as you're paying a bit of a premium for that extra bonus. It's sort of like the jump in higher-end GPUs; yes, they are faster, but you're likely paying more per FPS than you would with lower-tier models. One of the reasons why I went with these Noctua fans is that I'm using a single 360mm radiator for an i7-8700k + 3080 Ti FE. (It's an HWL Nemesis L-Series Xtreme, so not a thin radiator.) Essentially, I need to eke out as much performance as I can get with just one radiator. I'm actually using that same setup with my main build, which is an i9-9900k + (Gigabyte) 3080, and after an hour loop of Heaven, it kept the GPU to around 51C max. So... not too shabby.

I'm also pretty picky about other components too. I generally like paying around your $200 mark for a motherboard, but I'm willing to go up if the features justify it. For example, my ASRock Z370 Professional Gaming i7 motherboard cost me $290, but if we factor in that it has 10Gbps Ethernet built in, it's actually not a bad deal considering that a 10Gbps Ethernet card would cost you around $90+. These days, it seems like 10Gbps Ethernet is pretty rare outside of $400+ boards, and I do use it, so it is rather nice! I also liked that it was one of the few boards with three M.2 slots, which I also use them all. (Mostly because 2TB is currently the sweet spot for M.2 pricing, but I like having 4TB for game drives.)
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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I spent $40 on a Corsair LL120 fan. It did seem pricey for a fan, but I keep them practically forever and my case already came with 3 of them, so it was a natural fit to complete the build. My previous case and fans were used for 15 years. I don't mind spending a bit more on stuff I use for a long time. It's more annoying to spend a lot on things like video cards that become outdated in a few years.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
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Too expensive for a nidac gentle typhoon clone.

And you get a real dual ball bearing motor on the nidac vs a SSO2 on a Noctua.

But that is just me....