For this graph, we have the noise level on the y-axis and the fan speed on the x-axis. This means that the higher the line plot is, the more out of fairness. For these first few fans, they all follow a fairly similar trend. At 500 rpm and 750 rpm, they are basically not adding much noise at all. Then there's a steep incline in noise after 1000 rpm. Another thing I will mention though is that the Ek Vada and Cosa ML 120 fans do have louder fan motors than the other fans. This means that they have a bit more electrical whine, which is why they have louder results at 750 and 1000 rpm. But as we can see, most of these fans follow a similar noise versus fan speed profile. That is until we get to the knocked ORS now I knew these fans were good but it's only when you present it in a graph like this that you can visualize how much quieter they are compared to a lot of other fans.

And remember, these other fans aren't just generic cheap fans. Many of them claim to be some of the most silent on the market. To give you a better idea of the differences here, here's how they all sound at 1250 rpm. Now for our more tests we're going to run them as noise normalized as opposed to running them all at the same fan speed. Based off of my previous testing, most fans perform very very closely in terms of cooling performance at the same RPMs. The big difference is how much noise they create at those RPMs. As an example, our first run tests all fans at 40 DBA and the fans need to run at different speeds to match that noise level. This means that some fans move more air than others and offer more cooling performance. So with all fans at 40 DBA, they had to spin between 1250 and 1350 rpm. And that means that they give us a fairly similar thermal result.

Yes, these thermal results are very warm. That's done on purpose. That way we can increase the temperature of the liquid and saturate the radiator as much as we can safely and then see a larger difference between these fans. Unfortunately, the Scythe fans were a bit of a disappointment. Yet I see these fans recommended all the time with some users claiming that they're better than Noctua and Be Quiet. But at least with the 120 ML Kazi Flex, that isn't the case at all. Since the NOC Tours are quieter overall, that means they can spin faster at an equal noise level and offer more cooling performance. The same goes for our testing at just 35 DBA which I'd definitely say is a quiet mode to be running these fans on.

And as you can see, these thermal results are starting to get pretty toasty. The NZXT fans seem to be a bit more effective at these lower rpms and here we get around a 2-degree improvement with the NOC Tours. The Ek and Corsair fans aren't effective at all at lower noise levels so I wouldn't recommend these for high-performance builds. Now it's important to mention that context matters and that these results were measured with a pair of each fan on. A 240 ML radiator. Two degrees might not seem like a lot but if you do have a high-end build with say 2 radiators or a 360 or 420 mL radiator then you will see a bigger difference.

The more of these fans that you add to your system, the more drastic your results will be. The question that I think a lot of you should be asking though is whether even upgrading to the knocked ORS is going to see a benefit for your system and I think we should refer back to the initial chart in the lower fan speeds there isn't much of a difference in terms of noise levels so if you're someone who typically never runs your fans above 1000 rpm and the noise isn't bothering you then the upgrade might not be worth it for you. Unless you're using the Corsair ML 120 or Ek Vardas which do have loud fan motors at that range.

Users who will see a big benefit from upgrading though are those who do run their fans at more moderate speeds like 1250 to 1500 rpm particularly in ITX builds where you might only have one or two fans in your entire system. At those speeds there is a significant difference in noise and also if you just want to build the quietest gaming system or workstation that you possibly can, then does have 120mm fans, really is no other option than the Noctua NF-A12 by 25 unless you really don't like the color scheme which they really do seem to be taking their time with. The black version don't they anyway.

If you do want to pick these up, they will be linked down below in the description as always a huge thanks for watching and I'll see you all in the next one

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso if you've seen at least a few videos on my channel you'll know that I'm a big fan of these fans right here the Noctua nfa twelve by twenty five to be honest they've basically become a staple for any high-performance build that I do because they're so quiet even at moderate rpms but today we're going to see just how much better they really are compared to some other high performance fans out there we're of course going to take a look at noise levels at different fan RPMs and we're going to take a look at the cooling performance that these fans deliver at certain noise levels so let's see who really makes the best PT fans so first up let's take a look at all of the fans that we're comparing here from be quiet we have the silent wings three and these make some pretty big claims when it comes to being a really low noise fan if any fan can take on the knocked words then it'll likely be these then we have the ML 120 from Corsair and again no holding back here when it comes to claiming that these are an ultra-low noise fan quoting from their site here the ML 120 delivers unrivaled performance and silent by utilizing magnetic levitation technology and custom rotor design ek vada Evo 120 is also in the mix and I often see these as a very popular option when it comes to custom water-cooled builds and if I had to pick a fan based off of aesthetics alone these would probably be it I'll also note that these and the knock tours are the only fans in this roundup which can enable a zero rpm mode meaning that at the lowest end of the PWM range they can be completely turned off now I did manage to get a hold of some Kazi flex 120 s from scythe but unfortunately the only the DC version so although they'll only be limited testing with these it'll be interesting to see how they compare to the rest of the roundup since we're using an NZXT kraken X 53 caller for testing I thought I'd also include the stock 120mm fans that come with it and those are the NZXT air P 120 fans this way we'll be able to see whether upgrading from stock fins is worth it for lower noise levels and better performance and lastly of course the main reference point in this entire lineup the knocked or nfa 12 by 25 these fans have the lowest fan blade tip clearance of any fans here at just half a millimeter and Noctua attribute that as one of the big advantages of other 120mm fans for the test system I'm using NZXT sh5 10 elite mid tower case both due to its popularity and fairly conventional airflow setup I've opted for an Intel I 910 900k set up here and overclocked that to 5.1 gigahertz at 1.30 volts on the Asus Maximus 12 hero and we're likely to see a greater difference among these different fans with this higher power setup seeing as we're focusing on cooling performance and that most of the fans that we're testing are optimized for static pressure the fans will be mounted to a 240 ml kraken X 53 liquid all-in-one our first test though is a fairly simple one but maybe the most important we're going to take a look at how much noise a pair of each of these fans generates at different speeds so that way we can find the quietest fans at each rpm we'll then use that data to run the noise normalized thermal tests so noise levels here are measured 15 centimeters directly to the left of the front of the case with all of the panels installed kind of emulating if someone was sitting really close next to their build for this test the only significant noise coming from the system will be from those two front intake fans that we're testing otherwise the graphics card fan spins at zero rpm at idle i've also disconnected the rear exhaust fans and i've also set the liquid caller pumps as quiet as possible alright so for this graph we have the noise level on the y-axis and the fan speed on the x-axis that means the higher the line plot is the or out of the fairness so for these first few fans they all follow a fairly similar trend we're at 500 rpm and 750 rpm they're basically not adding much noise at all then there's a steep incline in noise after 1000 rpm another thing I will mention though is that the ek vada and cosa ml 120 fans do have louder fan motors than the other fans so they have a bit more electrical whine which is why they have louder results at 750 and 1000 rpm but as we can see most of these fans follow a similar noise versus fan speed profile that is until we had in the knocked ORS now I knew these fans were good but it's only when you present it in a graph like this that you can visualize how much quieter they are compared to a lot of other fans and remember these other fans aren't just generic cheap fans many of them claim to be some of the most silent on the market to give you a better idea of the differences here here's how they all sound at 1250 rpm now for our more tests we're going to run them as noise normalized as opposed to running them all at the same fan speed because based off of my previous testing most fans perform very very closely in terms of cooling performance at the same rpms the big difference is how much noise they create at those RPMs as an example our first run tests all fans at 40 DBA and the fans need to run at different speeds to match that noise level that means that some fans move more air than others and offer more cooling performance so with all fans at 40 DBA they had to spin between 1250 and 1350 rpm and that means that they give us a fairly similar thermal result and yes these thermal results are very warm that's done on purpose that way we can increase the temperature of the liquid and saturate the radiator as much as we can safely and then see a larger difference between these fans unfortunately the scythe fans were a bit of a disappointment yet I see these fans recommended all the time with some users claiming that they're better than Noctua and be quiet but at least with the 120 ml Kazi flex that isn't the case at all since the NOC tours are quieter overall that means they can spin faster at an equal noise level and offer more cooling performance the same goes for our testing at just 35 DBA which I'd definitely say is a quiet mode to be running these fans on and as you can see these thermal results are starting to get pretty toasty the NZXT fans seem to be a bit more effective at these lower rpms and here we get around a 2 degree improvement with the NOC tOA's the ek and Corsair fans aren't effective at all at lower noise levels so I wouldn't recommend these for high performance builds now it's important to mention that context matters and that these results were measured with a pair of each fans on a 240 ml a IO 2 degrees might not seem like a lot but if you do have a high-end build with say 2 radiators or a 360 or 420 ml radiator then you will see a bigger difference the more of these fans that you add to your system the more drastic your results will be the question that I think a lot of you should be asking though is whether even upgrading to the knock tours is going to see a benefit for your system and I think we should refer back to the initial chart in the lower fan speeds there isn't much of a difference in terms of noise levels so if you're someone who typically never runs your fans above 1000 rpm and the noise isn't bothering you then the upgrade might not be worth it for you unless you're using the Corsair ml 120 or ek vardas which do have loud fan motors at that range users who will see a big benefit from upgrading though are those who do run their fans at more moderate speeds like 1250 to 1500 rpm particularly in ITX builds where you might only have one or two fans in your entire system at those speeds there is a significant difference in noise and also if you just want to build the quietest gaming system or workstation that you possibly can that does have 120mm fans there really is no other option than the Noctua nfa 12 by 25 unless you really don't like the color scheme which they really do seem to be taking their time with the black version don't they anyway if you do want to pick these up they will be linked down below in the description as always a huge thanks for watching and I'll see you all in the next oneso if you've seen at least a few videos on my channel you'll know that I'm a big fan of these fans right here the Noctua nfa twelve by twenty five to be honest they've basically become a staple for any high-performance build that I do because they're so quiet even at moderate rpms but today we're going to see just how much better they really are compared to some other high performance fans out there we're of course going to take a look at noise levels at different fan RPMs and we're going to take a look at the cooling performance that these fans deliver at certain noise levels so let's see who really makes the best PT fans so first up let's take a look at all of the fans that we're comparing here from be quiet we have the silent wings three and these make some pretty big claims when it comes to being a really low noise fan if any fan can take on the knocked words then it'll likely be these then we have the ML 120 from Corsair and again no holding back here when it comes to claiming that these are an ultra-low noise fan quoting from their site here the ML 120 delivers unrivaled performance and silent by utilizing magnetic levitation technology and custom rotor design ek vada Evo 120 is also in the mix and I often see these as a very popular option when it comes to custom water-cooled builds and if I had to pick a fan based off of aesthetics alone these would probably be it I'll also note that these and the knock tours are the only fans in this roundup which can enable a zero rpm mode meaning that at the lowest end of the PWM range they can be completely turned off now I did manage to get a hold of some Kazi flex 120 s from scythe but unfortunately the only the DC version so although they'll only be limited testing with these it'll be interesting to see how they compare to the rest of the roundup since we're using an NZXT kraken X 53 caller for testing I thought I'd also include the stock 120mm fans that come with it and those are the NZXT air P 120 fans this way we'll be able to see whether upgrading from stock fins is worth it for lower noise levels and better performance and lastly of course the main reference point in this entire lineup the knocked or nfa 12 by 25 these fans have the lowest fan blade tip clearance of any fans here at just half a millimeter and Noctua attribute that as one of the big advantages of other 120mm fans for the test system I'm using NZXT sh5 10 elite mid tower case both due to its popularity and fairly conventional airflow setup I've opted for an Intel I 910 900k set up here and overclocked that to 5.1 gigahertz at 1.30 volts on the Asus Maximus 12 hero and we're likely to see a greater difference among these different fans with this higher power setup seeing as we're focusing on cooling performance and that most of the fans that we're testing are optimized for static pressure the fans will be mounted to a 240 ml kraken X 53 liquid all-in-one our first test though is a fairly simple one but maybe the most important we're going to take a look at how much noise a pair of each of these fans generates at different speeds so that way we can find the quietest fans at each rpm we'll then use that data to run the noise normalized thermal tests so noise levels here are measured 15 centimeters directly to the left of the front of the case with all of the panels installed kind of emulating if someone was sitting really close next to their build for this test the only significant noise coming from the system will be from those two front intake fans that we're testing otherwise the graphics card fan spins at zero rpm at idle i've also disconnected the rear exhaust fans and i've also set the liquid caller pumps as quiet as possible alright so for this graph we have the noise level on the y-axis and the fan speed on the x-axis that means the higher the line plot is the or out of the fairness so for these first few fans they all follow a fairly similar trend we're at 500 rpm and 750 rpm they're basically not adding much noise at all then there's a steep incline in noise after 1000 rpm another thing I will mention though is that the ek vada and cosa ml 120 fans do have louder fan motors than the other fans so they have a bit more electrical whine which is why they have louder results at 750 and 1000 rpm but as we can see most of these fans follow a similar noise versus fan speed profile that is until we had in the knocked ORS now I knew these fans were good but it's only when you present it in a graph like this that you can visualize how much quieter they are compared to a lot of other fans and remember these other fans aren't just generic cheap fans many of them claim to be some of the most silent on the market to give you a better idea of the differences here here's how they all sound at 1250 rpm now for our more tests we're going to run them as noise normalized as opposed to running them all at the same fan speed because based off of my previous testing most fans perform very very closely in terms of cooling performance at the same rpms the big difference is how much noise they create at those RPMs as an example our first run tests all fans at 40 DBA and the fans need to run at different speeds to match that noise level that means that some fans move more air than others and offer more cooling performance so with all fans at 40 DBA they had to spin between 1250 and 1350 rpm and that means that they give us a fairly similar thermal result and yes these thermal results are very warm that's done on purpose that way we can increase the temperature of the liquid and saturate the radiator as much as we can safely and then see a larger difference between these fans unfortunately the scythe fans were a bit of a disappointment yet I see these fans recommended all the time with some users claiming that they're better than Noctua and be quiet but at least with the 120 ml Kazi flex that isn't the case at all since the NOC tours are quieter overall that means they can spin faster at an equal noise level and offer more cooling performance the same goes for our testing at just 35 DBA which I'd definitely say is a quiet mode to be running these fans on and as you can see these thermal results are starting to get pretty toasty the NZXT fans seem to be a bit more effective at these lower rpms and here we get around a 2 degree improvement with the NOC tOA's the ek and Corsair fans aren't effective at all at lower noise levels so I wouldn't recommend these for high performance builds now it's important to mention that context matters and that these results were measured with a pair of each fans on a 240 ml a IO 2 degrees might not seem like a lot but if you do have a high-end build with say 2 radiators or a 360 or 420 ml radiator then you will see a bigger difference the more of these fans that you add to your system the more drastic your results will be the question that I think a lot of you should be asking though is whether even upgrading to the knock tours is going to see a benefit for your system and I think we should refer back to the initial chart in the lower fan speeds there isn't much of a difference in terms of noise levels so if you're someone who typically never runs your fans above 1000 rpm and the noise isn't bothering you then the upgrade might not be worth it for you unless you're using the Corsair ml 120 or ek vardas which do have loud fan motors at that range users who will see a big benefit from upgrading though are those who do run their fans at more moderate speeds like 1250 to 1500 rpm particularly in ITX builds where you might only have one or two fans in your entire system at those speeds there is a significant difference in noise and also if you just want to build the quietest gaming system or workstation that you possibly can that does have 120mm fans there really is no other option than the Noctua nfa 12 by 25 unless you really don't like the color scheme which they really do seem to be taking their time with the black version don't they anyway if you do want to pick these up they will be linked down below in the description as always a huge thanks for watching and I'll see you all in the next one\n"