Fan Buying Guide – October 2021

Coming in at around 30 USD/Euros for 5 fans, Arctic offers an incredible value as a case, radiator and air cooler fan. They're a great option if you're looking for something cheap to replace or add fans to your build. Arctic's PST technology also allows you to daisy-chain fans together, leaving the need for a hub or a ton of fan headers in the past.

Essentially a double ball bearing (DBB) version of P12 PWM PST. It trades in some of its noise normalized performance for a much longer lifespan. In Europe these are available below 10 euros, but we chose to include them into our midrange category because of the general US pricing.

Cougar is best known to be HEC/Compucase's retail side, a major PSU OEM for the likes of Corsair and EVGA. Offering the cheapest "true" HDB on the market with a rated lifespan of 300,000 hours. They also include rubber pads on the fan mounts, dampening vibration coming from the fan. Its only real downside is a 3-pin connector instead of the expected 4 pin PWM connector.

Coming with a 120,000-hour rating, rubber pads and a very high static pressure design, the Wondersnail might be one of the most underrated fans at this price point.

Phanteks, in partnership with Sunon, took Noctua's NF-A12x25's long-held position with the T30 in noise-normalized testing with a chart-topping performance.

A very close match and still a great competitor, the NF-A12x25 has been into the top of the charts for years. Coming with the full package of a fan, toolless rubber screws, extention cable, 2-way splitter, radiator gasket and low-noise adapter. It's utilizing Noctua's patented SSO2 bearing.

Recently released, the Noctua NF-A12x25 Chromax is the solution to the people wanting Noctua without looking at a brown fan. Coming with everything the normal version includes, as well as a set of swappable rubber pads in red, black, white, blue, yellow, gray and green, it can fit almost all themes and builds.

Based off the famous Nidec Gentle Typhoon design, the XPG VENTO PRO is a very high performance double ball bearing fan. It's not a chart-topper in regards of noise, but is very competitive in raw performance. Coming in around 20-25 usd, it's cheaper than both the NF-A12x25 and T30.

Not the highest performer in the list, but certainly a very quiet fan, the Cooler Master Silentio is our pick for a noise optimized PC. Rated at 160,000 hours, it also has a very respectable lifespan.

Returning as our budget option for 140mm, the P14 PWM PST is the 140mm version of the P12 series. It offers the same rifle bearing, great noise-normalized performance and overall a very respectable value at its pricepoint.

Similar to the P14 PWM PST, the P14 trades its rifle bearing for a higher lifespan double ball bearing. This gives it the advantage of a much longer lifespan at the cost of some noise-normalized performance. Overall this is a great fit for a server running 24/7.

Coming from a proven cooler manufacturer known mainly for its "Macho" series, the TL-C14 looks like a very interesting 140mm fan. Including rubber dampening pads on the screwholes, a claimed FDB bearing and a look reminding us of the Noctua redux line, the TL-C14 will make a nice addition to your case.

Noctua's redux line is essentially a cost-down of their most popular fans. NF-P14 is one of their older lines, but still holds up pretty well today. Redux trades the brown look for a very minimal gray look. Rubber pads are an option for it, but have to be bought separately.

One of the best, if not the best airflow oriented 140mm on the market right now, the NF-A14 has a great reputation. It includes fan screws, anti-vibration pads, extension cable and a 2-way splitter cable, it comes with everything you need. We can highly recommend this fan for case airflow.

Brown not your thing? Noctua still has an option for a high end 140mm fan for your case. Using the same design as the normal NF-A14, it's a very well performing airflow fan with Noctua's patented SSO2 bearing. It also includes a set of vibration pads in red, black, white, blue, yellow and green to match your builds.

Coming in at 30 USD, the Toughfan 14 is our most expensive option in the list. Using a design similar to Noctua's NF-A12x25 in 140mm, it looks like a very well designed fan on paper. It also shares materials with it and the T30 from Phanteks.

Essentially a slim version of the NF-A12x25 design, the NF-A12x15 offers what we consider to be the best slim fan on the market. This does come at a premium cost, but will do great for builds where every centimeter of thickness counts.

Want the best slim fan, but not in brown? Chromax makes the list yet again as a valid option if you have a lot to spend. At the time of writing these fans come in at 25 USD, but offer a very high lifespan, a bunch of accessoires, and like other chromax fans a set of rubber anti-vibration parts in 7 different colors.

A much cheaper option compared to the Noctua options above, Scythe's kaze flex still offers a lot at the same 15-17mm thickness. Claiming a FDB bearing and coming from a proven vendor, it's a very interesting alternative to NF-A12x15

Last but not least, coming in around the 10 usd mark generally, the P12 slim is our cheapest recommendation for slim fans. It offers the same daisy-chain option as its 25mm counterpart and likely also utilizes a rifle bearing. If you need a few fans to cool off your SFX build, this could be a great option on a lower budget.