jrharvey

Ya, you can use any 120mm fans. I have the Scythe Ultra Kaze 3000rpm fan and its good but there are some others that are just as good and stay much quieter. They are cheap, like 10 bucks. For the price/performance they arent bad at all. Alot of people like the Yate Loon fans and they are better quality I guess.

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My Digital Portfolio
55nm GTX 260 Overclocking Thread

Kopi

You can use any 120mm fan, they all have different noise levels and airflow levels. We can help you pick a good fan if you tell us your preferences in those areas. I'm using a Yate Loon D12SH fan, its 88cfm...and my noctua fan matches it in performance at 55cfm. I'll explain that later

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sizeak

Static pressure?

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Kopi

Yep, gonna go into more detail when i post the actual numbers and comparison vs the NHU12P.

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corky dorkelson

I am guessing the Noc fan actually cranks out the static pressure. It is a great design.

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Bleached

Noctua's "silent" fan is actually a feature of the fan design. The 3 zig-zags at the end of the fan is suppose to make the air passing through it a bit turbulent and that will allow the air passing through the heatsink to sort of glide over the fins instead of hit it and have the heatsink fins create turbulence and noise.

Static Pressure is created with the larger housing of a 38mm fan. People recommend high pressure fans especially for heatsinks like the TRUE since their fin organization is so compressed requiring more pressure to move air through the heatsink. You can also trade in static pressure for high cfm fans and it will do a similar job. The amount of cfm being pushed will allow the air to flow over each fin without the need of static pressure. Generally high pressure is recommended as they will allow for lower cfm ratings and lower noise levels.

Kopi

Those zig zags are called Vortex Control Notches. The idea is that it specifically controls the air disturbance, reducing noise.

Here's a comparison review of the NH-U12P and the NH-C12P..you guys might like to check it out, maybe you'll recognize a few pictures .

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Kopi

doublepost

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Bleached

Nice review, I would have thought that the C12P would do a little nicer, but it is still meant for lower end PC's and quiet. I wouldn't mind getting one for an HTPC. The article says there are better coolers for cheaper; yes, but if your considering using it in an HTPC you won't get anything less noisy in there except a fanless heatsink.

Kopi

It seems you have interpreted the review perfectly

Sure, you can get a Xigmatek S1283 for $35 and its a great cooler. Buuut...its no Noctua.

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