Noctua NF-A14 PWM - Fan Noise 

I wouldn't say it's super accurate, the dba number is probably somewhat wrong. But I figure it's better than nothing

Software for the fan controller speed, please?

@@fernandob.4915speed fan. or al suite 3 if you have asus motherboard

Had the same thought playing in my head the moment I saw this video. No youtuber with professional camera and prewritten text, no "professional geek background". Just pure demonstration of the product.

Yeap - these are efficient, but get "whiney" very soon. I much rather prefer the louder sound of "fast moving air" that some inefficient RGB fans produce.

I'm not hearing this noise you're speaking of. Then again, I consider loud to be the resonance from the arctic P12 or Deepcool FC120 at certain RPMs. this fan seems much quieter to me at least. Mostly all I can hear is air moving

i noticed this too late, it makes a sort of euurgggghhh sound at various low rpms and 800rpm etc which is annoying as thats kinda the sweet spot you want them at. what did you buy instead?

They're quality fans that should last a while, but the design is definitely dated. Better 140mm options exist in the market. Noctua should have a new 140mm fan coming out within the year, given the success of the A12x25s I suspect this new model will be fantastic.

Tbh the fans do push alot air maybe its air noise

@@Ilost11 Better 140mm options exist in the market. Any suggestions please?

@@onesteeltank I've been hearing good things about thermaltake toughfan 14 pro pwm

They are quieter usually only because they move the same air at a lower speed. Eg. you have a 120mm fan moving 102 m3/h of air at 2000rpm and producing 23db (the A12), the 140mm A14 Chromax can move 140 m3/h of air at 1500 rpm producing 25 db, but if you lower the rpm of the A14 to - say - 1000 rpm they will be more quiet but move the same air as the 120mm at full speed

@@EttoreB93 Hmmm gotcha, so in theory it is not very fair to compare sounds of 120mm vs 140mm at the same rpm (obviously without taking into account the amount of airflow)

@@SabuChanXD exactly, usually it's better to compare them in term of performance (eg. case temperature in the same conditions and fan noise, or if you have better measurement tools - airflow vs fan noise). But, unless you have really cheap and bad 140mm, they will almost always win against 120mm in terms of performance per noise

Had to take mine out....too loud

@@mqcapps which one?

set them to dc not pwm in bios

Yeah its a problem which will affect basically any 140mm fan, if those mounts are on the intake side. Ideally they could be designed by the case to block less area, but it seems like most of them don't do this.

I'm giving it back on Monday to the friend I got it from which is mainly what prompted me to do this video

@@ydihtty Fine, nice fans and another representative of 2010's airflow+pressure approach: seven blades with exactly this shape. These, Kaze Flex, Silent Wings 3, Thermarlight something, Fractal Dynamic, Corsair ML and many others for sure. They all are worse or better compared to each other, but I wonder if this shape is destinted to be ultimate case fan (or hybrid) shape like Gentle Typhoons seems to be in terms of radiators with all of the big players copying them after so many years.

@@stanisawkowalski7440 Could be. But there is also Coolermaster, which switched from 9 blades (MF120R) to 7 blades (Sickleflow). Also Phanteks with the T30 although that one is thicker.

Well the Wraith is 92x25mm, while this Noctua is 140x25mm, so this is expected, the Noctua will be moving much more air per RPM. I haven't tested that P120 yet. I doubt it will sound much different to the standard P12 but I could be wrong.

I think Arctic P14 is probably better tbh. I think other people have reviewed it and come to the same conclusion.

hes noise is terrible

Honestly I would probably lean towards the Silent Wings 3 140mm, but they are both pretty good. I would definitely prefer the Noctua NF-A14 on a radiator over the SW3, but in that case, the Arctic P14 is better than both.

@@ydihtty which would you prefer to choose for Case. intake and exhaust. Arctic P14 or Scytle Kaze Flex 14. Thanks

@@CannibalKats Probably the Kaze Flex 14 in general, it seem quite good. But both are good. I can't vouch for either though since I don't own them.

@@ydihtty thanks answer immediately. . I need 1300-1500rpm as quietly as possible. ARCTIC BioniX P140 vs ARCTIC P140 is there any difference? it is written that they have pressure. is it good for the case?

@@CannibalKats I think the only real difference is performance, maybe the max RPM is a bit higher on the BioniX. Pressure is generally good, and even if there is low restriction, the Arctic P series create a very focused airflow, which is useful.

To give us a comparison of a “real life sound”

@@ikonora Cool.

I wonder why the A15 doesn't do it, I would have thought the rotor would be exactly the same as the A14.

@@ydihtty actually, it does. I just tested it now with spare A15 Chromax. I was able to hit precise spot, where it is the worst (somewhere around half DC range, just simple internal DC fan controller remade for external power). It seems to be just less obvious on heatsinks. And i planned to use the fan as case intake. Just dodged the bullet 🤦‍♂ Sorry for spreading misinformation. It wasn´t intentional. Industrial fans seem to not be affected by this. Same rotor and frame as A14, but the motor sounds differently and is also noisier. The noise seems to be the result of a tradeoff, when using silent fan motors.

@@Morpheus-pt3wq It makes sense that it's less obvious on a heatsink, I guess the backpressure produced from the impedance reduces the vibration of the blades. I think the main reason the iPPC fans aren't affected is due to their different blade material.

@@ydihtty i just compared both and material seems to be the same. It´s just that industrial has much noisier motor (buzzing all the time - also starts at higher RPMs than standard A14/A15). My theory here is, this noisiness is about fan motors/bearings interaction and not fan blades. Each and every manufacturer seems to be trying to make fans, that can do 0rpm or start spinning at very low rpm. To achieve that, they have to use motors, that can do that. And these motors have a tradeoff in almost constant noise, each time there is a demand for increasing RPM. Yesterday, i went through your channel, listening to various fans. And i was surprised, that i heard the same growl as Noctua and Arctic has, in BeQuiet LightWings High speed. I had to really ramp up my speakers to hear it, but it is there. Meanwhile, standard LightWings is absolutely silent. I mean, the LightWings has fairly short blades and yet the HS version has this sound. As a result of this, i think the physics of propeller vibration is completely silent and only requires to have some space around itself (that´s why the propellers are smaller, than the "hole"). Arctic recently released new fan, called P12 Max. Max rpm of 3300 and dual ball bearings. I´m a little bit scared of the max RPM (my motherboard tends to sometimes ramp up the fans when POSTing), but that thing seems to be unaffected by the Arctic growling issue. It uses the same propeller as P12 A/RGB and doesn´t suffer from their RGB fan "electric noise" either. Instead, the reviewer claimed it "whines" in low rpm. With this theory, i think we aren´t limited by the physics of fan propeller vibrations, but by their motor technology. I highly doubt anyone is making motors in-house. Instead, they have them supplied from other manufacturers. Including Noctua. Why? It´s cheaper, than doing everything in-house. And nobody can find out, since these motors don´t have any labels from their supplier (many of them can´t be disassembled either, only destroyed).

Can place it on top and change it with back fan?

I have a Kaze Flex 140 (square 1200) that I use for exhaust. I like it a lot, minimal resonance/clicking and pretty cheap. I'd imagine the 1800 version would be more torquey and noisier at low rpm but can't confirm. I've also had OK experience with Silent Wings 3 140s. If you don't care about cost the eloop B14-PS is probably your best bet or you could wait for Noctuas 140 mm version of the A12x25. The NF-A14 isn't that great IMHO. If you're after absolute silence I wouldn't get Arctic. They are very good for the price but in my experience with a P12RGB, F120 and P140 the bearings get noisy pretty quick + the resonance problem on the 5 bladed Ps.

@@GrumpiestKitten I was also considering noiseblocker b14-ps, but I've seen some people complaining about noise in pull (which is gonna be used in my o11 air mini, in front with the metal mesh). And that leaves me with the exhaust fans which should be fine with the 120 mm noiseblocker I guess. I'm just not sure about front intake.

@@argmarius The B14 is quite different from the B12 but intake is difficult because most fans are loud when they have to pull through a mesh. I always put a 5mm spacer between the fan and the mesh when pulling, that usually gets rid of most of the noise. I also have the intake at much lower rpm than the exhaust. If I were you I would mix the fans instead of getting the same for the entire PC. That way you don't add up the characteristics and get a more even noisefloor.

@@GrumpiestKitten sounds interesting. In this case I'll keep the kaze flex 120mm Black, I'll add one more in the top and order 2 * eloop b14-ps probably. For bottom I might leave it without any fans, it should be fine without.

@@argmarius Just Kaze Flex ;) Both 120 and 140 are superior - amazing cooling/noise, sound well, have quiet motors and represent top notch quality, so tick all of the boxes the best as it can be. I personally use three of 140 PWM 1200 rpm in my case (2 intakes against filter, one exhaust). Upgraded from already great Silent Wings 3 140. Kaze cool better with the same noise, sound better (perfectly smooth when SW3 get turbulent with raising the speed), have quiter motors and in terms of quality are the same (and there's nothing better).

I agree. I think this design was done at the same time as they though the NF-F12 design was a good idea, lol. I'm looking forward to their next-generation 140mm fan, it should be much better in this aspect.