Noctua NF-S12B FLX Fan

The quality of Noctua fans has never been in question, they are extremely well designed and solidly constructed with quality bearings. The NF-S12B continued this tradition, offering good performance and a smooth low noise envelope perfect for those after a near silent or non-invasive sounding system.

That being said Noctua fans have never really been the ideal choice of the performance enthusiast as no matter how good the design is, a conventional bladed fan will always suffer from reduced airflow when a lower RPM is used to help decrease noise output.

The main problem with Noctua fans aside from the average performance has always been their price, many people will see cooling fans as an after thought or just use the ones provided by in their case but as any good system builder knows fans are the crux of your cooling system and should be selected carefully.

I’ve always said you get what you pay for and the NF-S12B is certainly case and point for this in my mind. The unique design, build and material quality for the price is very good and Noctua shows their confidence in this fan by backing it up with a 6 year warranty. Therefore the NF-S12B should certainly be a contender if noise is your primary concern when picking fans and you are happy with the slightly reduced performance.

Pros:

• Excellent build quality backed up by a 6 year warranty
• Unique blade design
• Quality long lasting bearing and drive system
• Good balance of noise levels and performance
• Open cornered frame for maximum HSF compatibility

Cons:

• Expensive
• FLX nothing more than in-line adapters with resistors
• Colour scheme not for everyone
• Performance may not be high enough for some enthusiasts

Ratings:

• Design: 9
• Features: 8
• Performance: 7
• Value: 8