The be quiet fans do not out perform them in sheer power, but they do beat them where it counts: Noise to air ratio. The Noctua and Phanteks fans in the comparison are all meant to be very quiet at max RPMs and they are for the most part. As for the products themselves, we evaluated them on performance, design, compatibility, and price. The fans I compared to the Pure & Silent Wings 2 are be quiets direct competitors.
For those products we can’t test ourselves, we perform intensive research, reviewing content from expert sources like PC Gamer, Digital Trends, PCguide, and others, as well as thousands of consumer reviews from online storefronts on Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. We strive to rigorously test every product we recommend. How loud a fan is, measured in decibels, or dBA. CFM is generally a more valuable metric than revolutions per minute (RPM), as a fast-spinning fan does not equal a strong fan. How much air flow your fan generates, measured in cubic feet per minute, or CFM. Four-pin fans are sometimes called Pulse-Width Modulation (or PWM) fans. This speed is sometimes adjustable depending on your hardware.įour-pin fans can run at a wide variety of speeds as they are controllable via computer software. Three-pin fans generally run at a singular, default speed. PC fans come in either a three- or four-pin configuration, both of which plug into “Fan Header” slots on your PC’s motherboard. The most popular, compatible size is 120mm. PC fans come in a variety of sizes, ranging from 80mm to 250mm. Here’s an overview of a few concepts and terms you should know before shopping. Like with most PC parts, the sheer volume of terminology makes it easy to get lost looking at even the most basic PC fan. Shopping for PC fans can get a little overwhelming. Having excellent fans will keep your more advanced, more expensive PC parts operating comfortably for years to come. While certainly not as high-tech as a graphics card, high-quality PC fans are crucial to any PC build. But all of that stellar equipment generates heat, and overheating is the nightmare of all computer problems. With a retail price of £14, it’s horrendously expensive, especially when you consider that the Revoltec RL042 does a better job and costs just £4.81.When it comes to building your own PC, it’s easy to focus on the exciting stuff: a cutting edge graphics card, a speedy CPU, some awesome monitors, or colorful RGB RAM. The main issue that faces the NF-B9 is value. At 1,000rpm, there was practically no noise at all but the airflow dipped to below 6cfm. The 31.3dBA proved to be slightly too noisy for us, but luckily, Noctua has included two resistor cables that lower the fan’s speed to 1,300rpm or 1,000rpm.Īt 1,300rpm, the noise level dropped to 24.3dBA, with the airflow falling to 15cfm. However, it did a relatively good job of inflating the black sack – something that can’t be said of some much larger fans. Our tests revealed an airflow of 29cfm and noise level of 31.3dBA, both of which are some way off Noctua’s claims. Like the other Noctua fans, it sports Noctua’s SSO bearing, but as we found with the NF-R8, being quiet means nothing if it shifts less air than a flatulent mouse.Īccording to Noctua, the NF-B9 has an airflow of 37.8cfm and is rated at 17.6dBA with a beefy 1,600rpm rotational speed. While the disappointing Noctua NF-R8 was left to wallow in self-pity, we turned our gaze to its 92mm cousin, the NF-B9. Noctua NF-B9 UK price (as reviewed): £14.00 (inc VAT)