Noctua NF-S12A Review

Noctua is a company from Austria that's been around for almost ten years now, they're mainly known for their computer cooling solutions, particularly very silent and efficient fans.

Noctua is also synonym of quality and cutting-edge technology as their products are constantly being revised and updated to provide the user with the best experience possible.

The product we have for you today is Noctua's third generation S12 case fans, the first generation of fans from this family came out somewhere around 2006, since then Noctua has been improving the design and integrating new technologies into the frames and blades of their fans.

The NF-S12A fans actually come in three somewhat different versions, the PWM, the ULN and finally the FLX. While these three versions look pretty much the same and the tech behind them is also very similar, their RPM's and packaging content differ.

• NF-S12A PWM - 900/1200 RPM (automatic speed control)
• NF-S12A FLX - 700/900/1200 RPM
• NF-S12A ULN - 600/800 RPM

The S12 series quiet case fans come equipped with an improved blade design that has a few "Anti-Stall Knobs", these little knobs near the blades edges keep them from stalling due to their "high angle of attack", this means more efficiency at lower speeds.

Working in tandem with the knobs is the sturdy AAO frame or "Advanced Acoustic Optimisation Frame", according to Noctua, the anti-vibration pads on both sides of the AAO frame combined with the "Stepped Inlet Design" and "Inner Surface Microstructures" refine even further the S12 series performance, both in terms of noise and airflow.

For those of you who are not super scientists and may not know what all these technologies mean, they basically improve the S12 series in various ways, for example the "Stepped Intel Design" are a sort of mini-stairs on the side of the frame, they are there to reduce the overall noise and increase the airflow. The "Inner Surface Microstructures" are small fissures located on the inside of the frame, they help reduce the blades passive noise, improve airflow and static efficiency.

Moving on to the actual appearance of the S12 case fans you can expect to encounter a visual design very similar to other Noctua products, meaning that the traditional and extremely subtle brown and beige color scheme is back, giving these fans a unique look when you compare them to the competition.

This solid and discreet appearance is intentional and shows that Noctua is targeting a more mature audience with their products, personally I think they nailed it.

Advancing to the packaging contents you can expect to find within each box a few common items like 4x Fan Screws, 4x Anti-Vibration Rubber Mounts and 1x Braided Extension Cable.

On a more particular note each of the versions comes packed with some unique cables (all of them braided):

• NF-S12A PWM - 1x Y-Cable, 1x Low-Noise Adaptor
• NF-S12A ULN - 1x Ultra-Low-Noise Adaptor, 1x 3:4-Pin Adaptor
• NF-S12A FLX - 1x Low-Noise Adaptor, 1x Ultra-Low-Noise Adaptor, 1x 3:4-Pin Adaptor

The boxes themselves are surprisingly well designed, with a velcro sealed door on each side of the package and a lot of information regarding the product you are about to buy on the inside of those doors.

It's actually pretty impressive how Noctua managed to shove so much info regarding the new features and specifications of each fan on such a small box.

After testing the fans I can say that I am really impressed, when compared to Cooler Master and Thermaltake fans they were able to maintain the same temperatures while running at much lower speeds, meaning that in terms of acoustic performance the S12 fans completely blow the competition out of the water.

At the time of this review the NF-S12A fans were priced at around $20 on Amazon, which is a slightly higher value than most other 120mm fans, but still a very acceptable price, especially if you consider that Noctua offers a 6 year warranty period and a MTBF of 150,000 hours.

Final Thoughts

This company from Austria seems to have done it once again, with each new incarnation of their products the Noctua name gets closer and closer to becoming an official synonym for performance and innovation, from their detailed and well designed boxes to the excellent build quality of their fans, everything is planned and executed with an extremely high attention to each and every detail.

We definitely recommend the Noctua NF-S12A fans for anyone interested in a reliable and silent cooling solution.

The Good

-Excellent build quality

-Excellent acoustic performance

-Good temperature performance
-6 Year Warranty

-Braided Cables

The Bad

-Color scheme is not for everyone

Thanks to Noctua for providing the review samples