ARCTIC P12 PWM PST Case Fans (5 Pack)

These work well as designed, and that is for general case cooling. I wouldn’t put one of these on a CPU heatsink but they work well for front, back, and side case ventilation fans. It gets even better if you have a fan controller or your motherboard has built in thermal fan throttling controls. These are really quiet but still move a respectable amount of air. I’ve been building PC’s since the mid 1990’s. Great deal here with these too.

Been always using Noctua fans and didn’t dare to use other ones. These ones are working very well with low noise level. Nothing too special about the installation, its just like ever other fans. If you are an experienced builder you will know which way the fan blows, but if not, you will need to look it up as there is no indication on the fan itself. 5Pack at this price is the same price of 1 Noctua fan at this performance, I will say I am a fan now

UPDATED: I ordered a 5-pack of Arctic P12 PWM PST 120mm fans. All 5 fans were broken on arrival. I sent them back in exchange for working ones, which Amazon delivered within 24 hours. The replacement fans are in perfect condition. I also ordered a single Arctic P12 Silent 120mm fan that arrived in new condition. All 6 fans passed some basic testing, and seem to be functioning normally. Very quiet! Once I get them installed, I’ll do some more tests, and I will update this review.

UPDATE: I’ve been daily driving these fans for a few days now. I switched to the Arctic P12s from the stock CUK fans that came with my CUK case. Those old fans were 1500 RPM, and were extremely loud, even at lower RPMs. My initial observation was that these P12 fans are much quieter, which is surprising, considering they spin up to about 1800 RPM. P12s seem to be moving air very effectively.

I installed three of the P12 PWM fans in the front of the case as intake, and two of the fans in the roof of the case as exhaust, pushing air through a Lian-Li Galahad 240mm AIO radiator. I 3D printed some gaskets with TPU to fit between the fans and the radiator to maximize airflow efficiency. I installed the single P12 Silent (not PWM, locked at ~1000 RPM) as an exhaust in the rear of the case.

I noticed that the P12 motors are much smaller than the motors of most other fans that I’ve used. This led me to some other observations: The first is that, because the motor is smaller, the fan blades can can be much larger and more efficient; they can scoop more air. Also, because the motor is smaller, it takes noticeably longer for the fan to spin up. This means that the change in fan noise volume is gradual, and therefore is inherently less noticeable and less disruptive. As far as performance goes, the P12s are managing my temps just fine, both moving the hot air coming from the air-cooled GPU out of the case, and also pushing air through the AIO, keeping the CPU cool; at 100% load and 100% fans, my overclocked Ryzen 7 3700x eventually settles in at around 86°C, and my overclocked EVGA RTX 3070 FTW3 settles in at about 77°C. Ambient temp is about 21°C. Not too bad at all. All of this is subjective, I know, but I figured I would note it.

Some reviewers say that there is some vibration that is a audible at certain RPMs. I do hear it, it is there, but I really don’t think that it is a deal breaker for me, especially considering the volume of the old fans that I am coming from. The P12s are very very quiet. I may 3d print more gaskets for the other 3 fans to see if that makes any difference in the noise. I’ll report on that if I ever get around to it. For now, it’s really not bothering me.

Overall, I love them!

This review is for a 5-Pack of Arctic P12 PWM fans. Price when purchased was $27.99

I used all five of these fans on a new PC build. Two of them went in tandem on a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler. The others are used in various places in the case.

These are pressure-optimized fans. Think of that as a lower gear. They don’t move as much air as some others, but in a constricted environment, like a CPU case, they provide more air pressure. They are best used as case intake fans or with a CPU cooler. You may wish to use a flow-optimized fan for an exhaust fan.

Using two of these fans in a push-pull configuration on a Hyper 212 Evo heat sink turns it into a $100 cooler (they are really good coolers for $35 normally). It absolutely handles a 9700K with no problem at all. I thought I’d try it, but was sure I’d have to upgrade the cooler. It’s impossible to get the CPU over 75C without cranking in more voltage than I’m comfortable with. My highest stress test was all-core 5.2ghz and only then did temps approach 90C. Very impressive.

Under normal operation the fans are silent. As I type the two fans on the CPU are only running at 700RPM, the others at 1000. Again you really have to stress the CPU to even hear them at all. By that I mean run a program that intentionally pegs all cores at 100% constantly. I don’t even hear the computer while gaming.

When shopping around I found that you can actually pay $25 or more each for so called “quiet” fans. I don’t think they can get much quieter than these that cost less than a quarter that.

If your building a system you should consider using these for all your intake fans and CPU cooler fans if you need them. Perhaps a high CFM fan for the exhaust would be more appropriate.

Cons: No flashy lights. (If you consider that a con, I don’t)

The only reason I gave 4 stars for noise level is because I can still hear them but, they are far quieter than the stock fans I replaced. These are an excellent value and as an added bonus, they even came with the mounting screws. I will be purchasing more as needed without hesitation.