Let’s take a look at two of the latest models from Noctua’s new A-Series range of cooling fans.

Product on Review: Noctua A-Series Fans & Accessories
Manufacturer and Sponsor: Noctua
MSRP: NF-A20 $30 / NF-A12x15 $20

As announced at Computex earlier this year, Noctua have been working on their next-generation of cooling fans for the last few years and they, along with a host of new accessorises, are finally set to launch. The new cooling fans themselves are collectively known as the A-Series and today we will be looking at the models most likely to be used by home consumers – the 200mm ‘NF-A20’ and the slimline 120mm ‘NF-A12x15’. Whilst Noctua’s chosen naming convention can initially seem bewildering, it’s somewhat necessary given the wide range of cooling products that they actually produce and sell to varying markets.

In addition to the aforementioned models, Noctua are also set to release the 40mm ‘NF-A4x20’ but this is aimed squarely at their “industrial clients who are looking for a 40mm fan providing superior performance in pressure-demanding applications”. Given this likely use-case scenario, this review will concentrate specifically on the 200mm and 120mm models.

When it comes to aesthetics, Noctua are perhaps infamous for their chosen colour scheme. Beige and brown are certainly unique however, and Noctua products are unlikely to be confused for any other manufactures product stack. Although the grey-on-grey Redux re-brand back in 2014 added a little variation to the line-up, albeit not a desperately exciting one, we see that the standard Noctua combo is back with these new additions. You might not be a big fan (pun, not intended), but it’s hard to argue against the perceived quality of any blower wearing the Noctua home-kit.

Noctua on their A-Series

“Customers have been asking us for 20cm and slim 12cm fans for years, but meeting the quality standard users have come to expect from Noctua fans in these form factors has proven very challenging, so it took us quite some time to make sure that these fans live up to our name“, explains Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO).

With the 20cm NF-A20, Noctua’s biggest fan yet, the key challenge was that the mass of the impeller is about four times greater than that of 12 or 14cm fans and thus creates a significantly higher load on the bearing. In the end, the difficulties were overcome by increasing the diameter of the axis and the bearing from 3mm to 4mm in order to distribute the load over a larger bearing surface, as well as by using a new fibreglass reinforced polypropylene (PP) material, which reduces the mass of the impeller by 26% as compared to Noctua’s standard fibreglass reinforced PBT material.

For the 12cm NF-A12x15, a steel-reinforced motor hub and brass axle mount are being used in order to assure the required stability despite the fan’s 15mm thin profile. Both the NF-A20 and the NF-A12x15 will come in 4-pin PWM versions for automatic speed control and 3-pin FLX versions that include Low-Noise and Ultra-Low-Noise adaptors, which give full flexibility in configuring the fan for maximum cooling capacity or near-silent acoustics.

Technical Specifications

NF-A20 PWM and NF-A20 FLX

– Dimensions – 200mm x 200mm x 30mm
– RPM – 800
– dB/A – 18.1
– m³/h – 146.9
– mm H2O – 1.08

NF-A12x15 PWM and NF-A12x15 FLX

– Dimensions – 120mm x 120mm x 15mm
– RPM – 1,850
– dB/A – 23.9
– m³/h – 94.2
– mm H2O – 1.53

Packaging & Bundle

Noctua have kindly supplied us with two of each of their new fans, a 4-pin PWM model and a 3-pin FLX model. The packaging of each is made from thick, quality cardboard and is largely identical for each pair but for the PWM or FLX branding, and some information regards included accessories.





All fans and accessories and carefully packaged within their respective boxes, so there should be little danger of you receiving any of these products in a damaged state (although this will largely come down to how aggressive your post or mailman is feeling whilst posting through your door). The packaging also clearly displays which accessories are included along with your chosen model by way of diagrams and a table of contents. This is shown on the inside of the top lid of the NF-A20 and behind a velcroed ‘door’ on the front of the NF-A12x15 box.





In terms of bundled accessories, both models, and both PWM and FLX variants come with a 30cm extension cable, one of Noctua’s LNA (low noise adaptors) and the required mounting screws along with optional anti-vibration mounts. Both 120mm and 200mm PWM models come with a 4-pin Y splitter cable and both FLX models are supplied with a molex power adaptor, should you wish to use a constant power source as opposed to a motherboard header. In addition, the 120mm FLX variant specifically also comes with one of Noctua’s ULNA (ultra low noise adaptor) which lowers the speed of the fan even lower than the standard adaptor.





A nice final touch is the inclusion of a thank you note and signature (copy, obviously) from Noctua’s CEO within the included instruction booklet. Does a fan really need an instruction booklet? Possibly not, but this all just adds the to overall feeling that you have purchased a quality product.

Closer Look

Both the NF-A20 and NF-A12x15 have some very subtle details that can be hard to fully appreciate from photos alone. The fan blades each have three small strakes towards their outer edge to improve fan pressure optimisation and the inner-circumference of the frames have a double height layer of tiny notches, again to aid airflow.





Both side of each of the four corners also feature rubber cushioning to dampen vibration and therefore reduce unwanted noise output. This is fixed on the 120mm NF-A12x15 fans but is quite soft on the NF-A20 and can actually be removed very easily from each corner as required.



As previously referenced, both the NF-A20 and NF-A12x15 models come in two flavours dependant on user requirements – a PWM variant with a 4-pin connector and a 3-pin FLX model.

Acoustic Results

We have recently made changes to our cooling department and the associated testing methodology, so please note that the number of results shown below will increase over time as we add additional products. We hope that these results will appear clearer to the majority of our readership and look forward to building upon the baselines that you see below.

Using a Noctua NA-FC1 fan control unit, all fans were set to 1,000 RPM which is generally considered a good balance between air flow and perceived acoustic quality. Whilst some fans may run at slower speeds, this is considered to be our baseline reading. Please also note that in the case of certain models, the NF-A20 for example, their maximum speed is actually beneath this threshold meaning their results will appear only in the subsequent ‘Maximum RPM’ test results. The distance tested at is 20cm from the fan, in a room with an ambient noise level of 25dB, and where the individual acoustic results are an average level over the set testing period.



Our next results highlight the acoustic values associated with the fans at their highest achievable RPM, at 12v. You will notice that these results include an additional variable within the graph, that being the average RPM of the fan over the testing period. As manufacturers themselves quite often state minimum and maximum rotation speeds within tolerances of 10%, we have made clear the average RPM of the fans over the set testing period.

Conclusion

Pricing was not officially confirmed by Noctua at the point that we received these new models, although a quick look online confirms that the manufacturers recommended retail price in the US is $20 for the 120mm NF-A12x15 and $30 for it’s larger 200mm brother, the NF-A20. At the time writing, some further research confirms pricing of around £17 and £26 respectively, regardless of PWM or FLX, from the UK’s major online hardware retailers.

It is clear as soon as you get your hands on the packaging that this latest line of Noctua cooling fans exude quality. For many people, the trademark colour scheme will always be a love/hate relationship but there’s no denying that it has become synonymous with the Austrian manufacturers premium products.

These new A-Series additions are no exception and shift decent volumes of air whilst performing very well acoustically. The fact that their quiet performance can be lowered even further using the supplied LNA (and ULNA in the case of the FLX NF-A12x15) is a bonus. We would imagine that the majority of buyers considering the slim 120mm model are going to be looking to implement one or two in an HTPC environment, or perhaps as a push/pull combination in a smaller form factor chassis. The 200mm NF-A20 is a little different in that it is arguably an even more niche model – in the age of downsizing how many people still own a case capable of housing such a hefty blower. On the other hand Noctua should be applauded for now offering their premium, and exceptionally quiet cooling solutions, in almost every conceivable frame size.

If you’re comfortable with the colour scheme and happy paying the premium-level pricing, then you’ll be more than happy with the excellent performance that Noctua’s latest offerings bring to the cooling fan market.

Pros
+ Premium build quality
+ Good acoustics out of the box
+ Quality packaging and excellent accessory bundles
+ Whisper-silent acoustics using LNA adaptors

Cons
– Colour combination still won’t work for everyone
– Could be deemed pricey compared to competition

Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.

Stay connected with Vortez social media pages:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Tags:

Noctua