Noctua NF-F12 PWM 12V 1500RPM Focused Flow Cooling Fan
Noctua’s NF-F12 has become a proven premium choice for 120mm cooling needs. Its renowned efficiency has convinced tens of thousands of customers all over the world.
Features
- Noctua’s first PWM fan
- Focused Flow Frame - for focused airflow
- Varying Angular Distance and Vortex Control Notches
- Improved SS02 bearings
- Six year warranty
By teaming up eleven stator guide vanes with a specially conceived seven blade impeller, the NF-F12’s Focused Flow system creates outstanding static pressure and focuses the airflow for superior performance on heatsinks and radiators. At the same time, a wide range of advanced aerodynamic design measures, second generation SSO bearings and Noctua’s new, custom designed PWM IC for fully automatic control guarantee astounding quietness of operation. The NF-F12 comes with modular cabling, integrated anti-vibration pads and two speed settings for full flexibility. Its commanding performance, exhaustive set of features and Noctua’s trusted premium quality make it an elite choice for use on air coolers, radiators and other pressure demanding applications.
Focused Flow Frame
Designed for pressure demanding applications such as heatsinks and radiators, the Focused Flow frame features eleven stator guide vanes that straighten, channel and focus the airflow. This allows the NF-F12 to rival the performance of conventional fans running at much faster speeds.
Varying Angular Distance and Vortex Control Notches
The NF-F12’s stator guide vanes are set out in Varying Angular Distance and feature Vortex-Control Notches. Both measures help to spread noise emissions over a broader frequency spectrum and thus make the fan’s sound pattern more agreeable to the human ear.
Heptaperf Impeller
Custom designed for the new Focused Flow frame and to work in tandem with the eleven stator guide vanes, the NF-F12’s seven blade Heptaperf impeller has been carefully optimised to achieve a perfect balance between power and quietness.
Stepped Inlet Design
Noctua’s Stepped Inlet Design adds turbulence to the influx in order to facilitate the transition from laminar flow to turbulent flow, which reduces tonal intake noise, improves flow attachment and increases suction capacity, especially in space restricted environments.
Inner Surface Microstructures
With the tips of the fan blades ploughing through the boundary layer created by the Inner Surface Microstructures, flow separation from the suction side of the blades is significantly suppressed. This results in reduced blade passing noise and improved airflow and pressure efficiency.
Integrated Anti-Vibration Pads
Integrated Anti-Vibration Pads made from extra-soft silicone minimise the transmission of minute vibrations while maintaining full compatibility with all standard mounting systems and fan clips used on heatsinks.
SSO2 Bearing
The NF-F12 is the first fan to feature the further optimised second generation of Noctua’s famous time-tested SSO bearing. With SSO2, the rear magnet is placed closer to the axis of rotation to provide even better stabilisation, precision and durability.
Metal bearing shell
In order to guarantee the highest possible degree of manufacturing precision, minimum tolerance and excellent long-term stability, the NF-F12 sports a CNC milled bearing shell made entirely from brass.
Custom designed PWM IC with SCD
Supporting fully automatic PWM speed control, the NF-F12 uses Noctua’s novel, custom designed NE-FD1 PWM IC that integrates Smooth Commutation Drive (SCD) technology. By providing smoother torque impulses, SCD suppresses PWM switching noises and thus makes the fan quieter at lower speeds.
Ultra-Low Power Consumption
The NF-F12 draws only 0.6W, which is less than half many other fans in the same speed range. This not only makes it eco-friendly but also cuts down the electricity bill: Compared to a typical 2W fan, this allows you to save about half the price of the NF-F12 after 5 years of continuous use.
Low-Noise Adaptor
The NF-F12 is supplied with a Low-Noise Adaptor (L.N.A.) which reduces the maximum fan speed from 1500 to 1200rpm. The L.N.A can be used either to run the fan at a fixed speed of 1200rpm or to cap the maximum speed when using automatic PWM control.
Extensive Cabling Options
The fan’s short (20cm) primary cable minimises cable clutter in typical applications while the supplied 30cm extension provides extended reach when necessary. Both cables are fully sleeved and a 4-pin Y-cable allows you to connect a second NF-F12 fan to the same PWM fan header for automatic control.
6 year manufacturer warranty
Noctua fans are renowned for their impeccable quality and outstanding longevity. Like all Noctua fans, the NF-F12 features an MTBF rating of more than 150,000 hours and comes with a full six years manufacturer warranty.
Review
CustomPCReview.com
The NF-F12 PWM is a very expensive, very quiet, and very efficient fan. Some may say it’s the Cadillac of PC fans, but it really isn’t. It’s more like the Rolls Royce of PC fans.
If you’re running a full water cooling setup or an in-one water cooler such as the Hydro series from Corsair and have some money to spare, take a look at these fans. You’ll be getting almost the same performance with a WHOLE lot less noise. Guess Noctua’s 2 years of development paid off.
Specifications | NF-F12 PWM |
---|---|
Size | 120x120x25 mm |
Connector | 4-pin PWM |
Bearing | SSO2 |
Blade Geometry | Heptaperf |
Frame Technology | Focused Flow |
Rotational Speed (+/- 10%) | 1500 RPM |
Rotational Speed with L.N.A. (+/- 10%) | 1200 RPM |
Min. Rotational Speed (PWM) | 300 RPM |
Airflow | 54.9 CFM |
Airflow with L.N.A. | 43.7 CFM |
Acoustical Noise | 22.4 dB(A) |
Acoustical Noise with L.N.A. | 18.6 dB(A) |
Static Pressure | 2.61 mm H2O |
Static Pressure with L.N.A. | 1.83 mm H2O |
Max. Input Power | 0.6 W |
Max. Input Current | 0.05 A |
Voltage | 12 V |
MTBF | 150.000 h |
Scope of Delivery | Low-Noise Adapter (L.N.A.), 4-Pin Y-Cable, 30cm Extension Cable, 4 Vibration-Compensators, 4 Fan Screws |
Warranty | 72 months |
EAN barcode | 4716123314660 |
Specifications | NF-F12 PWM |
---|---|
Size | 120x120x25 mm |
Connector | 4-pin PWM |
Bearing | SSO2 |
Blade Geometry | Heptaperf |
Frame Technology | Focused Flow |
Rotational Speed (+/- 10%) | 1500 RPM |
Rotational Speed with L.N.A. (+/- 10%) | 1200 RPM |
Min. Rotational Speed (PWM) | 300 RPM |
Airflow | 54.9 CFM |
Airflow with L.N.A. | 43.7 CFM |
Acoustical Noise | 22.4 dB(A) |
Acoustical Noise with L.N.A. | 18.6 dB(A) |
Static Pressure | 2.61 mm H2O |
Static Pressure with L.N.A. | 1.83 mm H2O |
Max. Input Power | 0.6 W |
Max. Input Current | 0.05 A |
Voltage | 12 V |
MTBF | 150.000 h |
Scope of Delivery | Low-Noise Adapter (L.N.A.), 4-Pin Y-Cable, 30cm Extension Cable, 4 Vibration-Compensators, 4 Fan Screws |
Warranty | 72 months |
EAN barcode | 4716123314660 |
Customer Reviews
great for cpu coolers
i do a lot of HD encoding work and regularly hear the cpu fan spinning up with all cores at 100% and since the cooler can accommodate 2 fans (Cooler Master Hyper 212) i bought a pair of these because they also came with rubber pegs and a cable splitter. now i can hardly hear them and dropped the temps a few degrees.
Good for low RPM usage, not so much at full stroke
Pros:
- Very smooth at low RPMs (800 and lower).
- Wide operating range - keeps spinning at as low as 350rpm based on my testing.
- No PWM clicking noise, even at lowest speeds
- Nice extras - braided extension cable, Y cable and LNA cable provided Cons:
- VERY loud at speeds higher than 1000rpm (mostly motor noise). At full speed (1500rpm), it is easily the loudest fan I ever bought. If you are looking for a fan that needs to push a lot of air, this would probably not be your best option.
Product Resources
FAQ
How do I measure fan size?
The size of fan you need will generally be determined by the size of the fan fitting position in your PC case. The sizes of all the fans on our website are shown as measured along any one of the fan’s four sides, NOT the distance between the fan’s screw holes! Our most popular fan size is 120mm, followed by 80mm. This isn’t really dictated by customer preference, but more by recent designs of PC cases.
As for the thickness (depth) of the fan, generally 25mm (1 inch) is by far the most common depth, although smaller fans can have shallower depths such as 15mm or even 10mm. All our fans are 25mm thick unless otherwise stated. If you have any questions about which fan you should order, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
If you know the distance between the fan mounting screw holes but don’t know what fan size to order, please see the following table. Note that the mounting hole measurements shown below are taken horizontally or vertically between the holes and not diagonally.
Screw hole spacings and fan sizes
Space Between Screw Holes Fan Size 32mm 40mm 40mm 50mm 50mm 60mm 60mm 70mm 72mm 80mm 83mm 92mm 105mm 120mm I received a small cable (resistor) with my fan; what is it for?
The resistor cable (also called Ultra Low Noise or ULN cable) is designed to allow the fan to run slightly slower for even quieter operation. The benefit in lower running noise is significant. Although the airflow will be reduced slightly, this usually has minimal effect on PC temperature. We would generally recommend using the ULN resistor cable for best results in almost all circumstances.
How can I tell which way the air blows through the fan?
Hold the fan so that the round fan sticker is facing you. You are looking at the rear of the fan. When you plug the fan in, the air will be blowing towards you. If you want a fan to act as an air intake, then the fan sticker will be facing the inside of the case. Some fans also have two small arrows moulded into their plastic housing - one arrow shows the direction of airflow, and the other (at 90°) shows the direction of blade rotation.
Is it possible to use a 4-pin PWM fan or CPU cooler with a motherboard which has only 3-pin fan headers on it?
Electrically, there is no problem doing this - the fourth pin on the fan cable is used purely for PWM control and is not needed in order for the fan to run. So you can plug the 4-pin fan connector onto the 3-pin motherboard fan header, leaving the fourth pin not connected to anything. The fan will potentially run at full speed, so if you would like to reduce the speed of the fan you will need to adjust the fan speed setting in your BIOS or use fan control software such as SpeedFan in Windows.
The only other problem to consider is that occasionally, components immediately adjacent to the motherboard fan header can get in the way of the larger 4-pin fan connector, physically preventing connection. This problem also occurs if you try to use an in-line fan speed controller such as the one made by Gelid.
Another avenue to explore is the possibility of using a bay-mounted fan controller. Several models are available now which provide 4-pin fan headers, so this is an easy way to use 4-pin PWM fans in a PC system which has only 3-pin fan headers on its motherboards. When using this method, you may find it necessary to disable any fan warning settings in your motherboard BIOS, since the motherboard may incorrectly believe that its CPU fan has failed when the fan is connected to a fan controller rather than directly to the motherboard itself.
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