- Review -

11.11.2012 PCGamers.net.au

The corsair fans are unquestionably louder than the Noctua NF-F12s. We found the H100 stock fans to be loud at full speed and quite noticeable at medium speed. The H100 on low speed wasn't exactly quiet either - we noticed it when sitting a couple of meters away from the test rig but it is more likely to blend into any background noise. [...] The NF-F12 had slightly higher temperature readings when overclocking and using a constant speed but the acoustic difference was quite obvious. With 2 fans at 1500 rpm, you can hear the NF-F12s but the noise isn't as loud as the H100 stock fans on either Medium or High settings. When you step the NF-F12s down to 1200rpm via the Low Noise Adapter, you can notice the difference as the fan isn't obvious but it's still audible. At around the 800-900 rpm mark, the fans are much harder to pick out from ambient room noise. 800-900 rpm is not a stock speed so we didn't test it but this is where we would be looking if we wanted to lock in a constant speed.

"The Corsair H100 is a great unit with its stock fans but when we take into account the thermal tests and our experience of the acoustic superiority of the NF-F12, it's easy to recommend this combination. The NF-F12 is the best choice of fan we have seen for CPU cooling solutions (heatsink or radiator) where noise levels are a consideration." (Phil Carroll, PCGamers.net.au)