ARCTIC F12 PWM PST CO - 120 mm Case Fan with PWM Sharing Technology (PST), Dual Ball Bearing for Continuous Operation, Computer, Fan Speed: 230-1350 RPM - Grey

This Arctic F12 PWM PST CO replaced a Corsair SP120L fan attached to a Corsair Hydro H60. The Corsair did a fine job, but was noisy, and I already have the radiator mounted behind my case's front 200mm fan, so I didn't need extreme airflow. However, this Arctic fan seems to push a great deal of air, and stays quieter at similar RPMs than the Corsair SP120L. The PST feature is a little awkward, but I wanted it in case (ugh) I add more fans to my case down the line. This is my 3rd Arctic fan purchase -- they're a great value.

Very impressive fans for the price. Great volume of air for their size for a respectably low noise tradeoff. I bought eight of these (Obsidian 900d case) for my new build and they're hardly audible. Granted, all are on my motherboard's PWM signal so they stay at a low duty cycle most of the time. However, even during P95 on three cores plus Furmark running (GPU is watercooled as well) they have no problem keeping things cool. I specifically wanted a ball bearing fan because three are mounted horizontally in the case roof on a 360mm radiator. Ball bearing fans are much better suited to this mounting position than journal bearing fans.

Bought two of them to replace case fans on an Antec Fusion Black case (htpc kind). Those are not bad fans (have a switch with 3 levels of cooling and the lowest one is nearly silent) but I wanted to go PWM, to see if I could improve the acoustics even more.At full speed (1400RPM aprox.), these are definitely NOT quiet...they sound like a jet fighter to be completely honest. Totally unwanted on a HTPC scenario. Blades look sharp-edged...I`m not an engineer of any kind but, wouldn't thicker softer-edged blades improve on the accoustics?Taking them to 1000RPM via PWM, would leave you with a much more pleasant situation, but it's just nearly matching the Antecs included in the case.The sweet spot is taking them to the 700, 800 RPM speeds...doing that (and doing something similar with a CPU solution like the Artic Alpine 64 Plus) will grant you with a dead silent HTPC (almost, unless you stand really close to the case). Don't expect huge amounts of air moving at those speeds though. Nevertheless, my htpc CPU stays at 27 ºC and motherboard at 37º C (with these F12 fans and the above mentioned Artic CPU heatsink/fan)..On the hand, if you don't care about noise and would leave them work at full speed, you are assured a great deal of air movement.A nice innovating feature from Artic in these, is PWM Sharing Technology (PST), which gives one the possibility to "daisy chain" fans, for instance: case-fan to case-fan, and those two to your CPU one. That would be a great plus for someone with a single available PWM controlled case/cpu fan header.All in all, they are very good fans and would certainly recommend them. There may be even quieter ones (you name them), but for the price point they are fierce contenders.

These fans are not only quiet, they still move a good amount of air. 4-pin PWM control lets you run them down to well under 25% speed to make them silent if needed.They are good for large aftermarket CPU coolers and as case fans, especially when paired with newer motherboards and their proliferation of 4-pin fan connectors. My good-ol' Antec P180 now has 4 of these, with one more on my Thermalright CPU cooler.The ability to 'share' the PWM signal to other 4-pin fans is great for stacking a case inlet fan with your CPU as well.I'm also using one with a custom temperature monitoring circuit to cool my receiver and amplifiers in my home theater setup as well.

I cannot say these are the best fans for the money, because I am unwilling to spend more than 15$ on any fan. I can say these are the best fans I have ever purchased for 10$. 2nd only to the Arctic Black & White version for 8$. Quiet, even pushing air through an H80i. I don't care about static pressure as much as fans making a whine, or buzz. The corsair fans drove me nuts. I can barely hear air move when these artic fans are set on performance, conversely, the corsair fans had a harmonious wave of annoying buzzing on ballanced. Temps did not change, every thing is still frosty, just more quiet.

I got one of these about 6 months ago, and its starting to have issues if I have restart the PC and the fan stops and starts. Initial wobbling and loud noises before I push it along with a paper clip. Figured Dual Ball Bearing actually meant something, but perhaps the balls are made of plastic?? Not sure, but next fan purchase will be a different one. And as always take what I say with a grain of salt, as there is a small chance I got a bad one and that they generally are great. This was just my experience with this brand/model, and I did not contact the seller to try to exchange or let them know.

I had 4 AF12025 PWM 120mm in my case with a Core i7-920 build since July 2008 - Not one issue ever! These appear to be the closest model that replaced what I had. I just rebuilt my system with a Core i5-6600K setup in a SilverStone case. Nothing was wrong with the fans I had, but if I'm going to redo all cables and take that much apart, I figured I might as well replace all the fans too. I also purchased the ARCTIC Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 for the processor. I though the old fans were quiet, it's hard to tell if the computer is even on. If I get the same 7 years out of these as I did the last fans, it's money well spent. I've had other ARCTIC products before and never an issue. I highly recommend them. Updated 01/11/16 to include photo.