OC3D Fan Showdown – BeQuiet Pro vs Noctua PPC vs Coolermaster Mobius

Conclusion – Unexpected Results

To say the least, we expected higher fan RPMs to deliver us lower thermals. As you can see in our testing, they didn’t do much to lower thermals over our 2,000 RPM tests. Perhaps we needed to test a more power hungry processor, or use a thicker liquid cooling radiator to see higher fan RPMs have an impact. Either way, our test case does showcase that 2,000 RPM fans are a sweet spot when it comes to thermals and noise levels. 

Cooler Master Mobius 120 & Mobius 120P ARGB 

Cooler Master’s Mobius series fans thoroughly impressed us today. They delivered the lowest noise levels of all the fans we tested at 2,000 RPM and they also delivered us the best thermal results. This is a strong showing from Cooler Master, and the fact that they have an RGB illuminated offering with their Mobius 120P ARGB will make them must have fans for some customers. 

While these fans are expensive with their asking prices of £24.99 and £29.99, they do have what it takes to challenge other premium fans. While we would have liked to have seen the Mobius 120 with an all-black colour scheme, we can see some users making the most of outs blue highlights to create some lovely themed systems. 

We have decided to give Cooler Master’s Mobius 120 and Mobius 120P ARGB OC3D’s Performance Award, as both fans deliver compelling thermal performance and lower noise levels than some of their competitors. This is what we want to see from premium fans.

Affiliate Links

–  Cooler Master Mobius 120 Quiet Fan – Amazon

– Cooler Master Mobius 120P ARGB Fans – Amazon

Be Quiet Silent Wings Pro 4

One of the main things we wanted to see today was how Be Quiet’s Silent Wings Pro 4 fans compared with Noctua’s NF-F12 iPPC fans. Both fans can run at up to 3,000 RPM, making them ideal for some heavy-duty testing scenarios. Sometime we want to push a lot of air at thermal problems, and when that kind of problem arises, we want the best fans for the job. In this regard, Be Quiet beats Noctua. 

Be Quiet’s Silent Wings Pro 4 fans are quieter than Noctua’s iPPC fans and gave us slightly lower thermals. The noise level drop alone makes these fans our new go-to for heavy duty testing scenarios. Yes, a 3ish dB drop is not much, but it makes testing with ultra high RPM fans a lot easier to tolerate. 

At lower RPMs, Be Quiet’s fans also perform well, but it their high RPM support that gives them our OC3D enthusiast award. If you want to push more air to help achieve higher overclocks or benchmark results, Be Quiet’s Silent Wings Pro 4 Fans are a good choice. 

Affiliate Link

– Be Quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 Fan – Amazon

Noctua NF-F12 iPPC (3,000 RPM)

Don’t get us wrong, we love Noctua’s old NF-F12 iPPC fans. They have served us faithfully for years, and it is a credit to Noctua that it has taken this long for their competitors to properly challenge them.

Today, Be Quiet’s Silent Wings Pro 4 fans beat out Noctua’s in every test at high RPMs, and a lower RPMs their competitors deliver similar or better performance with lower noise levels. It took a while, but Noctua’s NF-F12 series has been surpassed, but it is worth noting that Noctua has newer fan designs on the market with their NF-A12x25 series, and they also are available in black.

From now on, Noctua’s iPPC fans will no longer be our go-to fans whenever we want to blast air into our systems at a rapid pace. Be Quiet’s Silent Wings Pro 4 fans are quieter and delivered us slightly better cooling performance. That said, another thing that our testing showed us is that faster fan RPMs deliver diminishing thermal returns (at least in this test case). 

Affiliate Links

– Noctua NF-F12 iPPC 3,000 RPM Fan – Amazon

You can join the discussion on OC3D’s fan showdown on the OC3D Forums.

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