鶹
Customer Review
- Reviewed in Canada on October 23, 2021Felt I had to give this a review to clear up some misconceptions about this fan. It IS up to Noctua's legendary standards of low noise, IF you have the correct expectations. The wrong comparison would be to gaming PC or office computer fans. Yes, compared to the standard PC case fans, this thing raises a huge racket. But this fan and the whole iPPC product line in general is not for gaming PCs. It's for if you have a serious need for cooling. I bought this fan to cool some Seagate Exos enterprise drives, which if they are not actively cooled, get over 55C. Imagine that amount of heat, for a hard drive. The right comparison would be to fans found in the datacentre: Delta, Sanyo-Denki, etc. that make very high RPM fans for 1U and 2U chassis. Like in the 7000-10000 RPM range in a 40mm fan. THOSE are noisy.
For a server, it's a VERY quiet fan. I'm using a Fractal Design Node 304, so the airflow through the front panel is very poor. I put this fan in as the exhaust fan, and it dropped temps on my drives a lot. The noise is comparable to an actively cooled switch like the Aruba S3500. If you compare it to something like a Compellent SC200 disk shelf, it makes DRAMATICALLY less noise, even after I modded the Compellent and replaced the fans with Noctuas. I keep my home lab in my garage, and with the door closed, I can't hear a thing. With the Compellent, you could hear it standing 3 feet away from the closed garage door. So unless I'm doing work in the garage, the noise this fan generates is a complete non-issue, because I can't hear it at all from inside the house.
It's relatively noisy with the Node 304 case open, but who runs it like that? Once you put on the case cover, the noise turns into a low whooshing sound that's actually pretty pleasant. Sounds like it would be good white noise for people who have trouble sleeping.
And that's a good comparison, if you are not familiar with enterprise-grade servers. It sounds very similar to a large diameter desk fan or stand fan, the type you would use on a hot summer's day if you don't own an AC unit. People use desk fans as a white noise sleeping aid, because while a desk fan is relatively loud, it's a pleasant sound. People who make comparisons to hair dryers or jet engines are excessively exaggerating. It's not too bothersome because it's a low frequency noise. High frequency whines, even if the dB level is a lot lower, are way more annoying.
If you have somewhere out of the way to place this like a server closet or a garage, this is a fantastic fan for your home lab. It'll probably be quieter than most of your other equipment. If you are expecting to put this in your gaming PC for when temps get really high during an intense gaming session, this is definitely the wrong fan for you. You will be very aggravated by the noise, but it's not intended for that environment.
