Phanteks Defeated Noctua? T30 Review

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Finally a worthy challenger. Let's test the Phanteks T30 against the legendary Noctua NF-A12x25.

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[hellowill]

Noise vs Temperature should be the only way to test a fan...
this guy knows what hes talking about

[krazyfrog]

Since this blade design is primarily designed for high air pressure scenarios I'd have also liked to see how the two perform as airflow intake fans on a mid tower case.

[unleashedtails]

Here's what it sounds like:
*deafening silence*

[crackong]

I have to disagree the part of "even if we were noise normalized that...." . Since dbA is a logarithmic unit the difference is way bigger than it looks. Using your graph data, Noctua is doing 71.1C = 344.25K at 41.1dbA = 0.002270022 Pa of sound pressure. T30 is doing 68.3C = 341.45K at 41.5dbA = 0.002377004 Pa of sound pressure. Doing a convertion to sound pressure so we are now free of logarithmic units for direct comparison, now, (344.25-341.45) / 341.45 = 0.8%, and (0.002377004 - 0.002270022)/ 0.002270022 = 4%. That means T30 is having a 0.8% temperature advantage while increasing 4% of sound pressure(noise). So if you really do noise normalized calculations, T30's temperature result have to be scaled 4% higher = 355.108K which is way higher than Noctua's results.

[carterbeals]

These look awesome! Always glad to see competition in this space. Now if Phanteks could make a 140mm variant of these, I'd be a very happy camper.

[titaniummechanism]

Ooh, finally a worthy first fight to be decided on GNs new fan testing equipment!

[This.Is.Ambient]

Optimums videos makes everybody's day

[CarterCovers]

Yay! Happy to see you review these. I bought two as intakes for my NR200P and it dropped my GPU thermals by a few degrees and made the system overall more quiet. I'd love to use them as exhaust too, but the extra 5mm makes it not compatible with the brackets for the top of the NR200P unfortunately.

[hovant]

A factor to consider is the T30 is a 3-phase/6-pole motor design, rather than a 4-pole. In my experience with other 6-pole units (Noctua Industrial, BeQuiet SilentWings 3), they tend to make a strange resonating sound at all RPM ranges; it sounds like they're going "ooouuuggghhh". Some people don't notice it, some don't mind it, but it drives me bonkers

[nichetcher]

Once Phanteks starts making their fans in a brown color variant, I’ll start buying!

[richardfarmer]

Another benefit of the 30mm thick fan is certain deshrouding applications. In cases like the Ncase and NR200 there is still a gap on certain GPUs when deshrouding, the extra 5mm could work to your advantage.

[robwhitmore]

Every video you do it awesome. No 'shocked face' clickbait thumbnails and titles, just clean video, good data and no filler content. Awesome stuff

[Davethreshold]

EXACTLY the fan comparison that I was looking for. Thank you! ❤ It's the same with room/window fans: The thicker ones have a deeper blade pitch, so they are quieter and move more air at a given RPM.

[DeadpoolPlayz]

finally some competition. always good for the customer

[SuspiciousGirafe]

Finally !
Was waiting for your review of the T30 since the day they launched.

Could you please give more details about bearing noise?
When comparing the P12 to the NFA12x25, you demonstrated that the P12 whines when RPM is around 1000, while the NF-A12x25 is consistently quiet.
Could you please do the same for this fan, and compare their noise output at lower RPMs (350, 500, 800) ?
Thanks for the dedication, your in-depth noise analysis is best in class.
Cheers !

[igor.lacerda]

As a mech engineer, tech enthusiast, and filmmaking lover, this video checks all my boxes! hahah 🤘⚡

[VoiDukkha]

can you subtitle the fan speeds in the "heres how they sound" demonstration parts of the video plz

[EditioCastigata]

4:16 and that’s why almost all tests out there are flawed, not comparing loudness under air-moved. For any temperature-control essentially would equalize the latter, lowering the Phantek’s RPM.

[raulsaavedra]

Great video! Wow 3 - 5º better thermals than a Noctua! Well done, Phanteks! Great to have this kind of competition in top fan options.

[death]

I just did my case with T30 Phanteks. They are phenomenal at moving air. I have them at 2000rpm and they move a lot of air through my system. Internal temps dropped 25 degrees from what they were. They get a little loud if you start to climb the RPM ladder but I definitely recommend them highly. They are built very solid. They are slightly thicker though so be careful if you are doing compact form factor builds, you may run into fitting issues