Conclusion and Verdict
Well there are the fans up close and personal. Now did the fans meet, exceed, or fall short of my expectations? Well the answer in short, the fans exceeded my expectations. The first thing is the noise output. I know for so long that we always include a decibel reading with fans and use that to inform you guys the loudness of the fan.
Well I am not a big fan of decibel and I will tell you why. A decibel reading can be misleading as it does not really take into account for actual audible noise. I have tested fans that had a relatively low decibel reading but sounded like a helicopter was landing on my desk. That’s because the pressures around the fan were seemingly low. We get the decibel rating in the specifications so with that and an opinion of the user we can decisively conclude the noise of the fan.
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I cranked these fans to max and the noise was not bad at all for 2400RPM and these fans can move some air. The noise coming from the fan was all wind noise. I could not hear anything from the bearing and did not rattle of course because of the rubber mounting pads. These fans at full blast did not sound like a plane flying by. I conclude the fans to have a low audible rating.
The ML Pro series fans can be found directly on Corsair’s website as well as various other e-tailers for around $28 USD. Buy now at Amazon – https://goo.gl/oEc6Zk
Pros:
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Cons:
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Final Thoughts:
Corsair has developed a ultra quite fan with great looks. The fans have the capabilities to blow the dust off the completion while keeping quite. The new bearing technology has a lot to offer for a reasonable price. If you are looking for a fan that stands out and is a cooling machine, look into the New ML Pro series. You will not be disappointed!
7 comments
Cons:
– 37dB… who wants that?
– Noctua has fans with more pressure at similar sound levels or cooling at much lower sound level, for the same price.
– Absolutely no pressure at “Quiet operation”, where competitors have 1mmH2O+ for lower sound level then 16dB. And @400RPM they have no static pressure at all (0,2mmH2O).
Guys. Review also means showing the downsides… and this might be Corsais best thing yet, but its not perfect in any way.
Noctua and Corsair fans … they’re two totally different products for two totally different markets.
Both are to cool computers right?
Both are 120mmx120mm right?
Both have similar price-levels (at least in my country).
Both are for enthusiasts, and not for OEM, as their price is what they are.
So… what different markets do u refer to?
If you look at the specs for the NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM you find the ratings 43.5dB @ 3000 RPM. So I would think 37dB @2400RPM for the same 120mm size is pretty comparable in dBs. Just a side note the 2000RPM fan has a rating of 29.7dBs. I dont like dB ratings anyway. I would rather know real world noise when it comes to my fans!! Some claim to be silent but sound like a fart cannon on a Honda!!
Ofc dB scale isnt perfect, but their performance is. Issue i have with these Corair fans is that no real cooling test was done in this review to see how well they perform. So they where given a “perfect” scale, with no detail behind it. And very few care about the noise when u hit 2000+PRM anyways, as thats is OC territory. What u care about is how well they can cool without having to go that high.
Because at the end of the day, its not the dB at top RPM that matter, its the db and noise u have to have in order to cool “product A” to a specific degree, and that was my point here. The 2000 RPM one makes almost as good cooling spec as these do @ 400 RPM more, so performance is the Q here.
If we go down the RPM scale u quickly see the mid and low range cooling effect of their 1500/1300RPM for ex doing a lot more effective cooling without making ear-deafening sound around 35-40 dB. So it is possible to actually use the PC they are on, without needing headphones/earplugs.
So i stand by my claim, that these are not as useful as they seem to look from your guessing review above. And if u want to prove me wrong, show me them attached to a good cooler and compare them, both cooling pressure/airflow wise, and temperature wise. Because its here the higher static pressure matters, and its here most of us will use the fans anyways.
And yes Noctua does make a fantastic fan. No doubt about that!
Like I said… They’re targeted at different markets and different types of buyers.