Noctua NF-A12x25 120mm Fan Review

This is the core of the Noctua NF-A12x25 Fan, using Noctua’s standard fan technologies, they have designed a fan construction with a claimed record tight tip clearance of only 0.5mm, which has been made possible by using the Sterrox liquid-crystal polymer (LCP) compound as well as a metal-reinforced motor hub and axis for ultimate precision. This is the primary focus of this fan and is the feature that is intended to set it apart from its competitors.

Test Setup

The test setup is simple, take an Intel i7-8700K and test for load and idle heat and sound performance on stock settings, and then an overclock to 4.8Ghz with a slight volt increase, and then test again. This is our standard CPU Cooler tests, with the exception of the volts increase.

What’s the point? To return to our opening paragraphs, if you are thinking about increasing your CPU cooler performance, replacing the fans is a good step. This will also give a good idea on the Noctua NF-A12x25 Fans inherent performance.

We use a standardised set of software for both load test and temperature capture;

• HWiNFO64
• AIDA64 Engineer

We ran the AIDA64 Engineer stability test in 30 minute batches and recorded the results. We used the Core Max result as there is typically a variance across the cores of a couple of degrees. We only select the cache, FPU and CPU tests, so no other component would generate impacting heat during the tests. 

We always “run in” our CPU cooler installations, essential to maximising the performance of the cooler before testing begins, and we gave the new fans time to settle in to their new environment over a 24 hour period.