COUGAR Vortex CF-V12HB 120mm Hydro Dynamic Bearing (Fluid) Case Fan (Black)

I needed to replace the 3 fans inside my desktop PC with an emphasis on price / performance / noise. My case has a built in fan speed controller and I wanted to pickup fans with 3 pin connectors to make use of it. I've been eyeballing these Cougar fans for years and decided to give them a try. I'm thrilled so far with these fans. I'm running them all at 7V and they are practically silent but still moving enough air to keep my PC running cool. When you kick the fans up to 12V they do become audible but it's a soft hum and not annoying at all. The only time I can see doing this is during gaming when I'll be wearing headphones anyway so it won't be an issue at all. I'm now contemplating getting a PWM version of this fan to put onto my Cryorig H7 CPU cooler. If you too are looking for a balance of price / noise / performance then definitely give these fans a try.

Pros: - great looking fans - well made, solid frams and impellars - effective vibration reduction system - nice sleeved cable - moves air very nicely in and out of my 250D; good pressure (tissue test) - very quiet; I run mine at 100% in the 250D, H80i front intake and 2 set to side exhaust; minimal noise, all from movement of air, not fan motor noise Cons: - I honestly can't think of any, the cost is on target, the performance is above par, the audible volume is totally within reason at 100%

Decent fan, air channeling isnt very impressive though. This fan was initially meant to be an intake, but has almost no static pressure to pull air through a filter and actually channel it towards the center of the case. Fan is now on GPU exhaust duty. Pros: Quiet, PWM Cons: Low CFM, Low static pressure, slight vibration. Just an fyi, I have the same version of the fan in the 140mm flavor and its twice as bad as the 120 in terms of pressure and vibration. I wouldnt even bother with the 140s, especially for the price. Ive tried quite a few fans, and I always go back to Delta AFB1212L, M, or H versions because you cant beat their performance for the price, and they even outperform fans that cost 3 times as much (noiseblocker, noctua etc). If you look, you can usually get them for under $10 on auction sites

As many others have said, these things are near silent and push respectable amounts of air. Cable has a solid sleeving, plus well-designed rubber pads in the mounting points, a feature I find works better than any similar product attempt. I prefer them instead of many other "Quiet" and "Silent" fans, a description that very few can fulfill. Coupled with a good fan controller (or motherboard monitoring if you get the PWM Version), the only sounds are a slight whoosh of air. Best of all, NO motor noise unless I set my head against the fan whilst it runs, and even then it's minimal (inaudible from >1ft away). Had other noisy fans and thus replaced them with Vortexes. Even for the slightly elevated price point, these are a quiet system builder's dream come true. Worth every single penny, and then some. On a side note, the airflow on these things isn't as good as an airflow-optimized fan, like Corsair's AF 120 Performance for example. However, every single fan I've used that had higher or equal CFM also was an order of magnitude louder or more, mainly from motor noise. These have the best CFM/dB balance out of everything I've tried.

I my opinion, the best PC fan that you can buy for the money. It’s nothing flashy or LED-y. However, run like a boss, they’re quiet, and the fan move a ton of air. There’s a reason that they are usually out of stock and hard to find. Even if they are used it’s still a heck of a deal.

My reason for purchasing this is slightly odd... I had to replace a fan in my Power Supply. Probably not what most people would be considering this for... but for the curious: Before replacing the PSU fan, my case temperature hovered around 115F degrees and was fairly noisy. After installing the CF-V12HB, my temperatures dropped to between 85F-90F and is near silent. I managed to route the power cable out of the PSU with the other cables, and it is long enough to reach the 3-pin headers on my motherboard. It's a strange arrangement, I know, but effective. The CF-V12HB provides a strong and steady airflow and again is very quiet.

NOTE: This is *NOT* the variable speed version (4 pin), this is the 3 pin version with constant speed. Please don't give this item less stars because of this, somebody just fudged the description page. This is an awesome investment for your PC considering the price is pretty low (who wants to pay more than ~$15 for a case fan?) and it is actually notably quieter than a regular fan. I bought one a while back off of Newegg because it was a few dollars more than a regular 120mm fan and just ordered another one for my gaming PC. I highly suggest this item if you have your PC in your bedroom or an area that is normally quiet, like your living room. The only con I can think of is that the form factor isn't standard for 120mm fans (look at the mounting points closely) and that caused an issue with my screwless case setup, but it ended up fitting with some finagling, so that is a moot point to me.

I have those fans (and PWM versions) in my gaming computer for 3 years. Works well running 24/7. Good airflow and almost no sound at 3/4 max speed. Now I got them to my server box to replace Scythe SY1225SL12M (those last 7 years 24/7). I like them over Scythe mostly because of lover noise and slightly better airflow. This is a great product and huge improvement in noise over any stock fan.

Works great, nice and quiet, even at 100%.

Bueno

Best case fans by far.