Hey everyone, I need some advice on choosing Noctua fans.
Here's my situation: I'm a complete Noctua newbie (I've never owned any of their fans), and I want to make my PC quieter overall. I've noticed that my Arctic P12 intake fans produce an annoying hum, and my P12 Pro on the CPU tower also makes a noticeable noise. This is all while running the "Silent/Quiet" BIOS preset.
I'm planning to move to a new case (Lian Li Lancool 217b) and want to replace them with something quieter.
Here are the configs I'm considering:
· Intake: 3x Noctua NF-A14 Chromax
· Exhaust: 1x NF-A14 Chromax
· CPU cooler / future AIO: either 3x A12x25 Chromax (~3800 RUB each) or 3x F12 PPC 2000 RPM (~1700 RUB each second-hand)
There's also the "top-tier" option with the new G2 versions (A12/14x25 G2 Chromax), but that's way more expensive (~4000 RUB for 120mm, ~6000 RUB for 140mm).
Just so you know, I'm a high school student. On a good shift, I earn about 2300 RUB. So the cheaper, the better – but I still want it to be quiet. I added the F12 PPC mostly because I like the black look (same as Chromax) and the price is relatively low (I think I could haggle down to ~1500 RUB each).
I already asked two different AIs, and they both suggested: A14s for intake + A12x25 (non-G2) for the tower/radiator. But I'm not 100% sure. I really need opinions from actual owners of these fans and solid reasoning to justify spending my tight budget.
Additional info:
· I plan to put the PC on my desk.
· Current setup: Ryzen 5600X (with a 250W dual-tower air cooler) + RTX 3080 MSI Gaming Z in Montech Sky One Lite case (already installed p12 behind the railings (because the hum before was far worse)).
· Planned upgrade: Ryzen 5950X + MSI Expert 4080 Super.
Phew, that's everything. Thanks!