1 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,599 That's how you upgrade a computer, 2 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:25,920 right? With the purchase of a qualifying Intel processor, SSD, or Knuck, you 3 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:29,439 could instantly win an Intel gaming jersey and be entered in the draw for 4 00:00:27,599 --> 00:00:33,200 the Ultimate System. Click now to learn more. Linus and I like our premium fans 5 00:00:31,519 --> 00:00:36,559 and we're both quite public about being fans of Noctua and with pretty good 6 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:40,079 reason. Noctua is able to boast extremely high build quality, great 7 00:00:38,079 --> 00:00:43,680 thermal performance, and very low operating decibel levels. Lately, 8 00:00:42,079 --> 00:00:48,559 they've even addressed the issue of their kind of puke brown problem by 9 00:00:46,559 --> 00:00:54,559 introducing their Redux and especially their industrial PPC line of fans, which 10 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:58,320 I'm a big fan of, but they're pretty crazy expensive if you think about it. 11 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:02,800 In many cases, people are buying these premium fans to replace fans that are 12 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:06,400 already installed in their case or that come with a radiator by default. Is it 13 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:11,200 really worth it, though? Does a price performance value of swapping your fans 14 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:15,200 really make any sense in this case? Or should we be more focused on investing 15 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:19,280 in different parts of our computer? We decided to find out. Let's start with 16 00:01:16,799 --> 00:01:25,119 our test setup. We have an NZXT H440 with its defaults fan setup of three 120 17 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:27,920 mm fans in the front and one 140 mm fan 18 00:01:25,119 --> 00:01:32,320 in the back. Then we have a Corsair H105 with its two default 120 mm fans 19 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:36,560 strapped to it up in the top of the case which will be cooling an i7 4930K. When 20 00:01:35,119 --> 00:01:42,400 we switch to Noctua fans, we'll be replacing all of the 120 mm fans with 21 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:45,119 NFF12s and we will replace the 140 mm 22 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:49,040 fan in the back with an NFA14. First off, we have our thermal testing. Our 23 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:52,000 4930K is running at stock and as per usual, our idle test will be ran with 24 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:56,399 minimal processes running in the background. Our load test is ran with 25 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:59,840 Prime 95 running small FFT mode just to stress out the CPU a little bit and get 26 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:04,399 that heat flowing. In both thermal and audio test cases, the fans are running 27 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:08,399 at about 1100 RPM for the stock and the Noctua aftermarket fans. Secondly, we 28 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:11,920 have the audio test case. This was done by shutting off everything in range that 29 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:16,000 could make noise. That means straight up unplugging pretty much all electronics 30 00:02:13,599 --> 00:02:19,200 in the area and even going as far as unplugging the fridge that was on the 31 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:23,360 floor below just because it was slightly too close. I then set up our Xtech 32 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:26,400 digital sound level meter and recorded it with a camera just to make sure 33 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:29,760 everything went okay as I wanted to leave the room just in case the sound 34 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:34,319 meter would pick up my breathing. So essentially, yeah, there was an 35 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:38,560 improvement. Awesome. But maybe not the $24 worth of improvement that you were 36 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:41,599 hoping to get. This money could easily be shifted into other parts of your 37 00:02:40,239 --> 00:02:45,680 computer for a more noticeable performance improvement in most cases. A 38 00:02:44,319 --> 00:02:49,840 lot of things in the computer modding world aren't exactly worth it in a price 39 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:52,720 performance sense. And while I can sit here and bash on performance fans, there 40 00:02:51,519 --> 00:02:57,440 are other culprits as well. Do-it-yourself water cooling isn't exactly the biggest reward for your 41 00:02:55,920 --> 00:03:01,280 investment either, especially if you're a fan of buying premium components. And 42 00:02:59,519 --> 00:03:04,239 this brings me to the conclusion. I've known what the results of this test 43 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:07,760 would yield for quite a while, and I'm sure many of you watching knew as well. 44 00:03:06,159 --> 00:03:10,560 But that doesn't stop people like Lionus and I from water cooling our computers 45 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:15,280 and outfitting them with top-of-the-line fans and other stuff like that. But this 46 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:19,760 doesn't exactly have the greatest price performance ratios, and that's okay with 47 00:03:18,239 --> 00:03:24,080 us. If you're on a tight budget and trying to build a gaming rig that will ultimately live under your desk, you 48 00:03:22,640 --> 00:03:27,519 should probably just focus on your core components in this case. If you're a fan 49 00:03:26,239 --> 00:03:31,920 of performance components and essentially the computer version of a hot rodder, then it's probably fine for 50 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:35,920 you to torch your wallet a little bit and invest in premium stuff like premium 51 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,799 fans and water cooling. All right, guys. So, what do you think of premium setups? 52 00:03:37,519 --> 00:03:42,959 Are you into that? Are you just buying like extremely gaming optimized ones 53 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,680 that are as low cost as you can get while getting the highest performance 54 00:03:44,159 --> 00:03:50,239 out of it that you can get? Let me know in the comments down below. While you're down there, like, favorite, dislike, 55 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:53,840 subscribe, share, all that kind of stuff. And if you want to do that in 56 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:57,200 another place as well, jump over to the forum and do it there. And if you don't 57 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:59,599 like the ads, become a contributor as normal. If you want a shirt for some 58 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:04,720 reason, check the link in the description down below and you can get an awesome looking shirt there. I think 59 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:07,920 we have our better than useless shirts on sale there. I know a guy that 60 00:04:06,319 --> 00:04:10,640 actually works here recently bought one, so that's pretty cool. Thanks for 61 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:22,670 watching and I'll see you guys next time.