As accessories, in this case only a small plastic bag with 4 screws is included to install these fans in a PC case. The P12 Max might not have beaten the A12x25 in its Nosie-to-Performance ratio, but the P12 Max still landed in the upper 10% whilst having an enormous performance overhead that most other fans just don't come with. Compared to most other fans in our lineup, the P12 Max blew most of them away. Noctua NF-A12x25, Silent Wing 4 Pro, nothing really stood a chance, not even talking about the original P12. At higher RPMs, it was comparable to a Phanteks T30, until it started to take off and kept the system slightly quieter for the rest of the run. On the design front, the P12 Max seems like the combination of 3 different Arctic fans previously released.

The reason why such a feature (the circular hoop) is important with the shape of Arctic’s “P” fans is very simple. Both the P12 fan and the P120 models have only five blades, which there is nothing wrong with, but if they are to operate in a cross-section corresponding to the 120mm format, they need to be excessively long. Combined with the commonly used material (PBT) in this price range, the blade tips are too flexible, leading to quite high vibrations. This can also be seen with the BioniX P120 A-RGB fan. times more intensity than 70 dBA. It can damage the eardrums if it is exposed for more than 8 hours.

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Each fan has a flat cable with a 4-pin PWM connector to power these fans. PWM range is quite good on these fans. Whilst letting the Fan spin at 100% of its 3000RPM, the P12 Max managed to keep the CPU at 38°C above ambient. Around to this perceptual limit is the second test. In this case, the Arctic P12 Max is sped up a bit until it reaches the appropriate volume and the Noctua NF-F12 iPPC-3000 is turned down significantly. However, the additional speed to around 1230 RPM doesn’t really give the Arctic P12 Max a performance advantage and the performance is still within the tolerance range to the regular Arctic P12. The Cooler Master Mobius 120 remains at the top of performance, while the Noctua fan drops off noticeably. A solid result for both Arctic fans, though the Mobius simply remains the slightly better fan for this application. Maximum Performance The Cooler Master Mobius 120P ARGB are thus also the strongest RGB fans in this test run, are followed by the RGB version of the DeepCool FC120 and the ENDORFY Fluctus 120 PWM ARGB. The MSI Silent Gale P12, DeepCool CF120, and Cooler Master Mobius 120 still perform very well in the 120mm case fan test, even when nearly inaudible.

In our measurement, the Arctic P12 Max at maximum speed has managed to move almost 82 CFM of airflow, which is an outrage for a 120mm fan (as you can see in the comparison graph, there is a fan that moves more air but is 140mm). Even at only 1,000 RPM speed, it moves almost 40 CFM of air, which is great, because to this we must add the great static pressure that it is capable of generating… it is a fan that even placing your hand at a distance of 50 cm, Notice the air flow. As we have noted many times, Arctic is a manufacturer that focuses on the performance of its products above the rest of the frills, offering excellent performance at a low noise level, and above all at very competitive prices; All this has made it one of the manufacturers that sells the most refrigeration products in Europe, and for a reason. And the Frame? Well, that one looks exactly like they came on the P/F BioniX series. Including the rubber around the fan screw holes. Despite the high maximum speed, the minimum speed (200 rpm) is very low with the motor shutting down below 5% PWM duty cycle. The Arctic P12 max fan therefore supports semi-passive operation. Compared to the P12, the P12 Max also has different bearings. Instead of fluid bearings (FDB), “dual” ball bearings are used (i.e. with a set of balls in two rows). However, the mean time between failures (MTBF) is not specified by Arctic. What we do know, however, are the parameters regarding airflow and static pressure. Now coming to the next round of testing, since P12 PWM fans were operated at 43 dB(A), we normalized the P12 MAX fans to operate at 43 dB(A). The ARCTIC P12 MAX fans reached this sound level at roughly 50% PWM duty cycle. When the test was repeated, we found both fans giving the same thermal performance. This shows the thermal headroom that P12 MAX have even when operating at half of their rated speed.

Benchmark

Each mounting corner has a gray color anti-vibration pad that minimizes the vibrational noise coming from the surface on which the fans are installed. The P12 Max can rotate from 200 up to 3,300RPM allowing it to deliver 81.04CFM of airflow and 4.35mmH₂O of static pressure which is 44 per cent higher than the older P12’s 1,800RPM and 56.3CFM. Inside we find a larger motor with dual ball bearings better suited to 24/7 continuous operation thanks to their heat resistance. The frame features anti-vibration rubber pads while the fan itself enters a 0dB mode if the PWM signal is below five per cent.

Building up on the success of the P12 PWM, the P12 Max extends the controllable speed to an impressively wide range from 200 RPM up to 3300 RPM. This enables a quiet operation when low airflow is needed and also an unprecedented level of performance on heatsinks and radiators. The P12 Max provides a significant performance boost to existing air and water cooling solutions. ARCTIC, extends its P-fan series with the P12 Max, a new high-performance fan. In contrast to the conventional P12 PWM, the P12 Max has a significantly increased speed with revolutions from 200 up to 3300 rpm. This makes it ARCTIC’s most powerful 120 mm fan. Without load, it can even be throttled down to a standstill if required. Arctic P12 Max And an additional detail: the fan blades are linked together, with the aim of generating less turbulence and less noise; we could say that this fan is more of a turbine due to this design. In addition, it should be noted that since the motor has a double ball bearing, the plastic piece that makes up the blades does not move at all on the vertical axis, something that will also help reduce noise. It is literally impossible for a human being to “hear” absolute silence, but this is the threshold of hearing.

We are reporting the absolute temperature on the graph. The testing is done on an open-air bench system. Once inside the chassis, the temperatures are expected to rise and would largely depend upon the optimal airflow inside the chassis. Not every run of the stress test may yield the same result. This could well be due to many factors like mounting pressure, thermal paste application, and varying ambient temperature. Not to mention the silicon differences even among the same category of chips. Hence, it is pertinent to mention the testing methodology along with the specifics. Mode – Zero RPM – PWM– can throttle the fan speed to a standstill for silent operation at low loads. The be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4, ENDORFY Fluctus 120 PWM ARGB, and Arctic P12 are not the overall winners, but deliver very solid results in all tests. Here is a table showing RPM range and corresponding airflow and speed measurements of the ARCTIC P12 MAX fan:

Following the P12 A-RGB pattern, Arctic also lines the rotors of the unlighted P12 Max fans with a circular hoop. This is the key modification that sets the new Arctic P12 Max fan apart from the P12. ARCTIC with their P12 PWM fans has been at an advantage when it comes to noise performance and we have seen that P12 MAX fans at roughly 50% of their speed are now doing what regular P12 PWM fans are doing at their full speed (100% PWM cycle). This has provided P12 MAX a thermal headroom of 3°C (as per our testing) coming from going above 50% PWM cycle. This is one way of doing it. We did not see any benefit of going below 43 B(A) as fans are silent at this range. This tells us that the thermal performance of P12 MAX fans is quite good albeit at a high noise output. There are two small arrows on one side of the frame. These provide a visual clue to the users in determining the direction of airflow through the fans and the direction in which blades will spin.These fans feature double ball bearings from Japanese manufacturer NMB. These bearings provide a much longer service life of these fans having a minimum of 500,000 hours. One possible reason to use these bearings is that these fans have high speed. Maintaining these speeds over a much longer time period would need better bearings but it is also surprising that many other manufacturers are providing similar speed range using Fluid Dynamic Bearings. Anyhow, we don’t know if the motor of these fans has a 6-pole, 3-phase design or not. According to ARCTIC using sinus-magnetizing, the new motor only creates about 5 % of the vibration from the commutation of a regular DC motor without a filter. These vibrations are not only a source of secondary noise (e.g. by resonating the case on which they are mounted), but they also escalate the resonant frequencies of the sound. The fans are thus excessively noisy at lower (rumbly) frequencies. However, the use of hoops stiffens the rotor blade tips, which suppresses the unwanted vibrations, and with them the peaks at the “critical” sound frequencies drop. In simplistic terms, it could be noted that such a fan will be more acoustically pleasing. To keep vibration to a minimum, Arctic also added rubber pads in the corners of the P12 Max fan, which the P12 doesn’t have. Firstly, why are they controlling a PWM fan with voltage? Arctic do make P12 3-pin voltage-controlled variants (that are even cheaper, lol) The fans from the brands Noctua, Corsair and the majority of the models from be quiet! do not stand out much in this 120 mm case fan test. Overall, these brands fill the midfield, which is not a bad performance by any means, but just not an outstanding victory that might have been attributed to them without the comparison. At least it is noticeable that the Corsair QL120 does better than the 140 mm models from the corresponding parallel test. Conclusion Quiet yet powerful case fans: Cooler Master Mobius (bottom left), MSI Silent Gale P12 (bottom right), DeepCool FK120 (top left) and Arctic P12 (top right)