Few PC components are so critical to the performance of your computer, yet so inexpensive than your PC fans. But don’t let the low cost fool you; modern PC fans are often highly engineered devices, and choosing the wrong $20 fan can mean the difference between a system that runs at peak performance and one that overheats and crashes.
You might be planning to replace a fan to improve airflow or to reduce the noise level by swapping out an especially loud fan. Or perhaps you’re building a gaming PC and want to pick the best fans for the project. Regardless of why you’re here, there are as many models of fans as there are reasons to buy them – what kind of cooling do you want to achieve? What size fan do you need? And are aesthetics, such as LED lighting, important to you?
We'll help you choose the right fan for your project. And at the end of the article, we’ve put together a buying guide to highlight how to shop for your next PC fan.
TL;DR – These are the Best PC Fans:
- Arctic F12-120
- Cooler Master MF200R ARGB
- be quiet! Silent Wings 3
- Corsair QL Series QL120
- Cooler Master MasterFan MF120 Halo
- Phanteks PH-F140MP
- Noctua NF-P12 redux
- Phanteks T30-120
- Noctua NF-A12x15
- Lian Li Uni Fan
1. Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200
Best Overall PC Fan
Sweet and simple — that’s what you’ll get from the Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200. Well, except for the name. Regardless, this is a reinvention of a classic Noctua fan that can provide significant airflow and impressively low noise levels. At just 18.1 dBA, you may well forget that you have the fan in your computer, but it’ll be there, spinning out almost 60 cubic feet of air every minute.
A significant change to the design of this fan is that it doesn’t have the signature brown-and-tan color of other Noctua fans, opting for a two-tone gray instead. That’ll make it a more subtle fit in your PC case. You can also make this fan quieter still by dropping the rotation speed, which peaks at 1200 RPM but can be controlled by lowering the voltage or using an optional low-noise adapter. Noctua also offers anti-vibration mounts to put between the fan and your case for when minimal noise is crucial.
2. Arctic F12-120
Best Budget Fan
You don't need to buy crazy-expensive fans if you've got a modest system that's not overclocked to the point of doubling as a space heater. But, even if you're going for affordable fans, you don't want ones that are going to grind and groan and spend more time making noise than they do moving air. Fortunately, the Arctic F12-120 fans have you covered at a low price point paired with a low noise level.
These 120mm fans can cruise along at 1,350 RPM and push 53 CFM while staying fairly quiet thanks to their fluid dynamic bearings. You won't get fancy RGB lighting from these fans, but that's not because Arctic is cheaping out. In fact, Arctic is confident enough in the quality of these fans to offer a six-year limited warranty on them. At just $10 apiece, these fans make it easy to kit out every available intake and exhaust point on your case with fans.
3. Cooler Master MF200R ARGB
Best 200mm PC Fan
If you like a ton of airflow while staying silent, 200mm fans may be the way to go, assuming your case can support them. The Cooler Master MasterFan MF200R ARGB makes for a quality option that’ll also give your PC a nice helping of style.
This large fan can push just over 90 cubic feet of air every minute while registering at just 28dBA. Since it can be tricky to keep cables out of larger fans if you’re not careful, the MF200R ARGB also includes a smart sensor to detect jams. Cooler Master has also used translucent fan blades to let the ARGB lighting truly shine.
4. be quiet! Silent Wings 3
Best Silent PC fan
No matter what your cooling needs, you can probably find it here. Silent Wings 3 comes in a number of variations – both 120mm and 140mm, and in 4-pin PWM (pulse width modulation) and 3-pin DC fan varieties. Most importantly, as the name suggests, these fans are virtually inaudible.
But Silent Wings are also premium fans. They come with anti-vibration corner fittings, feature fluid-dynamic bearings for a very long service life, and have an unusual 6-pole motor, which be quiet! says contributes to less vibration and lower power consumption.
5. Corsair QL Series QL120
Best RGB PC Fan
Corsair sure knows how to make an eye-catching product. The Corsair QL Series QL120 is the latest in its snazzy PC fans, and they show no shortage of style. The QL120 fans feature a whopping 34 RGB LEDs per fan, and they're designed with semi-transparent fan blades to really let those colors shine. Each fan has four lighting zones, so you get some extra tweaking capabilities. The lighting comes out on both sides of the fans as well, so it doesn't matter whether you set them up for intake or exhaust. The three-fan kit includes the Lighting Node Core controller you need, which also simply requires a USB 2.0 and SATA connection, so you can keep your PC's wiring simple inside.
The fans themselves are fairly capable, offering a decent level of airflow while keeping noise levels down to 26dBA. It's not as much airflow or as quiet of noise levels as some of the competition, but sometimes we suffer for fashion, and the QL120 fans offer plenty in the way of fashion.
6. Cooler Master MasterFan MF120 Halo
Best Addressable RGB PC Fan
If you’re after addressable RGB fans, you’re clearly looking to control the vibe of your gaming PC, and the Cooler Master MasterFan MF120 Halo can be a big help. For one, the fans offer solid cooling potential, and you can opt for silent operation at just 6 dBA or go for max cooling at 30dBA.
The ARGB lights are the stars of the show. Each fan includes 24 LEDs, and those are divided into two rings around the circumference of the fan. This gives you a ton of control and lets your lighting shine from the front, back, and sides of the fans. Plus, the translucent blades of the fan will give that RGB lighting that much more impact.
7. Phanteks PH-F140MP
Best 140mm PC Fan
Because Phanteks’ PWM PH-F140MP produces very high static air pressure, it’s ideal for cases crowded with radiator fins, water-cooling radiators, and restrictive grills. The fan speed is fully adjustable thanks to its PWM motor – you can vary it from 500 to 1600RPM, and at the lower end of the spectrum, the fan is essentially silent.
You can expect a long service life, since it’s built on what Phanteks calls a UFB (updraft floating bearing), which is a kind of sleeve bearing.
8. Noctua NF-P12 redux
Best 120mm PC Fan
This is the second time Noctua appears in this list, and it won’t be the last. That’s because Noctua makes superb (and affordable) fans, and the NF-P12 redux is a high-performance example.
This fan generates very high levels of static pressure and airflow while minimizing noise. You’ll get a long life from the self-stabilizing oil pressure bearings, and Noctua’s attention to detail is evident in the shark-tooth notches in the trailing edge of the blades, which disperses sound and helps this fan stay extra quiet even at higher RPMs.
9. Phanteks T30-120
Best High Airflow Fan
If you’re building a gaming PC with water cooling, you’re not going to want to go with any old fan. You’ll need something that can deliver a high static pressure to ensure it doesn’t struggle to push air through a constricting radiator fin array (or a fine mesh panel for that matter). So, in this case, you’re going to want the Phanteks T30-120 fan.
This 120mm fan keeps it simple. No flashy RGB lights. No special modular assembly. What you get is a powerful fan for your money. Each fan can move a ton of air at 67 CFM. They also boast 3.3 mmH2O of static pressure, so they’ll do an exceptional job getting air to move through your radiator and expel heat from your system. They aren’t too simple though, as they have a switch to select three different operating modes depending on your needs — no software necessary. Just note, while a lot of PC fans are roughly the same size, the Phanteks T30-120 achieves its extra power with a thicker design of 30mm, so make sure you’ve got room for the extra size if your system is tight on space.
10. Noctua NF-A12x15
Best Low-Profile PC Fan
Sometimes, case tolerances are tight. In those instances, Noctua has you covered. The Noctua NF-A12x15 is a slim PC fan that comes in at nearly half the thickness of many of the other products on this list. So, when you need to squeeze a fan into a tight spot, this one is your best bet. It's effectively the slim sibling of the Noctua NF-A12x25.
The compact size of this fan doesn't mean it's sacrificing performance. You can still get a solid 55 CFM of airflow from this fan, letting you keep your case full of fresh, cool air. And, even at its highest level of airflow, it only produces 23.9dBA of noise. Noctua has some options to lower the noise even more, including a Low-Noise Adapter, which brings it down to 16.8dBA with a sacrifice to airflow, as well as anti-vibration mounts that can prevent unwanted rattle. Both of those come included with the fan itself, so you get that flexibility at no extra cost.
11. Lian Li Uni Fan
Best Clutter-Free PC Fans
Get strong airflow for your computer is undeniably important, but it shouldn't have to come at the cost of a clean internal build. Wiring up a bunch of case fans can not only be tedious, but all those extra cables strung about could start to interfere with its function. The Lian Li Uni Fan system offers a unique solution for wiring up multi-fan setups.
The Lian Li Uni Fan may look like most other fans (except that it has some smooth RGB lighting around the edge of the fan), but it uses a special connector and a multi-fan controller to let you get a cleaner setup inside your PC. The trick is in that connector, which can actually let you interlock multiple Uni Fans, and they'll share their power and control signal. You can run a single Uni Fan, but the benefit is most pronounced when you need a lot of fans, as you can connect up to four fans and control them off a single connection. You can also support up to four clusters of four fans (for a total of 16 fans) using Lian Li's special controller.
What to Look for in a PC Fan
First things first: Fans aren’t generic, one-size-fits-all commodities. Connector styles vary, for example. You’ll find four pin connectors on pulse width modulation (PWM) motors, which are easily speed-adjustable and somewhat more energy efficient. Three-pins generally control DC motors, though adapters are available.
The size of the fan casing is also important. Fans commonly range in size from 80mm to 250mm, and you’ll generally need a large fan for a large case, since a 120mm fan won’t move much air in a cavernous enclosure. In some cases, you have some flexibility when choosing fan sizes; 140mm fans generally have the same mounting holes as 120mm fans, for example. But as a general rule, larger fans are quieter, move more air, and even last longer.
In addition, fans are generally optimized to either move a high volume of air with large blades and high RPM or generate a high static pressure. High airflow fans can run into problems when installed in a case with restricted airflow – that’s what high static pressure fans are for.
Unlike most PC components, fans are mechanical systems meant to run continuously for years. Ball bearings, often found in the least expensive fans, tend to fail the soonest, while sleeve bearings are a step up in quality and longevity. Fluid bearings tend to have the longest lifespans.
While there’s a fair bit of engineering that goes into the best PC fans, in principle, they’re pretty simple devices – they’re fans, and designed to move air from one place to another. That means a critical spec to keep in mind is the CFM, or air moved by the fan in cubic feet per minute; higher numbers are better. You might also want to watch for their noise level. Generally, the noise generated by a fan (measured in dBA) is directly proportional to its CFM, but there are design features that can keep fans quiet. Larger fans, which can spin slower to move the same amount of air, also tend to run more quietly.
Finally, LED lighting has become a major consideration for many systems – since modern LEDs don’t add heat to the system and don’t interfere with airflow, it’s become common to find fans with integrated lighting – either a single color, adjustable to a handful of colors, or a full 16.7 million color LED system.
Dave Johnson has been writing about gaming and tech since the days of the Palm Pilot. See him shout into the Twitter void @davejoh
