BEST SLIM 120MM FAN Grouptest 2023 for Mini-ITX builds.
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IT'S BACK! Our slim 120mm fan mega grouptest returns with more models than ever and more tests than ever so you can pick the best slim 120mm fan for your mini-ITX system. We've got over a dozen to test including old favourites from ARCTIC and Noctua, but some brand new models too including Corsair's AS120 Slim.
Check out the new 140mm slim grouptest! • What's the BEST SLIM 1...
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Buy the fans:
👉 Best slim fan - SilverStone SST-AS120B 👉 amzn.to/3Nvg36X
👉 Great airflow and RGB option - Corsair AF120 Slim 👉amzn.to/3NyLcHu
👉Affordable allrounder - Rosewill Ultra Slim fan/ Akasa Slimfan 👉amzn.to/3XctjBu
👉Decent option for European buyers - Alphacool SL15 PWM 👉amzn.to/4666uDK
👉Great value, good noise quality - ARCTIC P12 Slim PWM 👉amzn.to/461iqH3
👉Great value, good allrounder - Thermalright TLC12015 👉amzn.to/3JiE7sm
Gelid Slim 12 UV Blue 👉amzn.to/3CyML1S
ID Cooling NO-12015-XT 👉 amzn.to/3CzzBBX
Noctua NF-A12x15 👉 amzn.to/3NzYbJm
Prolimatech Ulta Sleek Vortex 12 👉amzn.to/3qO7wUU
Scythe KazeFlex 120 Slim 👉 amzn.to/43WUaUq
Silverstone FN124 👉amzn.to/3CtAEDs
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:52 What are slim fans and why should you use them?
3:17 Sponsor message - get cheap Windows keys with SCDKey
4:28 Test setup
8:38 TLDR - Overall score of all results
14:51 Sound quality
19:34 CPU temperature
22:34 Noise tests 1,000rpm, 1,500rpm, full speed
25:51 Airflow tests 1,000rpm, 1,500rpm, full speed
28:04 Airflow to noise ratio/efficiency
30:01 Noise-normalised 44dBA and 50dBA
33:07 Airflow to noise quality ratio
34:23 Price to airflow ratio, efficiency to price ratio
37:29 Sound recordings Akasa Slimfan / Rosewill Ultra Slim fan
38:08 Sound recordings Alphacool SL15 PWM
38:33 Sound recordings ARCTIC P12 Slim PWM
39:08 Sound recordings Corsair AF120 Slim
39:31 Sound recordings Gelid Slim 12 UV Blue
39:57 Sound recordings ID Cooling NO-12015-XT
40:27 Sound recordings Noctua NF-A12x15
41:16 Sound recordings Prolimatech Ulta Sleek Vortex 12
41:43 Sound recordings Scythe KazeFlex 120 Slim
42:13 Sound recordings SilverStone Air Slimmer SST-AS120B
42:47 Sound recordings Silverstone FN124
43:32 Sound recordings Thermalright TLC12015
43:59 Conclusions
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:52 What are slim fans and why should you use them?
3:17 Sponsor message - get cheap Windows keys with SCDKey
4:28 Test setup
8:38 TLDR - Overall score of all results
14:51 Sound quality
19:34 CPU temperature
22:34 Noise tests 1,000rpm, 1,500rpm, full speed
25:51 Airflow tests 1,000rpm, 1,500rpm, full speed
28:04 Airflow to noise ratio/efficiency
30:01 Noise-normalised 44dBA and 50dBA
33:07 Airflow to noise quality ratio
34:23 Price to airflow ratio, efficiency to price ratio
37:29 Sound recordings Akasa Slimfan / Rosewill Ultra Slim fan
38:08 Sound recordings Alphacool SL15 PWM
38:33 Sound recordings ARCTIC P12 Slim PWM
39:08 Sound recordings Corsair AF120 Slim
39:31 Sound recordings Gelid Slim 12 UV Blue
39:57 Sound recordings ID Cooling NO-12015-XT
40:27 Sound recordings Noctua NF-A12x15
41:16 Sound recordings Prolimatech Ulta Sleek Vortex 12
41:43 Sound recordings Scythe KazeFlex 120 Slim
42:13 Sound recordings SilverStone Air Slimmer SST-AS120B
42:47 Sound recordings Silverstone FN124
43:32 Sound recordings Thermalright TLC12015
43:59 Conclusions
Incredible work as usual mate. This is a godsend for mini-ITX peeps. Appreciate the effort!
Thanks! this one was a bit of a mission - kept thinking of new graphs to do :D
This video is a god-send. There are barely any videos out here that talk about the best slim fans. Itx/sfx content is harder to find, especially when you get more specific with some itx components (like slim fans or specific itx cases for that matter), and I'm glad I bumped into your video. I was about to purchase the Noctua NF-A12s, but the price is hefty. With this video, I was able to save up a ton by going with the Scythe Kase Flex's instead. They're way cheaper, $26 vs. $6 here in the Philippines. Thank you so much for your effort in making this vid :)
These videos are phenomenal, thank you. EXTREMELY helpful in planning my SFF build, subscribed today!
Thank you for the very informative video. Was looking for a slim fan setup for my aio and this provided a lot of good info. Thanks again!
@@JoshuaGmyr my pleasure! 😉
I was on the edge of buying a NF-A12x15 for my black ridge cooler but after this thorough review I changed my mind and purchased a Silverstone AS120B. Thanks for all your effort, i must say this is the best comparison of 120mm Slim Fans out there. KUDOS!
Thanks! The Noctua is still a great fan in some situations but overall the SilverStone is just a bit more flexible 😊
thank you for testing the 120mm air slimmer because it's been on sale in AU to make it cheaper then a p12 slim after shipping so your testing made it a really easy pick up for me.
Amazing ! I was just looking for a review on the slim fans weeks ago, yours is the best so far
A lot of the others are trash affiliate linking sites that copied stuff from my last grouptest to be honest! No data and no actual comparisons just recommending stuff and a lot of the fans were terrible too. I’m an old school reviewer. I like my data 😊
One of the most comprehensive test videos I've ever seen! Good job! Subbed & saved to my channel.
Very thorough testing, nice work. I just discovered this channel and subscribed.
Really really useful information in this video. Congrats! Thank you for making me buy the Air Slimmers over Noctuas (which were my first thought).
I appreciate your work on testing these slim fans. I am in the market now.
Super helpful, just what I needed today
Great comparison and testing!
Thank you for this great video sir! Hats off. God bless!
Thanks for your effort!
Fantastic video, very useful info.
Thanks for this great insight! It's easy to just listen to other videos on CZcams which are a few years old and pick Noctua without knowing what's new out there.
Based on the sound, I have a soft spot for that Akasa fan.. has a pleasant whirl at higher speed
I am super sound sensitive so I completely understand this approach. I’d much rather have a fan with good sound quality. In fact it’s probably top of my list for a mini-ITX rig as it’s probably sitting on your desk within a few feel of your ears unlike a larger ATX tower that sits on the floor or further away
Excellent video! Crazy to see that the Noctua fan has been dethroned from a few years ago. The SST-AS120B is 15.6mm though, not quite as slim as the Noctua which is 15mm.
Incredible video!!
Great work, superb video!
This is an excellent video, never seen coverage of the Air Slimmer until I watched this. Are you planning to do a slim 92mm fan comparison? I'm interested to see how the Air Slimmer 92 compares to the NF-A9 and Thermalright 9015
Really great work!
I'm a first time pc builder. Finding your channel is helping me to get the best bang for buck. Thank god for enthusiast like you willing to share your experience and insight.
My big question is just how much cooling I really need, because knowing that means I can buy the quietest fan to do that job. Right now I have a pair of P12 Max fans on the top of my NR200 and they seem to be doing a great job at keeping my build quietly cool. I'm certain that once I have a game running for a few hours I'm going to start missing extra fans to help with mobo temps as well as the GPU. Looking at what you have tested I'm going to use the P12 slim as the base and consider if I need more air flow, as the SS Air Slimmer has a higher pitch sound to me.
Nice work! Also saved this video for future reference.
This confirms what I suspected about that ID-Cooling fan. Just recently swapped it out for a Kaze Flex II and and have been getting better temps with the IS-55 ARGB, which is otherwise a decent cooler for its size. I wasn't aware of the performance of some of these other slim fans or I might have considered them, as well.
I ordered the Thermalright fan for a Fractal Design Terra build a day before seeing this video and I'm glad it's not too bad on the charts, especially given the price and RGB. Would have been better to go for the Silverstone Air Slimmer, though, going by your results.
You wouldnt be able to use the silverstone air slimmer with that cooler because that fan is 15.6mm thick and the screw it comes with wont support the air slimmer (I own both) now I got the Deepcool AN600 and Im having the same problem lol should of gone with the thermalright axp120-x67 wich doesnt use screws to attach the fan
Nice reporting. I like how you take great care about testing the fans and informing us about your tests. When comparing noise profiles and levels, please try and find a way to measure vibrations that connect to the chassis. That's quite often a "problem" for me with fans.
Great effort and big love from a loyal ITX fan .. keep it up
hint: we want more details about D2000 Corsair its really interesting case and what you've done with it
Great video ❤️
Great video… I currently have the Scythe Kaze Flex in my itx build…glad to have reference for other fans….the Silverstone and the Alphacool are very promising…also looking at that Corsair since I have a white build
Consider the Thermalright RGB fans if you so fancy. The 3 pack is like 13 bucks and they work great.
This video inspired me to dremel a hole for a slim fan in the front of my nrp200max when I do a custom loop in it. Cheers mate
Ha ha! If I inspire anyone to use a Dremel then it's mission accomplished
Badly needed this for my new nr200 + gigabyte 6800xt build. Cheers!
I got 2 of the Arctic fans in my case now - if they hit 100% speed, the blades expand and hit the frames due to the sh*t plastics they use, friends of mine have reported the same issue so I wouldn't recommend these at all!
Thanks for the info. Same thing happen with IDcooling fan. shit build quality
Damn I was looking at the white ones I just need 2 white ones for my aio.
I popped into this video to see if there are any better slim fans than the one I have installed in my itx build, and lo and behold I managed to get the Silverstone AS120B
GJ thx for this, my only thing is Arctic P series are made for radiators vs the F series for air....they needed to make those also
well done,bravo.
Nice Work
Nice extensive testing. Must have taken a long time to compile all the data. I do have one request though. I think it would be really beneficial to see a legend on the charts. Something like "higher is better" "lower is better" etc.
awesome I'm looking at adding a slim to my air cooler or replace mine with a better one
best review of fans in whole youtube
Do you have some test with the a12x15 against the air slimmer 90 for example ?
between the Arctic P12 Slim and Thermalright TLC12015 which one the best for a replacement fan for air cooler? and which one the best for case fans? bcs i can barely found other fans in my country, but these 2 are quite easy to find.
Thank you
Great video. I'm going to try the Silverstone's in my NR200 case as bottom intakes. I used your Amazon link.
Thanks. You going RGB or the plain black version?
I'm going to buy the same case. Did you mount Silverstornes's fan?
Thanks, very interesting
nice video!
would be great to see a full graph of noise levels for each rpm on each fan, like with 200 rpm step or smth like that
I could, but honestly 1,000rpm is pretty much idle speed and barely audible (these noise tests were taken within a foot of the fan so if you're 3-4ft away, anything under 1,000rpm is going to be inaudible. 1500 rpm is where most will sit under load and full speed, be it 1800 or 2000 rpm is that added extra if you want a powerful fan. Just trying to balance useful data with the time it takes to obtain it!
Fantastic Video!
Always knew the nf-a12x15 was 🚮
Liked, subscribed, and here's my comment. Thank you!
would be nice to see a prolimatech 140 ultra sleek with the 120mm mount ...i run one in my k39 case on an axp90 x47 with a 90 to 120mm fan adapter ...i have an air slimmer on the way to try against soon...the prolima has 98cfm but 0.9 static vs the slimmer 120 around 65 cfm and 2.4 static so it will be interesting to see a static vs airflow result
Should I take the Alphacool SL-15 for radiators or is there a better option? Silverstone is not an option because it can’t be thicker than 15mm
It was said in the last one and ill second it. Adding the actual max RPM of each fan on relevant graphs would help draw an even better picture say if a fan goes much higher than another then the jump from 1000 rpm to max would look worse.
😅 go test it yourself Jesus I swear people cry over the littlest thing in terms of fans Christ man I'm over finding the best fan are T30s and Silverstone win my wallet
i'm using that 120mm pwm slim fan for the CPU heat pipe cooler because the original fan that comes with cooler master hyper 212 black edition is intefering the ram i have to change it to left to make pull air and the 120mm slim pwm fan will be push air
Great test, waiting for 140 mm :)
czcams.com/video/7igdZomGvpM/video.htmlsi=pBTS9rOdOwNNR7Uw
Went for SilverStone Air slimmer 120 (non-RGB) for $21 after this watching this video. I find it obnoxiously loud at full speed. There’s that humming sound as if the fan blades are vibrating at high rpms.
Maybe I should have gone for the argb version?
Great work good to have some fresh data on these fans as a few years have pass now good work.... Please work on your audio its way too low...
Great video. I wish there were more 140mm slim fans
There’s only two I think but I’ll be testing those soon. If you spot any let me know!
Silverstone just released a slim 140 air slimmer model with shark blade fins. Currently there are 0 reviews of them online
@XHeavygunX it’s arriving this week 👍 It’s been in development for a very long time and I’ve been holding off doing my 140mm group test till it was here. Stay tuned!
@@CrazyTechLab that’s great! I currently have two in my fractal ridge case with a 4090. I originally had the arctic slim 140s but they were louder and at high rpm’s I was having issues with blades warping and rubbing the frame. 0 issues with my air slimmer 140s though.
@@XHeavygunX Gonna be paying close attention to the Arctics then - same reports of the 120's doing that. Is that just at full speed?
Great video like always.
I just looked up prices in my country and the prices vary very much, depending on in which country you live in.
Kaze Flex Slim II 10$
Thermalright TL-C12015 13$
Akasa 15$
Silver Stone SST-AS120B 23$
Noctua NF-A12x15 30$
AF120 RGB SLIM 40 [Non RGB aren't available right now]
I would be able to get the other fans, but only through import, which drives the costs of even a single fan, which is just not worth buying it at that point.
Price to performance wise Thermalright is probably the way to go in my case or Silverstone if I wanna go all out.
Yeah that's the issue I've had here in the UK. Had to order a couple in from overseas. Someone picked up the ARCTIC fan for 6 euros recently which is ridiculously cheap.
An idea for a video, slim fans in push/pull configuration vs standard fans (push) on a rad. Even in standard ATX cases push/pull isn't possible a lot of the time due to GPU length. But you might if you're using slim fans. Question is, Is it better?
Really good idea. I plan to do a slim vs normal fan - best of each to see how they compare but will definitely add that idea too! Thanks!
@@CrazyTechLab this is great news. I was just wondering on exactly how much I would give up going from say my P12 PWM (non-slim, non-PST, non-CO, non-Max) would compare against the P12 slim and the same for noctua, thermalright c12015 vs c12 etc. In my use case going from standard 25mm fans to 15mm would get me from 317mm to 327~330mm GPU clearance as well as a slim fan would fit outside my case under the front panel but a 25mm fan will not fit under the front panel which would get me to 340mm GPUs. Thank you for doing these tests I can't find anything close to this from even the big names in tech.
@@CrazyTechLab I did this test some time ago, with 4 15 mm noctuas vs 2 noctuas nfa on 240mm radiators. The single 25mm fan is better (just sligtly) with a slim radiator, but two 15mm fan (push-pull) is better with a 60mm thick radiator. So also restriction for airflow matters in this.
If you do something like this I will very much be liking to see the results, I subscribe, thank you for your efforts.
Necro on your comment, but i thought ill tell you anyway. I have a Galahad 360 LCD and it comes with a set of 3 Uni Infinity on it, exhaust in the top. I live in a very hot country, so i decided to try push-pull. Very little room in the roof of my case, just enough for slim fans, so i have 3 Arctic P12 slims acting as pulls there and it gives me about a 3 to 4 degree drop without any increase in noise. I have them running at 1500rpm.
Great video, though you are very quiet. I had to max out my laptop speakers and still struggled to make out what you said. I switched to another video and nearly went deaf haha
@@blankname8553 ha ha! Sorry about that. I probably thought everything sounded very loud due to me being in such a quiet room testing the fans 😂 Is a work in progress and I’m still learning g but thanks for the feedback 👍
Godsend.
The akasa slim fan blades protrude from the casing, really bad for tight and fiddly applications. I had to make shims out of tape to get the panel on without the blades getting stuck.
We need an updated video please with latest fans.
Nice comparison!!
Which is the best exaust fan at medium speed, like 500/600 rpm?
That’s extreme low speed. I wouldnt have any of the fans at less than 1000rpm because they’re mostly inaudible at that speed and as they’re so thin they shift very little air. Noise and airflow for some are not even measurable much below 1000rpm
Very useful video. Only the noise to airflow ratio makes little sense (the noise normalized airflow is really useful though). The problem with airflow to noise ratio is that airflow is a linear scale, but noise is logarithmic. So high airflow will always win, because the cost of high airflow (logarithmic noise scale), barely goes up. I think the noise normalized airflow is the perfect comparison - only thing missing would be a even low noise level comparison - some fans might to even be able to run at very low speed - which would be good info.
I'm actually working on a calculation that takes into account the human ear perceives a doubling in noise every 10dba. That way it should at least be representative what we actually hear verses the airflow you get. But fully appreciate what you're saying.
Will you do a test of 140 mm Slim fans because i cant found alot but i find Silverstone air slimmer and the Arctic fan you tested
Yes I’m still waiting on Silverstone to send their new fans. I have two others to include in the test as well. Video will be live as soon as possible
👍
tytyyyyytytytyty
These silverstone fans aren't available anywhere at the moment, would really like a couple of the argb silverstones.
Algorithm comment, thanks for testing all of these fans. 😊
can u do a 140 test on slim fans.. i got a cryorig xt140 slilm and its pretty loud under load
Yes, the 140 slim fan group test is in the works. There is a new one from a popular manufacturer releasing in November so I’m hoping to wait till then however I will say the Cerrig probably won’t be part of that group test because I don’t consider it to be worthwhile. It’s not what I’d call a proper fan. It has shocking performance, it’s very loud and definitely not recommended for cases or radiators. It’s probably okay if you’re extremely limited on space with a low profile cooler, but in every other situation a proper 15mm slim Fan is going to be better.
Lol I did good outfitted my mini itx with three of these sst120b one being on the CPU cooler and other two for top exhaust thinking of rigging another on the bottom to push GPU air out more
Nice! Yeah the black ones are much better value
Comment for the algorithm great work! Now need to go back in time to buy the right fans 😂
Noooo! :) Which one did you already get?
@@CrazyTechLab I picked up 3 arctic slim fans to put on a Corsair xr7 radiator.
@@jamesr9683 Oh they're still pretty good. Good sound quality and quiet, just not mega powerful. Two rows maybe? :)
25:51, Did you measure speed or airflow, and how? Units don't match. (m vs m3). Good work nonetheless. Thanks very much.
I measured airflow in metres per second using an anemometer. Volume flow is m3 which I did not measure.
would you recommend the SST-AS120B as a case fan for a spot that's tighter than usual?
That’s just the black version of the RGB one I reviewed here right? If so yes absolutely
@@CrazyTechLab not looking to spend 40 bucks on rgb tbh.
also it's the same model you reviewed in this video
@@oreesama22 Yep the SST-AS120B is the one. Just make sure it's not the 124B as that's terrible :)
Would be great to see how the Alpenföhn JetStream compares, kinda hard to find reviews on it. If you want one but have a hard time getting one, let me know
I have it with me right now! Review out in the next few days!
@@CrazyTechLab what a timing haha. Looking forward to it! Your channel is a gold mine for SFX builds, thank you for all the information
Would have loved to see CPU temps as well in the noise normalised section. Maybe next time.
😅😅😅 what max vs 1500 rpm wasn't enough Jesus Christ Lmaooooo
Working on a forD v2 dual rad 240mm and 140mm. I can use full thickness fans on the 240 but need to use a slim 140. The only real option is from arctic. It works but the fan blades feel flimsy and there is definitely some wobble
You'll like the grouptest I have coming up. comparing that one to the Jonsbo one I found recently! the acrtic ones are pretty cheap - the 120 has good performance but build quality is poor compared to Noctua for sure
@@CrazyTechLab that’s excellent. Have been looking at that jonsbo one. It’s a little harder to get but I e been thinking about it
@@theb4r138 Yeah I had to order it from Ali Express. Took about a month!
Apparently arctic updated the slim 140 fans recently to connect the blades together. I picked up the new one and it feels a lot more solid, still some wobble though
@@DIYdudeguy Definitely 140 yeah? Or 120? I have the 140 for the upcoming 140mm group test and the blades are definitely separate. Only got it a month or two ago!
How do they perform on a cooler or radiator?
Check out 19:34
ordered 2 SilverStone air slimmer 120 and one of them came clicking from the get-go and after 50 days of use totally broke down
Oh sorry to hear that. Was it just the one that died?
gelid has the best sound, reminds me of my corsair LL120mm fans. Too bad most of these don’t come in white.
I’m not trying to compensate because of a shade lol
😂👍
yeii! kuak
In Europe Noctua and Silverstone slim are the same price...
After seeing this review I have purchased two slim silverstones. Booth died after 4h :D
How did they die? I don’t think I’ve ever had a fan die unless the blade got caught on something!
@@CrazyTechLab I`ve installed both of them at the back of 4090 aio to pull heat out in push pull config. They seized literally after 4h. I assume too much heat into the bearing or something. Very unexpected. Went for Arctic P12 and so far so good.
The best is new id cooling 67xt's cooling fan which gives 67.5 cfm
i would never believe manufacturers specifications. Only believe third party reviews. They could say it does 80cfm couldn't they? Their last slim fan was poor.
yoooooooooooooo
Whatsaaaaaaaaaaaap
Noctua advertises a much higher CFM on their specs but scores less when tested.
I don’t list cfm. The readings are meters per second airflow. So speed not volume.
Hello
Can you test jonsbo hf1215? Pls
Got it here. On the list! I did the 140mm recently too