ARCTIC P12 Max - PC Fan, 120mm Fan, PC Case Fan, High-Performance 120 mm case fan, PWM controlled 200-3300 rpm, Optimised for static pressure, 0dB mode, Dual ball bearings - Black

Product Information

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. Arctic has announced its P12 Max 120mm fan featuring a new design touting much higher performance while keeping noise under control. While the 5-Fan Wing design is definitely coming straight from the original P12, the Ring around the Fan is something seen on the P12 ARGB 0db. The P12 Max is said to be optimised for all scenarios from chassis cooling to heatsinks or radiators. The brand also advertises a significant 16.5°C reduction for the Core i7-13700K when using two of these fans on a Liquid Freezer II 240, putting performance from the more compatible cooler within touching distance of a larger Liquid Freezer II 360. 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.

The fans at 100% of their speed were doing approximately 53 dB(A) at an ambient of 32 dBA. One of the fans was making 76 dB(A) due to bad bearing. We have to mention this since we are testing these fans. Conclusion Finally, it should be noted that the cable does not have any mesh, just the typical plastic coating. Terminates in a 4-pin PWM connector.

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. Before moving on to the charts, it should be pointed out that the Arctic P12 Max has a very wide speed range. Its lowest setting (as set via PWM) is 200 rpm, and at that level as well as a fair bit higher, the fan is effectively silent. We are starting at 1000 rpm as this is where most fans produce comparable noise levels over ambient (pump noise etc.).

Overall, the P12 Max is definitely the highest-quality fan we have seen coming from Arctic as of now. Benchmark

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)