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Table of Contents
Overview
As we close the year, we look back on some of the Best PC Fans that came across our desks in 2021. We want to recommend our favorites as you begin a new build in 2022. The PC equipment market changes a lot every year – but 2021 was especially complex due to supply chain problems from COVID-19. Buying PC parts this year is still difficult due to high demand and limited stock. If you are building a computer now, we recommend starting here with our list of favorites that seem to be available.
After researching and recommending fans all year long – we think the Best PC Fan of 2022 is the Noctua NF-A12. We continually run across great Noctua fans – and the NF-A12 is a prime example. It provides excellent static pressure, high airflow, and premium build quality. The NF-A12 is reasonably quiet, and surprisingly affordable for such a fantastic fan from a high-end company.
We love the Noctua NF-A12 for it's excellent build quality and high performance
While magnetic levitation bearings have been around for a little while, we believe that they are now mainstream enough to recommend in any serious PC build. The Corsair ML120 Pro RGB fans have been out since 2017, and we’ve loved them in several builds over the last couple years. We keep coming back to them due to great performance, incredibly quiet operation, and longevity. The MTBF of 200K hours is incredible, that’s over 22 years of operation!
We love the Corsair ML120 Pro RGB Fan for it's excellent bearings and aesthetics
If 2021 was rough on your finances, we understand trying find good value when buying PC fans in 2022. Not everyone needs flashy RGB, and magnetic bearings. For people looking for solidly built and a classy black and white theme – we recommend the Arctic F12 PWM fan. These fans are solid performers and will give you everything you actually need and are an absolute steal at the time of writing ($7).
If you're looking for a great value with high performance and excellent build quality, buy the Arctic F12 PWM Fan today
Why You Should Trust Us
The two staff writers at TechSauce are passionate about PC gaming, technology, and performance cooling. They launched techsauce.net in 2021 to provide insight and recommendations on the pc fan market. Both are Engineers with more than 15 years of experience building computers and technology. This article was written based on hundreds of hours of research into the pc fan market this year. We wrote several articles including Best RGB Fan and Best Radiator Fan this year which helped us keep track of the moving parts of the industry. We also built 7 computers this year and researched dozens of fans for those builds.
How We Picked the Best Fans in 2022
Value: Fans can be incredibly cheap or surprisingly expensive depending on what you’re looking for. We have purchased and played with fans from the whole spectrum and feel strongly that you should get good value for the dollars spent.
Performance: PC fans work by bringing cool air into your case and exhausting hot air out into the room. Higher CFM means more airflow – often at the expense of more noise. Static pressure describes the fan’s ability to push air against resistance. PC fans must have high static pressure when used inside tight cases or with radiators. For recommendations to radiator fans click here.
Noise and Build Quality: Cheap fans are often more frustrating than they are worth. A fan with poor build quality will have long term durability issues, rattles, whines, and scraping noises. There are several ways that fan noise can be reduced. A good fan blade design minimizes the turbulence and noise generated. Many manufacturers claim highly advanced analysis and engineering to maximize laminar flow and minimize noise. Also, good bearings minimize the high pitched “hum” generated by the fan spinning. The three fans recommended in this article each have different bearing types (Magnetic Levitation, SS02 Bearings, and Fluid Dynamic Bearings) – but all of them are high quality and will last a long time.
The Champ: Noctua NF-A12
We love the Noctua NF-A12 for it's excellent build quality and high performance
PC gamers, creators and enthusiasts alike have one brand at the top of their lists whenever the word “best” comes to mind. Noctua. Originating as a collaboration between an Austrian Computer company and Taiwanese cooling specialist, Noctua has dominated the PC industry when it comes to PC cooling, both for heatsinks and fans. Their NH-D15 heatsink is arguably one of the best air coolers one can buy for their PC today. However, we focus on the fan that Noctua pairs with their top performing heatsink: The Noctua NF-A12. This a 120mm fan (one of the most popular due to compatibility in cases and heatsinks alike) which has a range of 450-2000 RPM and can push 60CFM at just 22.6 dBA.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room before we go any further: Aesthetics. While typical PC fans are either black or covered in RGB, most of Noctua’s traditional lineup of fans has neither of these. Instead, Noctua chose brown and beige for their color scheme. Some of Noctua’s newer fans do have black as an option. While we don’t know the exact reasoning behind this choice, our thought here at TechSauce is that Noctua chose these colors to stand out from the crowd. However, our main focus will be on why these fans are truly the Best PC Fans of 2022.
The Noctua NF-A12 fans can be used in any application: heatsink, radiator or case fan. With 2.34 mmH2O max static pressure, there’s a reason they were chosen by Noctua for their award-winning NH-D15. These fans are also PWM with a standard 4-pin cable, so they can be controlled either by your motherboard or a separate fan hub with automatic software control. While these fans do not have RGB, we personally believe that Noctua’s choice to focus on performance and noise with their R&D budget has paid off.
The Noctua NF-A12 fans are top performers. They have excellent static pressure, airflow, and low noise. They manage this while remaining reasonably affordable. Which means if you’re willing to deck out your case in a high number of fans, they won’t break the bank. There’s really not much else to say when it comes to Noctua fans. They’re some of the best we’ve ever worked with, and as a result, we’re giving the Noctua NF-A12 our recommendation as Best PC Fan of 2022.
The Grand Champion: Corsair ML120 Pro RGB Fan
We love the Corsair ML120 Pro RGB Fan for it's excellent bearings and aesthetics
When it comes to PC fans, there’s typically a trade off, whether it be in build quality, aesthetics, or performance. When it comes to the Corsair ML120 Pro RGB fans, they have no tradeoff in sight. Built for both airflow and static pressure, they are the one fan to rule them all. If you wanted to run these fans at their maximum speed (2400 RPM), they’d push 75 Cubic Feet per Minute of air, at only 37dBA. They also have RGBs mounted to the center rotor, which is customizable via Corsair’s iCUE software.
However, what makes these fans truly special, are the bearings. They don’t use rifle or sleeve bearings like typical PC fans. These fans use magnetic levitation bearings or “MagLev” which not only produce less noise, but also perform quite well and will outlast other fans with inferior bearing types. Traditional ball bearings eventually fail, mostly due to friction. As with most moving parts, they can only last so long before they start to make noise in your PC. MagLev fans have partially suspended rotors within a magnetic field. As a result, the fan blades within the Corsair ML120 fans can not only move faster (with the same amount of power), but with less friction. There’s a reason Corsair provides a five-year warranty on these fans.
There’s only one trade off to be concerned about: Price. These fans are unfortunately not cheap, and they rarely go on sale. It’s the reason why we didn’t list the Corsair ML120 Pro RGB fans as our “Best PC Fan of 2022”. We want to make sure that our readers understand there’s a balance to be made between cost and product quality. If money is no object and you want the best of the best, look no further than the Corsair ML120 Pro RGB Fans. You won’t regret it.
The Runner-Up: Arctic F12 PWM Fan
If you're looking for a great value with high performance and excellent build quality, buy the Arctic F12 PWM Fan today
PC components are getting more and more expensive these days (have you seen the prices of graphics cards?) By the time you’re finished buying all of your other components, fans are not always at the top of the priority list. However, if you still want fans that are high performance without bankrupting you, our runner up for the Best PC Fan of 2022 is the Arctic F12 PWM 120mm case fan. These fans typically cost around $7/fan (at the time of writing) and can push 30.5CFM of air at only 21.5dBA. Their intention is to provide a consistent amount of airflow while providing no other unnecessary thrills. Their color profile is a simple black and white, which should match most PC build themes as well.
When it comes to build quality, the Arctic F12 is no slouch. These fans have a fluid dynamic bearing that come with an oil capsule that avoids lubricant leakage. So, as a result the bearings are as quiet as sleeve bearings but with a much longer lifespan, and Arctic stands behind them with a 10-year extended warranty. They are PWM controlled via software by a fan hub or your motherboard, and can be installed as both exhaust or intake fans.
If you’re looking for a high-quality fan, and are a bit tight on budget, we highly recommend the Arctic F12 PWM for your next PC build.
The Contenders
While the following fans didn’t necessarily make our top three fans for 2022, we wanted to make sure you had additional options in case the above were either out of stock or otherwise unavailable at the time of purchase. We like these fans for a variety of reasons; each one would be a great addition to your next build.
The Noctua NF-P12 redux fans are a slimmed down version of an already award winning Noctua fan, with a two-tone grey color palette. With a massive 150K hour MTTF, these fans should have a long service life, as well as top performance for either a radiator or case.
Corsair LL120 RGB fans are fantastic for RGB, with 16 independent RGB LEDs split between two separate light loops in the hub and the outer chassis. With hydraulic bearings, these fans will maintain quiet operation while fitting your PC theme regardless of color scheme. We love this fan so much that we recommended it as our Best RGB fan.
The Cooler Master SickleFlow fans come in a variety of chassis colors and lighting arrangements (our personal favorite is white with RGB). These fans are intended for airflow with a maximum of 1800RPM and a fairly unique blade design to improve air pressure.
Last but certainly not least are the Corsair QL120 RGB fans. These fans are one of the newer offerings from Corsair with a focus on lighting from any angle, whether they’re mounted as exhaust or intake fans. The QL120 fans have four separate lighting zones and 34 LEDs per fan.
2021 was a rough year for the PC hardware industry (among many, many others). However, due to the high volume of competition within the PC cooling space, fans are still readily available this year. We hope that we were able to guide you what we think are the Best PC Fans of 2022.
