Replacement 120mm Fans / Trash MSI Support

bigdogchris

bigdogchris

Fully [H]
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Messages
18,706
I bought an MSI 240 AIO for my Alder Lake build. I'm happy with the cooler, however, their support is absolute trash and I recommend you avoid them.

I tried to RMA one of the fans because it was clicking/knocking out of the box brand new. 30 days after they received the package, MSI finally emailed asking if they can send me some used non-matching fan they had laying around the warehouse. I responded to the email twice asking a question and 2 more weeks go by and so far no response. Note, they haven't even acknowledged they received the RMA on their RMA status page but did acknowledge they received it via email.

Either way, I've decided to just buy new fans and need a recommendation on what to buy that would work on a radiator (static pressure wise) and are quiet. Looking for something with bearings that support being front mounted. Non-RGB.

Thanks.

P.S. MSI's support is terrible.
 
bigdogchris said:
I bought an MSI 240 AIO for my Alder Lake build. I'm happy with the cooler, however, their support is absolute trash and I recommend you avoid them.

I tried to RMA one of the fans because it was clicking/knocking out of the box brand new. 30 days after they received the package, MSI finally emailed asking if they can send me some used non-matching fan they had laying around the warehouse. I responded to the email twice asking a question and 2 more weeks go by and so far no response. Note, they haven't even acknowledged they received the RMA on their RMA status page but did acknowledge they received it via email.

Either way, I've decided to just buy new fans and need a recommendation on what to buy that would work on a radiator (static pressure wise) and are quiet. Looking for something with bearings that support being front mounted. Non-RGB.

Thanks.

P.S. MSI's support is terrible.
Click to expand...
I'd say go with Arctic P12s. Good performance, cheap, and come in all black with no RGB as an option.
 
bigdogchris said:
I bought an MSI 240 AIO for my Alder Lake build. I'm happy with the cooler, however, their support is absolute trash and I recommend you avoid them.

I tried to RMA one of the fans because it was clicking/knocking out of the box brand new. 30 days after they received the package, MSI finally emailed asking if they can send me some used non-matching fan they had laying around the warehouse. I responded to the email twice asking a question and 2 more weeks go by and so far no response. Note, they haven't even acknowledged they received the RMA on their RMA status page but did acknowledge they received it via email.

Either way, I've decided to just buy new fans and need a recommendation on what to buy that would work on a radiator (static pressure wise) and are quiet. Looking for something with bearings that support being front mounted. Non-RGB.

Thanks.

P.S. MSI's support is terrible.
Click to expand...
They don't get more pleasant in sound, higher quality, or more consistent, than Be quiet:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JMELYJA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
bigdogchris said:
I bought an MSI 240 AIO for my Alder Lake build. I'm happy with the cooler, however, their support is absolute trash and I recommend you avoid them.

I tried to RMA one of the fans because it was clicking/knocking out of the box brand new. 30 days after they received the package, MSI finally emailed asking if they can send me some used non-matching fan they had laying around the warehouse. I responded to the email twice asking a question and 2 more weeks go by and so far no response. Note, they haven't even acknowledged they received the RMA on their RMA status page but did acknowledge they received it via email.

Either way, I've decided to just buy new fans and need a recommendation on what to buy that would work on a radiator (static pressure wise) and are quiet. Looking for something with bearings that support being front mounted. Non-RGB.

Thanks.

P.S. MSI's support is terrible.
Click to expand...

1. Phanteks T30-120 - if you want best and don't care how much they cost or that they only seem to be available in 3-packs right now. 30mm thick
2. Noctua NF-A12x25 - really really good
3. Thermaltake Toughfan 12 - pretty good knock off of the one above, a little cheaper
4. MSI Silent Gale 12 - same as above. I doubt you want to give your business to MSI though.
5. Nidec Gentle Typhoon - this is actually the original that fan #2 is based on, but it's a little louder because of ball bearings.
6. Phanteks PH-F120MP or BeQuiet SilentWings 3 - these are good, but not as good as the 5 listed above
7. Arctic P12 - Performs about the same as the above 2, a lot cheaper, but has an annoying resonance at around 1000RPM.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xx0xx
like this
JSHamlet234 said:
6. Phanteks PH-F120MP or BeQuiet SilentWings 3 - these are good, but not as good as the 5 listed above
Click to expand...
The thing about Be Quiet, in my experience, is consistency. I have a few of them. Silentwings and Purewings. 120mm and 140mm. They all sound great, no weird motor noises, etc. and when you hold them in your hand, they just seem better than virtually all others. Its true that some of these other fans may slightly beat the SilentWings 3 in air pressure. But, IMO, they don't beat them in consistency. I am constantly hearing about consistency issues with Arctic. I own pairs of a few different models of Noctua and none of the pair sound like eachother----one of them being plainly worse than the other (one of my slim 90mm noctua's whines like a spinning platter hard drive). I have the 140mm version of the Thermaltake toughfan. I seem to have gotten good ones. But there are lots of customer reviews about premature failures. I have a couple of Corsair ML 140 fans and they remind me of the Nidecs. motor/bearing noise.

I would try the Phanteks. But only from Amazon, where I could return them easily.

There are probably some bad Be Quiet fans out there. But the occurrences seem much lower than other brands.
 
I can't speak for the other fans but my experience with the Arctic P12 fans has been less than stellar. They work great at first, and are quite a bargain up-front - but if your computer is on 24/7, then they only last for about a year or two before they start to get noisy. They use Fluid Dynamic Bearings, which is really just a fancy type of Sleeve Bearing. Even Arctic seems to acknowledge the longevity issues that their fans have, because they have special, more expensive versions of each fan branded "CO" for "Continuous Operation". These fans have real bearings, aka dual ball bearings. These fans are unfortunately considerably more expensive, but I've yet to have a single failure with any of their "CO" fans. If your computer is setup to constantly go into stand-by and shut the fans off then maybe you can get decent life out of a regular P12.
 
A lot of this was covered in these two threads I recently started:

https://hardforum.com/threads/which...ghfan-12-or-turbo-12.2018716/#post-1045322675

https://hardforum.com/threads/gentl...-variant-3-for-57-98.2018780/#post-1045323169

If you can afford a 3 pack of Phanteks T30s and they will fit in your case, do it. Otherwise, choose what fits in your budget between Noctua NF A12x25s, Gentle Typhoons, or Arctic P12s. Also, the Thermaltake Toughfan 120s are on sale for 2 for $30 on amazon right now. 2 Thermaltake Toughfans 120s for $30 on Amazon . They are pretty close to the Noctuas in sound and performance.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
  • Like
Reactions: pavel
like this
GotNoRice said:
I can't speak for the other fans but my experience with the Arctic P12 fans has been less than stellar. They work great at first, and are quite a bargain up-front - but if your computer is on 24/7, then they only last for about a year or two before they start to get noisy. They use Fluid Dynamic Bearings, which is really just a fancy type of Sleeve Bearing. Even Arctic seems to acknowledge the longevity issues that their fans have, because they have special, more expensive versions of each fan branded "CO" for "Continuous Operation". These fans have real bearings, aka dual ball bearings. These fans are unfortunately considerably more expensive, but I've yet to have a single failure with any of their "CO" fans. If your computer is setup to constantly go into stand-by and shut the fans off then maybe you can get decent life out of a regular P12.
Click to expand...
I wonder if there is a sound difference from the standard P12s? I would think the ball bearings would be a little louder even though they are rated at the same noise level by Arctic.
 
bigdogchris said:
I bought an MSI 240 AIO for my Alder Lake build. I'm happy with the cooler, however, their support is absolute trash and I recommend you avoid them.

I tried to RMA one of the fans because it was clicking/knocking out of the box brand new. 30 days after they received the package, MSI finally emailed asking if they can send me some used non-matching fan they had laying around the warehouse. I responded to the email twice asking a question and 2 more weeks go by and so far no response. Note, they haven't even acknowledged they received the RMA on their RMA status page but did acknowledge they received it via email.

Either way, I've decided to just buy new fans and need a recommendation on what to buy that would work on a radiator (static pressure wise) and are quiet. Looking for something with bearings that support being front mounted. Non-RGB.

Thanks.

P.S. MSI's support is terrible.
Click to expand...
Not to excuse MSI but you should of just returned it to where you brought it then do a RMA.
 
vegeta535 said:
Not to excuse MSI but you should of just returned it to where you brought it then do a RMA.
Click to expand...
I did consider that. I weighed not having a cooler vs my assumption that their RMA was not trash. No way to know before hand and hindsight is 20/20
 
chameleoneel said:
They don't get more pleasant in sound, higher quality, or more consistent, than Be quiet:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JMELYJA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
Click to expand...
Imho, Be Quiet and Arctic are pretty close - there's some youtube videos in which the reviewer tested the sound. I thought they were pretty close. I like either one. I think the Arctic are often cheaper and you have a choice of either white or black fans unless you need rgb.
Personally, I am willing to switch out stock fans and even fans from AIOs - because I want them as quiet as possible - and most stock fans are 3-pin? I also wouldn't be expecting much from MSI fans - they probably don't manufacture fans but I would still prefer a company who specializes particularly in fans - Noctua, Be Quiet, Arctic, - those 3 come to mind .
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
GotNoRice said:
I can't speak for the other fans but my experience with the Arctic P12 fans has been less than stellar. They work great at first, and are quite a bargain up-front - but if your computer is on 24/7, then they only last for about a year or two before they start to get noisy. They use Fluid Dynamic Bearings, which is really just a fancy type of Sleeve Bearing. Even Arctic seems to acknowledge the longevity issues that their fans have, because they have special, more expensive versions of each fan branded "CO" for "Continuous Operation". These fans have real bearings, aka dual ball bearings. These fans are unfortunately considerably more expensive, but I've yet to have a single failure with any of their "CO" fans. If your computer is setup to constantly go into stand-by and shut the fans off then maybe you can get decent life out of a regular P12.
Click to expand...
That's interesting - I didn't know that. I probably need to get a few fans soon for a build that is in 'progress.' I was under the impression that P12s/P14s was the fans to get. I want something pretty quiet and was going to get the regular P12s.
 
GotNoRice said:
I can't speak for the other fans but my experience with the Arctic P12 fans has been less than stellar. They work great at first, and are quite a bargain up-front - but if your computer is on 24/7, then they only last for about a year or two before they start to get noisy. They use Fluid Dynamic Bearings, which is really just a fancy type of Sleeve Bearing. Even Arctic seems to acknowledge the longevity issues that their fans have, because they have special, more expensive versions of each fan branded "CO" for "Continuous Operation". These fans have real bearings, aka dual ball bearings. These fans are unfortunately considerably more expensive, but I've yet to have a single failure with any of their "CO" fans. If your computer is setup to constantly go into stand-by and shut the fans off then maybe you can get decent life out of a regular P12.
Click to expand...
I have P14s that have had continuous operation for many, many years and never had trouble with em.
I don't know of any mechanical differences between them and the P12s besides size, but there very well could be.
 
TheSlySyl said:
I have P14s that have had continuous operation for many, many years and never had trouble with em.
I don't know of any mechanical differences between them and the P12s besides size, but there very well could be.
Click to expand...

If they're mounted vertically, then there should be no problem. It's the horizontal orientation that can eventually cause the oil to migrate. Most of the better sleeve bearing fans being marketed today incorporate mechanisms to mitigate this problem (a.k.a fluid dynamic bearings or whatever they choose to call them), but it still happens sometimes.

I can't remember if Arctic uses the regular P14 or the CO version in their AIOs, but it's something to be aware of when running a top-mounted radiator.
 
Phanteks T30's are overall the best 120mm if you can a: accommodate the 30mm thickness and b: find them at a reasonable-ish price.

For the Noctua NF-A12x25 fans, you want the Chromax Black variant which normally adds $1-3 to the price per fan. Both these and the Phanteks are generally over $30 per. Noctua does come with better accessories than just about any other fan maker. You may or may not like that the new Chromax version has a little nub of a 4-pin cable and comes bundled with a good extension cord. However, if you have a sleeved Y-splitter then cable management becomes much tidier.

One other major thing to remember is that regardless of the decibel level the fan is working at, each type of fan (and sometimes even multiple fans of the same make and model) will have their own unique overall sound profile.
 
JSHamlet234 said:
If they're mounted vertically, then there should be no problem. It's the horizontal orientation that can eventually cause the oil to migrate. Most of the better sleeve bearing fans being marketed today incorporate mechanisms to mitigate this problem (a.k.a fluid dynamic bearings or whatever they choose to call them), but it still happens sometimes.

I can't remember if Arctic uses the regular P14 or the CO version in their AIOs, but it's something to be aware of when running a top-mounted radiator.
Click to expand...
Arctic P14 were released Oct 2018 which is about 3.5 years ago. To me that's a few years ago, not "many, many years". Are you sure yours are P14's?
 
To wrap this thread up, MSI ended up coming through in the end even though there was more BS to deal with.

A week or so after posting this thread, I randomly received a generic MSI fan in the mail that I wasn't expecting. It wasn't the same fan from the AIO (no rubber dampers, wrong fan design, etc), but still not record of my RMA being received in their system. I called MSI back and spoke with someone in CS instead of RMA department. After being on hold 25 minutes he said he would get back to me and look into it. A couple days later he called me back and said they were able to source the correct fan and it would be shipped out that day. A few days later I received it and it was the correct fan.

So in the end I did end up getting the correct fan, but it took 2 months and it was a poor experience.

4/10
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top