Noctua NF-R8-1800 80mm Case cooler

Pros: Works great moves a lot of air.

Cons: Without the lna's its louder than I like.

Other Thoughts: The ulna is not really necessary

Pros: Great cooling performance.
Silent operation.
Excellent mounting design.

Cons: Costly.

Other Thoughts: Noctua delivers the very best performing case and cooler fans on the market. This is one great fan with excellent characteristics. I only use Noctua fans.

Pros: I have one of these cooling a mini-itx rig that I use as a Minecraft server. The computer sees near 24/7 up-time but I never notice it – it's nearly dead quiet.

This little fan pushes a surprising amount of air even with the low-noise adapter attached.

The fan comes with lots of goodies: a low noise adapter, an ultra-low noise adapter, and a molex to 4-pin connecter.

Super high build quality and it feels and looks solid.

Cons: Hard to say a lot here but I'll try my best to be critical.

Not PWM, but honestly that shouldn't be a problem. Hook up the low noise adapter or the ultra low noise adapter and you'll never hear it unless your ear is right next to it. Plus, Noctua has a PWM version of this fan for 2$ more at the time of writing if it's that important to you.

Color: some people might not like it but personally I think it sets Noctua's fans apart and makes them look special (because they are).

Price? Again, not really an issue in my mind. You're paying for a very high build quality fan that does exactly what you'd expect it to: it moves lots of air quietly. Also, it has a 6 year warranty, and though I've never had to deal with it personally, from what I've read Noctua's customer support is very good.

Other Thoughts: Bottom line: if you're looking for a 80mm fan to keep a small-form factor machine cool and quiet, this is the fan for you. If the color or the cost bothers you, just suck it up and buy it anyway; I promise you won't regret it. The LNA and ULNA as well as molex power adapter are super nice and give you tons of flexibility.

Pros: This is perfect in every way. Quiet and very effective. I make music with my computer and noise is nto an issue with this fan.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: Last forever

Pros: Like the option to have rubber mounts, like that I can choose the fan speed/noise combo by changing the connectors. Very smooth operation. 150,000 hours is a long time for a fan to last.

Cons: Really not that quiet at 12v (full power) I think if I put an 7v connector on my Dell fan it would get quieter too, so why is this fan so expensive? Can't reach the back of the fans easily in my case (mid tower) so I can't get all four rubber mounts installed. It's impossible to push them in all the way so you have to also pull from inside the case.

Other Thoughts: We'll see how long they last. I guess if they last twice as long as a cheaper fan that could offset the greater cost. I'm sure the fans with the notched blades might be quieter, and the 120mm are probably quieter still, but don't expect miracles from these things.

Pros: Low, low noise. Because of processor and graphics card upgrades, I wanted a base fan for my vintage Apple G4 Cube - a virtually silent computer since I installed an SSD. Installed this fan with the "low noise cable" and I can only hear it with my ear at the top of the computer.

Cons: This is expensive for a fan.

Other Thoughts: I have used Noctua fans in all my PCs, replacing stock fans. They are well worth the money.

Pros: * Adapters to step down voltage to fan for quieter operation than at 12v
* Pleasant deeper tonality to fan's operating noise
* No irregular motor noise or tick
* Startup voltage below 5v so they can be reliably run at very low voltage for near silent operation

Cons: * Stepped down to 7v for reasonable silence the fan is no quieter than other made for quiet computing 80mm fans but seem to have worse airflow
* Voltage step down adapters get hot - I would recommend getting fan connectors that go to the 5v feeds on a molex power connector instead of using these
* Rubber mounts are not as soft or stretchable as others - tear easily if you need to remove and remount fan
* High price compared with other quality quiet fan option by other brand

Other Thoughts: Overall these seem to be quality fans, and may last longer as a result, too early to tell, but given that they must be stepped down to really be quiet enough for an HTPC, if you are looking for an ultra-quiet case fan there are more affordable quality options.

Pros: Not completely inaudible or even astoundingly quiet, but it's smooth and non irritating and hopefully well built enough to stay that way for a long time. Wires are wrapped in rubber insulation which is great (vibrating optical and magnetic drives will make unwrapped wires buzz). Comes with rubber pins or screws for installation.

Cons: The extensions provided are not wrapped in insulation unfortunately. They allow you to set the fan speed physically or connect it to a an old school 4 pin PSU connector instead of directly to the mobo, so I'm using just one of them (4 fans, mobo only supports 3).

Other Thoughts: The cons isn't a real problem. It could be dealt with if it became an issue. The fan seems great to me.

Pros: It looks sturdy enough to last forever.

Cons: Unfortunately, you are now DOOMED to a fan that is FOREVER noisy and FOREVER under powered even at full power.

Other Thoughts: I bought this to replace my stock HP fan. It was BOTH louder and blew less air. I REALLY wanted to like this fan but all it did was make me realize my old fan (upon removing it to stick in the Noctua) just needed a little cleaning and after that it ran more air and quiter than the Noctua. So I guess, thank you Noctua in an obtuse way.

Pros: IT SUCKS AND BLOWS!

Cons: funky color I guess?

Other Thoughts: I have a small exhaust hole in the back of my case and it does a good job with blowing out air. It is really only helpful when I am doing some hard gaming. I do feel it blowing though.