I have an old Thunderbolt SSD enclosure that has a one-speed fan (always on) the noise from which has annoyed me for years. When I heard about this fan, which happened to be exactly the right size, I was excited with the idea that I could lower the noise level.
Now that the new fan was installed, the noise level is significantly lower in volume and frequency vs the original fan, which was an old Sunon MagLev model. It's not utterly silent but much less annoying, so I'm happy with the purchase.
I agree with other reviewers that the quality of the materials is quite high, especially for the modest price.
If you have a PC motherboard then I'm sure the installation is turnkey. However the connector in my enclosures (I checked a second one also) are not the same as the Intel/AMD standard connector so the install required some soldering. Since the fan in my enclosure is always on and one speed, there are only two wires on the fan connector, so some internet research was needed.
I removed the existing fan and clipped the wires going its the proprietary connector. Then I soldered the wires from the Noctua cable to those wires, insulated the joints with heat shrink tubing and re-installed the fan. In my case the original wires and the Noctua wires were black and red, so no polarity check was necessary, but YMMV. There are 4 extension/adapter cables that come with the Noctual box, so I didn't actually have to modify the wire/connector permanently wired to the fan. Instead, I just modified the appropriate adapter cable.
I wanted to run it in LNA (low noise) mode, using the designated cable in the Noctua box. Online chatter suggested to ignore the third (yellow, tach) wire and just connect up the red and black on the LNA cable, which I did. It works but the reduced airflow method seems to be to turn the fan on and off. This made a slight clicking noise at the beginning and/or end of the on-cycle. That was annoying - in part because no fan is truly silent.
So I then clipped the big 4 pin connector (from PCs of old, maybe 3/4" across) off the 3:4 adapter cable - it just has red and black wires - and soldered them on the wires coming off of the proprietary connector from the enclosure. The fan runs at full speed now but the noise is consistent.
If you aren't comfortable soldering small wires and insulating the connections - and your application is something other than a PC motherboard - then a replacement fan might not be the best bet for you.
| Brand | Noctua |
|---|---|
| Item model number | NF-A6x25 |
| Item Weight | 0.32 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 8.5 x 1.5 x 6 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 8.5 x 1.5 x 6 inches |
| Color | Brown |
| Voltage | 12 Volts |
| Manufacturer | Noctua |
| ASIN | B009NQMESS |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | October 9, 2012 |
