The budget king: Arctic P12 PWM case fan in the test – Inexpensive beats expensive (almost)!

Does inexpensive really have to be cheap and, as an acquisition, maybe even free in the end? Not at all if you look at the rather simple-looking Arctic P12 PWM, which manages to bring tears to the eyes of most of the much more expensive competitors. But I don’t want to anticipate the test result, even if many readers have been demanding this test for a long time because they are so convinced of the product. What goes for a good 5 euros can certainly surprise you, but always in sequence. It has to be measured on the significantly more expensive NF-12A PWM than our quasi-reference. Well then, have fun, the only question is for whom.

On the next page you can see how and what we test and why. Understanding the details is extremely important in order to be able to classify the results objectively later. The differences between many models are more in the details and there can hardly be THE best fan for all situations. There is a certain optimum in every situation and of course there are also good all-rounders. But they usually have their price. If you are planning specifically with 60 mm radiators, for example, you can perhaps save money by choosing the best model for your application, which might not do so well as a case fan. And vise versa, of course. Well, and then came the Arctic P12 PWM …

The white frame is kept completely simple and has no decoupling. A 10-year guarantee is also a nice announcement. At a little over 5 euros a street price, these fans are also a very cheap and extremely tempting alternative to get started, especially for use as case fans or on slim radiators. There is no RGB, but that also lowers costs. It certainly doesn’t work for this price either.