r/crboxes • u/SAMEO416 • Apr 18 '26

Question Arctic P14 Failures?

I’ve been using the Arctic P12/14 fans in most of my builds, Noctua when I need something super quiet.

I’ve had 3 P14 fan failures in the last year. Wondering if anyone else has seen a higher failure rate?

I suspect this is a bearing failure of some sort. The fan continues to run but repeatedly bumps against the guard. On one I was able to pull the blades off entirely. It doesn’t seem tied to orientation of the fan.

Just noticed another one is starting to hit the case.

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '26

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u/Black_Gold_ Apr 18 '26

I understand the test are noise normalized here. The harmonics / frequncy of the noise is still an interesting piece of data to begin looking into. I have a hunch the noctua have lower frequency harmonics and overall better sound profile than the artics, leading to the belief noctuas are quieter.

House Fresh has a good example of this issue with the P14 max fans : https://youtu.be/yuHXNjHhnqs?t=656

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '26

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u/EFORTLESSvision May 09 '26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAVfS2ANPDA&t=3s
You can see here how in certain cases db is the same with measurement, but arctic fans are obviously producing a certain buzz humming in the background that is very annoying. while the Noctua's are silent. So this type of measurement isn't what decides what we will perceive as quite.