Noctua NF-P12 Redux Review

Introduction

While other Noctua Redux fans were already able to convince us, today it is going to be all about the Noctua NF-P12 Redux, a budget pressure optimized fan!

What's in the Box?

Unlike Noctua's regular lineup of fans, their Redux line focuses primarily on getting the price down while trying to uphold the same level of performance.
One of the ways Noctua manages to achieve this goal is by removing any unnecessary additions and extras that keep the price high.

Therefore, the content of a Noctua NF-P12 Redux Fan will solely contain the Fan itself and a 4-Pack of Fan screws.

However, the Package itself does still come in the usual Noctua fashion using the usual Noctua design, including the spec sheet we summarized down below:

Installation

As 99.9% of fans out there, the Noctua NF-P12 Redux needs to be installed using the 4 included screws. Put it into position, screw it down, done.

Unlike most Noctua Fans, however, the PWM connection will not be provided using a 1cm extension on the Fan end and a 30cm extension.
On the NF-P12, there is a 40cm long PWM cable directly connected to the fan, a method that we surely prefer.

Appearance

Compared to any other Noctua Fan, the Redux lines clearly follow a completely different design guideline.

The Frame of the Fan is painted in a lighter grey color while the Fan Wing part comes in a darker tone.
But that's not all. Due to the cost measuring methods, Noctua had to apply to keep the price low, they obtained from adjusting the littlest aspects of the fan which would potentially increase performance. Stepped Inlet Design, Inner Surface Structures just to name a few.

These little do heavily impact how the fan ended up looking.

Instead of the usual Noctua Product where you see tons of little mini gimmicks like indentations and weird-shaped pieces of plastic, the best word to describe the S12B is: Simple. A simple fan, in Grey, doing what a fan should be doing.

Benchmark

We tested the Noctua NF-P12 in our usual testbench.

While letting the Fans spin at 100% of their max 1200RPM speed, they managed to keep the 3700x at 47°C.

Surprisingly, Noctua's Redux line P12's managed to outperform their "premium" NF-F12's by a whopping 10°C, a very surprising result.

On the Noise-to-performance end, however, the Redux NF-P12s had to witness a heavy downfall and very quickly lost to any other Noctua fan in existence.

Conclusion

Looking at the Max Performance, the Redux NF-P12 seems to be an excellent Price-to-Performance option for a budget-friendly version of an NF-A12x25. In the end, an 8°C difference for a 10€ cheaper fan is not that bad.
However, on the noise to performance end, the NF-P12 clearly lost the battles too, not only, every Noctua Fan, but also many other models which are coming in at a much cheaper price tag.

Therefore, although the NF-P12 can compete in other things like build quality, the 40cm long PWM cable, Bearing, Max Performance, we are still suggesting looking into alternative options.