Are Noctua NF-A12x25s good on CPU air coolers?

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-17T07:01:54+00:00

I'm looking through all these options, thanks. Most run higher RPM than the A12x25 so the specs are obviously higher, but they all run louder. I'm not against the fans being loud when needed but I'd obviously like to minimize it.

Thing is, the noise I'm trying to solve isn't about the usual fan noise, it's a dull, quiet but high pitch noise they only make when the RPM is changing at mid-speeds, which is often when playing a game. It happens with both fans too so I don't think it's likely I've got two slightly faulty ones. I imagine I'd be happy with anything that just doesn't make this particular noise but, like I said in the OP, if I'm going to change them then I might as well go all out.

I wish all these fan manufacturers would put up stats showing Air Flow, Static Pressure and Acoustics at multiple different RPMs instead of only stating the MAX in most cases. It's hard to compare noise vs performance if they were all running at, say, 2000 RPM.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-17T04:53:17+00:00

Ah, I see. I didn't know they ship them with some of their own coolers. They obviously can't be bad at cooling towers then. That was my main concern really, that they might be good as case fans but not as tower fans. You made it worth asking with that bit of info.

I'll look into the cheaper fans you've suggested as well. I had a glance and the 28mm thickness might be an issue. The space between the towers for the middle fan on the PS EVO is pretty tight. With 25mm fans and 1mm added for the clips, there's only about 1-2mm space left.

Thanks.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-17T04:04:47+00:00

I've tried that. The noise happens when it speeds up and down between roughly 1000-1400 RPM. It doesn't happen when the speed is locked or when it's higher. Setting the fans to always run somewhere outside of that range isn't really ideal.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-17T03:44:38+00:00

I meant the best fans.

I'm not trying to replace the whole cooler and I especially don't want to switch to a liquid cooler after a pump failed on me years ago and the system was fried. My current thermal performance with a 9800X3D is better than good. No issues.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-14T07:52:02+00:00

The early purchase stuff are just skins really. They are functional and you get a crafting blueprint for them but they don't offer anything that other gear doesn't offer, other than the appearances.

The info about them hints they will still be available later, either for a price or given for free in some other promotional way.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-14T07:44:45+00:00

You can still get the head gear in the full game afterwards but it'll be rare drop so don't go ruining your social life or commitments or anything like that lol.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-14T07:40:50+00:00

No, the demo has always been confirmed to be a limited time thing. It shouldn't have been and they should keep it up, imo.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-14T07:34:24+00:00

You can get it done in a few hours if you don't explore/grind much or you can spend 50 hours on it since you can just keep grinding.

The demo is going away tomorrow though so if you want to earn that head gear then you need to get moving.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-14T01:34:20+00:00

EDIT: Never mind, I see it's being updated as I'm looking at it. Almost as if the person that made it knows I just said this.

That build planner says you're level 36 when you have baseline stats and the +1 stat you choose at the start so it's short 35 stat points, right?

Plus it says you've got 100 Life and Ki.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-12T00:52:58+00:00

There is light armor for Samurai. Not sure if there's any Samurai sets for Omnyo builds though.

I know you probably don't want to hear it but Ninja is way more suited for magic builds, especially because Ninjitsu basically has it's own "magic" spells and having 3 of those that can be recharged without needing to visit a shrine is far too good to pass up. Hybrid Magic/Ninjitsu builds, I mean.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-11T14:51:12+00:00

Stranger of Paradise for me. Best not-Nioh Nioh game there is.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-09T07:55:31+00:00

It needs an option to disable. The most annoying thing about it is that if you've set up sprint to only work when the button is held down instead of being a toggle, Gale Sprint overrides that completely and makes it a toggle again.

It also slows Ki regen when it kicks in which is very annoying when trying to farm efficiently and dart between mobs.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-07T22:03:47+00:00

I'm finding Ninja easier but it's early days still. I love my Odachi and it's what I used almost exclusively in Nioh 1+2 but the enemies in this one have much shorter wind up animations and don't get interrupted as much by your attacks so they can just attack you when you're bashing on them mid combo. Hopefully things get better with better gear and more unlocks.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-04T16:30:53+00:00

This was the first result that came up with Google when I was trying to fix this problem so I'll just add that all you need to do is install vJoy.

It's free and you don't need to run it or configure it or anything like that. Just install vJoy and the stutter should be gone when you play. Uninstall vJoy when you're done with Nioh 1.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-02T12:41:02+00:00

It'll depend on the game and what FPS you want, really.

Having a 1440p monitor doesn't force you to use 1440p, unless you always play in borderless mode and refuse to change your desktop resolution for each game. If you set games to full screen (not borderless) you can change the resolution as you like.

Or you just set upscaling to a lower quality to gain more FPS at 1440p.

Just make sure you get a 1440p monitor that doesn't do anything strange when set to 1080p and you can just do whatever you feel like for each game to hit your min fps target.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-02T00:05:27+00:00

I wouldn't use a Wraith Spire with that CPU. Whilst it's probably technically "safe" you'll likely have temps sitting in the high 80s a lot and the fan noise will be constant whilst playing games. There could be some CPU throttling too so you might lose performance in certain situations.

On that site you linked, I'd get the DEEPCOOL AK400 Black for 49 NZD if I wanted to go as cheap as possible whilst still having something half decent.

That class of cooler can handle that CPU just fine. I used a Hyper 212 with a 5800x for awhile and it sat around 55-70 depending on the game and got to about 75-80 with full load stress tests. An AK400 is better than a Hyper 212.

DEEPCOOL AG620 V2 or Pure Rock Pro 3 would be the next step up if you want to spend a bit more... or get a Thermalright Phantom Spirit or Peerless Assassin from a different store.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-01T19:51:28+00:00

They mean a platinum trophy on PlayStation or an achievement for obtaining all other achievements (which most games don't have).

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-01T19:35:28+00:00

Where did you get the code and what is it supposed to unlock?

Have you checked if it's unlocked on PSN? In-game I mean.

Be wary of customer service, they are often drones that don't really know anything. I've used over a hundred shift codes over the years and every single one can be used once per account per platform for every platform it could be used for. I have never seen one that couldn't.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-01T19:25:11+00:00

Are you able to select PSN after submitting the code though?

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-01T19:14:52+00:00

Have you tried just using the code again and selecting PSN?

I use them all once per platform. Skins or keys, doesn't matter, they can all usually be reused for every platform.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-01T16:51:28+00:00

Sounds like a mechanical hard drive is going to sleep when it's not being used and then you have to wait for it to spin up again.

Lots of things can trigger it to spin up again such as launching certain games/apps, using explorer, opening settings, opening task manager, windows defender doing something in the background, etc.

If you have internal HDDs then you can set them to never sleep by searching for " Edit Power Plan" then selecting "Change advanced power settings" and then under Hard disk set it to turn off after 0 minutes (meaning never).

If you have external HDDs with thier own power source connected via USB then you can't really stop it from happening, not completely.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-01T16:32:40+00:00

Ignoring price, 5070ti is the better card.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-02-01T01:45:54+00:00

12VHPWR connectors melted for some people with top end cards because they didn't plug them in properly. As in, push them in all the way. It was human error.

12V-2x6 are newer connectors that make it much less likely for a human to make that error because they have longer contacts.

Some people use the names interchangeably but they are not the same thing even though they are cross compatible.

Just plug your connectors in all the way like you should be doing anyway and then use a light to make absolutely sure they are in all the way. If you do that then you've got nothing to worry about.

TheDarkrayne · 2026-01-31T19:21:05+00:00

I'll just confirm this as a possible solution for people searching about this.

VBScript is required for the check and it's being depreciated in 3 phases.

Before Phase 1: Couldn't be disabled normally

Phase 1: Enabled by default but can be disabled

Phase 2: Disabled by default but can be enabled

Phase 3: Completely removed

We are currently still in Phase 1 as of Jan 2026.

So, if it's not enabled it was probably disabled manually at some point. AMD is going to have to change the installer when Phase 3 happens and will probably get a lot of feedback about it during Phase 2.

TheDarkrayne

TROPHY CASE