The Arctic P12 PWM PST is an impressive high-performance PC fan that rivals Noctua and Be Quiet! with its low noise and efficient air-moving capabilities. Despite the already affordable price, it still finds a way to add more value by featuring Arctic’s PST. This daisy-chaining technology makes fan control, cable management, and installation much easier.
I can’t think of a PC fan that provides a better bang for your buck.
Arctic P12 PWM PST
The Arctic P12 PWM PST is a pressure-optimized computer fan that operates as quietly and as powerfully as high-end fans. It features controllable fan speeds with PWM and can be daisy-chained with Arctic’s PWM Sharing Technology (PST), enabling you to control multiple fans with one PWM header without the need for a fan hub or splitters.
No Nonsense, From the Price to the Box to the Product
I was getting tired of the eyesore that was my old RGB case fans. I wanted fans that had no RGB, but had the highest performance for the money. That’s when I remembered the Arctic P12, an affordable fan that looked cool and did some serious cooling.
I ordered eight fans in total, which worked out to around $7 per fan—much lower than the almost $35 for a single black Noctua fan.
The boxes were simple. It contained just the fans and four screws for each fan. The individual boxes had more visuals, while the five-pack was in a brown cardboard box with a sticker indicating the specs and features. The QR code heading directly to an installation guide is also highly appreciated.
The fans felt hefty and strong, despite being all plastic. A sleek, matte black finish on everything with a cable that’s reasonably long. The aggressive sweep on the fans looks intimidating and looks like it’ll perform well when pushing air through a fin stack, grills, and filters.
Installation: Quick and Easy Thanks to PWM Sharing (PST)
I installed three fans on the front for intake, two at the top of the case and one at the back by the IO ports for the exhaust. And finally, two to replace the stock fan for the CPU cooler. I had to buy extra CPU fan clips for one fan and reuse the clips from the old fan for the second fan.
The only minor struggle you’ll have when installing is managing the cable that’s going to plug into your motherboard’s PWM headers. you may then daisy-chain the fans by plugging it into the PWM Sharing (PST) connector and wind the extra cable around the fan to limit loose cables.
Thanks to Arctic’s PST, I only needed to use three PWM headers to control all eight fans. One PWM header for the three front intake fans, one for the three exhaust fans, and then the CPU PWM header for the two CPU cooler fans.
Sounds, Moves, and Looks Like a Ninja
Turning the PC on after installation, it worked immediately with no hitches. Every fan was spinning and I could barely hear anything.
I adjusted the fan curve in the BIOS to spin up to 100% when my CPU reached 55 °C to keep my temperatures low. When I started up the CPU stress test, I still could barely hear anything, even if the fans were at 100%. In addition to its low noise, its sound is low-pitched, making it less sensitive to the ears.
For performance, my Ryzen 9 3900x with 12 cores runs hot under full load. It ran at 85 °C in the stress test at 100% load. With the Arctic P12, it ran no more than 76 °C under full load. A huge 9 °C drop thanks to two fans on the CPU cooler and efficient fans that can move more air through the grills and heatsink.
For gaming and GPU performance, my GTX 1080 Ti went from 70-71 °C to 68-69 °C under full load, and the CPU average stayed below 60 °C since it was not under full load. I already use a high fan speed for my GPU, so the Arctic P12’s fan noise and performance increase isn’t that significant. But it did lower my GPU idle temperatures from around 54 °C to below 50 °C.
Should You Buy the Arctic P12 PWM PST?
The Arctic P12 PWM PST ticks all the boxes for me, and I’m sure it’ll fulfill your needs, too. If you need RGB or a white fan, Arctic has those as well. High-performance, silent with a low pitch, and very affordable? It’s hard to recommend anything else unless you’ve got the budget for a Lian Li UNI Fan, or just like Noctua’s tan and brown aesthetic.
