What does "Noise Level 0.3 Sone" mean on an ARCTIC page?
A loudness rating for the fan, printed with no speed, distance or test standard beside it. The Freezer 50 is the lone page that adds a condition, "@ max. rpm".
Sones measure perceived loudness, so 2 sones should sound twice as loud as 1. Decibels are logarithmic, and moving between the two needs the sound's frequency content. Our sones vs decibels explainer covers the arithmetic.
Two problems make the row hard to shop by. The same 0.3 sits on fans whose speeds differ by more than double, and nowhere does ARCTIC say how a figure was taken. The P12 pages come closest to a test condition, though for a comparison rather than a rating: "In internal performance tests leveled to 28 dB (A), the new P-fans left many competitors behind."
Where page and sheet agree, each current 120 x 120 mm fan in the US range reads 0.3 sone.
| Model | Speed | Airflow, pressure and price |
|---|
| F12 | 1350 rpm fixed | 53 cfm, 1.00 mmH2O, US$9.99 |
| F12 PWM PST | 230 to 1350 rpm | 53 cfm, 1 mmH2O, US$11.99 |
| P12 | 1800 rpm fixed | 56.3 cfm, 2.20 mmH2O, US$10.99 |
| P12 PWM PST CO | 200 to 1800 rpm, dual ball bearing | Shown as currently not available |
| P12 PWM PST A-RGB and P12 PWM PST RGB | 200 to 2000 rpm | Both currently not available |
The 15 mm P12 Slim PWM PST has a figure only on its spec sheet, written "0,3 Sone".
The P12 Silent, at 1050 rpm and 24.1 cfm, shows 0.08 sone on its page and 0.3 on its sheet, and stays off the table for that reason.
Then there is the P12 Max, rated 0.6 sone at up to 3300 rpm. Its US page was still live on November 7, marked currently not available, yet the fan had dropped out of ARCTIC's US fan range listing. The P12 Pro family, LN and Reverse versions included, prints no figure. Neither does the BioniX P12 A-RGB.
Which ARCTIC 140mm fan is quietest?
The F14 Silent, at 0.08 sone and 800 rpm. No current ARCTIC fan of any size has a lower figure.
| Model | Rating | Speed | Other details |
|---|
| F14 Silent | 0.08 sone | 800 rpm fixed | 46 cfm, 0.45 mmH2O |
| P14 | 0.3 sone | 1700 rpm fixed | 72.8 cfm, 2.40 mmH2O, US$11.99 |
| P14 Slim PWM PST | 0.3 sone, spec sheet only | | 16 mm thick, US$13.99 |
The F14 Silent pays for its figure with about a third of the P14's airflow and most of its pressure. No figure appears for the P14 Pro, P14 Pro Reverse or BioniX P14 A-RGB. The P14 PWM PST and P14 PWM PST A-RGB, both 0.3 sone, and the P14 Max now sit among ARCTIC's discontinued US models.
Small fans run from 0.3 to 0.6 sone
Every 80mm ARCTIC reads 0.3 sone apart from the high-pressure P8 Max at 0.6. In 92mm, one fan has a figure at all.
| 80 x 80 x 25 mm | Rating | Speed | Other details |
|---|
| P8 | 0.3 sone | 3000 rpm fixed | 23.4 cfm, US$8.99 |
| P8 PWM PST | 0.3 sone | 200 to 3000 rpm | 23.4 cfm, US$10.99 |
| P8 PWM PST CO | 0.3 sone | Same speeds, dual ball bearing | US$11.99 |
| P8 Max | 0.6 sone | 500 to 5000 rpm | 40 cfm, 5.3 mmH2O, US$13.99 |
| P8 Silent | 0.08 sone on the page, 0.3 on the sheet | 1600 rpm fixed | 15.6 cfm |
That 92mm fan is the F9 PWM PST CO (92 x 92 x 25 mm), at 0.4 sone, 150 to 1800 rpm and 43 cfm, and it was shown as currently not available. The newer P9 PWM PST, P9 PWM PST CO, P9 Silent and P9 Max list nothing. For Thermalright and be quiet! 80mm fans rated in dB(A), see our 80mm fan guide.
ARCTIC's tower coolers, the Freezer 36 and Freezer 36-S, print no noise figure. The small Alpines do.
| Cooler | Socket | Rating | Other details |
|---|
| Alpine 17 | Intel | 0.3 sone on page and sheet | US$16.99 |
| Alpine 17 CO | Intel | 0.5 sone on the page, 0.3 on the sheet | US$17.99 |
| Alpine 23 | AMD | 0.3 sone | 100 to 2000 rpm, US$13.99 |
| Alpine 23 CO | AMD | 0.3 sone | 200 to 2700 rpm, US$14.99 |
Fan speeds and dimensions are all you get for the Freezer 36, its A-RGB, Black and CO versions, and the Freezer 36-S and Freezer 36-S A-RGB. The dual-tower Freezer 50 once listed "Noise Level: 0.4 Sone @ max. rpm" and is now end of life. Makers that rate the whole cooler are compared in our CPU cooler guide.
Do ARCTIC Liquid Freezer AIO coolers have a noise rating?
No. Not one Liquid Freezer sold in the US has a sone or dBA figure on its page or spec sheet, whether the Liquid Freezer III 240, 240 A-RGB and 420 A-RGB, the whole Liquid Freezer III Pro line or the workstation Liquid Freezer WS360 models.
Speed is what ARCTIC prints instead. On the Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 the pump runs 800 to 2800 rpm, the small VRM fan on the pump block 400 to 2500 rpm, and the three P12 Pro radiator fans 600 to 3000 rpm.
The Liquid Freezer III 280, 360 and 420 have reached the end-of-life list. Corsair, be quiet!, Lian Li and other makers that publish pump or fan figures for their AIOs appear in our AIO cooler guide.
Workstation and server parts switch to dBA
This is the one corner of the range rated in decibels, with the Freezer 4U coolers at 40 and 45.3 dBA and the S8038 server fans at 55.5 and 64.2 dBA on their sheets.
| Model | Type | Rating | Speed and airflow |
|---|
| Freezer 4U-M Ampere | Workstation air cooler | 40 dBA | Two 120mm fans, 400 to 2300 rpm |
| Freezer 4U SP5 | Workstation air cooler | 45.3 dBA | Two 120mm fans, 300 to 3300 rpm, US$69.99 |
| S8038-7K | Server fan, spec sheet only | 55.5 dBA | 500 to 7000 rpm, 70 cfm |
| S8038-10K | Server fan, spec sheet only | 64.2 dBA | 500 to 10000 rpm, 102 cfm |
The units are not consistent even here. The Freezer 4U Altra uses fans with the 4U-M Ampere's 400 to 2300 rpm range, 71.9 cfm and 3.3 mm of pressure, yet it is rated 0.5 sone rather than 40 dBA. The 40mm S4028-6K and S4028-15K show 0.3 sone on their pages, and the S12038 fans print nothing.
Five models where page and sheet disagree
Three current models have conflicting noise figures between product page and spec sheet. Two more conflict on speed or airflow.
| Model | Product page | Spec sheet |
|---|
| P12 Silent | 0.08 sone | 0.3 sone, with the same speeds, airflow and pressure |
| P8 Silent | 0.08 sone | 0.3 sone, with the same speeds, airflow and pressure |
| Alpine 17 CO | 0.5 sone | 0.3 sone |
| Alpine 17 | Same noise figure; fan at 250 to 2700 rpm | Same noise figure; fan at 100 to 2000 rpm |
| P12 Slim PWM PST | No noise row; 200 to 2100 rpm, 34.51 cfm, 1.33 | The only noise figure; 300 to 2100 rpm, 42.1 cfm, 1.45 mmH2O |
Discontinued ARCTIC fans and coolers
The US end-of-life list holds most P12 PWM, P12 PWM PST and P14 PWM PST fans, the BioniX P120 and P140, the P14 Max, the Freezer 50 and three Liquid Freezer III sizes: the 280, 360 and 420. The 280 and 360 pages we opened print no noise figure. The older P12 PWM PST and P14 PWM PST fans read 0.3 sone, the BioniX fans 0.45. The Freezer 4U-M, at 40 dBA, is on the same list.
One oddity: the black P12 PWM PST, ACFAN00120A, is not on that list, yet on November 7 it was missing from ARCTIC's US fan range and its page showed currently not available.
Are ARCTIC fans quiet?
ARCTIC rates them as quiet. The trouble is that the sone figures are too uniform to tell one model from the next, and only the F14 Silent has a low figure that page and sheet both support.
Shop by speed instead. A fixed-speed ARCTIC states one rpm, and in a given case a fan spinning at 800 or 1350 rpm will be quieter than one at 1800 or 3000, whatever the sone row claims. On PWM models, the bottom of the range shows how slow a fan curve can take it. Fan curves and mounting fixes are in our PC fan quieting explainer.
