Arctic P14 Max Fan Review

Introduction to the features of the Arctic P14 Max Fan

High-pressure fans, also known as high-frequency fans, allow us to achieve higher performance by using brute force and highly efficient motors, which are also combined with a much more aggressive blade design. Due to their characteristics, they are perfect for situations where cooling is a priority.

There have always been fast fans, the difference is that now manufacturers offer us the best of both worlds. High frequency fans, such as the Arctic P14 Max from this review, which can also work at very low frequencies, achieving very efficient idle states with very little noise, and a lot of performance when the hardware demands it. In this model, ventilation goes hand in hand with the power states of the most demanding components such as the CPU and GPU.

He Arctic P14 Max is a good example of these latest generation fans. It is a 140 mm fan, with high capacities that we will now see, but also with very low frequency modes at rest, which even allow the fan to stop with a PWM control that prevents frequency jumps.

They are very effective fans, without LEDs, which we can buy individually or in packs of up to five fans, with a starting price of less than 18 euros, 60 euros if we buy the pack of five units, which would leave us with the high-performance fan for less than 12 euros.

Specifications of the new Arctic P14 Max Fan

Just as we have tested fans with very specific uses from Arctic, such as its recent fans for server environments, the Arctic S8038-10K, these are more designed to give us a complete solution to an even more complex problem: enjoying the best cooling without this being a problem with quality of use.

They join the Arctic P12 Max that we tested a few weeks ago and face increasingly strong competition from very high-performance fans in this 140 mm format, which can be used for liquid cooling radiators and in cases where this size of fan is becoming the most common option.

This type of fan develops frequencies that are unusual for 140 mm diameter fan motors, approaching 3000 rpmalmost like high-frequency 120mm fans, with noise levels also close to 30-35 dBA at their maximum frequency, but with really impressive numbers. They are on par with or slightly above the 140mm be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4, which are significantly more expensive.

With these numbers and a very careful blade design to increase static pressure, The Arctic P14 Max It manages to move 161 m3/h of air (95 CFM) at a speed of 2800 rpm, producing about 30 dBA of noise, according to the manufacturer itself, with an astonishing static pressure of 4.18 mm-H2Owhich is almost double what a normal 140mm fan offers. It consumes almost 4W per fan at its maximum frequency.

The fan has a PWM connector with a 400mm long cable and allows control between 3.9 and 12V, with a complete fan stop mode below 3% load via PWM. With controllers and motherboards with a complete fan stop mode, we could completely stop the fans when they are not needed, even by zone or component.

Motorization and other features

The motorization of the Arctic P14 Max allows frequencies between 400 and 2800 rpm. This allows a wide range of options and configuration for these fans, from very low noise sleep modes to very aggressive modes with a high cooling capacity.

The design of the Arctic P14 Max It is completely closed, with the blades joined by an outer ring, to improve stability. At these frequencies and pressure levels, This type of design better distributes forces throughout the entire assembly.. There are pads on each fixing tip to prevent vibrations from being transferred to the rest of the assembly.

This is also complemented by a magnetically stabilized fan, which allows vibrations to be reduced to 5% of what we would see in a traditional DC powered fan.

The motorization is a bearing immersed in fluid, a technology that this manufacturer has perfected for years, which allows Arctic to offer up to six years of warranty on this model and constant operation at its highest performance throughout the life of the fan.

Noise and performance

We have mounted these fans on a liquid cooling kit with a 420 mm radiator, the trendy format, with our usual test table, and it is time to see if the advanced features of this model translate into a substantial improvement in performance in the form of lower temperatures.

We have replaced the fans of an Arctic Liquid Freezer III 420 kit with these fans. The original used a maximum of 1900 rpm, with good performance, but far from the performance of these new models. Arctic P14 Max.

Testing machine:

Noise

Performance with conventional heatsink

Performance with 360mm radiator water kit

Analysis and conclusion

These types of fans are not easy to develop. Combining the best of both worlds, pleasant sound behaviour and exceptional performance at very high static pressure levels, is not something that is easy to achieve.

The most interesting thing about this model, which matches the performance of other leading fans from other manufacturers, is that it does so with fairly controlled noise levels and, above all, at a very attractive price, which in kit form can be as little as 12 euros and 18 if we buy it loose.

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