Noctua’s highly anticipated second-gen NF-A12x25 G2 120mm fans hit retail at $34.90 — redesigned fan blades and hub boost cooling performance

Noctua’s next-generation NF-A12x25 G2 120mm fans are finally available for purchase. The latest high-performance fans are available on Amazon for $34.90 each or $64.90 for a twin pack. A follow-up to the original NF-A12x25 fans, which launched back in 2018, the second-generation model made its first appearance at this year’s Computex trade expo as part of a collaboration with Asus. The two companies jointly launched the RTX 5080 Noctua Edition GPU, which featured three NF-A12x25 G2 fans.

The new NF-A12x25 G2 is essentially a smaller version of the NF-A14x25 G2 140mm fans, which debuted last year. Noctua continues to use its patented Sterrox liquid-crystal polymer (LCP) for the fan construction, which is said to offer high tensile strength and low thermal expansion characteristics compared to traditional thermoplastics. Apart from the redesigned fan blades, the fan hub has also been optimized with a special pattern allowing the G2 to offer better airflow performance compared to the original NF-A12x25.

(Image credit: Noctua)

(Image credit: Noctua)

(Image credit: Noctua)

The fan is available in three versions: a standard PWM model with speeds of up to 1800 RPM, an ultra-quiet LS-PWM model that tops out at 1100 RPM, and an Sx2-PP set that includes two fans. The two fans in the set are intentionally offset by 50 RPM, a design choice that is said to improve push-pull performance and help reduce acoustic interference when multiple fans operate side by side.

According to the company, the new NF-A12x25 G2 fans can be used in a range of scenarios, including general case ventilation and more demanding tasks, such as cooling heatsinks or water cooling radiators. In internal testing, Noctua reports that the G2 model performed 3.5°C better than the original NF-A12x25 at a 200W heat load on a 120x49 mm radiator, with both fans operating at similar noise levels. When tested with the NH-U12A heatsink under the same thermal load, the G2 offered a modest improvement of about 1°C under identical acoustic conditions.

In case airflow scenarios, the G2 fan is said to deliver around 9% more airflow than its predecessor at the same pressure drop. Additionally, the updated model can operate approximately 1.5 to 3.5dB quieter in certain conditions while maintaining comparable thermal performance, particularly when used on radiators.