This rating is based on a comparison between the industrial 2000rpm NF-A14 and the standard 1500rpm NF-A14 for PC. I bought it to see if I could get better cooling performance at the cost of increased noise. The problem was that the kind of noise this fan makes wasn't what I expected. I thought it was just more airflow or wind noise, but the motor itself is annoying. It "hums" at low revs and "whistles" at revs. And the resulting performance was negligible. It just doesn't pay any more than the silent PC version. To be fair to Noctua, there is a disclaimer regarding the noise from these fans on their website, it's just not the noise you expect. I would recommend if performance is all you care about and you really don't mind loud fans skipping these and going for the 3000rpm versions. They are even louder, but also cool much better.
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