[muddocktor]

All right, I have some results with the Noctua fan while using their speed reduction dongles on the fan lead. These came with the fan and I guess that's one reason why the Noctua fans cost more than the others in this test. The same conditions were used for testing with the lower speeds as before and what follows are the results I got when varying the speed of the Noctua from 1300 RPM to 1100 RPM and 900 RPM. The actual speeds as monitored in bios were as follows: 1375 RPM, 1080 RPM and 955 RPM.

BTW, these are the specs listed on the Noctua website at the various speeds:
1100 RPM
Airflow - 46.2 CFM, 1.31 Cu. meters/minute
Air Pressure - .0564 inches water, 1.43 mm of water
Noise - 16.9 dB-A

900 RPM
Airflow - 37.3 CFM, 1.06 Cu. meters/minute
Air Pressure - .0477 inches of water, 1.21 mm of water
Noise - 12.6 dB-A



As you can see, the cooling ability of the Ultra 120 did drop off a bit, but not nearly as much as I thought it would. Even with the Noctua at low speed, heat didn't become a problem at this heatload on the Ultra 120. I guess that just proves how well the U-120 is engineered, as this processor at this speed and vcore is a heatload of approximately 125-130 watts. Since I will most probably be installing my Q6600 into this rig after I upgrade my main rig, I will be curious to see how the Ultra 120 can deal with the heatload of an overclocked quad with the various fans.

So I guess that gives me a "Round 2 of testing" after I do upgrade this machine to the quad. The heatload will take a dramatic jump with an overclocked quad, with a 200+ watt heatload not being unreasonable to assume.