CPU Thermalright tl-b9 fans (static pressure optimized line, not c9)

[BeerNsoup]

Stumbled across these while looking for Thermalright stuff. They aren't listed on the thermalright site... not even the chinese site which from what I understand will often have new products listed ahead of the international site.

I think these might be really great for sff since most 92mm fans don't have very "pressure optimized" blade designs. Even the nf-a9, which as far as I can tell is the top 92mm fan, doesn't look like a modern static pressure optimized design. These look a bit reminiscent of a miniature t30 or arctic p12 to me. There's definitely some similarity to the A9 going on, but they do look like they close up a bunch of the empty space/gaps from blade to blade and blade to frame vs the a9.

Thermalright's tl-b12 fans are their static pressure variant and supposedly pretty solid (from what I've been able to dig up they seem to perform right in the pack with the rest of the GT clones.. a12, toughfan, wonder snail, etc.). So this having the "b" in the name indicates to me it's intended use is on heatsinks, which is pretty cool since 92mm fans are typically airflow or "dual purpose" optimized. Noctua will still have the motors beat I'm sure but thermalright motors are apparently pretty decent regardless, and the blade design looks superior vs the A9 when it comes to heatsinks. Maybe this can dethrone the a9 for users of the u9s, 92mm top down coolers, gpu deshrouders who use 92x25mm fans, etc.

I couldn't find the tl-b9b (black variant), although it's mentioned in the pics of one of the links below. Maybe it's just a matter of time for the black one to release, or perhaps someone who is fluent in Chinese can dig em up on taobao (it's a bit of a struggle for me using taobao lol).


TaoBao links: here, and here

Aliexpress: here

Thoughts?

 

[Neathdrawls]

Stumbled across these while looking for Thermalright stuff. They aren't listed on the thermalright site... not even the chinese site which from what I understand will often have new products listed ahead of the international site.

I think these might be really great for sff since most 92mm fans don't have very "pressure optimized" blade designs. Even the nf-a9, which as far as I can tell is the top 92mm fan, doesn't look like a modern static pressure optimized design. These look a bit reminiscent of a miniature t30 or arctic p12 to me. There's definitely some similarity to the A9 going on, but they do look like they close up a bunch of the empty space/gaps from blade to blade and blade to frame vs the a9.

Thermalright's tl-b12 fans are their static pressure variant and supposedly pretty solid (from what I've been able to dig up they seem to perform right in the pack with the rest of the GT clones.. a12, toughfan, wonder snail, etc.). So this having the "b" in the name indicates to me it's intended use is on heatsinks, which is pretty cool since 92mm fans are typically airflow or "dual purpose" optimized. Noctua will still have the motors beat I'm sure but thermalright motors are apparently pretty decent regardless, and the blade design looks superior vs the A9 when it comes to heatsinks. Maybe this can dethrone the a9 for users of the u9s, 92mm top down coolers, gpu deshrouders who use 92x25mm fans, etc.

I couldn't find the tl-b9b (black variant), although it's mentioned in the pics of one of the links below. Maybe it's just a matter of time for the black one to release, or perhaps someone who is fluent in Chinese can dig em up on taobao (it's a bit of a struggle for me using taobao lol).


TaoBao links: here, and here

Aliexpress: here

Thoughts?

The link is to a retailer on Taobao, that indicates in their store page that the B9B (Black) is still not in stock and/or lacking in stock, as Thermalright's official Tmall does not have the B9B listings up yet, only the B9 (Grey) and B9W (White), and they have just included in the listing and is easier to update once the B9Bs are in stock.

The retailer, is very responsive and I have bought from them more than a few times. Not promoting them or anything, but they usually have new stuff quite quickly and offer customization, like graphene coated heatsinks, heatsinks without fans and so on. Also, they tend to offer cheaper prices as well.

Interestingly, Thermalright's JD store is usually the first to be updated with new stuff, but both B9 and B9W aren't up there yet. However, both Thermalright's Tmall (Grey, White) and official reseller (Grey, White) Tmall have both the grey and white fans up in their store listings.

Thermalright’s international website is probably the last place they update. The China’s page is more up to date, but it still lags in comparison to their JD store page.

As in an earlier post in a different thread that I made regarding the fans:

• Design wise, the B9W has a 7 blade design, compared to the other 92mm x 25mm fan option from Thermalright, the TL-C9B has 9 blades.
  Also, according to their own tests/sepcifications, the B9W runs at the same max speed of 2500RPM, while boasting higher airflow, better static pressure and acoustics, when compared to the C9B.

As always, manufacturer/brand's specifications and tests are always to their benefits and in an ideal test situation, and should be taken with a grain of salt. Also, on paper, the new B9 fans come close to Noctua's NF-A9, with very marginal differences in between both fans. The A9 has better accoustics and static pressure, but worse CFM. Once again, very small difference.

In my opinion, on a personal usage level and with the fans within a PC case, I believe the differences in the fans will be even smaller, possibly even running equally in both performance and noise. If you like Noctua, go for them, if you like similar performance at a cheaper price point and white fans, Thermalright has you covered.

When the B9B drops, I most likely will get a couple of them to switch out the old C9Bs, only because I already have way too many fans (both Thermalright and Noctua) but new fans are always better eh?

Edit: Spelling errors.

One interesting factor would be the pitch, whine, rumble and motor noise of the new Thermalright fans vs Noctua’s.

Noctua is usually the gold standard of fans, but they aren’t the best performance (Phantek’s T30 is great but at 30mm thick, it’s like comparing Noctua’s NF-A12x15 to their A12x25 and saying the A12x15 is a worse fan), nor are they most quiet.

If you understand Mandarin, Rinhai on YouTube and probably bilibili has done a test of quite a number of 120x25mm fans, and found that overall, Nidec’s GT2150 is the amongst the top, while Noctua’s NF-A12x25 is slightly better in noise and Thermalright’s B12 is slightly better in performance. Whereas for noise, he found that Artic’s P12 is the most quiet, but there has been numerous reports that the P12s have a humming noise at certain RPM levels. Delta’s AK-12B perform the best, if you don’t care about noise, but those run at 2500 RPM. For value, Thermalright’s C12 and Artic’s P12 are both fantastic in terms of price to performance.

However, that being said, noise tolerance is very subjective and depends on the individual as well.

Personally, for what’s it worth, I have more than a couple of Thermalright’s B12 Extrems, the ones that go up to 3150 RPM, and in comparison to the NF-F12 ippc 2000 RPM fans, at full speed, the Noctua’s has a more irritating sound profile, like something rumbling.

Also, Noctua is more well known around the world and with it’s reputation and great customer service, it is something to take note of.

Thermalright whilst a brand with a good number of years in the market as well, with a focus more on the Asian markets is not as well known in the western world nowadays (the older people might recognise them for their older products), and their customer support might be lacking for those that don’t read, write or speak Mandarin.

 

[BeerNsoup]

@Neathdrawls

Just wow my dude. What an excellent response with a lot of great information. Haven’t checked the links yet but looking forward to it tomorrow. Thank you for taking the time to write that all up.

Thermalright has been impressing me the last while with the now (really) long list of compact coolers rocking 120s, what look like excellent fans, and even taking aim at the d9l. All while keeping prices reasonable. It’s kinda tough to keep up with the new releases because they just keep pumping them out at an astonishing rate. Have to admire a company that keeps refining their product even when it’s only really competing with themselves (135mm coolers). Just wish they were more accessible in the west.

..I should have been asleep a while ago, but I really appreciate the reply. Thank you.

 

[Svek]

The TL-B9B comes with the S110.

Silver Soul 110 BLACK – Thermalright

www.thermalright.com