When fans are recommended, many brands are thrown into the room, but MSI is rarely in view. The MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 makes it clear by its price range alone that the premium segment is targeted here. Whether the fans live up to this claim and where its strengths and weaknesses lie, we take a closer look in the MSI Silent Gale P12 review.
Specifications
| Speed | 0 – 2000 RPM |
| Connection | 4-pin PWM |
| Airflow | 56.2 CFM |
| Airflow | 2.21 mm H2O |
| Bearing | Hydro Dynamic Bearing |
| Fan blades | 9 made of Liquid Crystal Polymer |
| Warranty | 6 years |
| Price | € 39.90 * |
Packaging and scope of delivery
The MSI Silent Gale P12s come in a relatively compact black box. This box is not padded and you will find the fan along with accessories inside. The center of the fan is covered by a protective film, which is quite easy to remove. The accessories consist of the obligatory fan screws, a PWM extension cable and a connector set. With the latter, you can also mount the fan to the case without tools.
Design and finish
The MSI Silent Gale P12 in this review shows a hint of Noctua DNA, for example, the shape of the fan blades is reminiscent of the high-performance NF-A12x25 and the rubberized corners are also pinned on a similar principle. However, these are noticeably more contoured on the MSI fan and run very pointed. This leads to a much more modern, aggressive look on the MSI MEG Silent Gale P12. In the center of the fan is the image of a dragon.
The cable is quite thin and a sheathing starts just behind the frame, protecting the core and looking neater to boot.
The build quality is very high. The frame is sturdy and the fan blades are also very hard, which prevents “stretching” at higher speeds. The contours are all cleanly finished.
Test procedure
The fans are tested in three situations. Once as a case fan in the DeepCool CH510 Mesh Digital. Then as a radiator fan on an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240. Lastly, also on a DeepCool-AK400 air cooler. In all tests, the fans are each tested at 1100 RPM, once at a uniform 31 dB(A) and once at maximum power. All other fans in the system are set to fixed, low speeds so as not to affect the test.
For the case fan test, one fan is placed at the bottom front of the case and one at the back. For the radiator fan test, the radiator of the AIO water cooling system is installed in the front of the Fractal Design Pop XL Air and the fans are accordingly also placed in the front behind the fan grille. In the air cooler fan test, only one fan is used at a time.
The results are each adjusted for room temperature and given as a delta. Thus, the temperature fluctuations from outside are calculated out of the test results. The current ambient temperature must therefore be added to the temperature given in the tables. So if the table shows a temperature delta of 40 Kelvin and the room temperature is 26°C, the measured temperature will be 66°C. In short, low results are always better in tests.
Comparison fan
The price of the MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 speaks volumes: Here comes the upper class. Accordingly, I choose the competition. First to jump into the field is the Noctua NF-A12x25, as the shape of the fan blades and some other design features of the Silent Gale P12 want to compete with the reference fan used everywhere. In addition, the be quiet Silent Wings Pro 4, which is also jet-black, sets itself apart with a high performance range. For fun and frolic, I also throw in the much cheaper DeepCool FK120 into the race.
Use as a case fan
The MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 and comparison fan are tested in a DeepCool CH510 Mesh Digital. The CPU cooler and graphics card fan are found to be running at a constant speed and heated up for 10 minutes using 3DMark Night Raid. So the only difference is the case fans and their speed. Three tests were performed here: A uniform speed of 1100 RPM, a uniform low volume at 31 dB(A) and the maximum speed.
Test at uniform 1100 RPM
| Image | Fan name | Temperature delta | dB(A) |
 |
MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 | 36.2 (GPU) + 26.9 (CPU) | 31 |
 |
Noctua NF-A12x25 | 37 (GPU) + 27.9 (CPU) | 31 |
 |
DeepCool FK120 | 36.2 (GPU) + 26.3 (CPU) | 32.4 |
 |
be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 | 36.6 (GPU) + 27.4 (CPU) | 31 |
Okay, these results seem surprising at first glance. Where all but the DeepCool FK120 fans in this test are on the borderline of being noticeable, the inexpensive DeepCool fans hit right at the top performance-wise. However, the MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 are only behind within the measurement tolerance and are slightly quieter in the process. Both beat the Noctua NF-A12x25.
Tested at a uniform 31 dB(A)
| Image | Fan name | Temperature delta | RPM |
|
MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 | 36.2 (GPU) + 26.9 (CPU) | 1100 |
|
Noctua NF-A12x25 | 37 (GPU) + 27.9 (CPU) | 1100 |
|
DeepCool FK120 | 36.2 (GPU) + 27.2 (CPU) | 970 |
|
be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 | 36.6 (GPU) + 27.4 (CPU) | 1100 |
In this test, three of the fans remain at the same power level, as they were already running at the desired volume at 1100 RPM. The DeepCool FK120s needed to be dialed down. They lose little performance at lower RPM, but the MSI Silent Gale P12 now pulls up just short and are the winners in this test.
Test at maximum performance
| Image | Fan name | Temperature delta | dB(A) |
|
MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 | 33.4 (GPU) + 22.8 (CPU) | 43.1 @ 1890 RPM |
|
Noctua NF-A12x25 | 32.1 (GPU) + 22.7 (CPU) | 47.1 @ 2050 RPM |
|
DeepCool FK120 | 33.3 (GPU) + 22.1 (CPU) | 46.6 @ 1870 RPM |
|
be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 | 28.7 (GPU) + 20.4 (CPU) | 53.8 @ 2840 RPM |
In this test, the be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 pass by due to their high maximum RPM and put themselves in first place performance-wise. In terms of temperature, the MSI Silent Gale P12 produces just about the weakest results in this test, but remains impressively quiet.
Using it on the radiator
Testing the MSI Silent Gale P12 on the radiator involves using an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 on an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X. The radiator of the cooler sits in the front of the Fractal Design Pop XL Air. The process remains similar, only here the case fans are set to a fixed speed and only the fans on the AIO water cooling system are changed and speed regulated. Cinebench is used to heat up the processor; the times remain the same.
Test at uniform 1100 RPM
| Image | Fan name | Temperature delta | dB(A) |
|
MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 | 42.1 | 33.4 |
|
Noctua NF-A12x25 | 39.7 | 31.8 |
|
DeepCool FK120 | 40.3 | 35.1 |
|
be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 | 40.9 | 32.2 |
On the radiator, the Noctua NF-A12x25 seems to work its magic. Here, it hits #1 for both temperature and volume. The loudest in the comparison are the DeepCool FK120s, which climb to second place on the podium for this in terms of performance. The MSI Silent Gale P12 doesn’t quite continue its case fan triumph on the radiator in the same way
Tested at a uniform 31 dB(A)
| Image | Fan name | Temperature delta | RPM |
|
MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 | 45.6 | 900 |
|
Noctua NF-A12x25 | 41.5 | 1000 |
|
DeepCool FK120 | 44.7 | 855 |
|
be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 | 43.2 | 955 |
When normalized to 31 dB(A), the Noctua NF-A12x25 extend their lead. The be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 overtake the DeepCool FK120 due to their faster possible speed. The MSI Silent Gale P12 still offer solid performance overall, but compared to the competition chosen here, the performance on the radiator is not quite as outstanding.
Tested at maximum performance
| Image | Fan name | Temperature delta | dB(A) |
|
MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 | 34.8 | 44.9 @ 1860 RPM |
|
Noctua NF-A12x25 | 34 | 46.2 @ 1960 RPM |
|
DeepCool FK120 | 34.7 | 52.5 @ 1910 RPM |
|
be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 | 32.4 | 54 @ 2730 RPM |
At maximum power, the be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 pull ahead due to the high maximum speed, but are also the loudest fans in the comparison. The DeepCool FK120s are almost as loud, but noticeably weaker. The Noctua NF-A12x25s are much quieter and perform better than the DeepCool FK120s. The MSI Silent Gale P12s are the quietest fans in this test, which means that they are extremely much quieter than the DeepCool FK120s with almost identical performance. Overall, the field is close here, so even the gap to the faster (and thus slightly louder) Noctua NF-A12x25 is not too great. Solid performance!
Operation on the air cooler
Lastly, the test of the MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 on the air cooler. For this, the DeepCool AK400 was chosen to cool an overclocked AMD Ryzen 5 3600X. Once again, the case fans are noted and only the fan on the processor cooler is changed and adjusted. The processor is heated up again with Cinebench R23, but the heatsink is faster up to temperature and so the measurement is performed after 6 minutes.
Test at uniform 1100 RPM
| Image | Fan name | Temperature delta | dB(A) |
|
MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 | 51.8 | 30 |
|
Noctua NF-A12x25 | 50.7 | 30 |
|
DeepCool FK120 | 50.5 | 30 |
|
be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 | 51.1 | 30 |
On the air cooler, only one fan comes into use at a time, and it does not have a fan grille in front of it. This makes all fans nearly inaudible at 1100 RPM. The trend of the radiator test follows through similarly here, though the DeepCool FK120 pulls ahead.
Test at a uniform 31 dB(A)
| Image | Fan name | Temperature delta | RPM |
|
MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 | 49.7 | 1435 |
|
Noctua NF-A12x25 | 48.4 | 1430 |
|
DeepCool FK120 | 50 | 1180 |
|
be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 | 49.4 | 1470 |
Now turning up the power until the fans start to stand out from the ambient noise, the DeepCool FK120s don’t have as much leeway and now end up in last place here, while the Noctua NF-A12x25s make their way back to the top. The MSI Silent Gale P12 deliver good performance, but do not win the comparison.
Test at maximum performance
| Image | Fan name | Temperature delta | dB(A) |
|
MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 | 48.2 | 36.6 @ 1890 RPM |
|
Noctua NF-A12x25 | 47.2 | 39.6 @ 2045 RPM |
|
DeepCool FK120 | 47.3 | 39.2 @ 1870 RPM |
|
be quiet! silent wings pro 4 | 46.7 | 46 @ 2800 RPM |
Same game as always: the be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 pull into first place in the maximum performance department, but are far louder than the other models. Volume-wise, the MSI Silent Gale P12 and the other two fans are in a very similar range, but can’t quite match the performance of the Noctua and DeepCool fans. Overall, though, the field is relatively close, so the difference from the very snappy be-quiet! fans to the MSI Silent Gale P12 is only around 1.5 Kelvin.
Conclusion
The MSI MEG Silent Gale P12s are impressive fans in their own right. The look is cool, the build quality is very good, and they are extremely quiet. Their performance as case fans is also outstanding. On an air cooler or radiator, the performance is still very good, but they are beaten by the competition here. An almost unbeatable combination would be the MSI Silent Gale P12 as case fans with the Noctua NF-A12x25 in the matching Chromax Black color on the radiator of an AIO water cooling system. Only the elephant in the room remains: the price. The MSI Silent Gale P12s are already very expensive (at the time of testing) and thus even noticeably more expensive than the not exactly cheap competition from be quiet! or Noctua. A fully loaded case is thus a huge investment that is hard to justify for regular users, and thus they are more for those who otherwise already have everything.
MSI MEG Silent Gale P12
Workmanship
Features
Performance
Noise level
93/100
The MSI MEG Silent Gale P12 fans are very quiet fans that deliver tremendous results especially as case fans. However, they are very expensive.
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