A few years ago, Thermaltake launched the original Toughfan 12, a very successful fan. This took the concept of other fans, like the Noctua NF-A12x25, but was available at a much lower price and was black and gray. This was joined by a wide variety of models from other colors, a 140mm version and models with RGB lighting. However, time does not stand still. Now Thermaltake has launched a further development on the market with the Toughfan 12 and 14 Pro. We look at what these fans offer in terms of performance and how they stack up against the competition in this Thermaltake Toughfan Pro review.
Specifications
120 mm
| Size | 120 x 120 x 25 mm |
| Speed | 500 – 2000 RPM |
| Max. power consumption | 2.28 W |
| Static pressure | 3.19 mm H2O |
| Airflow | 70.8 CFM |
| Motor | Hydraulic Bearing Gen 2 (40,000 h expected lifetime) |
| Price | € 22.99 * (single pack) € 39.99 * (Twin pack) |
140 mm
| Size | 140 x 140 x 25 mm |
| Speed | 500 – 2000 RPM |
| Max. power consumption | 4.32 W |
| Static pressure | 3.57 mm H2O |
| Airflow | 119.6 CFM |
| Engine | Hydraulic Bearing Gen 2 (40,000 h expected lifetime) |
| Price | € 25.99 * (single pack) € 44.99 * (Twin pack) |
Packaging and scope of delivery
- Rugged box design
- Supplied with low-noise adapters, with case screws and radiator screws
In the Thermaltake Toughfan Pro review, we used the packs with two fans. These packs are, of course, a corner larger than single packs. The boxes are a dark gray color and when you open them, you first unfold a few layers until you come across a drawer.
Pulling this out reveals a view of the fans as well as a small black box with other accessories. Underneath are resistors (at 43 ohms for the 120mm fans and 20 ohms for the 140mm fans) that reduce the maximum speed, limiting unexpected spinning up. This is in favor of lower noise, but of course slows down the highest possible performance. Those who set manual fan curves won’t need these resistors. But those who rely on the preset automatics, which sometimes react a bit too aggressively, may well benefit from them. In addition, there are four case screws and four radiator screws for each fan.
Design
- Very massive frame
- Standard sizes for best compatibility
- Black design
The Thermaltake Toughfan 12 and 14 Pro feature an extremely clean design. Instead of relying on special shapes and edges, the fans appear in a smooth, noble style and additionally do without color gimmicks. The rubberized support surfaces in the corners are not gray, but also inconspicuously black. Overall, the fans look a bit bigger and thicker this way, but they actually stay in the usual format with a thickness of 25 mm. There are no problems with any compatibilities due to this.
Workmanship
- Very sturdy frame workmanship
- Low clearance from fan blades to frame
- Fan blades made of liquid crystal polymer
- Thin cables
The build quality of the Thermaltake Toughfan Pro fans is shown to be impeccable in this review. The frame feels as solid as it looks: There’s no movement. It is completely torsion-resistant and the edges are cleanly rounded. The fan blades are also cleanly manufactured and the distance to the frame could be kept very small thanks to the material. The rubberized bearing surfaces on the edge are quite thick and reduce the transmission of vibrations. The cables come with a regular PWM fan connector and so these fans can be used without any problems.
The only thing that seems a bit thin is the cable, which doesn’t look quite as high quality and isn’t as well protected as a sheathed cable. Practically speaking, however, it is easier to lay and easier to tie out of the way as part of cable management. So each concept has its advantages and I would not give a deduction because of that.
Performance and volume 140 mm
- Comparison against other premium fans
- Explanation of the test procedure
The Thermaltake Toughfan Pro targets the high-performance range and the selection of competing fans falls accordingly. In the 140mm range, the now 10-year-old Noctua NF-A14 (€ 27.90 *) are used as a reference, as are the be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 (€ 32.93 *) and the Corsair AF140 Elite (€ 26.99 *).
Two scenarios are tested: The use as a case fan and on a radiator in the front of the case. The case fan test is performed in a DeepCool CH510 Mesh Digital with one fan in the front to pull air and one in the back to push air out of the case. This uses a sustained load under 3DMark to heat up the air-cooled processor and graphics card.
The radiator fan test is performed on an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280 mm, which sits in the front of a Fractal Design Pop XL Air. So not only do the fans have the resistance of the very thick radiator behind them, but they also have to realistically pull the air through the front grille first, which further increases the load. Cinebench R23 is used as load here on a Ryzen 9 5950X.
All other fans in use (case fan in the radiator fan test or cooling fan on the processor cooler and on the graphics card in the case fan test) are locked at a fixed speed to not allow fan automations to influence the result.
The temperature delta, in which the measurement results are given, is the difference to the room temperature in order to remove room temperature fluctuations from the results. The room temperature must therefore still be added. But further, smaller results are better here.
Thermaltake Toughfan 14 Pro test as a radiator fan
The average temperature is measured over the duration of one minute after 8 minutes of warm-up time in Cinebench. The processor’s power consumption is around 150W. The best results in each case are marked in green, the worst in red.
Test at uniform 800 RPM
| Fan | Temperature delta in K | Loudness in dB(A) |
 Thermaltake Toughfan 14 Pro @ 39% PWM |
40.1 | 30 |
 Noctua NF-A14 PWM @ 49% PWM |
38.6 | 32.4 |
 Corsair AF140 Elite @ 42% PWM |
39.7 | 30 |
 be quiet! silent wings pro 4 140mm @ 30% PWM UHS |
42.7 | 30 |
Test at normalized 31 dB(A)
| Fan | Temperature delta in K | RPM |
| Thermaltake Toughfan 14 Pro @ 43% PWM | 38.1 | 910 |
| Noctua NF-A14 PWM @ 45% PWM | 39.6 | 750 |
| Corsair AF140 Elite @ 46% PWM | 38.9 | 880 |
| be quiet! silent wings pro 4 140mm @ 37% PWM UHS | 39.1 | 970 |
Test at full speed
| Fan | Temperature delta in K | RPM |
Loudness in dB(A) |
| Thermaltake Toughfan 14 Pro @ 100% PWM | 31.4 | 1880 | 50.2 |
| Noctua NF-A14 PWM @ 100% PWM | 33.6 | 1440 | 48.8 |
| Corsair AF140 Elite @ 100% PWM | 33.2 | 1620 | 48.2 |
| be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 140mm @ 100% PWM UHS | 32.4 | 2130 | 51.2 |
Analysis of Thermaltake Toughfan 140 Pro on Radiator Test
- Extremely powerful as a radiator fan
- Relatively quiet, except at very high speeds
The results are impressive. Both in the normalized volume and in the peak performance test, the Thermaltake Toughfan 14 Pro takes the top spot in performance on the radiator. And in the uniform speed, it shows up about on par with the Corsair AF140 Elite. The Noctua NF-A14, which has held up as the absolute reference among 140mm fans for many years, is beaten virtually across the board. At a consistent 800 RPM, the Noctua fan performs better, but is also noticeably louder. What is noticeable with the Thermaltake Toughfan 14 Pro, however, is a quiet clacking noise, as is otherwise noticeable with some high-speed fans, such as the Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 or the Arctic P12 Max. This does not make for a higher volume when measured, but it is perceptible as a continuous noise even at low speeds.
Power and volume 120 mm
- Similar comparison field
The test of the 120 mm fans runs in principle the same way. The equivalent 120mm versions of the fans are used as comparison fans, the Noctua NF-A12x25 (€ 33.01 *), the be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm (€ 30.11 *) and the Corsair AF120 Elite (€ 23.40 *). The other parameters remain the same. Only the AIO in comparison is changed for the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 mm.
Thermaltake Toughfan 12 Pro test as a radiator fan
Tested at a uniform 800 RPM
| Fan | Temperature delta in K | Loudness in dB(A) |
 Thermaltake Toughfan 12 Pro @ 56% PWM |
38 | 30.6 |
 Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM @ 49% PWM |
39 | 30 |
 Corsair AF120 Elite @ 56% PWM |
39.6 | 31 |
 be quiet! silent wings pro 4 120mm @ 30% PWM UHS |
40.1 | 31 |
Test at normalized 31 dB(A)
| Fan | Temperature delta in K | RPM |
| Thermaltake Toughfan 12 Pro @ 58% PWM | 37.8 | 1140 |
| Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM @ 54% PWM | 37.5 | 1210 |
| Corsair AF120 Elite @ 56% PWM | 39.6 | 1100 |
| be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm @ 30% PWM UHS | 40.1 | 1100 |
Test at full speed
| Fan | Temperature delta in K | RPM |
Loudness in dB(A) |
| Thermaltake Toughfan 12 Pro @ 100% PWM | 33.5 | 1965 | 43.8 |
| Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM @ 100% PWM | 33.3 | 2000 | 42.1 |
| Corsair AF120 Elite @ 100% PWM | 33.3 | 1845 | 44 |
| be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm @ 100% PWM UHS | 32.1 | 2635 | 50 |
Analysis of Thermaltake Toughfan 120 Pro in radiator test
- Performance on par with other premium fans
- Strong and quiet
The success train continues here. When testing the Thermaltake Toughfan 120 Pro, it doesn’t quite come out on top. But at least it plays quasi within the measurement tolerance just behind the almost half more expensive Noctua NF-A12x25 and beats the fans from Corsair and be quiet! in tests suitable for everyday use. I didn’t notice any motor clacking here like with the 140mm version.
Thermaltake Toughfan Pro test as a case fan
- Comparison of all eight fans at identical run
In this test, I’m pitting all eight of the fans against each other, since both fan sizes fit in the case and the test procedure is largely identical. The only note is that for uniform speed, the 140mm fans are run at 800 RPM; the 120mm fans are run at 1100 RPM.
Uniform speed test
| Fans | Temperature delta in K | Loudness in dB(A) |
Thermaltake Toughfan 12 Pro @ 55% PWM (1100 RPM) |
39.6 (GPU) & 28.2 (CPU) | 32.9 |
Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM @ 49% PWM (1100 RPM) |
38.7 (GPU) & 28.8 (CPU) | 31 |
Corsair AF120 Elite @ 56% PWM (1100 RPM) |
38.9 (GPU) & 29 (CPU) | 32.4 |
be quiet! silent wings pro 4 120mm @ 30% PWM UHS (1100 RPM) |
37.7 (GPU) & 28.9 (CPU) | 31 |
Thermaltake Toughfan 14 Pro @ 39% PWM (800 RPM) |
38 (GPU) & 28.2 (CPU) | 31 |
Noctua NF-A14 PWM @ 46% PWM (800 RPM) |
37.3 (GPU) & 30.5 (CPU) | 33.4 |
Corsair AF140 Elite @ 42% PWM (800 RPM) |
38.1 (GPU) & 28, 3 (CPU) | 32.4 |
be quiet! silent wings pro 4 140mm @ 30% PWM UHS (800 RPM) |
37.9 (GPU) & 30 (CPU) | 30 |
Test at uniform volume
| Fan | Temperature delta in K | RPM |
| Thermaltake Toughfan 12 Pro @ 52% PWM | 40.2 (GPU) & 28.8 (CPU) | 1040 |
| Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM @ 49% PWM | 38.7 (GPU) & 28.8 (CPU) | 1100 |
| Corsair AF120 Elite @ 49% PWM | 39.1 (GPU) & 30.7 (CPU) | 970 |
| be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm @ 30% PWM UHS | 37.7 (GPU) & 28.9 (CPU) | 1100 |
| Thermaltake Toughfan 14 Pro @ 39% PWM | 38 (GPU) & 28.2 (CPU) | 800 |
| Noctua NF-A14 PWM @ 39% PWM | 38.2 (GPU) & 31.5 (CPU) | 705 |
| Corsair AF140 Elite @ 37% PWM | 39 (GPU) & 29.7 (CPU) | 720 |
| be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 140mm @ % PWM UHS | 37.5 (GPU) & 29 (CPU) | 900 |
Test at maximum performance
| Fan | Temperature delta in K | Loudness in dB(A) |
| Thermaltake Toughfan 12 Pro @ 100% PWM (1950 RPM) | 30.3 (GPU) & 23.3 (CPU) | 45.8 |
| Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM @ 100% PWM (2050 RPM) | 33.3 (GPU) & 23.8 (CPU) | 47.1 |
| Corsair AF120 Elite @ 100% PWM (1820 RPM) | 35.9 (GPU) & 23.4 (CPU) | 46.6 |
| be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm @ 100% PWM UHS (2840 RPM) | 30.1 (GPU) & 21.7 (CPU) | 54 |
| Thermaltake Toughfan 14 Pro @ 100% PWM (1910 RPM) | 30.5 (GPU) & 21.9 (CPU) | 54.1 |
| Noctua NF-A14 PWM @ 100% PWM (1540 RPM) | 30.5 (GPU) & 25.8 (CPU) | 49.9 |
| Corsair AF140 Elite @ 100% PWM (1570 RPM) | 34.1 (GPU) & 22.8 (CPU) | 49 |
| be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 140mm @ 100% PWM UHS (2250 RPM) | 31 (GPU) & 21.5 (CPU) | 53.8 |
Performance analysis
- High efficiency even as a case fan
Both the Thermaltake Toughfan 12 and 14 Pro stand up to comparison with established premium fans in the test. As case fans, the 140 mm fans in particular prove to be impressive. However, the 120 mm version can also be used without any worries. In both sizes, the be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 show themselves to be minimally better, but in practice the difference is absolutely irrelevant.
Conclusion
The Thermaltake Toughfan Pro show themselves to be strong fans in testing, offering performance that rivals established premium fans both as radiator fans and as case fans. And they do so at a relatively lower range when compared to Noctua and be quiet! The real competition is the even slightly cheaper Corsair fans, which do perform a bit worse than the Thermaltake Toughfan Pro on a relatively consistent basis, though not tremendously so. If anything is a bit negative about the Thermaltake fans, it’s the Liquid Bearing with an expected lifespan of “only” 40,000 hours, which is well below the time Noctua or be quiet! attribute to their fans. On the other hand, 40,000 hours would still be just under 5 years of operating time. In home computers, no problem; for servers, I would rather choose one of the other brands despite the high performance at maximum speed.
All in all, the Thermaltake fans thus offer a thoroughly interesting overall package of premium performance, low noise, and a price that is not quite as high as can be found in the competition with similar performance.
Thermaltake Toughfan Pro
Workmanship
Features
Performance
Noise level
97/100
The Thermaltake Toughfan Pro are impressive fans that can be used as both raidator fans and case fans, offering both low noise and high performance.
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