First Build/First Custom Loop

[ik9000]

ordered a couple more - they arrive on Monday.

[Ttaskmaster]

I've said it before and will say it again. I don't get why people keep saying Noctua are the best fans:

They're not THE best fans, mainly because each and every single build will be different.
They are generally one of the best, especially in terms of performance-noise balance, and they continue to enjoy a good reputation so are clearly doing something right.

so you can either get better performance for much much less noise and the same size fan or if space allows even more performance for slightly less noise but still using the same mounting.

Manufacturer's stats are only a starting point, though, which is why I always advocate just chucking some fans in and seeing for yourself how well they do in your particular setup. I love Noctua fans, myself, but still ditched them in favour of the ML120s, because they worked the best for my case.
Really, you need to map out the airflow spread to gauge how well it performs against radiator compression stalls, as that's a big point of failure. Enermax used to be really bad for that.

[ik9000]

will post later - did a lot of testing these last few days. Working atm so will update in lunch hour.