Is 1000 rpm fan speed good?

As an avid gamer and PC builder, this question gets tossed around a lot in Overclocking forums and Reddit threads. And the short answer is – yes, around 1000 RPM is an ideal idle fan speed for most gaming rigs and laptops to enable sufficient cooling at reasonable noise levels.

But as hardware enthusiasts, we need to dig deeper as one universal speed cannot suffice for all systems and use case scenarios. The optimum fan speed depends greatly on multiple factors:

CPU Model and Thermal Design Power (TDP)

Higher TDP processors output more heat and hence require faster spinning fans to dissipate that heat effectively. For instance, a top-tier CPU like the Intel Core i9-12900KS has a 150W TDP compared to 65W for the mid-range Ryzen 5 5600X.

So for the beefier Core i9 chip, an ultra-high performance 140mm 3000 RPM Noctua industrial fan may be necessary while the 5600X could get by with a quieter 120mm 1500 RPM fan for gaming. This holds true for GPUs too with the RTX 3090 demanding faster airflow than a 3060 Ti to prevent thermal throttling.

Gaming Sessions vs Idle Usage

Fan speed requirements also swing wildly depending on whether I‘m blasting baddies in Cyberpunk 2077 or just web surfing.

When gaming for hours, my NZXT Kraken Z73 ramps fan speeds up from around 1100 RPM to 1700 RPM on its 140mm AER P radiator fans to tackle the heat from my overclocked i7-12700K.

Whereas during light Office work, Youtube or chatting on Discord, CPU and GPU workloads drop down allowing my rig to maintain cool temps even at 800 RPM due to the beefy cooler.

As a gamer, I prefer to set custom fan curves via BIOS or software like MSI Afterburner to scale fan speeds automatically based on coolant/component temperatures when gaming. This maintains optimal noise to cooling balance.

Smaller PCs run hotter!

Compact Micro ATX or Mini-ITX builds tend to run warmer due to the cramped space. My erstwhile gaming laptop struggled keeping its RTX 2070 GPU under 80 degrees Celsius at full 4K load.

I had to rev up the tiny onboard fans over 6000 RPM to maintain frame rates at peak gameplay. This sounded like a mini jet turbine firing up Much more annoying than my current desktop build purring at 1200 RPM even handling 8K video editing.

Liquid cooling efficiency scales with fan speeds

While large air coolers like the legendary Noctua NH-D15 perform admirably, beefy liquid AIO coolers like NZXT Kraken, Corsair H150i, Arctic Liquid Freezer II etc. rely heavily on higher fan speeds to dissipate heat through the radiator.

So if you have invested in a fancy 280mm or 360mm cooler, crank those RPMs up high to maximize their potential when your game or 3D renderer demands some serious cooling horsepower at full load.

At the end of the day, a fan speed around 1000 RPM for 140mm or 120mm fans hits the right notes across noise, cooling, and power metrics for most gaming desktops and laptops. Just be prepared to ramp it up or down depending on your build, ambient temps and actual use. Game on!