120mm Radiator Fan Roundup Part 2: Fan Harder
by Dustin Sklavos on October 22, 2012 12:01 AM ESTRosewill Hyperborea
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| Airflow (in CFM) | Static Pressure (in mm/H2O) | RPM | Rated dBA |
| 57.53 | 2.64 | 600-1300 | 6.9-16.05 |
When I contacted the Rosewill rep about sending fans for review she was a bit hesitant, but I wasn't convinced there wasn't something good hiding out in their lineup. Rosewill often provides good products at reasonable prices, so I felt like their lines were worth investigating. I received this fan, which is actually a PWM fan (despite having virtually no dynamic ratings), and the next one...
Rosewill RFX-120BL Blue LED
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| Airflow (in CFM) | Static Pressure (in mm/H2O) | RPM | Rated dBA |
| 87.5 | none given | 2200 | 38.15 |
The other Rosewill representative is a more basic, garden variety case fan with no qualms about running full tilt. It bears mentioning that this model does include an additional fan controller bracket that may make it at least a little more attractive (though personally I'm more interested in the fan controller bracket than the fan), but this should at least be a good representation of a generic case fan.
be quiet! Silent Wings 2
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| Airflow (in CFM) | Static Pressure (in mm/H2O) | RPM | Rated dBA |
| 50.5 | 1.63 | 1500 | 15.7 |
The Silent Wings 2 is be quiet!'s top of the line fan. While our rep (who amusingly enough is my predecessor here for case reviews) wasn't super bullish on it as a radiator fan, the staggeringly low decibel rating and decent airflow and static pressure at least make the Silent Wings 2 a compelling entrant worth checking out. be quiet! as a company has been slowly making waves lately so I've been anxious to test some of their products.
be quiet! is still young yet and like BitFenix they're very slowly making inroads in American markets. As a result the Silent Wings 2 isn't widely available yet, but a quick visit to Google Shopping can find the Silent Wings 2 for a healthy $40.
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Sea Shadow - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
While I concede Delta's are loud (they can scream like a banshee), Panaflow and Papst still beat the GT any day of the week in all regards.sicofante - Sunday, October 28, 2012 - link
I hope you can back that up with some sources. (And it's Panaflo, without the last 'w').jed22281 - Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - link
Absolutely wrong, all the community tests say otherwise, all the major cooling enthusiast forums can't be wrong, whilst you're right.Noise to perf ratio GT is better than the Panaflow or Pabst, I cant recall even one of their models being near the top in fact.
jed22281 - Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - link
The only amateur here is you, nidec-servo (the OEM of the gentle typhoons, not Scythe) is most certainly not an OEM for children...If you'd spent any time doing some "real" research, you'd see that the GT's have been without Qn the dominant rad fan for at least 3yr now, that's only started to wane in recent mths, & even that's still up for debate.
Read all the major threads, in all the major cooling enthusiast communities, where very detailed comparos have occurred, & you'll quickly find that it's constantly at the top, alongside a small handful of others.
jed22281 - Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - link
Correction, it's Nidec & Nidec-Servo, I can't recall the difference between the two groups OTTOMH, I've done business with them in the past for industrial applications.Synomenon - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Aside from the color, is the Enermax Magma the same fan as the Enermax Cluster (white with white LEDs)?Impulses - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
The Cluster is a PWM, Magma's fixed 1500.You should test some Noiseblockers sometime, not the flashiest (pretty plain fin design) but they've consistently been some of the best performers on Xbit's fan roundups.
Impulses - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Hmm, the Cluster I saw reviewed elsewhere was a PWM anyway, apparently not the one Newegg carries tho.pdjblum - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Though I was very pleased with my magma's for a time, four of the five I bought within the past year has had to be replaced.Recently picked up some cougars. I had my eye on them for quite some time. When yet another of my magma's started to make a disturbing noise, I bought some of these. So far, they are fantastic in at least two ways: noise, air movement. So far i like them better than the noctua's I recently purchased.
garadante - Tuesday, August 19, 2014 - link
Though this is a reply to an absolutely ancient (in tech forum terms) post, I just wanted to share my experience with my 3 Magmas. I've had 3 running nearly 24/7 at full speed for almost 2 years with zero issues. The fans are very quiet too, nearly inaudible inside my Corsair 750D. The only noise that bothers me is some rattling that I haven't yet found the cause for, that goes away when I tap the case hard enough.