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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Conficio - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
First thanks for the informative review!I second that, Google chart tools - https://developers.google.com/chart/ - offers an easy way to present some good graphs.
7amood - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
finally, a simplified fan roundup review... THANK YOU!Maxal - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
How about putting results in chart, with Temp and Noise on X/Y axis?arthur449 - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Thanks for the Die Hard 2: Die Harder reference. It brought a smile to my face.toyotabedzrock - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
I have had horrible luck with fans. They all go bad in a year.Even expensive ones.
Finally - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Try Enermax T.B. Silence.Excellent price, very quiet and even IF they should fail after only 1 year, you have just "lost" 6€.
Here a link to put my recommendation in perspective: http://kdb.orthy.de/index.php?tablename=Luefter&am...
Udit - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
It's just a request ... please add scythe gt-1850 & glidestream 120 ... I have 4 gt-1850 on my h100 & really wanna change themscmikes - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
We all realize that it is impossible to review all rad fans. I would like to add a vote for the 109R1212H1011 120mm X 38mm from Sans Ace. They have worked great in my setups.Take care, and keep up the good work
Runamok81 - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Dustin, you'll never make everyone happy, but I'm glad Anandtech is making the effort. Props to Dustin for listening to the comment-ers and revisiting this fan round up! BravoPurpose - Monday, October 22, 2012 - link
Four years ago I bought 12 Enermax Magma UC-MA12's.Within a year of 24/7 use all but four were broken.
My #1 cautionary recommendation for Magma fans is DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, try to pop the blades off for cleaning. Of the 8 broken fans, half of them broke because when attempting to remove the blades, the entire motor assembly separated from the PCB, or the PCB came up with the fan blades.
They do provide good performance at good noise levels...
I'm wondering why the all-star radiator fan is being omitted. It's a really huge failure to not include the Gentle Typhoon AP-15 so that we can get an apples to apples performance comparison against your data.
You talk about finding the 'outlier' but the one fan that's actually KNOWN to be *THE* outlier isn't present in your testing...
Especially since I switched to GT's and know from experience that the difference between them and the magma is NIGHT AND DAY. Top that off with the fact that you can get them for ~15 a pop... That's only 2 bucks more for the *BEST* performing fan out there.
Swing and a miss.