Measuring the intensity (and power draw) of lighting
With the Mobius 120 OC fan, Cooler Master could prove that it has worked on and avoided the rookie mistakes of older models. Partly yes, it removed some flaws, but it added (or strengthened) others in the process. Still, the current most expensive 120 mm CM fan has one ace up its sleeve, for which it will be extremely attractive in some use cases. Again, though, this is… how to put it… a somewhat “peculiar” execution.
Measuring the intensity (and power draw) of lighting
Modern fans often include lighting. This is no longer a “cooling” parameter, but for some users the presence of (A)RGB LEDs is important. Therefore, we also measure how intense this lighting is in our tests. These tests are the only ones that take place externally, outside the wind tunnel.
We record the luminosity of the fans in a chamber with reflective walls. This internal arrangement is important to increase the resolution for us to measure anything at all with lower luminosity fans. But also so that the readings do not blend together and it is obvious which fan is emitting more light and which one less.
The illumination intensity is measured in the horizontal position of the fan, above which is the lux meter sensor (UNI-T UT383S). This is centered on the illumination intensity sensing chamber.
The illumination is controlled via an IR controller and the hue is set to RGB level 255, 255, 255 (white). We record the brightness at maximum and minimum intensity. According to this, you can easily see if the brightness is high enough, but conversely also if the lower level is low enough for you.
In addition to the brightness intensity, we also measure the power draw that it requires. This is again through the shunt, which is between the Gophert CPS-3205 power supply and the (A)RGB LED driver. After this we get a reading of the lighting power draw. In the graphs we show it separately, but also in sum with the motor power draw as the total maximum fan power.
- Contents
- Cooler Master Mobius 120 OC in detail
- Overview of manufacturer specifications
- Basis of the methodology, the wind tunnel
- Mounting and vibration measurement
- Initial warm-up and speed recording
- Base 6 equal noise levels…
- ... and sound color (frequency characteristic)
- Static pressure measurement…
- … and airflow
- Everything changes with obstacles
- How we measure power draw and motor power
- Measuring the intensity (and power draw) of lighting
- Results: Speed
- Results: Airlow w/o obstacles
- Results: Airflow through a nylon filter
- Results: Airflow through a plastic filter
- Results: Airflow through a hexagonal grille
- Results: Airflow through a thinner radiator
- Results: Airflow through a thicker radiator
- Results: Static pressure w/o obstacles
- Results: Static pressure through a nylon filter
- Results: Static pressure through a plastic filter
- Results: Static pressure through a hexagonal grille
- Results: Static pressure through a thinner radiator
- Results: Static pressure through a thicker radiator
- Results: Static pressure, efficiency by orientation
- Reality vs. specifications
- Results: Frequency response of sound w/o obstacles
- Results: Frequency response of sound with a dust filter
- Results: Frequency response of sound with a hexagonal grill
- Results: Frequency response of sound with a radiator
- Results: Vibration, in total (3D vector length)
- Results: Vibration, X-axis
- Results: Vibration, Y-axis
- Results: Vibration, Z-axis
- Results: Power draw (and motor power)
- Results: Cooling performance per watt, airflow
- Results: Cooling performance per watt, static pressure
- Airflow per euro
- Static pressure per euro
- Results: Lighting – LED luminance and power draw
- Results: LED to motor power draw ratio
- Evaluation
I found your website in the course of my accidental search, the evaluation is detailed and respectful, I have a certain demand for RGB now, and Cooler Master said that the performance of mobius 140 ARGB is very powerful, there are too few evaluations now, I hope you can give it a look Make a review, many thanks.
We will gradually test all available fans. Only those that will stop selling over time will be unlucky (or lucky, depending on your point of view…).
We are excited to have a new reader. We welcome you dearly. 🙂
For the price, there are unfortunately too many flaws. The only application where the fan is strong is running at full speed disregarding noise, and even at that niche, the 12 cm Silent Wings Pro 4 is very close (and I would expect extremely tough competition from Phanteks T30 and Lian Li P28 as well). The poor PWM implementation on a modern fan is also very puzzling to me, especially at that price point.
The fan could be interesting server-grade solution. Maybe next time, I mean with ultra-long-life bearings and without vibrations.
I also tested Mobius 120 OC on thinner radiator recently, I can say this fan is one of the worst choice at its price.
There are many products on the market that obviously surpass Mobius 120 OC.
In terms of maximum airflow and price, Sanyo Denki 9G1212P4H06-4P, Thermalright TL-B12 EXTREM, Arctic P12 Max can perfectly replace Mobius 120 OC.
In terms of noise-airflow efficiency, PH-F120T30, NF-A12X25 and SW Pro 4 definitely outperform it.
Unlike Mobius 120(P), Mobius 120 OC seems difficult to survive the competition.
Thanks for the cross-verification of the results. 🙂
Actually I doubted my result of Mobius 120 OC because it showed 20%p lower noise-airflow efficiency than PH-F120T30, which was unbelievably poor result for an expensive fan. Now the cross-validation is possible with your thinner radiator test, and the two results are showing similar tendency about the fan. Thanks a lot!
I would LOVE to see you review the regular (non OC) Mobius fans. Particularly the 120p RGB version. It would be interesting to see just how close or far away from the OC performance they are.
Thanks for the tip. As long as the Mobius 120P RGB doesn’t stop selling before we can get our hands on it, we’ll be sure to include it in our tests. Gradually all fans available in the shops will be put in a confrontation. 😉