Cooler Master SickleFlow 120 ARGB: If not for the horrible rattling…

Cooling, Extra tests, Fans | | Ľubomír Samák

Evaluation

It could have been a very good, affordable fan with lighting. Moreover, the SickleFlow 120 ARB rotor design is efficient, at an excellent level, but all the good features are killed by one thing – an extremely noisy motor. It’s so noisy that a return trip from the factory output control would be appropriate. And it’s not just your everyday whir that you hear only from centimeters away. No one will ever miss this sound.

Evaluation

The SickleFlow 120 ARGB is a controversial fan. In most aspects it is excellent considering the price, but in one aspect it is terrible. And unfortunately, it’s the key aspect that we’ll start the review with straight away. The fan rattles, and it rattles really hard. The motor of most cheaper fans rattles in some way, but it is often a faint sound that you can hear only with your ear glued directly to it. In the case of the SickleFlow 120 ARGB, the rattling is clearly noticeable even at a great distance, and even a covered case can’t save it. In fact, the intensity of the rattling noise is at the level of aerodynamic flow noise.

Note the increase in the spectrograph with a peak past 1 kHz (the rattling is in this spectrum of sound). The peak at idle also exceeds the strongest frequency of sound (110 Hz), which belongs to the aerodynamic flow. Thus, the rattle is louder than the fan airflow. This scenario almost always occurs, unless the fan has a significantly restrictive obstacle in its path, with which (due to greater mechanical resistance) the stronger aerodynamic sound beats the annoying rattle. Either way, however, this mechanical sound is a major shortcoming of the SickleFlow 120 ARGB. This is a great shame, especially since you won’t find many fans in this price range with RGB lighting that are not only flashy, but also efficient. And the SickleFlow 120 ARGB is definitely an aerodynamically efficient fan.

Don’t look at measurements without obstacles, it’s exactly the opposite case as the Arctic BioniX F120 (which virtually didn’t make a dent with obstacles). In contrast, the SickleFlow 120 ARGB achieves better placements with obstacles. Both flow and static pressure are naturally always weaker with them, but those losses are less pronounced. This is also because the sound of the mechanical resistance of the obstacles tends to be stronger than the rattling, and thus more aerodynamic sound speaks into the tuning at the same dBA.

SickleFlow 120 ARGB delivers good results even through a nylon filter, although it’s more in the higher speed range (from 950 rpm up) . The lower the revs, the more annoying the rattle. Especially when you’re trying to regulate to the lower limit of audibility. This fan won’t allow you to do that. The combination of the rattle with a higher minimum speed didn’t even allow for a speed setting based on the lowest noise level (31 dBA) we have in our tests. We couldn’t even tune 33 dBA on the thicker radiator, the minimum noise level was higher. However, in such conditions (on a thicker radiator) the SickleFlow 120 ARGB doesn’t really excel in performance either. But on a more usual radiator, with less thickness, it valiantly battles with significantly more expensive fans, such as the Asus ROG Strix XF120 or the MSI MEG Silent Gale P12. We’ve noticed the Cooler Master fan’s excellent results at higher speeds even on a hexagonal grille, and it has a really decent price/performance ratio. Both in terms of performance in the case and on the radiator. So we don’t have to refute Cooler Master’s universal use presentation. Just an eternal pity about the rattling. And it is not a manufacturing defect, this is how all units on sale behave.

But the lower price can be seen in other places (other than the hundreds of times mentioned rattling). For example, at 40-55 percent speed, at which the fan is characterized by higher vibration. These are paradoxically higher than at top speed, which points to imperfections with the rotor centering. This is weaker at medium speeds.

The engine is strong, sufficiently oversized and operating power draw is adequate for the performance characteristics. Also worth mentioning is the high efficiency of ARGB LED lighting. The luminance measurements also clearly show an intergenerational improvement over the older RGB LED type (represented on all the other illuminated fans we have tested). The CM SickleFlow 120 ARGB shines like the Akasa Vegas X7, but at one-third the power draw.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš




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