Escape from darkness – BeQuiet! Light Wings White (BL101)

BeQuiet! Light Wings White (BL101) in detail

There are only a few white fans with ARGB. Still, BeQuiet’s Light Wings models have some rather unique features as this rare commodity. That’s true visually as well. But they also have high performance or airflow to noise ratio. For our tests this time, out of the two options, we chose the high-speed design, which has its “own” blade geometry. But it also handles very low speeds to boot.

Evaluation

For a 120 mm lighted fan, the Light Wings White (BL101) fans can be said to be above-average in terms of efficiency. And that’s regardless of the use case. Due to the high static pressure, a relatively high airflow is achieved even through obstacles. Nevertheless, we see the optimum speed range within 1050–1300 rpm. This is where the results are most attractive compared to competing fans.

At higher speeds (above 1400 rpm), tonal peaks starting at 200 Hz already rise significantly, going up to 300 Hz with increasing speed. From about 1700 rpm upwards the fan is already annoying even at low frequencies around 125 Hz. This makes the acoustic profile rumblier and more hummy, which also reflects negatively when tuning to noise-normalized modes. So the tested Light Wings White fans naturally start to fall down the rankings a bit, but it’s never too deep. On radiators, for the benefit of high static pressure, decent results are delivered across the entire speed range, where even at higher speeds the results are on par with the Arctic BioniX P120 A-RGB. The Light Wings White (BL101) fans even outperform them in terms of airflow at maximum speed. But that’s already alongside a little more noise.

The comparison with the black Light Wings variant with short blades (BL072) is also remarkable, and this isn’t really clear-cut here. The long-bladed Light Wings White often lags behind, but there are also quite a few cases where they have the upper hand. Typically, this can be at lower speeds on thicker radiators with thinner finning or in coexistence with a plastic dust filter. And at higher speeds the long-bladed variant scores again on the hexagonal grille. Were it not for the more aggressive tonal peaks that the shorter-bladed Light Wings design successfully avoids, the prevalence of this variant would be greater.

Although the BeQuiet fan often produces high tonal peaks, at the same time it transmits virtually no vibration to the frame. And not even at top speed. How is this possible? The strong resonant frequencies of the Light Wings White (BL101) fans are obviously generated at very low vibration levels. The pitch of the tonal peaks does not go hand in hand with higher vibrations, and can be the same in two fans, one of which has a significantly more intense vibration than the other. Different materials with different thicknesses or shapes reach tonal peaks at different vibration intensities, and it certainly doesn’t follow that the higher the vibration, the higher the noise. It is not a direct proportion.

For low vibration on the frame, the likelihood of the fan getting the case or cooler design into resonant frequencies this way decreases. Something, naturally, is also damped by the anti-vibration pads present. In the case of BeQuiet! fans it will also be about precision manufacturing of individual parts with low manufacturing tolerances. But none of this affects the blade situation, which is determined by their architecture. It is possible that in this respect the black variants (BL076/BL073) achieve a slightly better/quieter result similarly to the Corsair AF120 Elite fans (Black/White), but it can also be the other way around. Even possibly higher material stiffness doesn’t guarantee lower tonal peaks, it’s a bit of “alchemy”.

But to sum it up somewhat succinctly, the Light Wings White (BL101) are attractive fans and especially for those who like a white theme with lighting. Cooling efficiency is above average within their category (120mm ARGB models), although sometimes the sound of the fans can get annoying. But we’ve already covered that.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

* Price calculated per unit, but the fan is not sold separately. It is only available as part of a triple-pack that also includes an ARGB hub.

• Contents
• BeQuiet! Light Wings White (BL101) 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