BeQuiet! Pure Wings 3 (BL113) in detail
Go for the variant with nine longer blades or seven shorter blades? That’s the question we’ll tackle in this test of the Pure Wings 3 140mm fan. In addition to the different geometries, you can also choose between different speed ranges with differently placed maximums. The high-speed variant has the upper hand, as expected, when it comes to needing to achieve the highest possible airflow. But it also excels in other situations.
That’s right, we’ve already tested one BeQuiet! Pure Wings 3 fan – the BL108-labeled variant. However, the subject of this analysis will be the BL113 variant, which has a significantly different impeller shape.
For the “high speed” variants, BeQuiet! uses nine blades instead of seven blades (of the slower varieties). These also differ in shape, with the blades of the faster variants having 20% longer leading edges, at six centimeters. On the other hand, towards the impeller hub, the blades are considerably narrower. The tips are always approximately 40 mm wide.
The blades of the high-speed Pure Wings 3 fans are naturally a little more flexible. This is due to the length, the material used and also its thickness. The latter is the same (approx. 2.2 mm) in critical places (at the tips) as that of the 7-blade PW3 impellers. The footprint of the “medium-sized” impeller hub is also the same.
The gap between the tips of the blades and the frame tunnel seems to be a little different, a hair smaller. Given the longer and more flexible blades, this seems rather paradoxical, but in reality, despite these parameters, it seems that the vibrations on 9-bladed impellers could be lower. This is also indicated by our measurements, which do reflect the vibrations on the frame, but these are partly based on the vibrations on the blades. Especially when there are no anti-vibration pads on the frame (as is the case here), and the same bearings (rifle) are also used. This reduces the number of variables that could be behind the vibrations compared to the slower PW3 variants.
So it is possible that the longer blades in the comparison of these two different Pure Wings geometries vibrate less at comparable speeds despite the higher flexibility. In context with the material, it should be noted that PBT is used and compared to last time (PW3 BL108) we now have the PW3 (BL113) in a white variant. And as you already know from the comparison of white with black, Corsair AF120 fan, the intensity of vibrations depends on the specific chemical composition, part of which is the dye. It also determines the stiffness and thermal expansion of the blades.
The geometry of the impeller of the tested Pure Wings 3 fan, even from the previously tested fans, with its heavily curved blades with a significant narrowing towards the hub, is a bit reminiscent of the DeepCool FK120, but the latter has a smaller cross-section (and thus lower airflow at the same speed) and is more likely to have characteristics closer to the DeepCool DFr140 from the Assassin IV cooler. But this fan is not sold separately, at least not yet.
The surface of both sides of the BeQuiet! fan blades is grooved, which can contribute to both the suppression of unwanted microturbulence at the intake and the suppression of centrifugal force, which causes radial slipping of the air streams. Both of these factors contribute to the efficiency, although they do not seem to be particularly noticeable in practice. This is a kind of cosmetic feature that characterizes all BeQuiet! fans.
The speed increase of the 9-blade PW3 over the 7-blade PW3 is 200 rpm (from 1600 to 1800 rpm) and this fan is only available in white in the tested variant codenamed BL113. Then there is the black variant BL106.
The cable is flat, 50 cm long, with only one 4-pin connector at the end.
Regarding the power supply, it is remarkable that through PWM control the motor responds to the speed change slower than with DC control. We have tested this with different PSUs and with different fan samples. You always get to the target speed, regardless of the control type, but with pulse modulation there is a delay. This is nothing substantial that would somehow matter in practice and take it more as an “interesting fact”. The speed range is wider through PWM (360~1830 rpm). The minimum speed with DC control starts at about 700 rpm.
And one more thing: To navigate through the result graphs as easily as possible, you can sort the bars according to different criteria (via the button on the bottom left). By (non)presence of lighting, profile thickness, brand, bearings, price or value (with the option to change the sorting to descending or ascending). In the default settings, there is a preset “format” criterion that separates 120mm fans from 140mm fans.
- Contents
- BeQuiet! Pure Wings 3 (BL113) 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)
- Measurement of static pressure…
- … and of 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 depending on 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 grille
- 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
It losing to the BL108 in so many situations is a bit surprising. The geometry seems like it would at least perform a bit better on radiators, but it’s not. There doesn’t seem to be an RPM penalty vs the BL108 either. Perhaps blade-blade interactions is the main culprit here.
The frequency peaks are pretty well spread out around the blade-pass frequency though, which is nice to see. But there seems to be a peak at ~400 Hz no matter what the RPM is. From where does that peak originate from?
The peak between 300–400 Hz is typical for all 120/140 mm fans and there is basically a linear relationship with speed/rpm. This is the most prominent aerodynamic component, which Pure Wings 3 (BL113) does not always have the highest. You will also find noisier fans around these sound frequencies.
No matter how great the impeller of the high-speed PW3 looks, it doesn’t work that great. More of long blades means more noise (maybe that’s why many manufacturers avoid them in 140 mm format and use “only” seven blades per impeller?) and then the airflow is, of course, also dependent on how much air gets through the blades into the fan. With these extremely tight designs, there might be some kind of bottleneck. Noctua also toyed with similar designs for their next-gen 140 mm fans, which also had nine extra-long blades with very small spacings, and ended up with a slightly different design…
Right, the ~390 Hz peak is seen in pretty much all tested fans, no matter the design, blade count, size, or RPM. I think you mean that its intensity scales with RPM? Can I interpret this peak as simply “air moving”?
Yes, the noise intensity at these sound frequencies (300-400 rpm) is, in a non-restrictive environment where amplification does not occur due to an obstacle, dependent on the speed. The higher the speed, the more the noise, which comes from airflow, or air chopping. The nature of this is always different, depending, for example, on the number of blades and their shape.