All the glory and respect of the Noctua NF-A12x25 “sterrox” fan is well deserved. We waited a long time to release its tests, mainly because it was necessary to analyze more seemingly similar designs first. This is necessary to understand why Noctua’s most popular fan among standard thickness models has no competition. We can responsibly say that even though we have only tested a fraction of all the fans. Read more “Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM: The most fine-tuned fan of its kind”
Do you know what first carried the BeQuiet! logo? It wasn’t a cooler, it wasn’t a fan, it wasn’t a PSU, and it wasn’t a case. These components were added to the portfolio only later. BeQuiet! started on something completely different, relatively simpler. Over time, however, the range of components has grown considerably. Let’s take a look at what the company has been gradually getting up to. Read more “It’s been two decades since the creation of BeQuiet!”
These are truly unconventional fans. While the rotor shapes tend to vary across different models, in different materials, the XPG Hurricane design clearly stands out among the rest. They have sort of dual blades and prominent protrusions and, imagine, some sort of openings as well. Overall, the shape of the blades is more complex and it is not a typical quadrilateral geometry either. How can this possibly work? Read more “Adata is not afraid, they gave the XPG Hurricane holey blades”
It’s not a joke. It may sound silly, but know that we are not presenting you with anti-physics. On the contrary, the foundation in physics here is very good. Different colors of materials, as long as they are not just a surface finish but a homogeneous mass, can (and often do) affect their strength. Our sensitive measurements reveal well the differences that exist between the white and black variants. Read more “When color matters: Corsair AF120 Elite weaker in white”
You know, the less you expect from something, the bigger the surprise can be in the end. Not that we approach Corsair’s elite fan with any preconceived notions, but for an absolutely top-notch fan, its design seems a bit simple. And that’s the magic of the AF120 Elite fan. Someone who knows what they’re doing was behind its design, because they did a hell of a job. Read more “Corsair AF120 Elite: Beware, this fan is a force to be reckoned with”
In HWCooling tests, there will no longer be uninteresting fans that serve “only” to build benchmarks. We have passed this phase. From now on, database building will have a different character and each additional fan will enrich the knowledge significantly. We’ll get right into the thick of it, with Cooler Master’s most expensive fan already riding the wave of the framed rotors that are coming in strong. And do you know why? Read more “Cooler Master MasterFan SF120M: Blades must be framed”
After the June announcement, it seems that Antec has everything ready to ship the Storm 120 fans going on sale. We don’t usually write two news articles about one fan, but we’re going to make an exception now. Apart from the fact that the price is already known, this one should mainly be a mid-range dark horse according to the design details. Technically the Storm 120 look really good and efficient. Read more “Antec Storm 120 fans are out (and on their way to our testlab)”
Few fans can wow us at first glance the way the Alucia SC12 from Akasa has done. Its build looks quite compelling in this price range. However, on a second look after detailed testing comes some sobering. But even though the high (even exorbitantly high) expectations have not been met, in some aspects the Alucia SC12 beats attractive, similarly cheap competitors in some situations. Read more “Akasa Alucia SC12: Efficient shapes vs. soft material”
The hunch that BeQuiet! couldn’t be this wrong was correct after all and now we have to tuck our tails between our legs. The original headline still stands, so “Don’t swap corners on Silent Wings (Pro) 4! You’d get worse results”, but it’s a little different than how we originally presented it. There has in fact been a mix-up of corners and now we’ll settle everything. We apologize to you, our readers, and to BeQuiet! for the original interpretation. Read more “Re-test of Silent Wings Pro 4 mounting corners. It makes sense now”
This didn’t work out for BeQuiet!. The supplied mounting corners for specific uses don’t work as promised. Instead of increasing the static pressure as advertised, the corners on radiators even decrease the static pressure and thus the cooling performance. And even the case mountings, which are supposed to eliminate vibration, don’t make much sense on the Silent Wings (Pro) 4 design. The whole thing seems somehow… half-baked. Read more “Don’t swap corners on Silent Wings (Pro) 4! You’d get worse results”
And we come to the finale, in which we’ll look at the extremely popular line graphs that express the relationship between airflow and static pressure. These present, in a sophisticated and seemingly credible way, which fan will be more effective in which environment. As it happens, however, it is mainly a marketing tool rather than something useful that can really be relied upon. Read more “Static pressure vs. airflow, part 3/3: P/Q curves are misleading”
All the secrets around the BeQuiet! Silent Wings (Pro) 4 are over and the detailed analyses of the sub-features begin. And it’s great that we can be a part of it. This is, after all, without a doubt, the biggest “cooling” event of the year, and it’s spicier than we thought. The new BeQuiet! fans may be the absolute top of the line, but they haven’t avoided certain imperfections that you have to take into account. Read more “Silent Wings Pro 4 (BL098) in-depth review: Hard BeQuiet! KO”
Thermalright fans have been somewhat overshadowed by great heatsink throughout this company’s history. For a long time, even relatively high minimum speeds were awkward. These have now been tamed for most current models and the X-Silent 120 has a superbly low top speed as well. This is the “slowest” fan we have tested to date. With a price of under five euros, it also ranks among the cheapest you can buy. Read more “Thermalright X-Silent 120: Quiet operation for a bargain”
No one, no one at all, can claim based on any tests that one fan is a touch more or less efficient than the other for radiators or cooler heatsinks in general. Technically it’s impossible, and not just because of the huge design diversity of fins. However, after in-depth analyses, one can work one’s way to comparisons that have a high predictive value with a certain amount of universality. Read more “Static pressure vs. airflow, part 2/3: Measuring performance on fins”
An old-school rotor with one small aerodynamic tweak, the shortcomings of the Dynamic series of fans removed, and the addition of ARGB LED lighting. There are negatives too, but with the right application you can neatly avoid them. Overall, though, Fractal Design’s Aspects are functionally among the most feature-rich of what’s available in the current lineup of LED fans. Read more “Sightly and efficient: the Fractal Design Aspect 12 RGB PWM test”
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