A harsh headline, but a fair one. We always try to find mostly good things when testing, but sometimes it’s tricky. That’s the case here, where SilverStone is misleading its customers. The grille doesn’t significantly increase noise? We have no sympathy for hoaxes like this. Especially when it’s all “well thought out” and staged. Such practices do not shed a good light on the combination of three different blade shapes, which actually has something to it.
Reality vs. specifications
Explanatory note: For a quick overview of how manufacturers “spice up” specifications, we have a sort of “truthfulness” coefficient. We calculate this by putting our measured values in proportion to those given in the specifications by the fan manufacturers. A result of “1.00” means that the claimed parameters match the values we have recorded. After such a finding, we can conclude that the manufacturer has done his job honestly and the way he presents the fan agrees. The more the coefficient number is different from 1.00, the less accurate the claimed specifications are. Of course, the better case for the user is if the coefficient is higher than 1.00 (and it is, for example, 1.20), then the real parameters exceed the paper ones. Conversely, if the coefficient starts with zero, then the fan does not reach the parameters on paper. For example, a value of 0.80 means that the real airflow or static pressure is 20 % lower than the manufacturer claims.
