be quiet! BL070 Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM high-speed, cooling fan, Black

Product Information

The only other problem to consider is that occasionally, components immediately adjacent to the motherboard fan header can get in the way of the larger 4-pin fan connector, physically preventing connection. This problem also occurs if you try to use an in-line fan speed controller such as the one made by Gelid. An image from be quiet! showing an anti-vibration fitting on the corner. BTW, be quiet! has a PDF manual that shows you how to take these corners off. The manual has a diagram that helps us see just how vibrations are not transmitted with this corner fitting. Anti-Vibration Fitting Test Setup And all the fans are built with PBT, the same plastic that's best for gaming keyboard keycaps. Be Quiet says in their testing these fans worked just fine for really long periods, and say that even for four of more years of maximum RPM, there shouldn't be any sign of impeller creep. That's basically when the constant spinning and centrifugal forces on the blades causes them to stretch out, which, you might have guessed, isn't ideal. The fans were placed on a test stand, where their free air RPM was observed and their noise was assessed. The standard proxy for what you can hear is the Sound Pressure Level (SPL), measured in decibels and given a type A-weighting (dBA). A silent room is about 30 dBA. Well if you have review questions, probably talk to @Avacado. Keep in mind not everyone necessarily has the specific comparisons you may be looking for.

Undoubtedly the fans are an integral factor in minimizing the noise levels of the products in the be quiet! portfolio.Specially developed Silent Wings and other be quiet! fans are used throughout all product ranges. They are equipped with a variety of noise-reducing features, such as special bearings, smooth motors, optimized airflow and vibration decoupling. Thanks to these fans be quiet! products attain a perfect balance of ideal cooling performance and virtually inaudible operation. be quiet! lives up to its name: 20years experience in the field of noise reduction and silence make be quiet! products probably the most silent on the market. Where the Silent Wings 4 finds more success is when it comes to pressure. The standard 120mm model manages 1.79 mm/H₂0 at 1,600 RPM, but up to 3.86 mm/H₂0 at full speed. That makes it a great fit for radiators, and up there with the likes of Corsair's SP120 static pressure fans at 1.45 mm/H₂0 at 1,400 RPM. The Noctua NF-S12B isn't the fan you'd want for this purpose at 1.31 mm/H₂0 at 1,200 RPM, instead you'd be better off with something like the NF-P12 redux. Anyway, AquaComputer eventually added similar circuitry to the SPLITTY9 Active and QUADRO products, which helped mitigate the problem down the road. Now for PWM. You wouldn’t normally use a 1000-RPM fan on a rad, but this fan is PWM-controlled. So to compare it with other PWM fans:The airflow was assessed using a standard measure, cubic feet per minute, or CFM. The air entered a sealed 8″x8″x8″ box (200+ mm on a side) where it was allowed to mix. The air left the box through an exhaust port, where it was measured with the vane head of an Extech AN100 anemometer, averaging 10 readings per fan setting. The fans were tested in an unobstructed state, with a metal mesh dust filter and on a 30 FPI rad. Test Results The Silent Wings 3 are quiet fans. Their airflow is about mid-range but they are among the quieter case fans. Arguably with the other corner mounts, it would be quieter still.

The fans were installed with what be quiet! calls “hard plastic fittings” on the corners. Belying their name they have rubber cores designed to attenuate vibrations. To finish the job they fasten these fans with rubber washers. Installed fans close up A Closer Look The headquarters are located in Glinde near Hamburg. Since 2002, here is where all products have been conceived and designed, and quality inspections and controls have been carried out. This is how be quiet! ensures that all products meet the high standards. Regular awards in categories such as "Best Fan", "Best Power Supply", "Best Cooler" and "Best PC Case" from specialized media as well as a high level of customer satisfaction ensure healthy and steady growth. Whoever decides to buy be quiet! products, buys proven premium quality and the silent operation typical of be quiet!.Some comments on their features: Most fans have four poles. In their PDF about these fans, be quiet! says that six poles contribute to a smoother transition between magnetic poles, less vibration, reduced power consumption and low start-up voltage. On the other hand, this usually is found only in more expensive fans.

be quiet! SilentWings fans stand for state-of-the-art technology, virtually inaudible operation and superior cooling. The third generation of this award-winning fan series offers unrivalled and uncompromising performance with a broad range of meticulous optimisations. They feature a smooth-running 6-pole motor, an advanced fluid-dynamic bearing, a unique airflow-optimised fan blade design and a fan frame with funnel-shaped air inlets. The six poles of the motor produce a smoother transition between the magnetic poles. This results in very low vibration and silent operation with less energy consumption. Therein lies some of that flexibility that Be Quiet is talking about with the Silent Wings 4, and if you're the type to reuse fans for all manner of purposes over their lifetime, perhaps they're a better all-round fit than some individually. Though that also means they're perhaps not as good for each task as a more bespoke designed fan would be. The ambient noise for this set of testing is 31 dBA. To make sure we could measure noise levels that were softer than 30 dBA, the Sound Pressure Level (SPL) was set 10 cm from each fan. SPL was adjusted to 1 meter by subtracting 20 dB. The sound pressure meter is a Tenma 72-942. This fan tester has a microphone which is not accurate under 30 dBA. This is the limit of all but the most expensive SPL meters. At low levels sound measurement by extrapolation is not accurate, so that sound measurements are approximate. Today we’re having a look at the be quiet! Silent Wings 3 case fans that came with the recently reviewed Dark Base Pro 900. These fans are available in 120/140mm sizes at two different speeds of 1000 RPM and 1650 RPM as PWM or DC and are available at many retail outlets.The Silent Wings 3 normally comes in a box with a variety of accessories, including two sets of corner mounts, screws and connectors (photographs from be quiet!). The case fans did not come with “anti-vibration fittings” at the corners, but retail fans do.

Despite its high performance, the SilentWings 3 from be quiet! is almost inaudibly quiet: the 120-millimeter variant produces a sound level of 16.4 decibels, while the 140 mm model produces only 15.5 decibels. The highly efficient, three-phase 6-pole fan motor and the rubberized frame contribute positively to this: both parts reduce vibrations to a possible minimum. In addition, the advanced, high-quality IC motor control effectively prevents electrical interference.

Characteristics

Compare both of those to the Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM, our favourite PC fan, at 100.6 m³/h at 1,200 RPM, and you're likely looking at running the Silent Wings at a higher RPM to match that airflow rate. But with the Silent Wings Pro 4 you really can crank up the RPM something fierce if you don't care for the noise.