Earlier this month, Alphacool announced 120 mm fans (a 2000 RPM and a 3000 RPM model) with a decoupled metal frame construction:
https://www.alphacool.com/en/news/new-apex-stealth-metal-fan-2
In short, it is a quite normal plastic fan in a round plastic frame, which is then suspended via rubber rings in a square, heavy metal frame. As far as I can tell, the main difference of these from your run-of-the-mill fans is that the latter aren't easy to mount mechanically decoupled and at the same time airtight for good pressure and flow rate.
A first in-depth review is out now:
Construction cost is high, and so is the price: € 30 a piece. Availability is supposed to be sometime later this year.
A specific drawback of these fans, mostly only relevant if they are to be used as CPU tower cooler fan: The weight would put more stress on the cooler mounts. Apart from that, the high weight of the frame of these fans is one important reason for their supposedly excellent acoustics. Other contributing features are good precision in manufacturing (according to igor'sLAB), a 6 pole motor, and fluid dynamic bearing.
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I am currently in the process of building a watercooled computer which is meant to be running 24/7 during the colder months of the year and with quite some heat output. Fans with such a good performance would be good to have for such an almost-always-on computer. However, before I upgrade fans, I first need to thoroughly decouple the pump. As long as I haven't done this, fan noise of that computer isn't really relevant. The fans which I currently have, Arctic P12, are cheap but are doing their job while being drowned out by the pump. As it happens, P12 PWM PST can be had for € 30 too — but as a pack of 5, not as a single piece.
https://www.alphacool.com/en/news/new-apex-stealth-metal-fan-2
In short, it is a quite normal plastic fan in a round plastic frame, which is then suspended via rubber rings in a square, heavy metal frame. As far as I can tell, the main difference of these from your run-of-the-mill fans is that the latter aren't easy to mount mechanically decoupled and at the same time airtight for good pressure and flow rate.
A first in-depth review is out now:
in German: https://www.igorslab.de/alphacool-a...intergrundinformationen-und-vielen-messungen/
translated: https://www.igorslab.de/en/alphacool-apex-stealth-metal-power-fan-in-an-exclusive-review/
According to these measurements by igor'sLAB, both aerodynamic and acoustic performance are quite a bit ahead of the current top of computer fans.translated: https://www.igorslab.de/en/alphacool-apex-stealth-metal-power-fan-in-an-exclusive-review/
Construction cost is high, and so is the price: € 30 a piece. Availability is supposed to be sometime later this year.
A specific drawback of these fans, mostly only relevant if they are to be used as CPU tower cooler fan: The weight would put more stress on the cooler mounts. Apart from that, the high weight of the frame of these fans is one important reason for their supposedly excellent acoustics. Other contributing features are good precision in manufacturing (according to igor'sLAB), a 6 pole motor, and fluid dynamic bearing.
________________________________________________________
I am currently in the process of building a watercooled computer which is meant to be running 24/7 during the colder months of the year and with quite some heat output. Fans with such a good performance would be good to have for such an almost-always-on computer. However, before I upgrade fans, I first need to thoroughly decouple the pump. As long as I haven't done this, fan noise of that computer isn't really relevant. The fans which I currently have, Arctic P12, are cheap but are doing their job while being drowned out by the pump. As it happens, P12 PWM PST can be had for € 30 too — but as a pack of 5, not as a single piece.
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