Date: October 24th, 2003
Article by: Roger (Hardware Reviewer)
Product was donated by: SilenX

PRODUCT FEATURES & WALKTHROUGH

I decided to test these fans in my AOpen box. It has four fans (front, side and two exhaust). My Lian-Li box has six 80mm fans, as well as a loud Vantec CPU cooler… so trying to determine if these SilenX fans are quiet in that box would have been equivalent to trying to hear a mouse crap in an elephant stampede.

I decided to screw the fans in the AOpen case instead of using the rubber vibration mounts, just so I could get a worst case scenario. The front and side fans in that box are Vantecs (of the Blue LED variety). The PSU is my trusty SilenX 400W beauty.

I've been fooling around with a P4 1.4 in that box, with the stock cooler. I slapped in my new 120GB Maxtor HDD, but I didn't put it in my Cremax HDD rack, because that would have kept it cool. I wanted it to heat up the case.

I could feel a noticeable difference in airflow with the SilenX fans. I popped the case open momentarily to mess around with the temperature probes to see if they do in fact work. I placed one probe directly onto my HDD, and hung the other outside of the case and sat it on a wine bottle cooler that had been in my freezer. I was pleased to see the difference in RPMs.

I placed the three temperature probes from my Cremax in various spots within the case, and averaged out the heat. I then started some burn-in tests, and ran them in cycles of ten (using SiSoft Sandra 2004).

36-38.5 degrees seemed to be a fair average. Previously, with two Antec fans as exhaust (not to be confused with the front and side Vantecs), that box ran a good degree or two hotter.

In all honesty though, heat was not my only concern. As a father of four, I can tell you that silence is where it's at.

I wish I could record the difference in noise between these two SilenX fans, and even just one of the Vantecs. It is incredible. Now, let's also consider that these two SilenX fans are sitting right on top of the PSU. The rear of the machine is still quieter than either the front or the side (where the Vantecs are mounted).