OC3D member Review Silverstone Fans

dave87

New member
Right, just bought 3 Silverstone fans, so thought I'd write a mini-review, predominantly based on my experiences so far, but includes the slight 'adjustments' I had to do to make them fit my case :)

Right, first things first - the fans themselves.



I bought 1x92mm and 2x120mm. The fans come well boxed, with specifications on the back -



Opening them up, you get a pretty comprehensive bundle -



You get a supplied fan controller, all the mounting screws, the fan itself and the fan guard for the relevant size. Interestingly, with the 92mm fans you get small rubber feet, which I would guess is to reduce vibrations.

The Fan Controller - pretty nice, made of aluminum, up to the usual Silverstone standards :)



Due to having 3 Silverstone Fans, each coming with their own fan controller, which takes up a 3.5" Bay I had a bit of a problem. My Antec P160 (great case) only has 2 3.5" Bays, so I had to mod the fan controller a bit :)

I started off by removing the 'knob' -



Then it was a case of undoing the small nut, and pulling the controller from the plate, leaving this -



Now for my darstedly plan :D Drill another hole so that I can integrate 2 fan controllers (in my case for the 2x120mm fans) onto one 3.5" thing. My ultra precise workings out, followed by a pilot hole and the final cut



I then cleaned the hole up using a countersink head to remove all the sharp edges (not before I'd cut my bl**dy thumb tho :(). It also had the added benefit of making the hole slightly larger so the controller slipped straight in.



Then added the nut back on (note forgot the washer - put that back in later when I wondered why the two 'knob's stuck out different distances :doh: -



Added the 'knob' back on (until I can think of a better word, thats the one ip gunna use :p )



and then mounted in my case -



Right - back on track

Installing the front 120mm fan was pretty simple, take 1x Bracket, mount nice shiney new fan on it - then insert into cunningly well designed slot :)



The back fan just screws straight in, and the 92mm just clips on nicely to the Thermalright SI-97 :)



To install the 3.5" bay controller, it was necessary to drill 2 new mounting holes in the bracket, to fit with the design of my case (anymore and it'll be swiss cheese I tell you ;)) -



Then it was simply a case of tidying up the wires, and routing them around my case - which took a supprisingly long time :(



but is ultimately worth it, as this is how my case looks now :)



As to the results of using the fans themselves, on the minimum setting they are as quiet as my old akasa amber fans, but on full they have more in common with a delta fan :)

Temps with the fans on minimum (very quiet)

Processor - 43C full load (folding@home)

Case - 22C

Ambient circa -20C (haven't got an actuall thermometer, but that is what the heating is set to - very scientific huh?)

(check my PC specs for what I'm running, barton core tho so gets quite toasty :))

Well, my judgement so far - excellent. Like all things I'll see how they perform in time, though I am optomistic that they should be quite reliable. The only thing that bothers me is the proprietry connections to control the speed, as I now have a fan controller sitting idle - though there is a plan for that :)

+ = :D

(I'm going to add the fan controller to the space above the power supply (ran out of 3.5" bays :() - so I can have a few fans circulating air near the ram and Graphics card :))

Dave
 
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