Print this article

LED Fans


Date
: 12/29/02 – 05:14:28 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer: Sunbeam / Crystal
Price: $9.95 Crystal Fan / N/A Sunbeam Fan

Introduction

Most of the time, O² brings you reviews of motherboards, video cards, CPU's, cases, heatsinks, … but every now and then we also take a closer look at some less expensive computer parts. One of those less expensive parts, but certainly not less important, is the "fan". Fans are commonly used within computer systems to cool the heatsink, in order to keep hard drives cool, to make sure the PSU stays within its safety limits, to expel hot air out of the case or even to cool down the radiator of your watercooling setup.

In the past we all used those boring "black" fans … ok, they got the job done but nothing more. Shifting forward to the present, computer users around the globe can choose their fans from a wide variety of fans: the casual black ones, but also the more appealing transparent ones featuring LED's, cathode lights, neon wire, UV reactive material, … and more! These fans are an interesting way to personalize your system so it stands out from the crowd and therefore have been adopted by most casemodders out there …

Today, I'm going to take two of these LED fans for a spin and see if they can do anything else but look good!! Victim number one is a 3-LED 80mm fan made by Sunbeam, one of the pioneers when it comes to LED fans, the second fan is the Crystal fan, which is being sold by several shops out there. Let's see what these babies have to offer shall we?

Page 2 : Specifications

Specifications

To start of, let's take a look at the Sunbeam fan's specifications:

- Size: 80x80x25mm
- Weight: 71.5gr
- Fan Speed: 3000RPM
- Airflow: 34CFM
- Noise Level: 30dBA
- Available with three blue, red, green LEDs or one of each LED
- 4-pin power connector

The samples we got from Lux Design were featuring three red LEDs, but as the specifications show, you can also buy it with blue or green LEDs or a combination of all three. If you like, you can also get them with four instead of three LEDs.

The fan is 80mm wide and long and is 25mm thick, making it a standard fan that will fit most heatsinks and cases. It is rated at 3000RPM supplying you with around 34 cubic feet per minute of air. While doing this, it produces about 30dBA of noise, which is not too shabby. This puts the fan somewhere in the middle between the whisper Pabst fans and the turbo-jet Delta fans, making it an ideal solution for people who want best of both worlds.

The Sunbeam is fitted with a 4-pin pass-through Molex connector, so you can hook it up immediately to the PSU. Unfortunately, this also means you can not monitor the RPM's.

Next fan on the list, the Crystal fan:

- Size: 80x80x25mm
- Weight: 70gr
- Fan Speed: 2800RPM
- Airflow: 32.5CFM
- Noise Level: 28.3dBA
- Comes with four blue LEDs, one fan grill pre-installed and self-tapping screws for fan mounting
- 3-pin power connector (4-pin converter is included)

The Crystal fan is more of an "unknown" brand, but that doesn't make it a lesser fan! Coolerguys has these fans on stock (and Lux Design as well) and apparently they are widely used around the net.

The fan's dimensions are equal to the Sunbeam model, so no need to go on about that. But there are a few differences between both fans. For starters, the Crystal fan only spins at 2800RPM which is a good 200RPM slower then the Sunbeam model. Because of that, it only produces 32.5CFM but more importantly, it only produces 28.3dBA: that's a difference of 1.7dBA with only a 1.5CFM difference in airflow! No need to mention that this fan is extremely quiet … heck, I could barely hear it spin. Luckily it has LEDs to reveal it's powered up, because otherwise I couldn't tell without sticking my finger in ;).
Talking about LEDs, the Crystal fan which I am testing comes with a total of four, bright blue LEDs, but can also be bought with two blue and two red LEDs or a tri-LED combination. Crystal also has LED fans where the LEDs are placed in the "rotor" of the fan, the center if you want. They have the exact same specifications as these ones, so it is entirely up to your personal preference which one you get.

The Crystal fan comes with a pre-installed chrome fan grill and four self-tapping screws to allow easy mounting in case your computer housing does not have fan cages. As I mentioned in the spec list, this fan uses a 3-pin power connector and supports RPM monitoring. In case you don't have any spare fan headers on your motherboard, there is a 3-to-4-pin converter included in the package, so you can hook it up to the regular molex connector, just like the Sunbeam fan. Of course that results in the loss of the RPM monitoring …

Page 3 : Conclusion

Conclusion

When looking at these two fans, I have to declare the Crystal fan as the all-round winner of this fight. First of all, it has more LEDs then the Sunbeam model, secondly it runs more quietly without losing much power. Next to that, the Crystal fan supports RPM monitoring, comes with a 3-to-4-pin power converter, self-tapping screws for easy fan mounting and a chrome fan grill pre-installed. Basically, it has everything you can ask for! Thanks to Coolerguys and Lux Design for supplying us with these fans, head over there if you need one of these fans (or any other, they carry a wide range of LED fans).

Sunbeam Fan

Good

- LEDs :)
- Available in several colors

Bad

- No RPM monitoring

Crystal Fan

Good

- Silent
- 4 LEDs
- Includes fan grill, self-tapping screws and converter
- RPM monitoring

Bad

- Nada …