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Evercool Red Scorpion 140mm Fan


Date
: 10/12/06 – 05:31:29 AM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Introduction

Headquartered in Taiwan, Evercool is a company that concentrates solely on computer cooling products. From CPU coolers, to system blowers, to laptop coolers, this company has gained respect from many overclockers and enthusiasts alike. Today, we look at their newest cooling fan, the Red Scorpion.

140mm fans are not very popular in the current market as most companies find that the 120mm fan is efficient enough for most applications, and it is a more widely supported mount too. Evercool believes that bigger is better – why stop at 120mm? 140mm allows for more airflow and quieter performance. Does the 140mm easily top a 120mm? This question, along with many others, will be answered in the following review.

Page 2 : Package

The package that enclosed the Red Scorpion arrived safely and did not have any visible damage on the exterior.

The front of the package clearly lays out the fan and the included adapter. The card behind the fan has a very stylish design that is bound to attract some customers. The package does not appear to be a regular plastic clamshell package. Instead, it is a plastic enclosure that is sealed on all four sides.

The back of the package points out the features and specifications of the fan. It also shows the rest of the contents.

Now that the package has been covered, let's check out the specs of this beauty.

Page 3 : Specifications

Here are the features of the Scorpion, as taken from the website:

And here are the specifications:

What is interesting is the fan's bearing type. It's labeled as an "Ever Lubricate bearing type (Long life bearing)". This is different from the noisy ball bearing, and the low-life sleeve bearing most mainstream fans use. The "Long life" part of it is the most attractive, as many of us do have fans that quickly deteriorate and last no longer than maybe two months.

After trying to tear the unit apart, one would notice that the fan motor chamber is sealed. This would lead to an educated assumption that the Ever Lubricate bearing type is just a small modification or exactly the same as a "Fluid Dynamic Bearing", which, instead of using a traditional ball bearing, uses a liquid compound in a sealed environment to keep the fan in motion without as much energy loss due to friction.

Now that the specifications are covered, time to move on to seeing the insides of that package.

Page 4 : Package Content

Opening the package was actually pretty hard, as it is sealed from all sides, and one would have to acquire a pair of scissors, or if more advanced, a knife, in order to open it up.

The fan actually looks nicer out of the package. The fan blades and 120mm adapter are made of a transparent and glossy plastic. The fan casing is made of a matte finished transparent plastic. The wiring for the fan is also sleeved, which is a nice touch.

When flipped over, the motor used in the fan is revealed, thanks to the transparent plastic of the fan. It makes the whole thing look much cooler.

On it's side, the Scorpion fan itself is very low profile, about 20mm thick. The 120mm adapter is just about the same. Being a total of 40mm thick, this fan is about the same thickness as most 120mm case fans.

What is also included are 4 simple case screws and a 4-pin Molex to 3-pin power cable.

Compared are the Red Scorpion, Antec 3-Speed, and the Big Typhoon stock fan. The Scorpion is only a bit bigger than the other two. The Scorpion has 11 fan blades that are smaller, compared to the larger 7 blades of the other two.

The best match for the Scorpion is the Antec 3-Speed fan, as both are 40mm thick, and both are also designed as exhaust fans. The Antec comes with some of their cases as a 120mm exhaust fan. The blades on the Antec are more curved, and they are also noticibly larger than the Scorpion blades.

With the adapter attached, the Scorpion is the same thickness as the Antec.

Now that the contents are covered, go see how this thing gets installed.

Page 5 : Installation

Taking off the 120mm adapter was quite hard as the factory screws are very tight, so I did manage to strip some of the screw off. But with the right sized screwdriver, and some elbow grease, the adapter will come off.

The adapter is very low profile, only about 20mm in thickness. The adapter also angles the airflow from the outer rim towards the center, thus decreasing the size of the fan's dead-spot.

The rear end of most cases have a spot for a exhaust fan. The case did have 120mm fan holes, but the size of the 140mm Scorpion will not fit in between the side of the case and a small metal wall that holds the metal plate for rear connections. This problem was solved by mounting the fan outside of the case opposed to the inside. Obviously, this fan was meant for a side door, but the case used only had 80mm fan holes.

Mounting the fan on the outside of the case was problematic also, because you have to use your screwdriver on the interior of the case, and with the motherboard installed, it is hard to maneuver. Once mounted, the fan does protrude, but also makes the case somewhat stylish. All of the installation problems are due to the compatibility issues of 140mm fans.

Thanks to the 3-pin connector, the fan is able to plug into the motherboard directly for power and control over the fan speed. The power adapter also works fine, and provides the user an alternative to plugging in the fan to the motherboard.

Now that the fan is installed, lets have a look-see at how the Scorpion performs!

Page 6 : Testing

Two tests are going to be performed. The first test is for the comparison of the Antec 120mm and the Evercool 140mm as exhaust fans; this will test for system temperatures as well as sound level. The second test is to compare the Antec 120mm, Evercool 140mm, and stock 120mm as CPU fans, which will give us a rough comparison of airflow. The ambient temperature throughout testing remained at 29 degrees Celsius.

Both tests are on this system:

The system will be put under load by Prime95 for three hours, and temperatures for CPU, PWMIC, and the chipset will be recorded from MBM5. The system will then be on idle for three hours with minimal processes running. Temperatures will then be recorded in the same manner. After temperature testing, a sound level meter will be used to test sound intensity. The meter is placed 3 centimeters away from the center of the fan, at a 180 degree angle. This process will be first used without any exhaust fan. Then, testing will be performed on the Antec 3-Speed on High setting, then again on low setting. The fan will then be replaced with the Evercool Red Scorpion, and the same process will repeat.

Here are the results:

The temperatures of the Evercool are just a hair lower than the Antec on High setting. Even with the small fan blades, and the very low noise level, the Scorpion tops the noisy Antec 3-Speed as an exhaust fan hands down. The noise level on the Evercool is low, and is very tolerable as a case fan. The Antec 3-Speed on Low setting is also very quiet, but you lose out on thermal performance. The Antec on High is very loud; it is very distinguishable, and it is the loudest component in the system.

Due to an absence of proper airflow testing equipment, we will relatively determine the fan's airflow effectiveness by mounting it directly onto the CPU heatsink. In the second test setup, the system will be put under load by Prime95 for three hours, and the CPU temperature will be recorded from MBM5. The system will then be on idle for three hours with minimal processes running. Temperatures will then be recorded in the same manner. The first test will be done for the Big Typhoon's stock 120mm fan with all screws mounted in. The second test will be for the Antec 3-Speed at both High and Low settings, mounted using two elastic bands. The final test will be for the Evercool Red Scorpion, again installed using two elastic bands.

Here are the results:

The Evercool Scorpion performed very well. For a fan with very small fan blades, and very quiet operation, this stacks up with the airflow of the Antec on High speed, which is very loud. I found this very surprising, but knowing that it is a 140mm versus a 120mm, the end result was actually easily predictable.

One thing that I noticed during the first test, is that without the adapter, the fan has a very large dead spot in the center. I would guess that this dead spot is about 100mm in diameter. This seemed alarming at first, but after putting on the adapter, the dead spot decreased significantly due to the shape and form of the adapter.

Page 7 : Conclusion

At first sight, the Red Scorpion is a beauty, with transparent red blades enclosed in a dark-grey outfit. This fan is also a great performer under the hood. The airflow is up to date with what overclockers need and is also very quiet for those who want a silent computer.

The benefits of a 140mm fan versus a 120mm fan are obvious: better airflow along with quieter performance. Turns out even a mere 20mm can make a huge difference in the noise-to-airflow ratio. A standard 140mm fan mount on cases and HSFs are not adopted yet, and if they were, we would see more effective cooling and quieter computers. Using this fan on HSFs and sometimes on cases where this fan would not fit takes a little bit of modding to do the trick, but it is worth the time and work as the benefits are enormous. I would recommend this fan to anyone.

Advantages
Great materials used, sleek design
Great airflow performance
Quiet performance
Sleeved wires

Disadvantages
Compatibility, 140mm is big and will not fit everywhere a 120mm can fit
Large dead spot without the adapter

Overclockers Online would like to thank Evercool for making this review possible.