Manufacturer: SilverStone Technology Inc.
Price: MSRP $5 - $18 USD
If you have been reading Overclockers Online for any length of time you�re no doubt aware that we�ve generally been quite taken with SilverStone products. Coolers, power supplies, and obviously cases have all been reviewed on these esteemed pages, but today I�ll be looking at a quartet of case fans.
The four fans include the FM83 and FN83, as well as the FM122 and FM123. The first two fans listed are virtually identical, the primary difference being that the FM83 fan comes with an adjustable speed control module while the FN83 does not. Also reviewed are the FM123 and FM122 models. The FM123 is a standard depth and comes with a rear mounted adjustable speed control module, while the FM122 is 32mm deep and comes with a front mounted, aluminum, adjustable speed control module.
Due to the large variety of cases a case fan can be mounted, coming up with a meaningful standard for testing thermal performance without some kind of heat imaging camera comparison seems somewhat suspect to me. However, for the sake of comparison I�ll use each fan in turn as a replacement for the dedicated mid-chassis fan I use in my current test rig and note any significant differences in the GPU temps I record with ATI tool. Additionally, I will comment on my subjective impressions of the sound �signature� for each fan.