The Importance of Fan Control and Specification in Modern Computing Systems

With the advent of modern computing systems, fans have become an essential component to ensure proper airflow and temperature regulation within the system. One type of fan that has gained popularity among enthusiasts is the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) fan, which stands for pulse width modulation. This type of fan is indicated by a 4-pin connector instead of a traditional 3-pin connector, allowing for precise control of the RPM range and enabling users to set the RPM to reflect on hardware temperatures.

When using PWM fans, users can adjust the RPM up or down based on CPU load, temperature, or noise levels. This level of precision is not possible with three-pin fans, which only allow for voltage control. Some motherboards also offer voltage control for three-pin fan headers, allowing users to adjust the RPM based on the voltage supply to the fan.

Another crucial aspect of fan performance is air pressure, specifically static pressure, which measures how well a fan can force air through resistance. Static pressure is measured in millimeters of water (mmH2O) or Pascal, depending on the brand. Higher static pressure means better airflow, but also typically results in higher noise levels. Blade design plays a crucial role in determining static pressure, with wider blades allowing for more airflow at lower RPMs.

Industrial versions of fans can deliver high static pressure at high speeds and noise levels, while standard fans may not be suitable for applications requiring high airflow or resistance. Be Quiet's product range offers various fan designs that cater to different needs, including high-speed and high-pressure variants. Some fans are specifically designed for air flow, while others can be used in either application.

When selecting a fan, it is essential to consider noise levels measured in decibels (dB). In general, anything below 20 dBa is considered inaudible, even when combining multiple fans. Be Quiet's Silent Wings series has gained popularity among enthusiasts due to its exceptional performance and silent operation. The 6-pole fan motor design provides smoother and quieter rotation compared to traditional 4-pole designs.

The bearing type also plays a significant role in determining the noise profile and longevity of a fan. Some brands, like Be Quiet, specify the lifespan in hours (e.g., 40,000-80,000 hours), with certain bearings achieving remarkable performance, such as 150,000 hours or more. These high-performance bearings enable fans to operate for extended periods without significant degradation.

For enthusiasts, understanding the relationship between airflow, static pressure, and noise levels is crucial when selecting fans for their system. Cfm (cubic feet per minute) calculations can help determine the required fan performance for a specific enclosure, making it easier to visualize how many fans are needed to replace the entire volume of air per second.

Ultimately, finding the right balance between noise levels and RPM is essential for creating an optimal airflow solution. Be Quiet's products, such as the Sound Wizard 3, demonstrate this expertise, offering exceptional performance and quiet operation. As enthusiasts continue to push the boundaries of system design and configuration, understanding fan specifications and behavior will become increasingly important in achieving the perfect balance between cooling, noise, and performance.

Power Color RX 5700 XT Red Devil is a special type of graphics card featuring a fantastic cooler with two modes available for users: 10-phase VRM (Voltage Regulator Module) designed to improve stability and overclocking headroom. This impressive cooler also features Fiery RGB illumination, satisfying enthusiasts who value aesthetics and performance.

The Importance of Fan Control and Specification in Modern Computing Systems is a critical aspect of building efficient and high-performance computing systems. By understanding the intricacies of fan design, airflow, and noise levels, enthusiasts can create optimal solutions for their system, ensuring proper cooling, reduced noise, and enhanced overall performance.

Be Quiet's range of fans offers exceptional quality and performance, catering to different needs and requirements. From PWM fans with precise RPM control to high-static-pressure variants designed for air flow or resistance, Be Quiet has something for everyone. Whether you're building a new system or upgrading an existing one, understanding the importance of fan specification and behavior will help you make informed decisions about your cooling solutions.

In conclusion, the world of computing is rapidly evolving, and fans play a vital role in this evolution. From PWM fans with precise RPM control to high-static-pressure variants designed for specific applications, there is no shortage of options available. By understanding the intricacies of fan design, airflow, and noise levels, enthusiasts can create optimal solutions for their system, ensuring proper cooling, reduced noise, and enhanced overall performance.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso choosing the right fan for your system is quite important for cooling for system noise and for the looks of course and in this video i want to break down all the important terminology when it comes to specification of fans what to look out for depending on your situation now we've done similar thing for the power supplies check it out over here and huge thanks to be quiet for sponsoring this video aoc's warranty just respawned that covers four years general warranty for any defects including a one-time accidental warranty replacement of aegon monitors because sometimes things happen so you can enjoy a super smooth and responsive gameplay just like the warranty check it out below so first quick specification is the size and that is the measurement of the frame in millimeters not of the blades ranging from really tiny 25 mm fans all the way up to 230 mm fans with 120 and 140 ml sizes being the most commonly used on cases and coolers while the default thickness of the fan is 25 millimeters which is perfectly fine for majority of situations but be mindful there are really low profile fans that exist for particular small form factor situations where this thing will not fit and just be mindful that all specifications on the box are measured at maximum rpm of that particular fan next up is airflow which is one of the most important specs usually measured in cfm that stands for cubic feet per minute and sometimes you'll also see a measurement in cubic meters per hour in different regions and you can use this conversion rate to give you cfm if that's not displayed and obviously the higher the number the more air the fan can move so for example this 140 millimeter silent x3 fan has a cfm of 59.5 but what does that mean so let's use a fun example with the dark bass pro 900 ref 2 that in volume is approximately 2.89 cubic feet this means that our fan can replace the entire volume of air inside the case 20 times in one minute or every three seconds now imagine you have three of those fans set up for exhaust at full rpm without any restriction whatsoever that means you're tripling the cfm amount and you're placing the entire volume of air inside that enclosure per second that is kind of crazy i do want to clarify that these maximum cfm and static pressure values cannot be reached in a confined space like a computer case because they only apply to an ideal environment with no obstruction at all so the case was letting air through without resistance at all so treat these specs as general guidelines now the cfm spec is based on the blade design and the frame design but more importantly it is based on the speed of the fan measured in rpm so a bigger fan will always move more air at the same speed as the smaller fan so two of these 140mm fans are about the same total cfm as three 120mm models but let's be real most of us are not running full speed on all fans at all times which is why pwm control is so important with today's fans so pwm stands for pulse width modulation and that is indicated by a 4-pin connector instead of a 3-pin connector so when you plug a pwm fan into a 4-pin pwm fan header on your motherboard you can do all types of cool stuff like full precise control of the rpm range you can set the rpm to reflect on hardware temperatures and like spike up to 100 rpm when cpu load is high or something like that and you can also do really low rpm uh with pwm for like really silent uh almost inaudible operations while for three pin fans precise rpm control is not possible but some motherboards allow for voltage control for those three pin fan headers like 5 7 or 12 volts therefore adjusting the rpm based on the voltage supply to the fan and you can also get voltage reducing adapters to reduce the fan speed from it's constantly running at 12 volts which is 100 load to something lower and so moving on what happens when we have airflow resistance from cpu towers radiators case elements and that is when static pressure or air pressure is super important to talk about it is measured in millimeter of water or millimeter of water gauge or millimeter of water column or pascal depending on the brand so the higher the static pressure the better the fan can force air through whatever resistance is on either side of the fan so blade design is crucial for this which is why they're much wider than your airflow fans but so is the rpm where some industrial versions of fans deliver insane amount of static pressure but at crazy high speeds and of course noise levels too here's a visual distinction between high static pressure and low static pressure and that air penetration through the standard 25 millimeter radiator and just how much more air is being pushed through those fins uh with high static pressure versus low static pressure and since be quiet prioritizes on silence they do have their high speed variations of fans that deliver much higher rpm for one and also much better static pressure and when shopping for fans you can see that some brands choose to clearly indicate what the fan is designed for either static pressure or air flow while some fans are more like a hybrid that can be used in either for airflow or mounted on the heatsink or high resistant areas on enclosure another important factor to consider here is noise level measured in decibels and in my experience anything around 20 and lower dba is basically inaudible even when you combine multiple fans for a really quiet system i've done a few of those and they've been really satisfying and just like turning things on and things are spinning but you can't hear anything but the temperatures are still fine that's a good feeling the silence factor is definitely one of the reasons why i love silent wings 3 it's my top 5 favorite fans they've done a really good job with the blade design the frame structure and the 6-pole fan motor instead of the traditional 4-pole design so each rotation is literally smoother and quieter as a result and finally bearing type also has an important part to play and the noise profile but also the longevity of a fan now some brands specified the lifespan in hours ranging from 40 000 hours to 50 000 hours to 80 000 hours with rifle bearing over 150 000 hours with ufb and 300 000 hours with fluid dynamic bearing like on the silent wings 3. that is 34 years of continuous operation that is what the bearing is rated at that is kind of insane and so hopefully this gives you a good baseline of understanding all the specifications when it comes to fans and help you choose the right thing for the job the most interesting thing for me is doing all those cfm calculations and how many fans at what cfm you need to replace the entire volume of air in a particular enclosure per second that's a cool way to think about when you're trying to visualize how many fans you need for a particular system and also understanding there must exist a good balance between noise levels and rpm which is why i love the sound winx 3 so much but figuring out that balance is kind of a fun part especially when you're dealing with pwm control and setting uh little curves based on cpu temperatures and all that stuff that is the fun part when it comes to setting up your entire case with airflow and hopefully the temperatures are all good too the power color rx 5700 xt red devil is a special kind of graphics card with a fantastic cooler two modes available for the user 10 phase vrm designed to improve stability and oc headroom and fiery rgb illumination to satisfy check it out below alright guys i'm dmitry make sure to check out this other relevant content check the description below for fan recommendations and all the stuff from be quiet as well thanks so much for watching i'll talk to you in the next videoso choosing the right fan for your system is quite important for cooling for system noise and for the looks of course and in this video i want to break down all the important terminology when it comes to specification of fans what to look out for depending on your situation now we've done similar thing for the power supplies check it out over here and huge thanks to be quiet for sponsoring this video aoc's warranty just respawned that covers four years general warranty for any defects including a one-time accidental warranty replacement of aegon monitors because sometimes things happen so you can enjoy a super smooth and responsive gameplay just like the warranty check it out below so first quick specification is the size and that is the measurement of the frame in millimeters not of the blades ranging from really tiny 25 mm fans all the way up to 230 mm fans with 120 and 140 ml sizes being the most commonly used on cases and coolers while the default thickness of the fan is 25 millimeters which is perfectly fine for majority of situations but be mindful there are really low profile fans that exist for particular small form factor situations where this thing will not fit and just be mindful that all specifications on the box are measured at maximum rpm of that particular fan next up is airflow which is one of the most important specs usually measured in cfm that stands for cubic feet per minute and sometimes you'll also see a measurement in cubic meters per hour in different regions and you can use this conversion rate to give you cfm if that's not displayed and obviously the higher the number the more air the fan can move so for example this 140 millimeter silent x3 fan has a cfm of 59.5 but what does that mean so let's use a fun example with the dark bass pro 900 ref 2 that in volume is approximately 2.89 cubic feet this means that our fan can replace the entire volume of air inside the case 20 times in one minute or every three seconds now imagine you have three of those fans set up for exhaust at full rpm without any restriction whatsoever that means you're tripling the cfm amount and you're placing the entire volume of air inside that enclosure per second that is kind of crazy i do want to clarify that these maximum cfm and static pressure values cannot be reached in a confined space like a computer case because they only apply to an ideal environment with no obstruction at all so the case was letting air through without resistance at all so treat these specs as general guidelines now the cfm spec is based on the blade design and the frame design but more importantly it is based on the speed of the fan measured in rpm so a bigger fan will always move more air at the same speed as the smaller fan so two of these 140mm fans are about the same total cfm as three 120mm models but let's be real most of us are not running full speed on all fans at all times which is why pwm control is so important with today's fans so pwm stands for pulse width modulation and that is indicated by a 4-pin connector instead of a 3-pin connector so when you plug a pwm fan into a 4-pin pwm fan header on your motherboard you can do all types of cool stuff like full precise control of the rpm range you can set the rpm to reflect on hardware temperatures and like spike up to 100 rpm when cpu load is high or something like that and you can also do really low rpm uh with pwm for like really silent uh almost inaudible operations while for three pin fans precise rpm control is not possible but some motherboards allow for voltage control for those three pin fan headers like 5 7 or 12 volts therefore adjusting the rpm based on the voltage supply to the fan and you can also get voltage reducing adapters to reduce the fan speed from it's constantly running at 12 volts which is 100 load to something lower and so moving on what happens when we have airflow resistance from cpu towers radiators case elements and that is when static pressure or air pressure is super important to talk about it is measured in millimeter of water or millimeter of water gauge or millimeter of water column or pascal depending on the brand so the higher the static pressure the better the fan can force air through whatever resistance is on either side of the fan so blade design is crucial for this which is why they're much wider than your airflow fans but so is the rpm where some industrial versions of fans deliver insane amount of static pressure but at crazy high speeds and of course noise levels too here's a visual distinction between high static pressure and low static pressure and that air penetration through the standard 25 millimeter radiator and just how much more air is being pushed through those fins uh with high static pressure versus low static pressure and since be quiet prioritizes on silence they do have their high speed variations of fans that deliver much higher rpm for one and also much better static pressure and when shopping for fans you can see that some brands choose to clearly indicate what the fan is designed for either static pressure or air flow while some fans are more like a hybrid that can be used in either for airflow or mounted on the heatsink or high resistant areas on enclosure another important factor to consider here is noise level measured in decibels and in my experience anything around 20 and lower dba is basically inaudible even when you combine multiple fans for a really quiet system i've done a few of those and they've been really satisfying and just like turning things on and things are spinning but you can't hear anything but the temperatures are still fine that's a good feeling the silence factor is definitely one of the reasons why i love silent wings 3 it's my top 5 favorite fans they've done a really good job with the blade design the frame structure and the 6-pole fan motor instead of the traditional 4-pole design so each rotation is literally smoother and quieter as a result and finally bearing type also has an important part to play and the noise profile but also the longevity of a fan now some brands specified the lifespan in hours ranging from 40 000 hours to 50 000 hours to 80 000 hours with rifle bearing over 150 000 hours with ufb and 300 000 hours with fluid dynamic bearing like on the silent wings 3. that is 34 years of continuous operation that is what the bearing is rated at that is kind of insane and so hopefully this gives you a good baseline of understanding all the specifications when it comes to fans and help you choose the right thing for the job the most interesting thing for me is doing all those cfm calculations and how many fans at what cfm you need to replace the entire volume of air in a particular enclosure per second that's a cool way to think about when you're trying to visualize how many fans you need for a particular system and also understanding there must exist a good balance between noise levels and rpm which is why i love the sound winx 3 so much but figuring out that balance is kind of a fun part especially when you're dealing with pwm control and setting uh little curves based on cpu temperatures and all that stuff that is the fun part when it comes to setting up your entire case with airflow and hopefully the temperatures are all good too the power color rx 5700 xt red devil is a special kind of graphics card with a fantastic cooler two modes available for the user 10 phase vrm designed to improve stability and oc headroom and fiery rgb illumination to satisfy check it out below alright guys i'm dmitry make sure to check out this other relevant content check the description below for fan recommendations and all the stuff from be quiet as well thanks so much for watching i'll talk to you in the next video\n"