I installed one of these in a tower case I was building to be a Sharepoint and DB2 server as a pull fan at the bottom of the case. I had issues with the MOBO and abandoned the project to focus on my graduate studies. That fan had maybe 50 hours on it, and then sat for five years in that case. I recently decided to go back to this project and had it up and running for maybe 200 hours. I needed another two 144mm fans to complete the pull portion of my push-pull airflow. This fan has remained completely silent and had the blue color I liked, so I wiped off the dust from this fan to see which one it was. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Antec still puts out the exact same fan. Same everything, and even the same blue color LED.
The fan includes four mounting screws, and a power adapter if you do not have a MOBO power connector available to power it.
Since that same fan I purchased five years ago is available today, I purchased two more to complete this computer. The fans have a manual high/low switch. I prefer the set and forget method, so these fit the bill for me. If put them on their low setting they push plenty of air and make so little noise I do not notice them. Set to low, they move plenty of air for my needs. If I set them to high, they do move quite a bit more air, but the noise is definitely noticeable to me.
Having the same blue LED for all three of these fans affects performance. In one study, they proved that mismatching LEDs in a custom build reduced system performance by nearly .0000000000000001 percent every 27,000 hours. Citation needed, you say????
I demand the absolute best possible performance from my mid-cost builds, and by golly if matching LEDs are going to make my system look (I mean perform) faster, then I am all over it! Are there better fans? I don't know. Are there quieter fans? Um, maybe??? Do I wish I got a different fan? For a different branded 120 mm yes. For these, no.
Con:
These fans do not self-install
| Brand | Antec |
|---|---|
| Power Connector Type | 3 and 4 pin Combo |
| Voltage | 12 Volts |
| Wattage | 3.6 watts |
| Cooling Method | Fan |
| Compatible Devices | Desktop |
| Noise Level | 26 dB |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
