Next Generation Fans

Tweaker writes "We just posted the first installment of an ongoing article dedicated to the latest designs and innovations for cooling your PC. The Next Generation Fans roundup starts off with five different models from four different manufacturers." I would have liked to have seen the dB rating for each fan- I've had some fans that really were great, provided I was wearing noise cancelling headphones while sharing a room with them. I have the Antec Tricolor fans they review in my case- they are gorgeous, but audible.

Comments

Lookee the pretty colors

[theRhinoceros]

With five different fan models from four different manufacturers, there is no real way of comparing one to another, although I can definitely give my opinion on certain features or aspects. For instance, I found the LEDs on the Antec Blue and TriLight fans to be much brighter and colorful than the LEDs found on the Cooler Master Blue LED fan

The fact that the first comment the authors make in their summary regarding the various merits of the fans deals not with performance or cost, but rather completely superfluous colored lights says something about this review in general.

Re:Lookee the pretty colors

[GigsVT]

With five different fan models from four different manufacturers, there is no real way of comparing one to another,

How about actual meansurements, not just what it says on the box? Isn't that the whole point of reviews?

Also, in my experience, a lot of the heat sensing fans have completely unrealistic heat sensors. I had one brand of heat sensing fan that would always run at full speed, unless I shot the heat sensor with canned air upside down and froze it (so cold it iced up). In other words the heat sensor is often just a gimmick.

People have also complained that antec power supplies with heat sensing fans almost never run the fans at full speed, even when the PS is putting out air hotter than they would care for it to put out. So there is the other extreme too, heat sensors that run the fan slower than you would want.

Well, hopefully the author will read this thread and get some ideas on how he can improve his reviewer skills, because this article as it is, is pretty useless.

I just want.....

[Isca]

...a setup that would allow me to put my computer 20-30 feet away in another room, but still have the things I need in front of me. Powerswitch/reset button Monitor Mouse Keyboard CD/Burner/DVD/Floppy/whatever extra firewire/usb storage device and a USB 2.0 hub for extra hardware If I could have that (and be able to use graphic intensive apps, like games) for a good price, they'd have my money in a heartbeat! Especially if one day it could be done wirelessly, or with just one wire to run to wherever I wanted my "desktop". Who cares how noisy the fan is if it's in another room???? -Chris

Umm...

[Anonymous Coward]

That was unquestionably the dumbest review I've ever seen linked to on Slashdot. What a blatant attempt at advertising their site. I mean, seriously, what the fuck is so innovative about putting LEDs on fans? I thought I was going to see something like one of those fans that are driven from their periphery instead of the center.

I rate this article (-1, Worthless).

Zero-noise fans

[silvaran]

Is it really possible to have zero-noise fans? I realize noise from the electric motor contributes to (relatively) high dB levels, but they're moving air with a spinning fan. Is it really that important, or conceivable, to have a fan with virtually no noise level? Wouldn't it be better to concentrate on sound-shielding materials for the exterior?

Advice : Don't read the article

[EggplantMan]

Ooh, I almost feel like it was worth hearing this nitwit drone through the following conclusions:

With five different fan models from four different manufacturers, there is no real way of comparing one to another, ....

How about an objective, scientific comparison?

...although I can definitely give my opinion on certain features or aspects. For instance, I found the LEDs on the Antec Blue and TriLight fans to be much brighter and colorful than the LEDs found on the Cooler Master Blue LED fan, however the blah blah blah

Holy hot shit! You write for a living and this is all you can come up with? The level of commentary here is on the level of your average grade two show and tell presentation.

My conclusion : this article is an embarassment to online journalism (and that's rather difficult to accomplish), don't read it.

Why was this article posted?

[Noose For A Neck]

This looks like advertising copy that was taken from each of the manufacturers' sites. It's just all around, incredibly lame.

First of all, he expends about two paragraphs in description of each fan. That's it. No benchmarks. No measurements. Not even, as CmdrTaco pointed out, noise measurements. That's pretty damn sorry.

Furthermore, the token effort that he expended on each fan is comical. Part of his review includes such irrelevant gems as this:

"The Thermaltake Smart Case Fan 2 is presented in a compact and stylish box, with a yellow/orange color scheme to match the color of the fan itself."

I guess when you're not even presented with the most basic characteristics of a fan, you'd buy it based on the box color too!

Finally, I'm appalled by both Slashdot's and Tweakers Australia's misleading and dishonest title. Next generation fans? They're fans with goddamn LEDs on them! Who cares? There is absolutely nothing new, interesting or innovative on display here. Next generation might be those "fans" that wave and are nearly silent, or one of those new fans (researched by Sunon, maybe?) that has the motor run around the outside instead of blocking airflow by driving the blades from the center. But this? This is just flashy crap that is not "next generation" and shouldn't be advertised as such.

Speaking of advertising, how much is this guy making from banner views for taking advantage of Slashdot editors who refuse to read articles before they're posted?

Re:Fan speed control

[Speare]

How many software engineers does it take to screw in a thermistor? ...

Why should the CPU or any other computing circuitry even be bothered with monitoring the fan? You don't need a software solution to this. Fan, thermistor, power. As the thermistor reacts to higher temperatures, it allows more power to drive the fan. No muss, no fuss, no "if the fanstepping process dies, run fans at highest speed" bullshit software.

I gotta say it.

[LighthouseJ]

From CmdrTaco editorial insert after the submitted text, what would cause someone to say that cooling fans are "gorgeous"?

Girls are gorgeous (the good looking ones), some cars are gorgeous (the good looking ones), but cooling fans in a case you only see for the few minutes they are put on a processor are not gorgeous. They are pieces of metal and plastic! What, are you going to try and convince me aluminum cans are gorgeous? Please, spend some time tonight with a girl (or guys, if that's your thing), not fantasizing over cooling fans.

I dunno...

[lanalyst]

I'd like to have a silent PC. If I buy a new cpu, the retail version should include a heatsink - NO fan. If someone wants to overclock, great - get a fan.

When I got my Athlon around the time of the tom's hardware thermal scare, I bought the fastest fan I could - it drove me batty! Sounded like a DataCenter. I had to do the 7V trick just to be in the same room.

I don't understand why AMD and Intel take a breather on the speed race and work on a decent CPU package that can dissapate heat without any active cooler. That would sell. That's TNG... oh wait... Macs have been that way forever... maybe it's patented... :/

Power scaling

[cybpunks3]

The problem is that modern desktop CPUs don't power scale. Why run your 2.4GHZ machine AT 2.4GHZ if the apps you are running at that time of the day do not require it? This is only going to get worse as CPUs get faster, take even more power, and get hotter. We're already basically running supercomputer class machines to do glorified typewriter operations, which is really wasteful. Desktop CPUs should scale the way mobile CPUs do. Then for mom and pop applications your computer wouldn't suck that much juice and the fan could be turned off entirely, but run a zillion apps at once or a raytracer and it will kick into turbo.