Pros: Good performance. Quiet. Competitively priced. A proper fluid-dynamic bearing.

Cons: PWM circuit/signal produces an audible whir/whine. (See other thoughts.)

Overall Review: I love tinkering and experimenting. If I could somehow get hired and paid to do it, I would., although in the meantime, I can't justify always spending money on fans just to test them out. I hemmed and hawed a long time over getting one of these because they aren't quite in the mainstream yet, and what word you do hear about them is either really good or bad. When the bearing on my other computer's heatsink fan started to go, I caved in and dropped the money to buy one of these. I am glad to report that, overall, this is a good fan. At full speed, the fan is audible, but it is more like a slight "woosh" sound from the moving air. With PWM/automatic fan settings enabled and a full CPU load, it never went above 1200 RPM. For it's cooling performance, it was at least equal to my usual brands I buy (don't you hate how you can't mention other brands in a review?) though usually a degree or two better. There is one major flaw, though. At 1000+ RPM, with the PWM feature enabled, it produces an audible whir or higher pitch that can definitely be heard over the fan at full tilt. It might not bother some, or even most, but I try to buy quiet fans to help save my hearing, so it definitely bothered me. (I already have tinnitus - ringing in the ears.) You can get rid of this annoying noise by either using a hardware or software fan controller and operating the fan speed like you would a 3-pin fan. Why did I not dock a star for this? Because the fan does operate better than my previous others, and it still costs less (by 25-50%) than what are considered top-tier premium fans. One last thing, the fan operates on a fluid dynamic bearing. This is essentially a modified sleeve-bearing type that takes away the weaknesses of a standard sleeve bearing. In short, it will operate quietly at higher speeds, have a longer life, and can be mounted horizontally. This is because the bearing has grooves, or rifling, to circulate the internal lubricant.

Pros: Quality copper Well-made Perform well Included thermal tape works good

Cons: Expensive!

Overall Review: I test and review computer components, namely cooling solutions, as a hobby. My current project is learning more about GPU overclocking, and the available aftermarket cooling available to customers. The victim of my experiments have been an old GTX 460. To my dismay, I found that the aftermarket cooling solution I had purchased for the GPU did not offer proper voltage regulator module (VRM) cooling, so I purchased these to fulfill the duty. Without these, even a small voltage bump to the GPU would cause instability. I could not even get up to the 1.062 V that most other review sites were able to get up to, before their cards throttled from overheating VRMs. With this product installed, I can handedly use the maximum voltage (1.087V) for the GPU. My maximum overclock was 920mhz, from the base 675mhz - that is roughly a 33% overclock. So, I am pretty impressed with that. I even used the included thermal adhesive. I am going to purchase some more of these, and test them out on some other GPUs, as well as a motherboard.

Pros: Affordable Isolator mounts! Good performance Versatile Good LEDs (with on/off toggle)

Cons: Flexible plastic ring, in place aluminum.

Overall Review: I bought this for my other rig which has a Biostar A85W motherboard. There are three fan headers: one 4-pin CPU fan header, and two 3-pin system fan headers. The 3-pin fan headers on the motherboard do not allow for voltage control, so I purchased one of these to give a shot. Overall, I am pleased. At full tilt, it is not completely inaudible, but you mostly just hear a slight whoosh of air. No annoying motor or bearing sounds. (I had to use a hot glass of water to heat the thermal probe up to make it run at full tilt.) It usually operates between 700-1300 RPM, depending on if my system is at idle or load. Anything below 1200 RPM you have to really strain to hear. Just having one of these fans decreases the internal case temperature by roughly 10C. The thermal probe has a decently long wire that should be sufficient for most builds. I could see some people who have full ATX cases having an issue, but then it would be just too cumbersome for the rest. On that note, I think the temperature threshold for maximum speed is around 38C. Holding the sensor between my fingers was almost enough for it to reach maximum speed. My only gripe is that they replaced the usual aluminum ring of the fan with a flexible plastic material. There is nothing actually wrong with it, it just strikes me as a cheaper money-saving effort, since these fans don't have the biggest market... and their market is more towards budget-orientated builds. That said, these fans do fill a certain niche. They'd be great for those who want more case fans, and since they don't have the extra fan headers to support them have to hook them up directly to the PSU. (Why spend 25-40$ on a hardware fan controller, when for just over $25 you can have two of these?) If you also have a motherboard that lacks PWM and voltage control for fans, these are for you as well.

Pros: Very Affordable Good performance Study construction Quality bearing Versatile!

Cons: Kind of an energy hog. (Almost five watts.)

Overall Review: This is a well-rounded fan that can be used either as your standard intake/exhaust, or on a heatsink/radiator and will give good performance in either case. On a heatsink, the fan may fall short of premium performance, but to surpass it you will be easily spending $5-10 for marginal gains; a couple degrees at most. That is only discussing absolute thermal performance, and not taking into account how loud the fans might be. On a heatsink, the fan does a good job of remaining unobtrusive, making mostly a type of "whoosh" of the sound of moving air. That sounds kind of silly, but it's better than a high-pitched whine or insistent clicking/ticking that some other fan motors make when at full tilt. As a case fan, you'll seriously be hard-pressed to find appreciably better, both in acoustics and performance. Off of a radiator, the acoustics are pretty top-notch; only above 1200 RPM is the fan really noticeable. If you want, though, you can dial the fan all the way down to 500 RPM, however. The fan bearing allows you to mount the fan horizontally, unlike a sleeve bearing, which are still around for some odd reason. These are the first types of fans I recommend to anyone who I come across looking for replacements, or new fans to try. They are really hard to beat for their price point, and, unless you're an enthusiast needing to eke everything out of your rig, the extra money you'll spend on another product won't be worth it.

Pros: Robustly built Pleasant acoustics Interchangeable color ring to better match a scheme Perfect for any heatsink or radiator

Cons: Deceptively loud and noise inefficient Somewhat short cable

Overall Review: I bought a case from Corsair, and it had a $20 mail-in rebate. I was so happy with it, that I decided to use it to buy one of these fans. (I love tinkering.) If you look into reviews, you will read and hear about how loud these fans are, even though they perform great. Their acoustics are actually not that bad at all. The noise they make is fairly pleasant and noninvasive, even though it is definitely there. It is a mixture of the motor, which sounds smooth, no clicking or harsh whir, and the slight woosh it makes from the movement of air. It is an easy sound to ignore. Other fans can have motors that produce an annoying whine at full tilt, or have an enormous woosh from the air turbulence, both which are maddeningly annoying. On the downside, it still is loud. Even at 1800 RPM, I can managed to discern this fan from the five others in my case that I can have running at full tilt. (Yes, they may be quiet fans, but there are five of them, all running at full speed.) At this the same 1800 RPM, the fan does operate quite as well as some other fan brands that have a max operating speed of 1500 RPM. So even to get a par performance that fan will be operating more towards the louder end of the spectrum. Long story short, if being quiet is your concern, you still better look elsewhere. I just wanted to say that it is not the jet-engine that everyone seems to make it out to be. However, for performance, it is in a price-point that is hard to ignore, and at has been shown to give top-tier performance.

Pros: Like all Arctic fans, quiet and affordable. Can be readily "daisy-chained" with other Arctic fans.

Cons: Definitely not something to put on a heatsink or radiator. Inefficient design?

Overall Review: Looking at the hard numbers often leaves one scratching their head as to why this only seems marginally better than their 120mm version.

Parcel took just under a month to arrive. When I received it, I did some tests on the received item (microSD) and found that files would end up missing, or corrupted. Sadly, after troubleshooting, it was after the one-month return period. I contacted the manufacturer (sandisk) and they ran me through some further troubleshooting, and had me take careful pictures of the product - and confirmed that it was not an authentic item. Attempted to contact the seller regarding this and the only reply was that I needed to format the SD card before use. Any further contact from me or newegg to the seller has not been answered. I've ordered plenty of other items from China, without issue. Yes, sometimes it takes a while, and I understand that - but this is the first time I've been scammed.