ARCTIC F8 Pro PWM Fluid Dynamic Bearing Case Fan, 80mm PWM Speed Control, 33CFM at 22dBA

Pros: Silent. PWM Sharing. Rubber suspension system for no vibration/noise. HydroDynamic Bearing; silent and long life. Black/White goes with just about anything.

Cons: Thicker than average 80mm fans because of rubber suspension system. Wouldn't fit where I intended it in MicroATX desktop case; Silverstone Sugo. Still used it in a different location.

Overall Review: Hard to find better all around performing fans than AC. Great CFM, quiet, long lasting...great buy.

Pros: "GREAT" choice for a super quiet fan . . .

Cons: Absolutly none.

Pros: Very clever electrical design, but sure to confuse many buyers. You can "stack" multiple fans on one PWM controller without adding any other hardware. See Other Thoughts. The samples I've evaluated have fairly low vibration. No bearing noise at all due to FDBs. The motor/blade assembly is well isolated from the mounting frame by four very flexible and compliant rubber standoffs. There is absolutely NO motor "growl" at any speed (with the controllers I've used) and any motor noise is effectively isolated. The small amount of vibration does not make its way to the case because of how well these isolators work. While I'm somewhat disappointed about the new blade design, there is an advantage -- they're apparently easier to produce with acceptable imbalance levels because the new fan designs weigh less.

Cons: The design is so clever that lots of users will install it wrong (it's not connected the same way any other fan is connected) and then complain that there's no tach signal, etc. The instruction sheet included is NO HELP AT ALL because it's confusing, incomplete, and virtually unreadable because it's in 85 languages. I'm pretty sure it was written by someone who doesn't understand how to use the product. I was a little disappointed that AC has abandoned their low-RPM high blade pitch approach. These have an acoustic profile (air movement noise) more like generic el-cheapo fans because of the RPM range in which the flatter, shallow-pitch blades operate.

Overall Review: Important note: In order to get proper 3- or 4-pin operation you MUST plug the yellow tach wire into the "stacking" connector. IOW, you MUST use all three connectors regardless of whether you're using one or more fans on a single controller. No exceptions. AC has done a miserable job of explaining this very clever arrangement of connectors, including the (lack of) information on their web site. The leading edges of the blades are pretty sharp. Recommend that you don't stick your fingers in there while they're running. Even if you don't draw blood, you stand a good chance of damaging the blade and making it noisier.

Pros: The idea is great, the blades and motor are dead silent(not the whole unit unfortunately.) Puts out a good amount of air. Its design starts this review well,

Cons: but the execution erases any practical use of this product.I was excited about the "rubber fan holder" when I saw it, but that's where it all falls apart for me. The rubber suspension holds the entire weight of the motor, blades and cage. This, combined with the flexibility of the mounts, lets the fan blades droop low enough to touch the enclosure mounted to the case or CPU and rattle or click against it constantly. The only application these fans would be suitable for would be as a top vent fan, but I have a 120mm fan for that already.

Overall Review: If the rubber suspension connecting the cage to the enclosure were a bit stiffer, these fans would be perfect. Another possibility would be higher clearance on the enclosure.

Pros: Very quite even at full speed. Open rear allows broader / less directional air pickup for more even extraction. Good air flow for such a quite fan.

Cons: This fan can only be mounted from one side and fan rotation direction is not reversible (it blows air out from it's mounting side). In most case configurations, it will not be suitable for use as a "front" case fan. It might work as a side exhaust fan to augment a negative pressure configuration but its primary purpose appears to be as a basic rear case exhaust fan. An 80 mm fan is a bit small for this but it can work if it gives you sufficient airflow. Keep in mind that most of the smaller "quite" fans are quite simply because they run slower and move a lower volume of air.

Overall Review: This is a good technology choice that will help future proof your computer case. I expect all future motherboards will support 4-wire PWM case fans. I have tested this fan with a 3-wire motherboard connector and it works just fine - at full speed of course. The ability to daisy chain off the PWM CPU fan is trick but keep in mind that case fans service more than just the heat generated by the CPU. It might be possible to have a memory intensive application running that does not use a lot of CPU. In that case, if a chained case fan was running slow due to low CPU utilization (i.e. cool operation), a condition might arise whereby the memory (esp. if overclocked) would not receive adequate airflow. There's a lot to think about when spec'ing case fans. For best results, do some homework first. Remember, the CPU fan's output is not normally counted toward total input/output ventilation. It just removes heat from the CPU which must then be extracted by the case fans or power supply

Pros: PWM controlled case fan Quiet Vibration control

Cons: Need to use a 3-pin connector to see speed because of PWM pass through

Overall Review: I actually bought this to replace a loud non-PWM cpu fan and it won't work for that. You can't screw this fan in from either direction. I thought it would be like other case fans where the screws can go in from either side. That's my fault for not looking closely at the pics. Still it's a silent 80MM PWM case fan.

Pros: PWM so it doesn't run faster than it needs to. Can gang multiple units together if needed. Cable plenty long enough. Built-in rubber isolation mounts.

Cons: None. Need a flashlight to check if it's spinning.

Overall Review: Used with a "fanless" dual Atom board. Still wanted a case fan for a little circulation. Usually runs less than 1000 rpm when hooked to the 4-pin connector provided on the mobo.

Pros: Nice looking

Cons: I ordered two of these. One of them made a clicking sound straight out of the box. The other one took a couple weeks but it, too, clicked. The problem is that these fans don't sit properly in my case, a Silverstone GD05B. When you put the fans into the rear of the case, the box around the fans is squeezed and then the fan blades hit the box, making a clicking sound and often causing the blades to stop occassionally.