Overall they haven’t left performance aside and while it is also true that they are not the best performing fans on the market (or in that manufacturer’s catalog), they are capable of going all the way up. ‘To 56 CFM of air flow and generate up to 1.49 mm / H2O of static pressure, so in this regard we can say that they are in the average of the high performance fans for PC.
Finally, it’s worth noting what we’ve said before – these are the brand’s first ARGB fans. To achieve this, as we will see right away, the manufacturer has installed an addressable LED light ring (which is why it is ARGB and not just RGB) that gives them light from the front, but also incorporates lines that make lighting also visible from behind. . We will see this in detail in a moment.
Unpacking and external analysis
As we mentioned a moment ago, in this review we are going to show you the 140mm Essential kit, which means there are three fan units plus the ARGB controller. Thus, we have a black flexible cardboard packaging on the front of which we find an image of the fans, with their make and model and with the side, in silver, indicating that we are in front of the Essential kit.
On the back we only have a picture of a fan, leaving the rest of the information for the sides: in one we have a description of the manufacturer and the table of technical specifications, while in the other we have we find a QR code that will take us to the product page, where, among other things, we can find the instruction manual.
As soon as we open the box, the first thing we come across is a little black box labeled “ARGB HUB”, the ARGB controller. Inside, there is of course this controller, but also the fan material, a double-sided adhesive tape to anchor the controller to the PC case, the controller’s own cable and an instruction booklet.
Let’s take a closer look at this controller. At first, you can see that a cable comes out from one side, which is a power cable since it ends with a SATA power connector. Right next to the output of this cable we find a connector to connect the supplied cable itself which we then need to connect to an ARGB connector on the motherboard, while on both sides we have three ARGB connectors on each side , for a total of 6 fans supported.
The fans are packed in small open boxes of thicker black cardboard, which protect them from impact during transport. As a detail, on one side it includes the name Light Wings, in case anyone has any questions.
Here you have one of the three units that come in this essential kit. As we mentioned earlier, the fan has dimensions of 140 x 140 x 25mm, the standard for this fan format; Be quiet! It included details such as rubber inserts in the eight anchors (four on each side) to absorb vibrations, and the 7 blades are grooved, something quite characteristic of all fans of this manufacturer. Finally, the translucent white luminous ring that surrounds the entire circumference of the propeller is obvious.
On the opposite side, we can see that the ball bearing motor is held by four brackets, one of which is simply a conduit for the wiring. Here, as we said before, we also have rubber inserts in the anchors, but what is curious here and almost not seen with the naked eye are the lines through which the The light ring “goes out”, making the lighting in these fans not only be on one side but on both sides.
Finally, and this is the bad side of ARGB products, we have the cabling. Two cables come out of each of the fans: the usual 4-pin PWM power cable, and the ARGB connector which in turn is split in half to allow us to connect multiple ARGB devices in series (i.e. – say we have a male and a female).
Below you can see the three fans included in the pack together, but soon we will connect them and test their operation.
How do these Wings of Light work?
Logically and since shut up! You sent us the Essential Kit of these new Light Wings, we used the included ARGB controller for the light connection. This means that each fan is connected to the ARGB HUB (we could also connect them in series and then the last one directly to the card), which is connected to the card. The downside, due to the wiring routing issue, is that this HUB is for lighting only, meaning the PWM power connectors must be connected to the board (or other controller).
Initially we mounted the fans “in the air”, to be able to test their noise and their air flow without restrictions, so we took the opportunity to show you some pictures of their lighting in operation.
Here you can see the fans on both sides, where you can see their “main” and rear lighting, logically much lower.
The color spectrum displayed by these fans is very wide, and since you can configure the effects with the lighting software on the motherboard (and also synchronize it with other connected ARGB products you have) you can virtually create the effects. ecosystem of colors of your choice. .
As we mentioned before, we tested these fans in the air, so that at all times we could capture both the noise and the airflow emitted by the fans themselves and not by the rest of the elements. PC case hardware. In addition, we wanted to compare them with other fans that we have in the test bench so that we can have a basis on which to base our opinion on their performance.
To measure the sound volume we used a Protmex PPM-SM001 sound level meter at a distance of 50 centimeters from the fans, exactly what is necessary for the result obtained to be in dBA. We made two measurements: one with the maximum speed of the fans, and another with them connected to the motherboard so that the PWM controller dictates its operation (i.e. in this scenario it would be the result that anyone would get naturally when having them on the PC). Here is the result :
In the technical specifications, shut up! He said that the volume of these fans is 23.3 dBA, and the result that our sound level meter gave us is basically as follows (this difference of 0.2 dBA may just be due to the measuring range of the device. itself). The interesting thing is that in PWM mode the fans emit barely 19.5 dBA of noise, so once inside the case they will be virtually inaudible. In any case, look at the difference with the rest of the fans at maximum speed, where only the Noctua NF-A15 outperforms it, but because it operates at a much lower speed.
In case these dBA measurements don’t mean much to you, we’ve left the following benchmark table for you so you can get an idea:
Sound source | dB | Effect |
---|---|---|
Plane taking off at 25 meters | 150 | Ruptured eardrums |
Take-off runway from an airport | 140 | Pain threshold |
Take off of a military fighter at 20 meters | 130 | Pain. This is 32 times more intensity than 70 dBA. |
Truck horn at 1 meter. Live concert. | 110 | Average human pain. 16 times more current than 70 dBA. |
Electric lawn mower. Helicopter 30 meters. | 100 | Eight times more current than 70 dBA. Maintaining this level for 8 hours causes damage to the eardrums. |
Motorcycle 10 meters | 90 | 4 times more intensity than 70 dBA. It can damage the eardrums if exposed for more than 8 hours. |
Dishwasher. Factory (average). | 80 | Double the intensity of 70 dBA. Threshold of what is usually troublesome. |
TV audio | 70 | From this intensity, it is already annoying for many people. |
Conversation in a restaurant | 60 | Half the intensity of 70 dBA. |
Normal conversation in a house. | 50 | Four times less intense than 70 dBA. |
Library | 40 | One-eighth of the intensity of 70 dBA. |
Rural area | 30 | Sixteen times less intense than 70 dBA. |
Whisper | 20 | Barely audible if you are not very close. |
Breathing | ten | Inaudible for the most part. Human beings do not normally listen to their own breathing. |
Absolute silence | 0 | It is literally impossible for a human being to “hear” absolute silence, but it is the threshold of hearing. |
Now let’s move on to the airflow performance, for which we used a HoldPeak HP-866A anemometer. For this measurement, we again performed two tests: one with the fan at maximum speed and another with a fan speed set to 1000 rpm. Here is the result obtained:
In fact, the data we should be looking at in this comparison is in the light-colored bar, which reflects the 1000 RPM test. The reason is that these fans have very different maximum speeds (eg Corsair ML140 runs at 2000 RPM while the Noctua model runs at 1200 RPM), where you can see that these Light Wings fans are quiet! They are not able to move as much air as their more direct competitors, although it is true that they do move a fairly decent volume.
Conclusion and verdict
These lightweight wings are the first iteration of be quiet! with ARGB lighting on their cooling devices, and we can only applaud the result. We are dealing with high quality fans which, as usual, have as their first objective to provide the quietest possible operation and as always they are successful.
They also achieve extremely quiet operation with fairly decent performance, which without being the best fans on the market are still average of what you would expect from 140mm fans but with quite striking configurable ARGB lighting, so no us. doubt it is silent! he did his homework very well with these Light Wings. Special mention to these fine lines which mean that the lighting also reaches the rear, a detail that not all manufacturers of this type of product take into account.
In short, we are not looking at all for the best fans on the market, but we are looking for fans that are good in everything (especially speaking of the noise level) and which are of course recommended for all users who are looking for good performance but maintaining noise to a minimum, and with this addition of ARGB aesthetics so fashionable today. In addition, it must be said that in terms of the quality of the materials, these are the best we have seen to date.
For all these reasons, rest easy! The 140mm Light Wings Essential Kit deserves our gold accolade, as well as our recommendation for performance and design.