the German manufacturer Be quiet! is well known in the hardware industry for many factors, such as its sleek black aesthetics, PC fans or power supplies. The Silent Wings 3 family has enjoyed great success over the past few years, and now they have announced the release of the next iteration, the Silent Wings 4whose PRO version comes for the first time with a physical gear selector. We tell you everything below.
Normally, when you have to buy one or more fans for your PC, you have to rely on technical specifications or opinions to be able to correctly choose the one that best suits your needs, seeking a balance between noise and performance. So you may have to choose less powerful but quieter fans or vice versa, but with the Silent Wings 4 this problem is solved because, as we mentioned, they have a switch that will allow you to select their maximum operating speed easily, adapting to what you need instantly.
This is how you have to be silent! Silent Wings 4
This new generation of Silent Wings fans incorporates a series of quite significant improvements over the last generation range. Be quiet! It still retains its famous 6-pole motor which offers an excellent balance between performance, silence and durability, but for this range they wanted to improve the static pressure they are able to generate to optimize their operation on heatsinks and radiators. .
How did they do this? For starters, the blade layout has been changed, which are still fluted but are now slightly longer so there is less space between the tip of the blade and the frame, which greatly improves air pressure. of which they are capable. generator. Its maximum operating speed has also been increased (we will come back to this soon) and its anchorage has been completely modified, so that now we can mount it with a screw, with a rubber insert or with a clip since the four corners are interchangeable .
In addition, the Silent Wings PRO 4 model comes with a physical switch that allows us to modify its maximum speed. We are talking about PWM fans whose speed is controlled automatically according to the temperature of the system, but what we can modify is the maximum they reach, being able to choose between “medium”, “high” and “ultra -high” for maximum performance, yes. , to the detriment of silence. In this regard, shut up! assured us that in medium mode they are practically inaudible, as usual.
On the other hand, shut up! has introduced another very interesting improvement in these fans, and that is that instead of using the usual 4-pin PWM connector that we are used to seeing, they have oversized it to facilitate its extraction; Normally, when a fan connector is connected, it is quite difficult to disconnect it because the whole header is inserted into the connector, and in the end, many times, we end up pulling the cable. Now, with the new connector, this will no longer be necessary and it will also look very elegant in combination with the high-quality cable cover.
Price, availability and specifications
Within the new Silent Wings 4 range from be quiet! we have different variants, because as we have already told you, we have the “normal” fans and the PRO variant, which is the one that has the maximum speed selector. Plus, we have 120 and 140mm models from both ranges, and we can even choose their top speed if we want. We summarize everything in the following table:
| variant | Maximum speed | Minimum speed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silent Wings 4 | 120 millimeters | 1600 rpm | ~10-15% of maximum speed |
| Silent Wings 4 | 140 millimeters | 1100 rpm | ~10-15% of maximum speed |
| Silent Wings 4 | 120mm PWM | 1600 rpm | ~10-15% of maximum speed |
| Silent Wings 4 | 140mm PWM | 1100 rpm | ~10-15% of maximum speed |
| Silent Wings 4 | 120mm high speed PWM | 2500 rpm | ~10-15% of maximum speed |
| Silent Wings 4 | 140mm high speed PWM | 1900 rpm | ~10-15% of maximum speed |
| Silent Wings Pro 4 | 120mm PWM | 1600 rpm (medium) 2500 rpm (high speed) 3000 rpm (ultra-high speed) |
~10-15% of maximum speed |
| Silent Wings Pro 4 | 140mm PWM | 1100 rpm (medium) 1900 rpm (high speed) 2400 rpm (ultra-high speed) |
~10-15% of maximum speed |
All of these new fans will be available from July 19 (when, by the way, we’ll show you firsthand what they look like and how they work in our review of them) for $23.90 for fans 120mm Silent Wings 4 models, $24.90 for the 140mm models, $31.90 for the 120mm Pro model and $32.90 for the 140mm Pro model.
