Fractal Design 120 & 140 mm Fan Round Up
Venturi HP/HF – Dynamic GP-12/14 – Silent Series R3

Hot summer in Europe and even here in UK, our side at least, so, the perfect products in for reviewing to withstand and fight the heat.

The cool-ness is brought today by Fractal Design with a lot of interesting new stuff.

A Swedish company founded in Göteborg, Sweden in 2007.
They take pride in creating products with a minimalistic, elegant and simple design, with influences from Scandinavian elements, embracing the motto ‘less is more’.

Prices when reviewed

Venturi HF-12 : £ 12.25 – Via Amazon.co.uk

Fractal Design FD-FAN-VENT-HF12-BK – Venturi HF-12 Black

Venturi HP-14 : £ 18.35 – Via Amazon.co.uk

Fractal Design Venturi High Pressure HP-14 PWM (140mm) Computer Cooling Fan

Dynamic GP-12 : £ 8.99 – Via Amazon.co.uk

Fractal Design GP-12 Dynamic Case for Cooling Fan – White

Dynamic GP-14 : £ 9.99 – Via Amazon.co.uk

Fractal Design GP-14 Dynamic Case for Cooling Fan – White

Silent Series R3 120 : £ 6.99 – Via Amazon.co.uk

Fractal Design Silent Series R3 120 mm Case for Cooling Fan

Silent Series R3 140 : £ 7.34 – Via Amazon.co.uk

Fractal Design Silent Series R3 140 mm Case for Cooling Fan

Presentation and Specifications

The main attraction today is the Venturi series, their high performance range that consist of 2x 120 mm and 2x 140 mm, each variant with 3 pin or 4 pin PWM.
We have the 120 mm 3 pin and 140 mm PWM.
Excellent presentation courtesy of their website.

Key features

– Featuring true FDB-bearings, providing silent operation coupled with a long lifespan
– Featuring true FDB-bearings, providing silent operation coupled with a long lifespan
– Equipped with a counter-balanced magnet that reduces the axial tension on the bearing
– Features integrated vibration-dampening corners, made from solid high-quality synthetic rubber
– Dense, sturdy construction, made from high grade glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic polymer
– Fan geometry is optimized for high pressure, delivering high performance results in high restriction usage scenarios, such as in use with large dense heatsinks or water cooling radiators.
– Featuring PWM control with a very wide speed range, starting at only 400RPM (400 +/- 100 RPM), ideal for CPU heatsinks or radiators, where the motherboard can control the fan speed based on the CPU temperature.
– Aerodynamically shaped thin stator struts reduce noise and unwanted turbulence.
– Strategically placed notches on the blades further reduce and diffuse any humming noise produced when the blades pass the stator struts
– The trip wire technology introduces a micro-turbulent layer that combats elements that negatively affect performance, resulting in quieter operation
– Comes with a PWM Y-cable, for connecting additional fans to a single PWM header on your motherboard or PWM fan controller
– 140mm fans come with an additional set of vibration-dampening corners are included that lends compatibility with 120mm fan mounts (105mm screw spacing). This enables the use of 140mm fans on many CPU coolers.
– Available in 120mm and 140mm fan sizes

Specifications

Next is the Dynamic series, presented as a mid-range, all around good compromise lineup.
Only 2 representatives here, all 3 pin, one 120 and the other 140 mm.
They come in two flavors, white or black.

Key features

– Featuring hydraulic bearings; a cost-efficient compromise between a standard sleeve bearing and a true FDB bearing
– Equipped with a counter-balancing magnet in the hub that reduces the axial tension on the bearing, further protecting the longevity of the bearing
– Optimized fan geometry for a good balance between static pressure and maximum airflow, resulting in good performance in all usage scenarios
– Aerodynamically shaped thin stator struts (including wire strut), mimicking the design commonly found on airplane wings, delivering correct angles allowing for air to easily pass through reducing noise and unwanted turbulence.
– Stator struts are angled perpendicular to the blades, helping to reduce noise commonly emitted when the blades pass the struts. In effect, minimal noise that may be emitted will be constant and therefore almost inaudible to the ear.
– Strategically placed notches near the fan hub on the trailing edge of the blades, further reducing and diffusing humming noise produced when the blades pass the stator struts
– Includes a “trip wire” on the rear side of the blades, near the leading edge. The trip wire technology, also commonly found in airplane wing designs, introduces a micro-turbulent layer that helps to combat the elements that negatively affect performance. The presence of the trip wire overall provides a more efficient and quiet fan environment.
– The customized design of the Dynamic Series fans contributes to a beautiful, cool build
– Available in 120mm and 140mm fan sizes

Specifications

And last but not least, their budget models, the Silent R3 Series.
Varying from 40, 50, 60, 80, 92, 120 up to 140 mm.
Now that’s a lot of options to choose from.

Key features

– Featuring rifle bearings, providing improved life expectancy and lower noise compared to a standard sleeve bearing
– Black stealth ribbon cable, making it easy to hide the cable contributing to a clean build
– Improved, more balanced, sturdy fan design delivering precision at a good price point
– Low fan speeds, optimized for quiet operation
– Featuring Fractal Design’s signature black and white color scheme
– Offering sizes from 40mm up to 140mm for all your build needs

Specifications

Visual inspection

Right.
Let’s see them in person.

Venturi has the spotlight.
Good looking box design, especially with the booklet effect and clear window.

The 140 mm.

As you can see, exceptional presentation.

 
Moving to the content:

– Screw pack with 4 metal screws
– 1->2 PWM signal splitter cable
– 4 additional rubber corners, with 105mm hole pattern

And a very nice feature we really like to see in the 140 mm fans, the option to mount them as well in 120 mm slots.
But you have to compromise but if you choose a modular design like Fractal Design, then you get the best of both worlds.

Then another thing that caught my eye is this metal plate, usually there is only a ticker.
Well done Fractal !

The other sides.

 
And the smaller 120 mm brother with almost identical traits, only no need for the extra removable sides and that it has a low speed adapter.

So far, impressed by the Venturi family.

Let’s continue with the others.
The midrange Dynamic.

They come in black or white blades.
No more booklet bust still the nice design is there.

No more rubberized mounting sides/holes and no more sleeving but all black wire and plug are present, still the quality fell is there.
And basic content, just 4 mounting Philips screws.

 
The last group, the Silent Series R3.

Very rugged box and i mean that in the good way, very solid you can throw the box out the window and i think it will hardly take any damage.
Simple design and presentation.

Not much else to say that they work and still look nice, considering the price and their purpose.

How we tested

– Sound meter – Pyle PSPL01 – positioned 1 meter from the case, (we will include +/- 2-3 % margin for error) with ambient noise level of 25-30 dB/A.

– No video card is present so it does not interfere with the results.
– RPM control and monitoring via MSI Control center, tested at 4 different stages 20, 50, 80 and 100 % RPM load for the PWM variants.
– The 3 pin fans were tested separately with the competition.
– Speaking of the competition, we took 2 others for each model according as much as possible to size, specs and purpose, to do head to head tests.

– Regarding airflow we used an anemometer – Mastech MS6252A (we will include +/- 6-11 % margin for error) – positioned 15 cm away from the fan and in between we use an improved cardboard tubing also in diameter of 120 mm and 140 mm respectively to channel all the airflow as straight as possible. The results were recorded in CFM.

– And the ones that could be mounted on the CPU heat sink to test their cooling and static pressure efficiency. CPU at stock speed and OC to 4.5 GHZ.

– The rest of the hardware:
Processor: Intel i7 2700k @ stock settings
CPU heatsink: Thermalright AXP-100R
Case: NCase M1
Storage: Samsung Pro 840 128 GB (no HDD, again to remove all noise)
Motherboard: MSI B75IA-E33 mITX
PSU: Silverstone SX-600G SFX w/ semifanless function

– The competition:

120 mm – 3 pin / non PWM
– Noiseblocker eLOOP B12-2 – 1300 RPM – 51 CFM – 1.042 mmH20 – 17 dB/A
– Noiseblocker BlackSilentFan XL-2 – 1500 RPM – 58 CFM – 1.450 mmH20 – 24 dB/A

140 mm – PWM
– Noiseblocker BlackSilentPro PK-PS – 400 – 1500 RPM – < 71 CFM - < 29 dB/A - < 1.320 mmH2O - Scythe Glidestream 140 PWM – 500 – 1300 RPM – < 97 CFM - < 30 dB/A - < 1.020 mmH2O 140 mm - 3 pin / non PWM - Noiseblocker BlackSilentPro PK-2 – 1200 RPM – 55 CFM – 22 dB/A – 1.270 mmH2O
– Noiseblocker BlackSilentFan XK-2 – 1100 RPM – 50 CFM – 20- dB/A – 1.780 mmH2O

For CPU test – all PWM – set at 80 % max rpm
– Noisblocker eLOOP B12-P – 800 – 2000 RPM – < 78 CFM - < 28 dB/A - < 2.204 mmH2O - DeepCool GF-120 – 500 – 1800 RPM – < 80 CFM - < 33 dB/A - Scythe Glidestream 140 PWM – 400 – 1500 RPM – < 71 CFM - < 29 dB/A - < 1.320 mmH2O - Reveen Goldwing 140 mm – 300 – 1700 RPM – < 92 CFM - < 36 dB/A - < 2.200 mmH2O

Results

First the noise and CFM output.

Then the PWM ones.

So far the Venturi of course stands out that they have a really nice balance of performance and noise.

And the CPU temperature test:

Good results overall, but to mention that when using a 140 mm fan on a heatsink that small like ours, it can’t fully use the full potential because air escapes on the sides – usually not that bad because it can cool the motherboard but keep that in mind.

Conclusions

The Venturi:

The good:

+ High quality felling and excellent product presentation
+ Metal plate for the rotor
+ Modular corners for increased adaptability (for the 140 mm)
+ Very good ratio of performance and noise output.
+ Good bundle

The bad:

– Price, but it should be worth it
– The fans could have had better static pressure

 
The Dynamic & Silent Series:

The good:

+ Price
+ Simple all you need design
+ Choice of colors, only 2 but present
+ Good performance
+ Vast size option for the R3s

The bad

– No bundle, but understandable considering the price
– Missing rubberized and noise cancellation technology

Let’s move to our scores and awards:

Globetrotters “Silent & Value for money” Award – 4 out of 5 – for the Dynamic & R3 Series

Globetrotters “High Performance” Award – 4.5 out of 5 – for the Venturi

Many thanks to Fractal design for the supplied samples !