As I’ve said before, Fractal Design Silent Series R2 were released in April this year for the first time and they were introduced as the series replacing the old FD series from which I’ve tested the 140mm model. The Silent Series R2 offers full range of models with size from 40mm to 140mm.
So far I’ve tested Fractal Design Silent Series R2 140mm and now it is time to check how the 120mm model performs.
Fractal Design Silent Series R2 120mm was provided to me with absolutely the same and probably standard package for the whole series, which is a carton box painted in black with a see through cut, through which you can see part of the propeller. Of course, this one has some technical details on the front and full technical specification on the back of the box too.
And this is how the fan looks when it was removed from its stylish outer package. Again it is placed in a transperent plastic bed and on the left side of the fan are the additional accessories.
So let’s check the fan itself.
The 120mm model is made of a standard plastic square frame painted in black and white propeller with 11 blades with not very aggressive angle. And typical for the series the connection between the frame and the propeller is done by hydraulic bearing providing high airflow at low noise level.
Again the power and regulation is done via 500 mm long 3-pin fully sleeved for effortless cable routing and boosting the overall visual appearance when installed inside the case.
The package content is pretty standard for the series and is made of:
- Four metal screws
- Four rubber dumpers
- Low-speed adapter
The 120mm models offers two different work types as well, which are:
- Without the low-speed adapter – 1200 +/- 10% revolutions per minute with maximum airflow level of 40.59 CFM, static pressure of 1.07 at only 15 dBa.
- With the low-speed adapter – 850 +/-200 revolutions per minute with maximum airflow level of 28.75CFM, static pressure of 0.54 at only 12 dBa.
Very interesting statement. Whether it’s right, I will check a bit later.
The test results are shown in the following charts:
Airflow through the fan at 5V, 7V, 9V, 12V
Propeller rpm during the tests at 5V, 7V, 9V, 12V.
The anemometer showed the following air speed:
After mounting the fan onto the stand and leaving it to run for about 30 minutes at maximum speed, it was time for the tests to begin.
As with my other tests, again I started with a gradual increase of the voltage through the Lamptron FCT starting at 0V and the Fractal Design Silent Series R2 120mm made one full revolution at exactly 3.5V. To conduct the first test I had to increase the voltage to 5V.
Test at 5V:
After increasing the voltage to 5V and leaving the fan to work at stable revolutions per minute it reached maximum airflow level of 44.16 cubic metres at only 600 revolutions per minute. At this test the model was absolutely silent.
Test at 7V:
The second test conducted at 7V made Fractal Design Silent Series R2 120mm to rotate at 840 revolutions per minute with airflow level of 62.88 cubic metres per hour. At this test the fan was absolutely silent again.
Test at 9V:
At the third test done at 9V the model reached 77.28 cubic metres per hour at 1005 revolutions per minute. Here there was a tiny noise from the engine but still not possible to hear it from a distance bigger than 100mm.
Test at 12V:
The last test done at 12V forced the fan to reach its maximum performance with airflow level of 93.12 cubic metres per hour at 1230 revolutions per minute. The strange thing is that the noise from the engine disappeared and there was a tiny noise from the air passing through the propeller.
Conclusions:
- Performance: After I am done testing I can say that this model performs really well with very nice airflow level at not so big revolutions per minute. I can recommend it to be used as case fan or as a fan cooling a CPU cooler mounted on a processor working at normal or a bit overclocked frequency. Since the static pressure is not so high I can’t recommend it to be installed on a CPU cooler with smaller fin gap.
- Noise level: In the first and second test the fan was completely silent, while in the third there was a tiny noise from the engine, which disappeared in last test but then there was a tiny noise from the air passing through the propeller.
- Apperance: Again black and white colour scheme, which I believe is very beautiful and stylish. And again completed with a black sleeved cable. Nice!
As a disadvantage I can meantion the lack of PWM power and regulation.
I think Fractal Design Silent Series R2 120mm deserves the following reward:
Fractal Design Silent Series R2 120mm has been added to the 120mm fans catalogue.
Official price (MSRP): unknown
Warranty: unknown
I thank Fractal Design for the test sample.
