Enermax T.B. Silence manual control and Cluster 120mm Test and Review

For this test and review I will use 2 models from different series with very similar structure and probably performance, but for this I will talk a bit later:

Enermax T.B. Silence was released back in 2011 and features 4 major products with sub-products with different dimensions and technical features.

So far I’ve tested:

1. T.B.SILENCE – Fixed RPM : UCTB12 and UCTB14B
2. T.B.SILENCE – Manual : UCTB14A
3. T.B.SILENCE – LED :
4. T.B.SILENCE – PWM :

The second model is a product from the Cluster series, which is a subseries of the Twister series. The Cluster series is a bit older series but still good enough for every modern rig.

So far I’ve tested:

1. Cluster : UCCL14

As you already saw I’ve tested some samples from both series and now is the time to expand my experience with a test and review  of UCTB12A and UCCL12 which are actually the smaller brothers of the UCTB14A and UCCL14.

Let’s get started with the review before I get completely lost among so many models and series.

Both of the models arrived in the pretty standard for their series packages which for the Enermax T.B. Silence 120mm manual control is a see through transparent plastic box, through which you can see the fan structure, and a carton part in light blue covering the accessories. As usual on the front part of the carton part you can read the main features of the product, while on the back you can read the full technical details of the model.

For the Cluster model again we have the older package type made of very hard to work with semi-transparent plastic box with carton featuring some major technical details on the front and the full technical specification on the back side. As usual you can see the structure of the fan through the cut in the carton cover.

Now let’s check the fans one by one:

Enermax T.B. Silence 120mm manual control UCTB12A

Enermax T.B. Silence 120 Manual speed control is made of standard for the series plastic 120mm frame, painted in glossy black and again with an aluminium border forming a cylinder around the propeller with the name of the company cut in by laser.

And talking about the propeller, it offers 9 semi-transparent blades in the shape of a bat wing and very sharp angle made to provide high airflow and static pressure by sacrificing the noise. The fan is powered and regulated via a 3-pin power cable and connector. Apart from that Enermax T.B. Silence 120mm manual control is supplied with a second cable with knob for regulating the fan speed by reducing the voltage manually.

And seen from the back:

The standard package  offers:

1. four metal screws
2. 4-to-3-pin power adaptor
3. rubber glued pad to stick the control knob somewhere inside the case

Now let’s pay some attention to the other test sample in this article:

Enermax Cluster 120mm UCCL12

Enermax Cluster 120mm is made of a pretty standard square 120mm plastic frame entirely painted in white with the 4-pin PWM cable attached to one of the sides and a short cable with a small button on the other side for switching the 4 white LEDs working as backlight on and off.  The Cluster 120mm also offers an aluminum border forming a cylinder around the propeller with the name of the company cut in by laser.

Apart from that, the product is supplied with nine blades with bat wing shape propeller with again very sharp angle as seen above, for focusing and improving the airflow and typical for the product painted entirely in white.

The fan comes with the following accessories:

1. Four metal screws
2. 4-to-3-pin power adaptor
3. Four rubber shock-proof isolator-mounts

Maybe you’ve already noticed but both test samples look almost the same and I really wonder if they will perform in the same way.

Now let’s do some testing.

The tests for the test samples will be conducted in my standard way. I will mount both test samples together and test them at 5V/7V/9V/12V and my goal will be to check the performance of the fans in real conditions. The products will be tested under close-to-perfect conditions, not taking into account any external factors. The results achieved during the tests can in no way be the same if the fans are mounted on a cooler or on the case fan hole of any modern computer case. I will measure the amount of air going through the fans for one hour and their speed. For this I use a fan controller, a voltage meter, an anemometer and a stand made specifically for this purpose.

And this is what both of the fans look like installed on my test stand:

The test results are shown in the following charts:

Airflow through the fans at 5V, 7V, 9V, 12V.

Propellers rpm during the tests at 5V, 7V, 9V, 12V.

The anemometer showed the following air speed passing through the fans:

After mounting the fans onto the stand and leaving them 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 Enermax T.B. Silence 120mm manual control did at least one full revolution at 4.5V and to do the first test I had to increase the voltage to 5V, while Enermax Cluster 120mm started rotating at about 6.5V. Apart from that its backlight started blinking at about 3.5V but was not working in a stable way and got better when the voltage increased. So, to do the first test I had to decrease the voltage to 5V.

Test at 5V:

The first test conducted at 5V made Enermax T.B. Silence 120mm manual control rotating at 780 revolutions per minute with airflow level of 56.64 cubic metres per hour, while the second test sample was not able to operate at this voltage no matter how many times I tried to make it work. The first test sample was completely silent.

Test at 7V:

At the second test Enermax T.B. Silence 120mm manual control was rotating steadily with 1035 revolutions per minute and airflow level of 75.84 cubic metres per hour, while  Enermax Cluster 120mm was working at 630 revolutions per minute with airflow level of 43.2 cubic metres per hour. Again both of the fans were completely silent.

Test at 9V.

At the third test Enermax Cluster 120mm was rotating at only 930 revolutions per minute providing airflow level of 65.76 cubic metres, while T.B. Silence 120mm manual control was rotating at 1230 revolutions per minute with airflow level of 90.72 cubic metres per hour. Enermax Cluster 120mm remained silent, while T.B. Silence started to generate noise from the air passing through the propeller.

Test at 12V.

In the last test both of the models reached their maximum performance which for T.B. Silence 120mm manual control was 110.88 cubic metres per hour at 1440 revolutions per minute, while Cluster 120mm reached 1245 revolutions per minute and airflow level of 90.72 cubic metres per hour. The noise from the first fan increased, while the second test sample started to generate a noise from the air passing through the propeller.

So far so good and I think it is time to share my conclusions:

1. Performance: I can say really nice performances for the T.B. Silence manual control version with its very wide operational range starting from 4.5-12V offering very serious airflow level at let’s say average noise level. I am really impressed with its features and capabilities to operate as a case fan and mounted on a CPU cooler. Enermax Cluster 120mm provided a bit lower according to the first test sample but still very good performance. To be honest I was expecting a bit more from this model but I should not forget that it is actually a very old model from very old series offering very nice features for its time. And still the secont test sample is good enough to keep the airflow inside every build nice and smooth. Even though both of the test samples look almost the same, they perform in a very, very different way.
2. Noise level: Both of the fans were completely silent while working at 5 and 7V, while  T.B. Silence 120mm manual control started to generate a tiny noise from the air passing through the propeller at 9V test which on the 12V test increased a bit but was still quiet enough. The second model was completely silent on every test made up to 9V and got a tiny noise from the air passing through the propeller at 12V.
3. Apperance: Both of the fans look very nice and are similar in design with almost the same frame structure and bat-wing propeller structure but still they are completely different with their colour schemes, which makes them suitable to be installed in black and white cases.

According to this article I believe that:

Enermax T.B. Silence 120mm manual control deserves the following reward:

 

and Enermax Cluster 120mm:

Enermax T.B. Silence 120mm manual control and Cluster 120mm  have been added to the 120mm fans catalogue.

Official price (MSRP):

Enermax T.B. Silence 120mm manual control – unknown

Warranty: 12 months

Enermax Cluster 120mm – unknown

Warranty: 12 months

 

I thank Enermax for the samples!