The marathon starts: Review with 6 case and radiator fans from be quiet! Black Noise, Corsair, Cooler Master, Noctua and Thermaltake

Start-up and shut-down voltage

This chapter should be read with caution and attention as long as the fans are not purely analog, i.e. DC-controlled fans with 3-pin connection. The PWM control electronics almost always stand in the way of clean voltage regulation and it is therefore also not advisable to regulate PWM fans via voltage. Nevertheless, we have also carried out this measurement for all models, regardless of whether they are DC or PWM fans, because even strange results say a lot about the control electronics and the use as a DC-controlled fan.

In today’s test, we see that Corsair’s fan is most capable of handling low voltages starting at 3 volts, while Noctua’s fan requires at least 4.4 volts. In addition, all fans achieve maximum speed and sufficient throughput as well as static pressure only when PWM-controlled.

The best electronics in terms of DC control is still provided by Blacknoise in the NB eLoop X PWM B12xP, since the shutdown speed is well below startup speed and also within the range of good DC-controlled fans. With all other models, the electronics simply run amok at some point when regulating the voltage downwards and the fan suddenly stops, although much lower speeds were possible when starting up. One of the special features of PWM fans is that there are no standards below 20%. Some fans just won’t slow down no matter what you set them to, or they’ll rev up to full speed again at zero percent.