Alphacool Apex Stealth - The new go to fan

Jay85 · 9 Oct 2023 at 23:25

Just seen this testing from Igorslab and it looks like its going to be an absolute beast of a fan! Will definitely add some weight too if you have a system full of these.

Zinc metal shroud with a plastic centre fan.

Personal statement on the test of the Alphacool Apex Stealth (Power) Metal Fan | igor´sLAB

For this necessary statement, I consciously took a few days, even though the community understandably demands urgency, as it turned out to be more complex than I had anticipated. Given my high value…

www.igorslab.de

Revolution in the case fan market: Alphacool Apex Stealth Metal (Power) Fan in an exclusive review (Update) | igor´sLAB

Pending a thorough investigation into the circumstances and possible causes of deviations in various tests, I have temporarily suspended the two awards and will later decide based on new measurements…

www.igorslab.de

Edit: Added reviews and tests

Tiamat21 · 10 Oct 2023 at 09:18

Yeah was trying to find a pre order with ocuk for it.

mickyflinn · 10 Oct 2023 at 10:14

Price ?

Ayahuasca · 10 Oct 2023 at 10:20

This is very suspicious.

Why does the Alphacool get more airflow through a 45mm or 60mm radiator than a 25mm radiator, and almost as much as when used as a case fan? It's simply absurd, and there must be something wrong with the data.

Most of the noise 'advantage' in recordings comes from the lower noise floor of the recording equipment. At matched low-mid speeds, the Noctua produces significantly less hum as soon as both fans break through the noise floor. Then the only advantage of the Alphacool is the highly suspect airflow measurement.

At the very least, I think the results have been greatly exaggerated, otherwise this would be an absolute revolution in the case/radiator fan market. I'll be waiting for someone like Ali from Optimum Tech to review it instead, as he's one of the few people I trust with sound measurements.

Tiamat21 · 10 Oct 2023 at 13:00

Ayahuasca said:
This is very suspicious.

Why does the Alphacool get more airflow through a 45mm or 60mm radiator than a 25mm radiator, and almost as much as when used as a case fan? It's simply absurd, and there must be something wrong with the data.

Most of the noise 'advantage' in recordings comes from the lower noise floor of the recording equipment. At matched low-mid speeds, the Noctua produces significantly less hum as soon as both fans break through the noise floor. Then the only advantage of the Alphacool is the highly suspect airflow measurement.

At the very least, I think the results have been greatly exaggerated, otherwise this would be an absolute revolution in the case/radiator fan market. I'll be waiting for someone like Ali from Optimum Tech to review it instead, as he's one of the few people I trust with sound measurements.

Someone mentioned that the thicker fans had less density and that the other fan data had a similar trend with poorer results. Love OT can't wait for him to review them but I do trust igor enough to have out in a preorder already.

Jay85 · 10 Oct 2023 at 17:08

mickyflinn said:
Price ?

$30 apparently, i was expecting it to be more tbh with its metal construction.

Jay85 · 10 Oct 2023 at 17:10

Ayahuasca said:
This is very suspicious.

Why does the Alphacool get more airflow through a 45mm or 60mm radiator than a 25mm radiator, and almost as much as when used as a case fan? It's simply absurd, and there must be something wrong with the data.

Most of the noise 'advantage' in recordings comes from the lower noise floor of the recording equipment. At matched low-mid speeds, the Noctua produces significantly less hum as soon as both fans break through the noise floor. Then the only advantage of the Alphacool is the highly suspect airflow measurement.

At the very least, I think the results have been greatly exaggerated, otherwise this would be an absolute revolution in the case/radiator fan market. I'll be waiting for someone like Ali from Optimum Tech to review it instead, as he's one of the few people I trust with sound measurements.

I think in other articles i've read it has a lot to do with the metal frame on how it reduces vibration. I'm waiting for more reviews from the likes of GN with their testing to see what they make of it. If its really that good, i will replace some my 9x T30 with these!

Jay85 · 10 Oct 2023 at 17:10

Tiamat21 said:
Yeah was trying to find a pre order with ocuk for it.

Same, ocuk will be my goto unless somewhere else gets stock faster. Hoping for a triple pack bundle.

Tiamat21 · 11 Oct 2023 at 06:58

Jay85 said:
Same, ocuk will be my goto unless somewhere else gets stock faster. Hoping for a triple pack bundle.

Yeah that's what I got

flea.rider · 11 Oct 2023 at 12:00

so if they were to put it into a plastic sheath it would be cheaper ? which they could do if you look at the break down of it .. but 30 euro for a fan ??

hiroofheroes · 11 Oct 2023 at 13:40

flea.rider said:
so if they were to put it into a plastic sheath it would be cheaper ? which they could do if you look at the break down of it .. but 30 euro for a fan ??

The idea is that the mass helps dampen vibrations. A plastic framed version may therefore be louder, and presumably Alphacool prototyped versions when proving the metal frame during R&D.

Jay85 · 11 Oct 2023 at 22:37

hiroofheroes said:
The idea is that the mass helps dampen vibrations. A plastic framed version may therefore be louder, and presumably Alphacool prototyped versions when proving the metal frame during R&D.

From what i've read the whole metal frame thing wasn't intended to make things quieter, it was purely by accident i think.

Perfect_Chaos · 12 Oct 2023 at 02:36

Same noise as a Noctua fan at 400rpm but the Alphacool fan is at 1900rpm?? If that's accurate that would be a lot of airflow for such low noise, isn't that whisper quiet for such high speed?

Is the 2000rpm fan the same as the 3000? Looks like it is

srekal34 · 12 Oct 2023 at 06:27

flea.rider said:
so if they were to put it into a plastic sheath it would be cheaper ? which they could do if you look at the break down of it .. but 30 euro for a fan ??

To be fair, Zinc is not that much more expensive than LCP to make a difference.
Its 80e for 3 fans - so more or less the same as T30 and A12x25 - what price did you expect?
The matte black version looks sick.
Apparently 140mm coming in March 24.
We need TPU review, these may be a gamechanger - Igorslab review just looks too good to be true - Noctua is a large company with many engineers, they have been trying to design new 140mm fan for ~5 yrs, now small WC company comes with a new fan that just obliterates everything on the market(its not even close from Igors graph) - it just looks too good to be true.

Perfect_Chaos · 12 Oct 2023 at 18:00

srekal34 said:
We need TPU review

They reviewed the Alphacool Eisbaer 240LT and I'm pretty sure there were a few who said the results were BS because they were so good, so if they make a review that contradicts the rest then where do we stand?

srekal34 · 12 Oct 2023 at 18:28

Perfect_Chaos said:
They reviewed the Alphacool Eisbaer 240LT and I'm pretty sure there were a few who said the results were BS because they were so good, so if they make a review that contradicts the rest then where do we stand?

TPU is not a 1 person. I trust VSG who only reviews fans and custom LC parts, and have been reviewing them long before TPU - 240lt was not reviewed by him.

Perfect_Chaos · 12 Oct 2023 at 20:15

srekal34 said:
TPU is not a 1 person. I trust VSG who only reviews fans and custom LC parts, and have been reviewing them long before TPU - 240lt was not reviewed by him.

Well we will see. 2-3 of these for intake and exhaust should be pretty interesting, might wait for the 140 versions if they turn out so good.

Grim5 · 12 Oct 2023 at 20:29

Jay85 said:
Just seen this testing from Igorslab and it looks like its going to be an absolute beast of a fan! Will definitely add some weight too if you have a system full of these.

Zinc metal shroud with a plastic centre fan.

Revolution in the case fan market: Alphacool Apex Stealth Metal (Power) Fan in an exclusive review (Update) | igor´sLAB

Pending a thorough investigation into the circumstances and possible causes of deviations in various tests, I have temporarily suspended the two awards and will later decide based on new measurements…

www.igorslab.de

We need proper testing

Firstly Igor is a fool at the best of time, secondly this fan review has so many holes and errors

Jay85 · 12 Oct 2023 at 21:00

Grim5 said:
We need proper testing

Firstly Igor is a fool at the best of time, secondly this fan review has so many holes and errors

Yup, waiting on GN's testing as i think they bought a specialist piece of equipment for fan testing awhile back. Can't remember the name of it but it was supposed to be super high tech.

Tiamat21 · 13 Oct 2023 at 14:14

Grim5 said:
We need proper testing

Firstly Igor is a fool at the best of time, secondly this fan review has so many holes and errors

Can you elaborate?

I thought he was pretty well regarded.