Phobya Nano-G14 Silent Waterproof 1000rpm S7
First impressions are good, the gloss finish and slight sparkle to the blades make the product look well placed in any high end rig. Only thing i would change is the unbraided cable on the front side of the fan, but i'd really be nit picking if i said that changed my opinion on the aesthetics!
I don't have any fancy tech equipment, so i made my own "Wind-o-meter" by strapping a Promilatech 140mm fan to each of the fans i tested. I then read of the voltage produced by each fan which gives a rough indicator of how much air they are pushing. Just to give you an idea, i tried this with a Yate Loon D14BH-12 (2800rpm) running it from full speed down to minimum speed using my fan controller, the voltages ranged from 6.1v to 2.2v. I wont be using the yate loon in this test as it is an enthusiast fan, whereas the others i have are engineered towards a better noise/performance ratio.
The fans i used were;
The raw results from my testing;
As you can see the Phobya fan scores well against it's competitors across the full rpm range. Even though the Akasa fan is a 1200rpm variant, the Phobya seems to have out performed it on all levels, however i have had it running 24/7 for about 6 years so it's probably not in ideal condition
Also at the minimum rpm you can see the Phobya is on par with the more expensive BeQuiet fan meaning that for ultra silent setups the Phobya fan might be a viable option even when compared to the big boys
Now i don't have a sound level metre either, and i couldn't think of any DIY alternatives so i just had to judge it by ear.
Both of the Phobya fans i received make a high pitched squeal when running at mid range rpm, this is noticeable when web browsing, however once you have any sort of music on or gaming with headphones you can't hear them at all. I will add that the squeal dissapeares at about %70 speed.
Apart from the little niggle with the squeal the Phobya fans were reasonable when it came to noise production. The Fractal fans were the quietest, but as you can see from the graphs the Fractals have far inferior performance so in my opinion this outweighs the benefits from quieter operation. The BeQuiet fans were really impressive in the sound department, they were quieter than the Akasa and Phobya in all rpm ranges. The sounds they produce is more like a "whoooosh" which is more appealing to me than the muffle you get from the other fans
Conclusion:
The Phobya fans performed well in the air flow test scoring just below the more expensive BeQuiet fans, however with them being named "Silent" i would have thought they's perform a little better in the sound test, although i would mention that I may have received a dodgy set and not all of them make the squealing noise that mine did. When you take cost into account, the Phobya's really stand out as they are way cheaper than the others, (2x cheaper than the BeQuiets!) so for someone looking for a reasonably quiet whilst still retaining good airffow system, these would be my recommendation!
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Sorry for the delay but i wanted to do something more than a few lines about the product, and i honestly have not had the time to this before now!
PS: You've got the wrong picture on your website, the 1000rpm variant has 11 blades, the one pictured has 9
First impressions are good, the gloss finish and slight sparkle to the blades make the product look well placed in any high end rig. Only thing i would change is the unbraided cable on the front side of the fan, but i'd really be nit picking if i said that changed my opinion on the aesthetics!
I don't have any fancy tech equipment, so i made my own "Wind-o-meter" by strapping a Promilatech 140mm fan to each of the fans i tested. I then read of the voltage produced by each fan which gives a rough indicator of how much air they are pushing. Just to give you an idea, i tried this with a Yate Loon D14BH-12 (2800rpm) running it from full speed down to minimum speed using my fan controller, the voltages ranged from 6.1v to 2.2v. I wont be using the yate loon in this test as it is an enthusiast fan, whereas the others i have are engineered towards a better noise/performance ratio.
The fans i used were;
- Phobya Nano-G14 Silent Waterproof 1000rpm S7 Here £8.32
- Fractal Design 140mm Silent (600rpm) Here £12.24
- Akasa AK-195-WH White Illumination 140mm Fan (1200rpm) Here £7.99
- BeQuiet SilentWing USC 140mm (1000rpm) Here £16.99
The raw results from my testing;
As you can see the Phobya fan scores well against it's competitors across the full rpm range. Even though the Akasa fan is a 1200rpm variant, the Phobya seems to have out performed it on all levels, however i have had it running 24/7 for about 6 years so it's probably not in ideal condition
Also at the minimum rpm you can see the Phobya is on par with the more expensive BeQuiet fan meaning that for ultra silent setups the Phobya fan might be a viable option even when compared to the big boys
Now i don't have a sound level metre either, and i couldn't think of any DIY alternatives so i just had to judge it by ear.
Both of the Phobya fans i received make a high pitched squeal when running at mid range rpm, this is noticeable when web browsing, however once you have any sort of music on or gaming with headphones you can't hear them at all. I will add that the squeal dissapeares at about %70 speed.
Apart from the little niggle with the squeal the Phobya fans were reasonable when it came to noise production. The Fractal fans were the quietest, but as you can see from the graphs the Fractals have far inferior performance so in my opinion this outweighs the benefits from quieter operation. The BeQuiet fans were really impressive in the sound department, they were quieter than the Akasa and Phobya in all rpm ranges. The sounds they produce is more like a "whoooosh" which is more appealing to me than the muffle you get from the other fans
Conclusion:
The Phobya fans performed well in the air flow test scoring just below the more expensive BeQuiet fans, however with them being named "Silent" i would have thought they's perform a little better in the sound test, although i would mention that I may have received a dodgy set and not all of them make the squealing noise that mine did. When you take cost into account, the Phobya's really stand out as they are way cheaper than the others, (2x cheaper than the BeQuiets!) so for someone looking for a reasonably quiet whilst still retaining good airffow system, these would be my recommendation!
------------------------
Sorry for the delay but i wanted to do something more than a few lines about the product, and i honestly have not had the time to this before now!
PS: You've got the wrong picture on your website, the 1000rpm variant has 11 blades, the one pictured has 9
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