be quiet! Light Wings White 140mm PWM high-speed

[testman78]

Introduction

Sadly, some manufacturers ignore the fact that many PC gamers see their fans from behind, often through a tempered glass-windowed side panel. be quiet! has designed their ARGB silent wings fans to showcase their ARGB illumination from their front and rear, making their lighting beautiful regardless of their orientation. be quiet! has had black Light Wings fans for some time, now it adds white ones and gives you a better choice visually as well. The white Light Wings fans are geometrically based on the black versions. Xtremesystems was sent a 140mm high-speed triple pack for evaluation purposes and our initial impressions are largely favourable.



As for the fans themselves, specifications vary depending on size and configuration. Our 140mm x 140mm x 25mm high-speed review models tout a 2,200RPM top speed, creating 71.7CFM airflow and air pressure of up to 2.3mm/H2O. A 4-pole fan motor and rifle bearing contribute to an estimated lifespan of 60,000 hours.




Packaging & Contents

The triple-pack version of the 140mm high-speed fan here, which of course shows up in a box larger than the single pack. The external packaging of the Light Wings is made of light cardboard with well-finished graphics and characterized by the predominant black color in full be quiet! style.



On the main facade we find a photo of the product, the model and the variant. A render of the fans lit up on the front clearly shows that these are RGB fans, which the product name and marketing tagline also support.



On the sides of the box we have some information on the fans as well as a full list of specifications.




The interior packaging is certainly of good quality with the fans nicely sandwiched within. It’s a small point, but it always speaks of a quality product when they’re nicely boxed both inside and out.



Included are four classic black self-tapping screws and a quick manual.




With all triple packs be quiet! provides an A-RGB HUB to replicate the light effect provided by a 5V A-RGB source on up to six fans. The external measurements are the same as the 2.5″ drives but with a greater thickness (100 x 70 x 13 mm) and, thanks to the holes in the lower shell, it will therefore be possible to mount it on a common 2.5″ drive bay.




The controller needs to be powered via the cable with sata connector (about 30cm long) already integrated in the HUB.



The input of the light effect is instead provided via a cable about 50 cm long and embellished with a rubberized fabric protection: this must be connected to the HUB on one side and, using the 3-Pin 5V-DG connector on the other ends, to a dedicated A-RGB controller or A-RGB header in motherboards.overloading a single motherboard A-RGB header. Unfortunately, the controller only implements the multiplication function, not allowing the series connection of the devices. It will therefore not be possible to obtain light effects based on sequentiality.




3M tape is included for sticking the aRGB hub wherever you see fit, and said hub can be screwed into a 2.5in SSD tray if you prefer.




A Closer Look

System builders looking to create all-white builds have a sleek new option with Light Wings White: The fan, cable jacket, and connector are done completely in white, with a subtle black-on-grey logo to match the color scheme.



be quiet! fans are easily disguisable by their unique blade design. Across both surfaces are a series of ribs that claim to increase efficiency and reduce turbulence which are important factors in a silent fan design. More detailed inspection will note a unique blade shape that increases the overall surface area and some interesting compression shapes where the blades come close to the outer ring. While we’re nitpicking, it’s a shame the be quiet! logo on the sides of each fan is in the same orientation, having one side in reverse would have made it easy to ensure upright branding irrespective of mounting position. The PWM High-Speed ​​Series features an impeller with nine closely spaced blades and a longer, inwardly curved design optimized for static pressure. In this version, developed for radiators and coolers, the maximum rotation speed is 2200 RPM.



What distinguishes the Light Wings from other fans be quiet! it is of course the large luminous ring on the front, made of semi-transparent white plastic, in contrast with the black frame and impeller. be quiet! it has even equipped the secondary side with backlighting (albeit more subdued), with a second thinner ring divided into 4 sections. This is a rare feature that will prove appreciable for example in push & pull configurations or for case installations. The lighting has brilliant colors, very bright and uniformly distributed over the entire main ring. Twenty Addressable-RGB LEDs are integrated, which have a maximum absorption of about about 0.64A (3.2W). Although not expressly indicated in the product specifications, the lighting is compatible with MSI Mystic Light Sync, ASRock Polychrome Sync, Asus Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion and all devices using the A-RGB 5V standard with 3 connector -Pin 5V-DG.





The fan frame is particularly robust, thanks to the considerable thickness of the walls of the internal neck (about 7 millimeters), which integrates the LEDs and the related circuitry. A solution that also required a reduction in the diameter of the impeller of about 10 millimeters, compared to the be quiet! models, without LEDs. Also ideal for installing fans on radiators using long screws that cross the frame from side to side.



At the four corners there are white rubber decoupler pads, while in correspondence with the installation holes.



The Light Wings adopt a rifle bearing type motor, capable of guaranteeing a minimum life of 60'000 hours.



The product comes with three connectors, the 4pin PWM power supply that is being used to supply power to the rotating fan and two more ports one male and one female 3-pin RGB headers that are being used with Addressable RGB lighting systems.



The 3-pin header, which is 5V, can also be referred to as the “digital RGB header”, or “addressable RGB header” (DRGB, ARGB). This header uses separate pins for power, data and ground. ... When you send information through this pin, the first LED uses the first part of the data, then passes the right along and so on. Your motherboard should have 3 pin headers to use this kind of RGB.




Test Methology & Performance


Convinced by the aesthetic rendering of the Light Wings, we wanted to analyze their performance. We then put them to the test by comparing the temperatures obtained from the all in one Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 280, when cooled by the High-Speed ​​PWM Light Wings, compared to when cooled by the bundled fans ​​instead. The stock fans on the Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 280 has rated speed of 2200RPM with airflow of 65CFM. We prefer this test methodology to the common measurements of static pressure and air flow, to provide widely understandable data and adherent to real use scenarios. Our test platform includes a quad-core Intel Core i7-6700K processor overclocked to 4.4GHz across all cores. CPU voltage is upped to an above-average 1.3V and temperature is logged while a large 4K video clip is encoded in multiple passes using the freeware HandBrake utility. The workload tasks all four cores/eight threads for a prolonged period and, in order to provide a stabilised reading, we then calculate the average temperature across all four cores from the last few minutes of encoding. Actual CPU temperature is recorded and we also graph the delta temperature - that's CPU temperature minus ambient temperature. Last but not least, to give you an idea of fans acoustics, we use a PCE-318 noise meter to measure overall system noise in both idle and load states.

Test System:
Processor- Intel Core i7-6700K (overclocked to 4.4GHz)
CPU Cooler- Cooler Master MasterLiquid Pro 280
Motherboard- Asus Z170 Pro
Memory- Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-2400
Power Supply- be quiet! Pure Power 12M 850W
Primary Storage- 256GB Samsung 950 Pro
Secondary Storage- 512GB SK hynix Canvas SC300
Chassis- Fractal Design Define R5 Windowed
Operating system- Windows 10 (64-bit)



Here are the results.



The numbers are pretty much self-explanatory. be quiet! has delivered in plain and simple words.



The system with the Stock fans on MasterLiquid Pro is evident. Switching the fans from the Stock fans to be quiet! Light Wings White 140mm PWM high-speed fans lowers noise output another notch.


Final Thoughts

If you hate companies trying to force you into their RGB software ecosystem, be quiet! have some good fans for you. No proprietary software, strange connectors, or another software package to update. Simple, quality, ARGB fans. When it comes to looks, there is nothing to complain about with be quiet's White Light Wings models. The fact that these fans offer front and rear lighting addressed a major oversight from some RGB fan manufacturers. Beyond that, be quiet's use of 20 LEDs per fan allows each led to blend in with the next to create excellent ARGB lighting effects and makes it difficult to see each LED behind be quiet's led diffuser. Regarding software, these fans use 5V ARGB fan connectors, a standard connector that allows these fans to be hocked into any modern motherboard. As such, this makes your default RGB control software the RGB software of your motherboard maker. While this limits your RGB lighting effects to the options provided by your motherboard. The benefit is that this makes it easy to synchronise your motherboard and fan lighting, but the downside is that be quiet cannot differentiate itself from its peers with software. That said, and as we have said before, be quiet! lacking dedicated software can be seen as a benefit if you hate installing additional, proprietary control software. The Light Wings are immediately appreciated for the quality of the materials and the assembly, appearing very solid and resistant in every part. What is also convincing is precisely the aspect of novelty peculiar to this model, i.e. the luminous effects, the vibrant and uniform colors on the whole front ring and on the thinner rear ring, where the backlighting is more tenuous but still a rare trick and appreciable. The Light Wings White fans also adopt a rifle bearing PWM motor, and not the more valuable FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) seen on the Silent Wings 3. The declared life expectancy therefore drops to approximately 60'000 hours (MTBF), the guarantee is equal to three years. With their fan triple pack, be quiet! delivers to their users their fans, fan mounting hardware, a 6-port fan hub, their fan hub cables, and some 3M tape that can be used to mount the fan hub within your PC case. As mentioned previously, be quiet's ARGB hub supports up to six ARGB devices and can be used to connect supported devices to a single ARGB header on your motherboard or external ARGB controller. This hub is small enough to sit behind the motherboard tray of most modern PC cases, which should make cable management a breeze. be quiet's ARGB fan connectors feature a daisy chain option, allowing users to chain these fans together as much as they'd like. That said, some users will not like the fact that this daisy chain option is at the end of a long cable, and not near the fan itself. This can create a lot of cable clutter for multi-fan setups on a large liquid cooling radiator, though it enables daisy-chaining for fans that are far apart. As an option, it is a mixed bag and your preference will depend on how you prefer to set up your system. Like their other fans, be quiet's focusing on low noise levels and delivering a premium fan experience. Even their high-speed fan models keep things below 45 dBA at 100% speeds, which is by no means loud. High-Speed models push plenty of air, though the quiet models obviously push less than their high-speed counterparts. Neither model is loud, which is good news for most PC builders.



If you’ve been wanting to build an all-white PC setup including white fans, now is the perfect time for you as the latest Light Wings White comes in all-white and is fitted with up to 20 individually addressable LEDs with a diffuser on its light rings for stunning lighting effects. On top of that, it contains a white ARGB hub that allows for up to six ARGB component synchronization. When connected to motherboards with 5V ARGB headers, the fans can also be controlled by motherboard software. Unlike the black fans, the white fans are not sold as a single piece and will only be available in a three-pack with a hub(73 euros for the 140mm high speed ones).