Yeah, I saw that they changed their method...using the case as a duct should work well, but for some reason their 120mm fan results aren't doing as well as their 80mm fans (well, they literally are, but 80mm fans are at/beating spec while 120mm fans are lagging kinda behind in some cases)...haven't figured that one out yet. I probably missed something, initially read the article in a hurry before I left for work.

When I first observed the 'spun air' issue (it was with a counter-clockwise spinning Tri-Blade Delta that spins the air SO MUCH that I was getting negative airflow results....it moved the anemometer's blades more due to the rotational movement of the air rather than the forward movement), I thought of a series of grills that would negate all spin (essentially a large scale version of a UV filter combined with a fine mesh grill), but also figured it would kill airflow too much. I recently saw the Mythbusters ep where they use a giant array of straws for essentially the same purpose and that would work as well...though also be restrictive. However, having the radiator test in place already, I really wanted a test that wasn't hampered with any impedance.

So I just reversed the order....had the fan pull air through the anemometer with a shroud/duct in between. Nothing's lost, the shroud/duct is big enough that it doesn't get skewed from the backdraft of most fans (the big-big Delta even got spot-on results).

Anyway, I'm glad they changed their results to now get repeatable results that are truly useful (the Noctua results from before....frustrated me a lot to say the least....and I could repeat them too with their old test method). Their intention is complete noise removal/suppression, so true CFM results don't mean as much....they need more sound signatures than anything else (which I don't have the means to properly do).

Someone in that thread made a very good point I'd like to reiterate here: nearly all fans push the same amount of air at the same RPM. This is completely true. That's the one way I feel confident in looking at a manufacturer's specs and calling "BS" w/o testing (if they look realistic....Thermaltake's are easy).

My purpose behind this is not the ultra-silent spectrum....but giving XS users data that says: "hey, this fan really isn't what the manufacturer says it is....here's some other fans that perform well for what you're looking for." Everyone knows their own noise limitations, or what kind of fan performance they need....they can choose their own fans.

/soap-box

I like their new method I look forward to reading their updated reviews, always like the originals until I saw that Noctua result.