We've seen lots of innovations from manufacturers the past few months, particularly in the modding/aesthetics department. Anything and everything is either UV reactive, has some form of lighting, or both. With the major points covered years ago (namely LED fans and CCFLs), there's not much left. Still, companies manage to come up with why-didn't-I-think-of-that ways to spice up your rig. A.C.Ryan is a newcomer to the scene, but they've managed to bring several unique products to the table, as well as improving on already existing concepts.
That said, we were sent a box of goodies which included (from left to right): 120mm BlackFire4, Backy, and a pair of Conductx cables. The naming scheme for most of their products is confusing at best. In layman's terms, we got a UV LED fan, a PCI slot port expander thingy, and two splitters with integrated UV LEDs. So far Performance-PCs is the only place that officially carries A.C.Ryan products. Google (Froogle to be exact) might find you another vendor.
First up is the BlackFire4 fan. There are 10 color combinations to choose from in 80mm, 92mm, and 120mm flavors. Both the blades and the case are UV reactive. There are four UV LEDs mounted around the perimeter with each one being individually powered by the motor (there are wires going parallel to the 4 bars on the frame). This is a good precaution should one of the LEDs fail. They're located in pre-drilled holes and hot glued into place like most LED fans. The BlackFire4 has a 3-pin connector and comes with a 4-pin pass through molex and a set of 4 self tapping screws.
At night, this is what it looks like. Both the frame and the blades glow thanks to the UV LEDs. There's nothing particularly innovative here; the BlackFire4 is just like any other fan in its class. Here are the ratings for the various models:
Power consumption: 1.3W (80mm), 1.9W (92mm), 2.8W (120mm)
Fan speed (RPM): 2500 (80mm), 2500 (92mm), 2000 (120mm)
I can't speak for the other models, but the 120mm fan does provide a good amount of airflow and is on par, if not a tad quieter than, typical mid-range fans. A power consumption of 2.8watts is low enough to be used on a motherboard header without burning it out; this is good if you want tachometer readings and don't have some sort of front panel to handle the task.
The Backy, as it's called, is one of the more interesting items. I'm surprised it took so long for a product like this to hit the mainstream market. The concept is very simple: use an internal 4-pin connector and replicate it to several external ports. In this case, we get a pair of molex and a pair of 3-pin connectors to play with. This is very helpful when you want to test something but don't want to open your case and find that free connector to plug your device in to.
Want a personal blower? Buy a big fan (like the 120mm BlackFire4) and hook it up from the back of your PC. The possibilities are endless. Even more useful are the other available options: you can get the Backy with ATA133 or SATA power and data connectors, so you can test/use a hard drive or other internal device externally, without the need for some fancy enclosure. The connectors, cable mesh, and heatshrink are all UV reactive as well. Your only other color choice is plain black.
