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Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov
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Sunday, 01 July 2007 |
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Page 2 of 2
I decided to take three pictures for each fan. One under normal daylight conditions and two during the night, one from each side. You'll notice that the exhaust side has more of an overall glow while the intake side shows more of the purple light emitted by the UV LEDs. Green, being near the middle of the visible spectrum, is by far the brightest of all the fans.
The blue isn't as bright as the green, but it's the only fan that doesn't have at least some sort of purple glow from the LEDs because it's so close to UV. It's also probably going to be one of the more popular ones due to most people's obsession with this color.
The blue/green fan is just that: a blue case with green blades. Like the all green, this is one of the brighter fans. Now's a good time to point out a disadvantage of using three LEDs: one corner will always remain dark. Adding a fourth (one near each corner) would be optimal for full fan illumination.
The green/orange fan is, overall, on the same brightness level as the blue/green. While the case glows a lot more, the orange blades are the dimmest of all the fans, most likely because they're near the bottom of the spectrum. Also, the purple from the UV LEDs is most visible here for the same reason.
Next up is the blue/orange, which, like the green/orange is, isn't very bright on the fins. But it's the most balanced out of all the two colored fans I received because the fins under direct LED illumination end up being about as bright as the case under secondary illumination.
The orange/blue is my favorite. Although it's hard to tell from the photographs, it looks like a tri-color fan more than any of the others. That is, orange on the outside, then a ring of purple UV and finally the blue. Of course this is just personal preference.
And finally we have the orange/green. It's obviously noticeably brighter than the orange/blue but doesn't provide the same UV "belt" effect.
Now you may be wondering how these UV fans compare to normal LED fans. Well above is a comparison shot between the tri-LED 80mm Cyber Cooler fan (left) and the respective blue UV (right). I think it's pretty obvious which one is brighter. The only bad thing I noticed has to do with the wiring job. It seems like some of the connections (on pretty much every fan) aren't up to par, so any kind of mediocre movement may cause the fan/LEDs to temporarily lose power.
While it doesn't happen when they're still, if you flip the fan upside down or rotate it there's a good chance the LEDs will blink or the whole thing will shut off until it's stable once again. This isn't much of a problem because most people don't jerk their computers while in use, but the fact remains that no fans I've used before have done this. Either way, lighted fans are cheap these days. However, if you choose to go the UV route make sure you pick out some you like, since their normal LED counterparts can be had for half the price (and half the brightness). But $5 or $10, it's not terribly expensive.
Pros
- Many combinations
- Look absolutely amazing
- Much brighter than normal LED fans
- Good construction, wiring matches fans
- Relatively cheap at $10 each
Cons
- Some power issues if shaken
- Four LEDs would have been better for corner illumination
- No 3-4-pin adapters, no screws (on most fans)
This new generation of lighted fans is the next step in case modding. They far outweigh the plain LED competition in both brightness and cool factor. Aside from the lack of basic accessories (like screws and molex adapters), there's nothing to complain about. Yes, the power issue is a little weird, but keep your case still and everything will be fine. Once again I'd like to thank Xoxide for sending over these fans and if interested you can get yours here. Thanks for reading and enjoy the site!
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 July 2007 )
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