Alphacool Apex Stealth 120 mm Fan

[VSG]

The Alphacool Apex Stealth is a unique new fan which uses a metal frame and a patent-pending decoupling mechanism to be one of the quietest fans in the market. It performs reasonably well and has a long RPM range to be versatile with different use cases too. There are two max speed options as well as four colors/finishes to choose from.

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[Deleted member 237269]

Thanks for the review @VSG
Good thing i didn’t pre order 3× fans.
I tried these recently Lian Li P28 / Thermaltake Toughfan 12 Pro / Phanteks T30. If you don’t want RGB they are top.
(I’m using the Toughfan because they come in 140mm too)

 

[JohH]

Looks pretty good at the near "silent" level then falls off after that.

 

[wheresmycar]

• One of the quietest fans on the market
• Metal frame and decoupling dampens noise to make it feel ever quieter

say no more, i like!

Pricey though! Unfortunately for me can't see myself buying into $30 fans in a case which supports 6+ fans... thats just a recipe for "empty your pockets some more". Not long ago i was eyeing up a black Fractal north with that tasty walnut wood work on the front and i kid you not i was considering a gold theme (RGB, sleeved cables, etc).... these fans in gold would have fit that bill VERY NICELY! But "glossy" gold... i dunno, perhaps too much of a pimp-up?

 

[Heiro78]

Thanks for the review @VSG
Good thing i didn’t pre order 3× fans.
I tried these recently Lian Li P28 / Thermaltake Toughfan 12 Pro / Phanteks T30. If you don’t want RGB they are top.
(I’m using the Toughfan because they come in 140mm too)

I was caught up in the hype back in October. I almost ordered 9 haha

 

[Chrispy_]

Good to see the TPU review of this at last!

As expected, it's an average fan with an interesting design but it was ruined before launch by the utter BS marketing that was literally incredible. As in, I did not believe Alphacool. If they'd actually invented a fan impeller as good as they claimed, they would have a multi-billion-dollar technological breakthrough that every aviation company on earth would actually kill to get hold of.

 

[PLAfiller]

Interesting all-arounder, that's something in my book. But I am just not target audience. €30 a pop...yeah no....if I ever agree to spend this much on a single fan I'd replace the 180mm air penetrators on my case with Fractal Design Prisma AL-18...valid for Torrent users as well.

 

[Kapone33]

When companies like Arctic, Phanteks and Thermalright sell fans for 30% of the cost. How can these companies justify the price of these things. I have never seen a post asking for a metal fan so why should we pay for that?

 

[MarsM4N]

I almost missed the "review drama" but stumbled over it when looking up reviews on Youtube. Was wondering, why are there no reviews coming?

Well, the fan is silent & high quality. The air flow through a radiator isn't the "creme de la creme", but I guess it could be improved with different fan blades. Maybe it would be wise to make a extra high pressure version like others do. Let's hope they improve it for their 140mm version, if it ever comes.

 

[TheFlow]

@VSG did you notice any motor noises ony your samples? My two retail Apex Stealth Metal Power Fans are significantly louder/more annoying than other fans when running at the same rpm. Even the Cheap Arctic P12 or Thermalright fans (TL-C12C and TL-S12) perform way better in this regard.

 

[Kapone33]

I almost missed the "review drama" but stumbled over it when looking up reviews on Youtube. Was wondering, why are there no reviews coming?

Well, the fan is silent & high quality. The air flow through a radiator isn't the "creme de la creme", but I guess it could be improved with different fan blades. Maybe it would be wise to make a extra high pressure version like others do. Let's hope they improve it for their 140mm version, if it ever comes.

One of the best rad fans I have ever bought was the Phanteks 140mm that has a 120mm fan mount position. When I did the tissue test that fan created a tornado like effect that had the tissue swirling. This is the air cooler but those are the fans I mean.

https://www.amazon.ca/Phanteks-PH-TC14PE-Heat-Pipes-Premium-Patented/dp/B005OREE38/ref=sr_1_32?crid=1PQS6BIG41QX0&keywords=Phanteks+140mm&qid=1705960750&sprefix=phanteks+140mm%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-32&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.b06bdbbe-20fd-4ebc-88cf-fa04f1ca0da8

 

[sLowEnd]

The good-but-expensive segment of the fan market sure has a lot of options these days

 

[Crackong]

As expected, a good fan design specialized in low noise low rpm segment.

 

[VSG]

@VSG did you notice any motor noises ony your samples? My two retail Apex Stealth Metal Power Fans are significantly louder/more annoying than other fans when running at the same rpm. Even the Cheap Arctic P12 or Thermalright fans (TL-C12C and TL-S12) perform way better in this regard.

I didn't notice motor noise. How was you powering and controlling the fans? I do suggest talking to Alphacool.

 

[TheFlow]

I didn't notice motor noise. How was you powering and controlling the fans? I do suggest talking to Alphacool.

I have tried both a motherboard fan header (set to pwm control) as well as my aquacomputer quadro and the result is exactly the same. Also i would say the probability of getting two "faulty" fans should be pretty low, while getting one bad fan could just be bad luck (allthough i dont know why they put on QC Stickers on the box, that you can hardly miss, if you get fans that are fauly out of the box. They were well packaged during shipping, so that cant be the issue either). I have put my recordings of both Apex Stealth fans (in comparison to other fans) in the spoiler as well as someone elses recordings who has a fan that behaves very much like my two Apex Stealth. If the time stamp does not work, jump to 0:56 on my recording an then it should become obious what i am talking about.

Spoiler: Apex Stealth Recordings

 

[b1k3rdude]

interesting to see TPU review these after all the contrversy surrounding them recently -

- https://www.overclock.net/threads/fallout-of-igors-lab-review-of-alphacool-apex-stealth.1808967/
-

 

[VSG]

I have tried both a motherboard fan header (set to pwm control) as well as my aquacomputer quadro and the result is exactly the same. Also i would say the probability of getting two "faulty" fans should be pretty low, while getting one bad fan could just be bad luck (allthough i dont know why they put on QC Stickers on the box, that you can hardly miss, if you get fans that are fauly out of the box. They were well packaged during shipping, so that cant be the issue either). I have put my recordings of both Apex Stealth fans (in comparison to other fans) in the spoiler as well as someone elses recordings who has a fan that behaves very much like my two Apex Stealth. If the time stamp does not work, jump to 0:56 on my recording an then it should become obious what i am talking about.

Spoiler: Apex Stealth Recordings

Yeah those don't sound like my units, definitely talk to Alphacool.

interesting to see TPU review these after all the contrversy surrounding them recently -

- https://www.overclock.net/threads/fallout-of-igors-lab-review-of-alphacool-apex-stealth.1808967/
-

Interesting also that I've alluded to this multiple times in the review.

 

[Footman]

More overpriced fans!

Would love to see a review of some of the cheapest fans on the market, Arctic P12 Max..... See how they stack up to others at a $9 price point...

 

[VSG]

More overpriced fans!

Would love to see a review of some of the cheapest fans on the market, Arctic P12 Max..... See how they stack up to others at a $9 price point...

There are plans to review Arctic fans

 

[Footman]

There are plans to review Arctic fans

That's great VSG, I just upgraded my old P12's to P12 max's and have been impressed with performance and sound levels at 2000rpm on my rads... Looking forward to seeing how these $9 fans do when compared to the more expensive options.

 

[Deleted member 237269]

There are plans to review Arctic fans

Interested to see how the P12 Max perform compared to the base version.
Arctic are the best value fans for low budget.

Spoiler: Fans

 

[TheFlow]

Interested to see how the P12 Max perform compared to the base version.
Arctic are the best value fans for low budget.

Spoiler: Fans

View attachment 331034View attachment 331035View attachment 331036View attachment 331037View attachment 331038View attachment 331039View attachment 331040View attachment 331041View attachment 331042

Although keep in mind that Max CFM and Max Static Pressure are just the extreme points of the PQ-curves and some, fans according to the measurements of HWBusters, have curves that are way more favorable for the real word use than at least the P12 PWM PST. Still the P12 PWM PST is quite a lot value for the money, although they are not perfect fans, which given the price is totally fine.

The P12 PWM PST Rev.2 for example do have Humming at certain rpm. The P12 PWM PST Rev.4 get rid of the humming but at least the 5 P12 Rev.4 fans i have here produce grinding noises below 500rpm (which my 5 P12 Rev.2 dont). Although there wont be may using their P12 fans below 500rpm, so i think this wont be a huge issue for most people and the benefit of having fans without humming in the more relevant rpm range for daily use is far more important.
For the P12 Max there versions with different bearing types. The older black version has ball bearings which like all ball bearings do produce grinding noises no matter the rpm, and there seems to be quite some variance in the quality of the bearings which results in different noise levels between samples of the same fan. For the newer white version they went back to an FDB, which in my opinion is the better choice and if the FDBs work well on the P12 Max white then i hope there will be an FDB version of the black P12 Max as well.

 

[Deleted member 237269]

AH ! I purchased 2× P12 Max at launch and i noticed the slight motor noise so i returned them... Didn’t know they released differents versions afterward. Thanks for the info @TheFlow I was putting this on the low price.

Edit: black version

 

[TheFlow]

The white version of the P12 Max was announced pretty recently, so it has only been available for purchase a few days ago:

Arctic Unveils ARCTIC P12 Max Fan in All-white

ARCTIC, a leading manufacturer of low-noise PC coolers and components, presents its most powerful 120 mm fan in a white design reminiscent of snow and ice. However, the look is not the only innovation. With the P12 Max (White), ARCTIC is responding to customer feedback. The high-speed fan offers...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[VSG]

If the conversation is about another fan entirely now, perhaps another thread is a better place for it.