Closer Examination

I had to go back in time to look at my photos of the be quiet! Silent Wings 3 fans before I could actually confirm there are differences throughout. Subtle, but indeed the new Silent Wings Pro 4 is a good way of doing an update that clearly is a successor to a popular product. The ripples in the fan blades in particular are a clear be quiet! design that helps identify the fans accordingly, and we now get a predominantly black fan without LEDs to be found anywhere, for those desperately looking for a clean cooling solution. I also appreciate that be quiet! has stuck with the 120 x 120 x 25 mm sizing on this fan for increased case compatibility, compared to some of the competition that have gone thicker recently. The fans come with the radiator corner pre-installed as seen on the previous page and that results in a fully square frame ideal for use with multiple of such fans directly mounted on a radiator. There are tiny rubber pads on the closed corners still to help dampen any case vibrations. The rotor has nine sweeping blades that now go even closer to the frame to allow for ~1 mm gap from the leading edge to the fan frame compared to the ~1.2 mm before. Branding comes in the form of a subtle be quiet! logo on the front fan hub, and there are arrows on the side of the frame to help indicate the direction of blades rotating and that of airflow through the fan itself.


A closer examination of the corners reveals a simple locking mechanism that keeps the pre-installed radiator corners in place. Press down on the hinge to help release them and now you can choose between the three types of fan corners available that use the same locking mechanism but vary in size significantly. Seen above is the fan with all three corner types installed to give you a better idea. Note how the other two end up with more gaps along the sides but at least you have the option to choose between them. Personally I'd rather see a trimmed down version without replacement corners and a fixed radiator corner itself for lower cost!


be quiet! uses its 6-pole, 3-phase fan motor on the Silent Wings Pro 4 fans and this might result in some fan controllers not reading the fan RPM correctly. Any self-respecting companies would have accounted for this though, so I don't expect anyone with a decent motherboard or fan controller to have issues in 2022. The 6-pole motor is more efficient compared to usual 4-pole designs, requiring less power to start and keep rotating, and there's a handy blurb about how these also help reduce vibrations in use. The label on the back confirms the fans are made in China and the Pro version of the Silent Wings 4 120 mm fan lineup is the only one that also goes up to 3000 RPM. This results in a higher current draw at 0.3 A (including startup boost) compared to the rest of the lineup and that in turn means ~3.6 W per fan if you go with these fans at full blast. Running the fans at slower speeds will of course consume less current off the 12 VDC rail. Helping users with this is the dedicated fan speed toggle switch that goes from M (medium speed, 1600 RPM max) to HS (High Speed, 2500 RPM) to UHS (Ultra High Speed, 3000 RPM) and thus gives more flexibility with these Pro versions compared to the non-pro variant. The Silent Wings Pro 4 uses a fluid dynamic bearing that also promises low bearing noise and minimal vibrations, on top of longevity with its 300,000 hours rated lifespan.


Given this is purely a fan, there is a single cable coming from the fan motor hub on the back. The Silent Wings Pro 4 fans are PWM only for fan control and thus we get a 4-pin connector on the end of a nicely sleeved cable with heat-shrink also well applied. The connector housing is relatively long and helps with stress applied laterally and it comes to good use for branding purposes also, as seen above.