Introduction

be quiet! recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with a slew of new product releases including the Pure Base 500 FX case as well as the Pure Loop 2 FX 280 AIO cooler. Add in the recently released Pure Rock 2 FX cooler and the Light Wings 120 and 140 mm fans and there's a clear RGB trend coming from the German brand that notoriously is all about noise optimization. I was left wondering whether we would have a successor to one of my favorite fans ever in the form of the Silent Wings 3 which doesn't go the RGB route, but focuses on putting out the best balance of performance and noise.


Turns out that be quiet! had thought of this too and was simply taking the R&D time necessary to release a successor. To give you more context on how long the Silent Wings 4 series has been in the making, I was not even writing on TechPowerUp when the Silent Wings 3 first came out! The announcement of the new fans came with information about a few sorely-needed updates that I was quite keen on checking—especially with the replacement fan corners that most people did not use fully because it was just not user-friendly. The Silent Wings 4 series has 120 and 140 mm sizes in 3-pin voltage or 4-pin PWM control versions. There's also a "Pro" version in each size which offers increased maximum fan speeds for those who need the most cooling potential. The new fans also get an updated rotor design and go even sleeker with black-on-black colors. be quiet! is promising improvements across the board when it comes to performance as a case fan or on radiators, so we'll put it to the test today in our review of the Silent Wings Pro 4 120 mm PWM fan which begins with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

I mentioned before how there are multiple SKUs under the larger Silent Wings 4 fan lineup from be quiet! but the overall unboxing experience should be similar enough. Indeed, the product box design is also reminiscent of what we saw on the Light Wings fans last year with a predominantly black base and white and orange accents throughout. A render of the fans on the front is accompanied by the company logo and product name, in addition to salient marketing features. I also chuckled at the "High-end" note on the side, in case you were unaware. On the back are technical specs and certification information along with a QR code that takes you to this simplified page, hosting only the product manual and more information as needed. You can find all this, and more, on the official product page itself.


A double flap on the side helps keep the contents in place on their way to you. Opening the box we see even more features of the fan called out on the inner lining of the lid, accompanied by more renders. The fan itself is placed in the main compartment inside a cardboard box of its own and there is another smaller accessory box above it. Underneath both boxes comes paperwork in the form of the same product manual you can find online too, so I don't understand why be quiet! is using so much paper and cardboard here. The manual comes in multiple languages, walking you through how to use the replacement fan corners to make use of the fan in different applications.


What makes the Silent Wings 4 series special is the use of switchable fan corners, with one set pre-installed and two others included in the accessory box in the form of anti-vibration mounts with a silicone rubber padding and another set with just hard plastic. I am not sure what the last set is aimed at given the former is for when you would use the Silent Wings Pro 4 as a case fan combined with the provided self-tapping screws and the default radiator corners are for radiator fans. The product page simply says "The plastic mountings round up the scope" which doesn't really help! Then we realize this is actually for even simpler installation, courtesy the washers and push-fit plastic screws also provided, but in practice I don't see anyone using these much.