Closer Examination

EKWB's Vardar fans have often been compared to the Gentle Typhoon fans, and sometimes not in a flattering way either. Perhaps it was because their first series included a typical OEM color scheme of a black frame and gray impeller. Many thought these were a copy as well, which a simple count of the blades would have cleared up immediately since these and the rest of the Vardar fan lineup use seven curved blades with a lip on their leading edges as opposed to the nine on the Gentle Typhoon fans in this speed range with highly curved, serrated blades.

The rest of the fan is something we have already seen before, with solid PBT plastic construction throughout, which results in a heavy fan relative to others in the market. Indeed, the motor hub is massive here, measuring in at 2.06", which puts the fan blades on the shorter side of average for 120 mm fans. We saw this result in a performance deficit on the Corsair LL RGB fans, but EKWB claims the larger hub was necessary to have a reliable, high-performing design inside and out. We shall test this for ourselves on the next page, but in the meantime, allow me to point out two more things. First, there are no vibration-dampening corner pads here, but there are cutouts around the open corners that enterprising customers can use with some foam pieces if they so desire. Secondly, there are no arrows to point out the direction of airflow or the impeller's rotation if you are unsure, and instead, we have the EKWB logo on the frame. I would have definitely liked some rubber pads here, if only to help isolate vibrations from sources out of their control.


Each fan is rated for 0.18 A (2.16 W) on the 12 VDC rail, which corresponds to the peak draw with startup boost. I noticed a maximum operating current draw of 0.128 A here (1.54 W on the 12 V rail), so you should be able to operate ~5-6 fans off a single header if start-up boost can be accounted for. Alternatively, you can also get a powered PWM splitter and leave nothing to chance by powering the fans directly through the PSU. EKWB has made a change in the bearing used with some of the newer Vardar EVO fans, and this is one of them. Ball bearings are excellent for longevity and reliability, provided you don't get a bad batch to begin with, but are not the most silent to where you can hear the so-called bearing noise when the fans are spinning at lower RPMs and airflow noise is not high. The use of a hydro-dynamic bearing here is possibly the best thing they could have done sans going with magnetic levitation bearings as well since they are sealed off from the environment and the fluid used inside dampens vibrations. At the same time, such bearings tend to cost less than dual ball bearings, so there was also a financial incentive for EKWB to make the switch.


The fan has a single power cable for the PWM motor that runs it. As such, we see the four individual wires that make up the cable, and these have insulation which is color-matched to the rest of the fan in addition to the cable sleeving, which is a nice detail. The sleeving begins at the edge of the fan's frame, is done in a heatshrink application, and terminates in a 4-pin fan connector to be plugged into any standard 4-pin PWM header on your motherboard or similar fan controller. The cable itself is 12" long, which is average for most fans, but is on the shorter side for cases that support watercooling. You may find yourself needing a PWM extensions/splitter, especially if you have multiple fans on a radiator.