Enermax have sent another two fans from their ‘Twister’ series – The Apollish Vegas and the T.B. Silence.
Product on Review: Apollish Vegas and T.B. Silence
Manufacturer and Sponsor: Enermax
Street Price: Apollish Vegas around £17/
Enermax are back with some new fan cooling products. Many of you know the company as a manufacturer of some of the highest regarded power supplies on the market. They had great success with their Galaxy series and are continuing to do so with their current Modu and Evolution series of supplies.
That excellent reputation has also followed them as they’ve moved over to air cooling. Their ‘Air Cooling by Enermax’ brand has impressed many with their innovative ‘batwing’, ‘twister bearing’ and ‘halo frame’ being particularly notable!
We’ve looked at their Apollish, Magma, Cluster and Twister fans in the past so it will be very interesting to see how this new Apollish Vegas and T.B. Silence perform.
First let’s hear a little from the company themselves:
The Enermax Technology Corporation was founded in Taiwan in 1990 and today is one of the leading producers of PC power supplies, PC cases and other peripheral stuff. Since 2000 the head quarter is located in Taoyuan, Taiwan. Founded by a group of high-tech oriented young professionals Enermax gained an excellent reputation over the last almost 20 years.
Unlike most competitors Enermax has its own design and development groups as well as its own production line. Enermax products are well known for their innovative technology, high quality, excellent design and efficiency.
Main customers are assemblers and do-it-yourself PC builders focussing on high-quality PC components.
The Enermax Technology Corporation was founded in Taiwan in 1990 and today is one of the leading producers of PC power supplies, PC cases and other peripheral stuff. Since 2000 the head quarter is located in Taoyuan, Taiwan. Founded by a group of high-tech oriented young professionals Enermax gained an excellent reputation over the last almost 20 years.
Unlike most competitors Enermax has its own design and development groups as well as its own production line. Enermax products are well known for their innovative technology, high quality, excellent design and efficiency.
Main customers are assemblers and do-it-yourself PC builders focussing on high-quality PC components.
Let’s take a look…
Specifications
Below are the specifications of both of the 120mm fans from the Enermax site itself.
In both instances concentrate on the 120mm data as that is what applies to the fans on test.
Apollish Vegas.
T.B. Silence.
Lastly here is a diagram showing the specific features of Enermax’s patented Twister Bearing Technology.
Twister Bearing.
Apollish Vegas
Enermax’s Apollish has returned in ‘Vegas’ form which I’m sure you’ll agree means the light show the original Apollish provided has probably been either added to or improved.
As before the packaging allows the fan to be seen in all its glitzy glory. Product features and details are shown along the bottom as is an image showing the five colours the Apollish Vegas range of fans come in.
Box front.
The rear provides more specific details on the fan, its performance and a list of the bundled accessories.
Box rear.
Indeed, that rear panel actually opens up once removed from the packaging. As you can see it gives you full colour guides on removing the blades for cleaning, installing the fan and dealing with other operation aspects of the fan.
Instructions.
Once unpacked the Apollish Vegas is just as impressive as the original Apollish. That chromed finish is produced using Enermax’s innovative sputtering technique. This produces a high-gloss and highly-resistant finish. It also sports Enermax’s hologram on the central hub. Found on many Enermax fans these days it adds nicely to the vibrant design!
Fan front.
The rear is quite standard looking and simply provides the manufacturer name, model number and identifies the use of the Twister Bearing Technology used in the fan. Note that the fan cable (both 3-pin and 2-pin runs) is also braided which rectifies one of the only issues I had with the original Apollish.
Fan rear.
The original Apollish design utilised 15 high performance diodes (used since they are around 4 times brighter than standard LED’s) This new ‘Vegas’ model ups the count to 18 diodes and also adds a new special feature too.
Now has 18 diodes.
One notable difference is the lack of the temperature sensor which was nicely integrated into the previous Apollish. It allowed the fan to speed up or slow down depending on the temperature levels in the case (or wherever the sensor had been placed).
As you can see from the bundled extras this new ‘Vegas’ model instead comes bundled with a control box and cabling to allow the Apollish Vegas to perform the party trick I mentioned earlier. You also get a sticky pad to mount the control box, the cable that goes between the fan and control box and a set of rubber fan mounts.
Bundled extras.
The cable itself connects everything together.
The Vegas’ cable.
Apollish Vegas continued
One end goes to a standard 3-pin fan plug, another to the control box itself and then the final two connect to the Apollish Vegas’ own 3-pin and 2-pin plugs.
All these need to be plugged in to fully function.
Looking closer you can see that besides a fan speed controlling knob there’s also an additional button which specifically controls what the 18 diodes do during operation.
The Apollish Vegas control box.
There are 7-modes associated with this button and include:
1: All diodes on
2: Lighthouse mode – one section on and rotating
3: Propeller mode – 2 opposite sections on and rotating
4: Triple propeller mode – 3 single sections on and rotating
5: Flash mode – all on and flashing
6: Vegas mode – mode 2-5 repeated
7: All off
Here are the modes in action:
All on.
Lighthouse.
2 blade propeller.
3 blade propeller.
All off.
The last interesting feature, and one shared by all of the Enermax fans I’ve tested, is the ability to detach the fan for easy cleaning. A simple ‘click’ and the fan comes away from the frame.
The fan seperated from the frame.
T.B. Silence
The T.B. Silence’s tagline at Enermax is ‘Economical, silent, strong: Best choice for every PC’.
The packaging is quite clean looking in black and yellow. Some minor features are listed on the front of the packaging.
Box front.
Whilst the rear lists more specific features and outlines the fans specifications.
Box rear.
Unpacking reveals the T.B. Silence fan and a small bag of accessories. These include a 3-pin to 4-pin molex adapter and four standard metal fan screws.
Fan and extras.
You can see the batwing fan blade which is an Enermax design. The whole fan itself comes in an attractive dark smoked design. The central hub is hologrammed up and the cabling unfortunately isn’t braided.
Fan front.
Like the Apollish Vegas the rear of the fan contains a specification and branding sticker.
Fan rear.
Up close you can see the ‘Carved Halo Frame’ – this is one of the three modular parts of the frame.
The Enermax ‘Halo’.
As with the Vegas the T.B. Silences fan can also be detached for cleaning.
Detached.
Testing
As with the other fan reviews I’ve done in the past I used the sound pressure level meter below to test the db rating of the fans at 12v, 7v and 5v.
SPL meter.
Due to the sound level meter only registering a db rating of 50db+ I adjust the sampling distance to allow the fan to register on the meter.
When the data is complete I will use a ‘damping of sound level with distance’ calculator to work out the db rating for a greater listening distance. This will give a clearer understanding of the actual volume of the fans we have here.
For testing I used a hotwired ITX PSU which is a fanless silent model. This will provide power for the fan’s without producing any noise interference itself.
Results
Running @ 12v and recorded @ varying distances
Apollish Vegas – 50 db @ 20cm
TB Silence – 50 db @ 6cm
After conversion the results @ 2m are as follows
Apollish Vegas – 30 db @ 2m
TB Silence – 19.5 db @ 2m
12v.
Running @ 7v and recorded @ varying distances
Apollish Vegas – 50 db @ 7cm
TB Silence – 50 db @ 3cm
After conversion the results @ 2m are as follows
Apollish Vegas – 21 db @ 2m
TB Silence – 13.5 db @ 2m
7v.
Running @ 5v and recorded @ varying distances
Apollish Vegas – 50 db @ 4cm
TB Silence – 50 db @ 2cm
After conversion the results @ 2m are as follows
Apollish Vegas – 16 db @ 2m
TB Silence – 10 db @ 2m
5v.
Summary of fan performance
As with my previous review the first thing to consider is that the db rating doesn’t tell the whole story. Tone, resonance and other factors can be more important than pure sound levels.
Like I have stated before, motor whine and rhythmic speed related clicking may not show up on the sound meter but when present I can confirm that they are very apparent and can be annoyingly intrusive. On the flip side you could have a fan that made no discernable whining or clicking but was ‘showing’ as rating high on decibels!
Once again the Enermax’s tested here largely fall into the 2nd category – only the Apollish Vegas @ 12v presented a touch of motor whine.
Apollish Vegas.
Even compared to the last batch the Vegas registered as the loudest at both 12v and 7v – however, this was probably mostly to do with the higher terminal RPM speed (2000rpm @ 12v vs 1700rpm @ 12v). The motor whine mentioned is also likely to come from the increased rotational speed.
At 7v and particularly 5v the Vegas was perfectly useable as a case fan in the average quiet environment. It also seemed to display good static pressure performance – something that the specifications hinted at. At 12v static pressure was of course much better but you’d have to decide whether it was worth the increase in sound levels.
It also looked amazing with all the LED’s illuminating the highly polished chrome surface!
T.B. Silence.
Moving onto the T.B. Silence the difference at 12v was quite apparent. This is a very quiet and smooth sounding fan. A rotational speed of 900rpm @ 12v is one of the lower values I’ve seen. Static pressure at this voltage seems pretty good… not quite as good as the Apollish at 5v but decent enough.
At 7v and 5v pressure drops quite a lot so simple case intake and exhaust fan duties is probably best at these voltages. I must say I was mighty impressed when the fan actually spun up at 5v. I didn’t think it would manage it.
Conclusion
As with the original Apollish Enermax have not brought us a subtle fan with the design of the Vegas.
The loss of the thermal sensor speed control is a little unfortunate but users still have the ability to control fan speed using the control box. On top of that you get the fun disco style light effects from the 18 diodes lining the perimeter of the fans frame.
The Apollish Vegas.
It is powerful when called upon and quiet when needed – another impressive performance from one of my favourite fan designs.
The T.B. Silence is a completely different proposition. It’s quiet and understated and gives the impression of a fan that ‘just gets on with it’.
Ultra low voltage performance is literally silent although this does happen at the expense of static pressure. Medium to full voltage performance sends it into the realm of the Apollish Vegas at low voltage. Very quiet whilst pushing a decent amount of air at the time.
It’s very creditable and although not a performance multi role fan it would make the T.B. Silence one of my first choices as a silent case fan.
The T.B. Silence.
Enermax are I’m sure very proud of these latest fans. The Apollish Vegas is the more flexible of the two and like its granddaddy the original Apollish it offers the best combination of style vs performance vs sound level. That said it is a very expensive proposition at just over £17 and with so much decent competition coming in under this price point I’m not sure how easy it is to justify.
Pros
+ Both return great performance versus sound level
+ Both provide a resonance, chuffing and click free performance
+ Vegas provides good airflow and pressure at almost all speeds
+ Vegas comes in a variety of colour choices
+ Vegas is a colourful and striking design
+ T.B Silence is good value considering the performance returns
Cons
– Apollish Vegas is pretty expensive – over twice the price of a T.B Silence
– T.B Silence has a lack of cable braiding
+ Both return great performance versus sound level
+ Both provide a resonance, chuffing and click free performance
+ Vegas provides good airflow and pressure at almost all speeds
+ Vegas comes in a variety of colour choices
+ Vegas is a colourful and striking design
+ T.B Silence is good value considering the performance returns
Cons
– Apollish Vegas is pretty expensive – over twice the price of a T.B Silence
– T.B Silence has a lack of cable braiding
Each of these fans are a credit to Enermax and a good expansion of the current line up – as a result I’ve chosen to award them both the Vortez Silver Award.
