By: Hai Wang
April 7, 2023
A few years ago, I was a graduate student doing research every day. My research topic was about improving wireless communication efficiency for Internet of Things, or IoT, applications. The assumption is that there could be a large number of low power wireless devices randomly transmitting packets to the Internet and those devices can only use the resource-limited license-free radio band. As a result, it is likely that two or more devices would transmit at the same time, causing collisions and consequently resulting in lost packets. Improving communication efficiency means reducing the chance of collisions, so these devices will not waste time and energy on retransmissions. I think this kind of research is valuable, since we do have more and more electrical devices that have wireless communication functions. For example, now we have smart refrigerators that need to be wirelessly connected to the Internet, smart light bulbs that can be remotely controlled by our phones, and even smart coffee makers that have Bluetooth modules in them. In other words, any appliance, electronic device, and even vehicle can be wirelessly connected. This is no exception for PC components. For today's review unit, the GAMDIAS AEOLUS M3-1204R four-fan pack, can be controlled remotely through a remote control. Is this a revolutionary design that can reform our understanding of how PC fans can work, or is it just an ordinary set of fans with some fancy yet unnecessary add-on? Let us read on and find out!
The GAMDIAS AEOLUS M3-1204R fan pack arrived via FedEx International Economy to us here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. As you can see from the picture, the size of parcel is as expected for a package of four fans. The package was shipped from Brea, California, where the US headquarters of GAMDIAS is located. I was not the person who received this parcel when it arrived here at APH Networks in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the first place, but the box came in pretty good shape, and there were very few dents on the surface.
The retail package of GAMDIAS AEOLUS M3-1204R is one box for the four fans, controller box, some cables, and the remote control. The background colors of the retail package are metallic gray on the front and black and yellow on the other sides. The color combination of the retail package is unique and makes the product stand out among other fans at an actual retail store. On the front of the retail package, a photo of all four fans is shown in the center. Of course, all the fans in the photo have RGB LED lighting on to show the ARGB lighting effect. Just by glancing at the package, the four main features of this product soon caught my eye, as they are located on top of the photo of the fans with nice graphics design. Specifically, those features are the chamfered design air intake, airflow optimized fan blades, concentric circles lighting effect, and PWM function. The name of the product is located below the fan photo, and on the right side of the product name, an airflow comparison is shown to emphasis the high airflow performance of this product. To the lower part of the package front cover, there are some other important features of this product, such as the PWM fan, hydraulic bearing, ARGB lighting functionality, and the remote control. Overall speaking, the package design is pretty good in my opinion, since you can spot all the useful information about this product fairly easily.
Before digging into the rest of the review, let us take a look at the specifications of the GAMDIAS AEOLUS M3-1204R fan package, as borrowed from the manufacturer's website:
FAN:
-Fan: 4
-Remote Control: 1
-Fan Size: 120 mm
-FAN Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 25 mm
-Lighting Effect: 55 Neon-Flex RGB
-LED NUMBER: 12
-Bearing: Hydraulic
-Connector: 8 Pin
-Fan Speed: 800 - 2000 RPM±10%
-Air Flow: 69.01 CFM
-Air Pressure: 2.37 mmH2O
-Rated Voltage: 12 V (Fan) / 5V(LED)
-PWM Support: Yes
REMOTE CONTROL:
-Selectable Fan Speeds: Yes
-Selectable Light Speeds: Yes
-Selectable Brightness: Yes
CONTROL BOX:
-Model: PWM AEOLUS Box
-Dimensions: 92 x 46 x 13 mm
-Power Connector: SATA
-Built-In Magnet: Yes
-Support Fans Number: 8
-Support LED Strips Number: 2
-Support Daisy Chain: Yes
-Support Motherboard Sync Software (5V Addressable Header): Yes
-Built-in Lighting Effect: 55
After opening the retail box, you will see the pack of four fans, cables, screws, an AEOLUS box, magnetic pad, and a remote control. The user manual is not included, but you can download it from the website. It is hard to tell how long the cable is on each fan, since it is folded in the above photo. There are not a lot of things for now to look at since the accessory box is not opened yet. Let us move on to the next page to take a better look at the details of the GAMDIAS AEOLUS M3-1204R.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
