Page 2 - Physical Look - Hardware
Taking a closer look, we can see the SilverStone Air Slimmer 120 ARGB has a black plastic frame. On the edges, black pads can be seen around each of the mounting holes. These pads act as dampeners to reduce vibration and noise generated by the fan when mounted. The whole impeller, including the fan blades, is translucent to help disperse the addressable RGB LED lighting. The SilverStone logo is seen in the center. As suggested by the name, the Air Slimmer 120 ARGB has a thinner frame than many other case fans. Regular case fans are often 25mm in thickness, but these are 15.6mm thick. This will be useful for users looking to add a case fan to a smaller case with tighter spaces.
Internally, the SilverStone Air Slimmer 120 ARGB uses fluid dynamic bearings. The fans have genuine Matsushita bearings, which are higher end due to the way it is built. In a general perspective, fluid dynamic bearings are hydraulic bearings. A thin layer of rapidly moving pressurized liquid moves between bearing surfaces to support the load. There is no sliding friction due to there being no contact between moving parts, so these bearing types have lower wear and vibration. The Air Slimmer 120 ARGB should last about 70,000 hours, which is just under eight years when operated 24/7.
Taking a closer look at the fan blades of the Air Slimmer 120 ARGB, we can see the blades are thinner in design when compared to other fans we have reviewed in the past, with the angle of the blades becoming more curved near the edges. All the fins have a decently sized gap between them, so none of them overlap each other. In reference to the rotating middle, the angle of each blade is roughly 47 degrees. There are a total of nine blades on the impeller of the Air Slimmer 120 ARGB, all without any bumps or abnormalities.
Looking at the output side, we can see four arms holding the impeller in place. While these arms do block some of the air from passing through, they are relatively thin, so performance should not be significantly affected. More black dampening pads can be found here on the backside mounting holes. In the center, we can see the SilverStone name and logo at the top with some specifications below. This includes the operating voltage and current, model number, some certifications, and the origin of where it was manufactured. This fan was made in China.
On the topics of sound, airflow, and static pressure, the following lesson on these issues have been borrowed from my colleague Jonathan Kwan's review of the Noctua NF-F12 PWM and NF-P12 PWM fans. Noise and CFM relates to the challenge when designing fans, which is to provide the best airflow to noise ratio. One would want the best amount of airflow while keeping it as quiet as possible. Even with the best ratio, it is quite difficult to measure objectively at all times. The most common unit of objective measurement is CFM, or cubic feet per minute, of air for airflow, and dB noise, respectively. We will go over how application and CFM is related with regards to its standard measurements, but let us discuss perceived noise first.
dB, or Decibels, is a logarithmic unit of sound intensity. While it provides what appears to be an objective measurement for the most part, it should be noted that perceived noise levels to the human ear and actual sound intensity could result in very different things. Human ears are more sensitive to particular frequencies, and when those particular frequencies are emitted from its source, it may appear louder than its numbers suggest. That same can be said vice-versa. Frequencies human ears are less sensitive to can actually have louder dB measurements from a sound meter, yet the human ears do not perceive it to be as loud as the numbers suggest. Other factors such as turbulence noise are often not measured correctly, therefore, while it usually provides a good reference, it does not necessarily reflect real life performance all the time.
With regards to the application and CFM, it is generally optimal to have a fan to have a high air volume flow rate. However, pure CFM values are limited to an extent with regards to its indication on fan performance. It is not completely about how much air in can move per minute quantitatively, but equally as important is how it is executed in reality. Airflow-to-noise ratio is an essential factor as mentioned earlier. Static pressure is also very important depending on application. High resistance applications such as dense fins on a large heatsink require high static pressure, while case fans need less static pressure and faster airflow. There are times where case fans will require higher static pressure too, such as the front intake fans where a mesh grille would create some resistance. Some fans are simply designed for different purposes, so choose one appropriate for your needs.
With the SilverStone Air Slimmer 120 ARGB, we have a volumetric airflow rate of 63.67 CFM, static air pressure of 2.4 mmH2O, and a maximum noise level of 31.7 dB spinning at a maximum rotational speed of 1800 RPM. This is a pretty good balance between airflow and static air pressure. We can also see the maximum noise level is on the louder side, which is a trade-off I have come to expect when you have fans with good airflow and static air pressure numbers. With its lights and design, users may choose to use the Air Slimmer 120 ARGB as a case fan. Given the specifications though, you could also utilize this as a radiator or heatsink fan, as it should be able to provide enough static pressure to push air through and keep the radiator or heatsink cool. The Air Slimmer 120 ARGB also has the advantage of its thinner size, which can help for fitting into a tight spot with less clearance, whether it is in the case or near other components.
Unlike other system fans, the 4-pin PWM and 3-pin ARGB cable comes detached from the SilverStone Air Slimmer 120 ARGB. There are pin headers sticking out of the fan instead that attach to their respective cables. This design choice makes packaging the Air Slimmer 120 ARGB inside the tight retail box easy. The main reason for this design of cables is so that users can daisy chain multiple fans and plug only one header into the motherboard without the need of a fan hub while maintaining synchronized lighting effects. Interestingly, the cables are different lengths, with the 4-pin PWM cable being 35cm in length and the 3-pin ARGB cable being 50cm in length. Regardless, this should be more than long enough to route around your PC. The cables themselves are plastic coated. A braided cable would have been better for looks, but it is not uncommon for case fans to have regular cables. The four mounting screws can also be seen, which are your standard screws with nothing special to note.
As with many case fans these days, the addressable RGB LED lighting SilverStone Air Slimmer 120 ARGB does not fail to impress, because of how bright the LEDs shine through the impeller. The lighting will captivate any user, thanks to the ten addressable RGB LEDs placed on the central fan hub, which diffuses through the translucent fan blades. This is more than the number of LEDs found in the impeller of other fans, such as the Cooler Master SickleFlow 120 ARGB. If you are purchasing the Air Slimmer 120 ARGB to solely add great looking fans to your case, then your mission will be accomplished. These pictures are not enough to show how incredible the lighting is, as the lighting display on the Air Slimmer 120 ARGB is simply stunning. I also appreciate the fact SilverStone has made this fan compatible with most major motherboard manufacturers. SilverStone did a great job with the ARGB lighting effects on this fan in my opinion.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Performance Tests
4. Conclusion
