BitFenix Spectre Pro PWM and Spectre LED PWM Fan Review
Ryan Martin / 12 years ago
BitFenix’s Spectre Pro PWM 120mm costs £9.98, the Spectre Pro PWM 140mm costs £11.99, the Spectre LED PWM 120mm costs £6.94 and the Spectre LED PWM 140mm costs £10.41. I will not try and give my opinion on all of these fans together or it could get confusing, so first I will conclude my thoughts on the Spectre Pro PWM fans and then the Spectre LED PWM fans.
As the results show, the Spectre Pro PWM series delivered underwhelming performance. They were consistently the weakest performing and near-loudest fans in all our testing. They look good and they have a good accessory kit but apart from that I see no reason why you would even consider buying these fans. The BitFenix Spectre Pro PWM series is equally weak whether you pick the 120mm or 140mm variants and I would go as far to say that BitFenix should probably consider recalling these particular fans to improve them or just scrap them altogether because they are really sub-par. I have no doubt that the Spectre Pro LED and Spectre Pro fans also suffer from this same problem since they are based off the same core fan design except with LEDs and without PWM functionality respectively.
On the other hand the Spectre LED PWM series demonstrated an exceptional level of performance to noise. In fact I would go as far to say as these are probably best-in-class when you consider the prices of £6.94 for the 120mm model and £10.41 for the 140mm model. This makes the Spectre LED PWM series an absolute must buy for anyone looking for a high performance fan with a super-low price tag. BitFenix also offers this same fan design in many different varieties including the Spectre PWM (without LEDs), Spectre (without LEDs or PWM) and Spectre LED (without PWM). Consequently, there is a fan to suit your every need and a wide range of LED colours if you are looking to theme your system build.
I can’t help but feel the Spectre LED PWM series ticks every box and as a result I think it is deserving of our Editor’s Choice Award.
We would like to thank Overclockers UK and CaseKing for providing these review samples.
