SilverStone AP123 120mm Case Fan Review

Test System

• Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V
• CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K  at Stock with Gelid GC Extreme Thermal Paste
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master TPC 800 in Passive Mode (i.e. No Fans)
• RAM: 16GB Kingston HyperX 1866MHz DDR3
• GPU: XFX Radeon HD 5870 1GB
• Storage Options: 128GB Kingston SSDnow V100 (Boot Drive) and Samsung F3 1TB (storage)
• PSU: Antec High Current Gamer 620W
• Case: Cooler Master HAF 912

Testing Methodology

• Four of each fan type were fixed into the case in the same position. That is two in the front in-taking, one in the rear exhausting and one in the top exhausting.
• Delta temperatures have been used to account for small fluctuations in room temperature
• Prime 95 and Unigine Heaven were run for 10 minutes to stress the CPU and GPU respectively. The average maximum CPU, motherboard and GPU temperature(s) were recorded as noted by CPUID HW Monitor
• All other components of the test system were kept identical at consistent settings, only the case fans were changed.
• All fans were tested at 12 volts straight from the power supply with 12v volt molex adapters.
• The acoustic measurements were taken 10cm away from the tested fans with the power supply fan and GPU fan isolated/turned off
• The ambient noise level as recorded by our sound meter was 35.5 dBA and delta noise levels have been used in our graphs
• There is approximately a 1 degree celsius margin of error in our temperature recording software
• There is approximately a 1dBA margin of error with our decibel meter

Software Used

• CPUID HWMonitor
• Prime 95
• Unigine Heaven

Cooling Performance

We can see that the SilverStone AP123 fans offer decent cooling performance in comparison to the premium Noctua fans we tested. For the price the SilverStone AP123s perform well.

Acoustic Performance

Comparing the normal noise output of the fans in isolation shows us that the SilverStone AP123 fans audible loud, but for 1500RPM fans they are actually very quiet.

This is where the SilverStone AP123 fans are supposed to shine the most. We did some tests with a few 120mm fans we had laying around on the grille side panel of a Cooler Master HAF 912 to see how much difference this air channeling technology really makes. As you can see the SilverStone AP123 fans duly delivered offering the smallest noise difference when adding the grille. However, these numerical results really don’t do the fans justice, they make a much more noticeable impact than the numbers suggest. The change they cause does affect volume slightly, as the results below show, but it has more effect on the pitch of the noise – lowering the pitch to a much more comfortable level, something we cannot measure.