Thermaltake SWAFAN EX12 RGB Magnetic Connection Fans Review

Performance

I must confess, I’m currently in the process of moving over a lot of our cooling reviews to new hardware. Mike had the old test bench and now that he’s left eTeknix, I’m looking to refresh the whole setup. Alas, I’m using a bit of a temporary and janky setup today and may revisit these fans in the near future for a more direct comparison with other brands, and a new series of benchmarks and metrics too.

I was a little concerned with the reduction of LEDs from 30 to 20 though, but as you can see, it’s not really a problem, as there’s plenty of light here! The extra 10 LEDS were on the back, but since these are now designed to always be facing forward, it actually doesn’t matter.

I actually suspected the left and right fans on some cardboard blocks. So the middle fan is actually just held up by the magnetic mounts, and honestly, it’s pretty strong. That being said, you would still screw them all into the case, the magnetic system is more a cable reduction system than an actual support structure.

Toying around with the software, I love that you can click any light, or any combination of the lights, or entire fans, and set a new colour, effect or profile to any of them. It’s extremely comprehensive, even if I still think their software looks like it was made 20 years ago. Seriously, why do most brands skip software design? It’s either too basic looking or too gamer-looking and visually busy.

Software ribbing aside, the functionality is really great here. I can adjust fan curves with exceptional levels of detail, I can customise the fan colours, brightness and more with a few clicks, it works, so Thermaltake score big here as I have used so much RGB software and much of it is not as functional as this. Heck, you can even have the fans react to your music, the weather, or set them via your Alexa… because why not!

SWAFAN 12 RGB

Disclaimer, the previous fans were tested by Mike on his rig, so a direct comparison of the old and new airflow isn’t possible here right now, but I wanted to present that I did record higher airflow on a similar setup with similar hardware using the new fans regardless.

Airflow Performance

• SWAFAN 12 Rated Airflow – 53.02 CFM (51.90 recorded @ 2000 RPM)
• SWAFAN EX12 Forward Airflow – 57.11 CFM (54.9 recorded @ 2000 RPM )
• SWAFAN EX12 Reverse Airflow – 57.11 CFM (52.7 recorded @ 2000 RPM )

Fan Speed

• Maximum Rated – 2000 RPM
• Maximum Recorded – 2244 RPM

Acoustic Output

• Maximum Stated – 30.6 dBA
• Maximum Recorded – 31.5 dBA (30.4 dBa ambient noise)