Vantec Spectrum UV LED Fans

Reviews: Cooling

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
Vantec
Jun. 7, 2003

Specifications

Introduction

You may remember we looked at Vantec's UV fans a while back, and we were pretty impressed. Well, Vantec has taken those fans, and did a little tweaking to come up with these new UV LED Fans. Whats different? Well besides being UV reactive, they have UV LEDs built into the fans to light itself up! This means you won't be needing a seperate UV cold cathode to spruce up your case.

As usual, we start with the box. The packaging was pretty standard, and when the box was opened, everything was there and in good condition. As I started pulling the fans out of the box, I noticed that Vantec has changed the type of packaging for the individual fans. The new package is not much bigger than the fan iteself, and made completely of plastic, unlike the plastic on cardboard method used on the UV Fans. This time around, Vantec has released 5 different fans in this series. There is blue, green, orange, blue/green, and green/orange. There is no clear fan this time around.

UV LED Fans

These fans are almost exactly like the UV Fans we reviewed earlier with a few exceptions. Besides the great quality and vibrant colors (with and without UC lighting), there are now 3 UV LEDs mounted into each fan. The LEDs are mounted into the outter edge of the fan and glued in place. There are wires extending from each LED, through the fan spokes, and into the center of the fan where each LED is connected to the fan's PCB. There is a clear piece of tape around the fan to keep anything from catching onto the wires and pulling the LEDs out of their place.

The fans have 3 wires, all of which are combined into a single strip for better organization. Vantec seems to be one of the few companies doing this, and I would like to see it catch on. The fans are powered through a 3 pin connector which allows for monitoring of the fan speed via a motherboard or other fan control device. If you do not have, or would not like to use the 3 pin connector, these fans come with a 3-4 pin adapter. There are also 4 mounting screws included for mounting each fan.

Let it Shine

As the UV fans were, the UV LED fans look very good with no UV lighting, but once plugged in, the UV LEDs turn on with the fan, and we get to see some glowey goodness. The LEDs built into the fan emit enough UV light to cause the entire fan to light up. The LEDs, however, are not bright enough to light up other UV components in your computer. As you can tell from the pictures, these fans look fantastic.

Performance

Since these fans are basically the same as the UV fans, you can also guess that they produce the same airflow and noise. Producing 34 decibles isn't too quiet, but it's not too loud either. The airflow is good, and it was pretty hard trying to take pictures of the fans powered up when they were blowing themselves across the desk.

Conclusion

In the end, these fans are good fans, just like the UV fans. The only difference is now they do not require an external UV light. I mentioned in the other review that the UV fans "kick ass." Now, just think of something "kick ass" that lights up by itself, and you should have a good idea of what these fans are like.

Pros

UV Reactive
Vibrant colors
Good airflow
Allows RPM monitoring
UV LEDs means to external UV source

Cons

Wha?

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6 User Comments

1 - Posted by Kurtis on June 7, 2003 - 2:04 pm

These are some sweeeeeeet fans, mesa likey!

2 - Posted by Brian on June 7, 2003 - 2:08 pm

(Kurtis likes anything he can get for free ;-) )

3 - Posted by knucks on June 7, 2003 - 2:53 pm

hehe, i like things for free :D

those fans look tight, very tight. but at 34dBA, that is just too loud for my tastes.

4 - Posted by Kurtis on June 7, 2003 - 2:56 pm

yea they are a little loud, i like my panaflos. But holy crap do they ever look sweet :P

5 - Posted by knucks on June 7, 2003 - 3:01 pm

I think I need to invest into a water-cooling kit. Right now, i have 2 fans working (cpu and exhaust, both 80mm) and it's still too loud for me..bah!

6 - Posted by Kurtis on June 7, 2003 - 3:02 pm

haha. We are reviewing a couple of wc kits very soon, so we will let you know what to get :P

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