If you have a computer, then you have fans. Fans to circulate the air in and out of the case, fans to cool your processor, fans to cool your video card, and even fans to direct air to other fans! Many enthusiasts have a windowed computer case, and use tricked-out fans to complement their other case bling, and have installed cold cathode lights and LED spotlights to show off their components. You may have already seen UV blacklights to show off the eerie glow of the UV reactive fans and cables inside some PCs.
While a normal code cathode can light up an entire case, UV lights are really only effective at close range (as they produce little visible light) and some people have to install three or four UV lamps to light up all of their fancy components, which can be difficult to maneuver, especially in a smaller chassis. One of the hardest spot to position a cold cathode is the front and back of the case, where many intake and exhaust fans are installed.
A.C. Ryan has heard the call, and has introduced their Blackfire fans for your PC. If you’re a fan of UV, and a fan of fans, then you might be interested in these whirlwinds of wonder. They have ultraviolet LEDs built right into the fan base, so the blades light up without any external source. They come in three different sizes and are available in several colors.
Specifications
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The fans are made of hard plastic and are a translucent grey color. Four large LEDs are positioned into each corner of the fan’s housing, secured with a glob of UV reactive hot-glue. While this glob may look unsavory at first, it completely covers the LED, has no drips, and looks as tidy as goo can be made to look. The LED’s power cables are routed through the back of the fan, finally converging at a standard 3-pin fan power cable.
The LEDs have a different power source than what powers the fan, so there are two cables to route when plugging in this fan. I have reviewed many LED fans that lose their brightness or begin to flicker when their voltages are turned down (which many modders to do control the noise their PC makes). You may choose to plug the LED line into a seperate fan connector. A fanbus is your best bet, because motherboard fan connectors are a precious commodity. A.C. Ryan has included an adapter right on the main power cable, so you can power the LEDs from a single cable if you so choose. If you do this, then the LEDs will receive the same amount of power that the fan does, which may diminish the brightness if you lower the fan’s power.
The power cables are sleeved with flexible black mesh and secured with small black cable ties. No heatshrink was applied, so you can see the frayed edges of the sleeving, which frankly looks a little sloppy. The LED power cable is slightly shorter than the main cable, and made to fit perfectly in the main cable’s adapter with no slack in the line.
I must say that I disagree with the two-power-cable approach. If the LED cable is really only long enough to connect to the integrated splitter, then why have it at all? A.C. Ryan provides a feature to make their product more flexible, but then practically compels you into not using this flexibility. Basically you have a fan cable that is twice as thick as it needs to be, which doesn’t help when routing cables to keep the inside of your case tidy. The one advantage about this method is that you can turn off the LEDs if you so choose, where as you can’t with an integrated system.
The main purpose of this feature as I see it is to prevent the LEDs from losing brightness (or start flickering) when the fan’s RPM is turned down to control noise… but other quality fans makers like Zalman have tackled this problem while only using one power cable. Either use LEDs that aren’t so sensitive to voltage fluctuations, or provide circuitry to keep the LED power constant (like using a simple circuit that keeps the LED voltage at 3v or 5v, regardless of the fan voltage).
The fan quality is top notch. The 120mm version spins at 2000 RPM, producing a soft but barely audible whisper. I have a few 120mm fans running at 1200RPM, but you can barely feel the air coming from it. The Blackfire 4 fan produces significanly more airflow while still being relatively quiet at 28dBA. Depending on how noisy your computer room is (a very quiet room is 30 decibels, an average room is likely 40 dBA) , you will never hear it. Again, this fan was designed with voltage adjustment in mind, so you can always turn it down to get the best airflow / noise ratio.
The 80mm fan has similar specs with many of its bladed bretheren: 2500RPM and 25dBA. It is made of the same crisp transparent grey hard plastic and uses 1.8W of power. The four ultraviolet LEDs are held in place with more opaque UV-reactive glue.
Overall the A.C.Ryan Blackfire 4 fans are very good, and they take the modder into consideration. Not only do the fans perform well with little noise, but they are flexible enough to meet everyone’s needs, from the light-nut to the conservative user. The cable length could be a little longer, and I would like to see some heatshrink on the sleeving ends for a tidier look. Still, they look good, perform well, and are flexible depending on your application.
You will want to take these fans with you when you upgrade to your next PC case.
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