Friday, October 6th 2023
Alphacool Announces Apex Stealth Metal Fan
Performance you can't hear! Alphacool presents the new Apex Stealth metal fan, a powerful and extremely quiet fan that knows how to impress. High-quality, elegant as well as timeless design and technical innovation - that's what the Apex Stealth stands for. With the patent-pending decoupling technology, the robust metal frame and a special rotor, it remains the quietest on the market at any speed.
The fan technology represents a groundbreaking new development. The fan blades, the motor and its suspension are completely decoupled from the metal frame. For this purpose, a special damping system was placed between the metal frame and the fan, which absorbs all vibrations. This type of decoupling is an absolutely new system, which is brought to the market by Alphacool for the first time with the Apex fan.
As a true all-rounder, the Apex Stealth sets completely new standards. Due to the very high airflow and static pressure, it is not only ideal for mounting on radiators, but also works perfectly as a case fan with its excellent airflow. The Stealth metal fan can be controlled via the 4-pin PWM connector between 400 to 2000 rpm, the power fan variant even up to 3000rpm. As usual with Alphacool, several fans can be effortlessly connected in series via daisy chain. The design of the frame allows clever hiding of the cable in the corners. The 6-pole motor in combination with the HDB (Hydro Dynamic Bearing) ensures exceptionally quiet running and high durability.
The Apex product line from Alphacool represents the highest perfection. First-class materials and innovative technologies guarantee a unique premium product. Consisting of high-quality metal, the curved frame gives the Apex Stealth its distinctive design and fits perfectly into any PC build.
The Alphacool Apex Stealth metal fan is available for pre-order in Matte Black, Chrome, White and Gold color options at 2,000 RPM each or as a Power fan at 3,000 RPM in our store.
Features:
The fan technology represents a groundbreaking new development. The fan blades, the motor and its suspension are completely decoupled from the metal frame. For this purpose, a special damping system was placed between the metal frame and the fan, which absorbs all vibrations. This type of decoupling is an absolutely new system, which is brought to the market by Alphacool for the first time with the Apex fan.
The Apex product line from Alphacool represents the highest perfection. First-class materials and innovative technologies guarantee a unique premium product. Consisting of high-quality metal, the curved frame gives the Apex Stealth its distinctive design and fits perfectly into any PC build.
The Alphacool Apex Stealth metal fan is available for pre-order in Matte Black, Chrome, White and Gold color options at 2,000 RPM each or as a Power fan at 3,000 RPM in our store.
Features:
- Dimensions (L x W x H): 120 x 120 x 25 mm
- Frame Material: Die-cast zinc
- Zero RPM control, Tacho signal, Auto-restart
- Speed: 400 - 2000rpm
- Power Consumption: 2.64 Watt
- Air Flow: 76.81 CFM
- Static Air Pressure: 3.88 mmH2O
- Noise Level: 24.6 dBA
- Speed: 400 - 3000rpm
- Power Consumption: 6.60 Watt
- Air Flow: 116.89 CFM
- Static Air Pressure: 6.22 mm H₂O
- Noise Level: 40.2 dBA
116 Comments on Alphacool Announces Apex Stealth Metal Fan
download.alphacool.com/datasheet/ENG_13824_Alphacool_Apex_Stealth_Metall_Power_fan_3000rpm_chrome_(120x120x25mm)_datasheet.pdf
@kapone32
Isn't it cheaper to shop in the US than in Europe from Canada?
May I also ask if the gap between the metal frames is enough to hide the 4pin connector ?
This is very specific to my use case since I am using external rads (MO-RA 3).
Being the nature of a 3x3 fan config, the middle fan does not have any room to hide the bulky 4-pin connector.
Therefore I had to find fans with really long cable by default.
It will be much easier if there is enough space within the frame itself to hide the 4-pin connector.
But I really would have thought that the costs are lower if you buy from a US shop like ModMyMods, Titan Rig or Performance PCs.
edit: forgot to convert euro to USD so it's not a 30USD difference.I think it is a pretty safe bet to preorder these though. Atleast from Alphacool directly. They have a good return policy and by the time they arrive (10-12 weeks) there will be reviews in which we can cancel or keep them. Still there are heavy doubts on whether preordering such products is a good industry practice. I suppose I am part of the problem.
As someone with at least a year's background in acoustic engineering, I'm not sure regular, relatively firm silicone rings will be enough to provide meaningful decoupling; It'll be almost as useless as those rubber corner pads on fans to decouple the fans from the case, which are then totally circumvented by recoupling the rigid fan frame directly to the case with a steel screw.
For the silicone to decouple the fan frame from the metal housing in any meaningful way, it needs some travel, and that will be near zero unless these are very soft silicone rings and small forces such as those from an imbalanced impeller are able to deflect the rings through a good fraction of their cross-sectional diameter.
Call me a sceptic on the isolation/decoupling feature, and it shouldn't be necessary if the impeller is balanced properly in the first place. As for the rest of the fan, the motor and performance metrics look pretty decent on paper, here's hoping that is true in independent reviews as well.
First and foremost, of course, the fan part must be very well balanced, which we naturally paid attention to.
But apart from the whole decoupling, there are still quite other factors that make the fan quiet and perfomant. Interesting that hardly anyone talks about it.
The edges of the fan frame on the side of the fan blades, provide a clean airflow. Here, almost all plastic fans have flat sloping surfaces towards the fan blades. This is largely due to the production process of injection molding. But this is not an advantage, but a disadvantage for fan noise. Because the whole fan frame works like a tube, we also generate more pressure and volume flow. The gap between the ring around the fan blades and the frame is extremely small. This also means that we lose less pressure and volume flow. And there is much less noise or unnecessary turbulence. It's the whole package, not just the decoupling, that makes the fan quiet.
Some of the points were not planned by us at all, but were effects that we could only explain to ourselves at the end of the development. We were surprised ourselves about some things. We were also lucky with some things during the development. When we first had a finished sample.... at that time still a 3D printed part whose suspension was still very soft... nor the first variants of the fan blades (I think we had a dozen versions... we were amazed ourselves. We quickly realized that we had overshot our actual goal. Much more than planned and wanted. Fortunately in a positive sense.
Now I'm not the fluidic engineer or the developer for all of this, so apologies if I'm not being too technical here.
thats the thing, all those things arent needed to run an arctic fan at listed specs.
i dont need adapters, as the fans do 200/300-1200rpm, even if using the fixed rpm units,
the fans are balanced enough and have a silent bearing, so decoupling is making zero difference,
i get at least 6y warranty, some have 10y (not a single Noctua has that),
and any of the ones going bad in the past 15y (5 pack, likely bad batch), made noise from the beginning,
and were replaced for free after contacting support.
i paid 6-12$ per unit, and while i like quality and willing to spend more, i wont shell out double that, to gain 10, maybe 20% perf,
as the few Noctuas i used, didnt show any noticeable difference.
My take on Arctic 5-packs is that they're some of, if not the best option on a budget and - if you're lucky - they'll be quiet enough for even a discerning SilentPC enthusiast. But you do need luck, and I'm saying that as someone who's likely bought more than a thousand P12 fans in 5-packs. Currently the only fans that are better quality for the money are the Thermalright 3-packs (www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BKJGSWPM) and at £3.50 a fan they're incredible - fluid-dynamic bearings, PWM instead of 3-pin, rubber corner grommets (not that they're much help with case screws) and sold direct by Thermalright EU. The only downside is the 2 year warranty, but they cost less than the return shipping you'd need to put in for a warranty claim anyway.
I suspect this Alphacool fan is going to be priced, and quality-checked to compete in an entirely different league. The BOM alone means that there's no point in Alphacool even trying to compete with budget fans - I suspect they'll be pricing these like the Phanteks T30, Noctuas, and other LCP offerings on the market. edit: yes, pre-order pricing for these is €30.
true, and while i should have worded it differently, i never said they were great fans.
but they are good enough, that i know not to waste money on noctuas or even noiseblocker fans,
and that's with me wanting inaudible at idle/low load (2ft distance).
i never bought P-5 packs, so cant tell, mine are all F pwm/silent and P DC/silent.
never had to return any defective arctic fans (thus no cost), so no valid argument,
and at 10y warranty, its equal to buying five fans (at 2y rate), so still better off with the arctics (non 5-pack).
btt:
never expected these to be cheap in any form or price, but before i get those, i rather get some Bionix,
and have clean fan blades "forever" (no dust build up after +1y of use).
maybe only way to reduce noise is the reduce the turbulent air created by the fan.
should we also stop making pink kiddie bikes, because you dont need them?
maybe you dont, but that doesnt mean noone.
and its easy btw: LC for cpu and gpu removes +90% of heat (from the case),
so any case fans can be throttled to almost nothing without having thermal problems,
and as long as you have a strong enough pump, the rad+fans/res etc can go into a plastic container sitting 6ft away.
thats what i did almost 20y ago to have an inaudible rig (idle/low load).
or even better, get a Resorator, if you can find one cheap, and have no fan noise (as there isnt one).
and no, dont care about gaming load/noise, as ppl usually have audio running (speaker/HP).
start with Alphacool Eisbaer 280 (copper rad) 130$, even the AIO alone will be a major impact on case/gpu temps,
if setup as exhaust.
cpu block (XSPC clone) 30$, D5 clone + res 30$, tubing 10-30$,
connectors depending on layout etc 10$.
make sure to try push config first, iirc only Arctics like pull (or push/pull).