Hi,
Can you look into the issue with the Silent Wings 3 140 (both versions) as demonstrated in
>this video<?
I have tested them as well and the "whistle" is present in both versions -- the noise is slightly louder in the high-speed one than the normal version once the fan starts spinning, and noticable across the entire RPM range.
That's an interesting video, and could be a strange issue, but it also could be how the fan interacts with the medium it is being pushed through such as being set atop a roll of tape and blowing onto a solid surface which causes backpressure or air baffling. this is a mere guess as I have no more statistical data to pull from on this specific case.
However, I would note that I have 10X Silent Wings 3 (High-speed PWM) in my main rig sitting next to me and I do not hear any abhorrent noise from them yet. Three are on a 60mm thick Alphacool 360mm radiator (exhaust) while the rest are chassis fan inlet/outlet.
Hi, Shannon
I use a fan hub (phanteks) to control all my fans from one PWM header, and I used to use SpeedFan program to control the fans and the curve. Sadly SpeedFan is no longer updated and doesnt play well with win10 anymore. It was so much better than anything anyone else could come up with (IMO). I'd like to find a replacement but havent run across anything I like. I think be QUIET! (
) could benefit from the combination of hub and software like this.
There is also NZXT's GRID+V2 that I tried out but the software was not that good, so that fell to the wayside.
So, I'm wondering, considering be QUIET! desire for low noise, will you come up with next. I see all your fans but no controllers for them so I'm guessing they either work off the BIOS fan settings (if connected to the motherboard), or full speed if connected directly to the PSU. I prefer a 3rd party software solution, like SpeedFan, to control my fan noise.
This is not out of the question, and a cool idea, However adding another software to the mix can get messy as all it takes is for a few devices/SW to try to talk through SMBus and conflicts start to mount. Then we have the polling rate at which it operates and how many compute cycles will it use. Not saying we won't do this, but it's something that takes some thought to do right.
I had a be quiet! case a few years ago, I was pretty happy with it. Be quiet! still ranks high when considering a cooling product for me.
One feature that made me choose my current case over a be quiet! case was the fact that the fan control is on the front I/O. It's a personal preference but I prefer to have an internal PCB that connects to the motherboard to choose the fan curve. Fan control has come a long way and BIOS fan control works great! In the end I find this solution more stealth, clean in terms of aesthetics but I can imagine less tech savy users prefer the fan control knob in the front IO.
Nice to see this kind action from a brand!
Hey, that's awesome, and thank you, however, I would like to let you know that we do offer some chassis models with fan controllers on the front. A good example of this would be the
Dark Base Pro 900 which can control the fans via a slider or push full over will allow the passthrough of motherboard PWM.
Sorry to put a negative comment on here.
I know you're one of the top brands, but with the brand name of be quiet! I find that I can't take your products as seriously as I'd like to. I get it's only a branding issue and doesn't affect the physical quality of what you make, but, in my opinion, I think a more serious sounding name like the other big brands would help and possibly increase your sales. And especially no exclamation mark in any new name, it just looks stupid to me. I get I'm only one customer, but if I think it, you can be sure that there are many others who do too. It might be worth your company doing some surveys to see if a change of brand name would help you.
I see this kind of thing with lots of other companies too, such as airlines and I think, gawd no. Just my two cents.
Otherwise, great to have you on here, supporting your customers.
No worries and no apologies necessary. Everyone has their opinion and I can definitely understand yours. I also understand cultural and regional differences in speech and how things are represented in other regions. That being said there are many brands from other countries that may seem foreign or strange compared to more pointed descriptors used by companies created in other areas. I find that the name has presented challenges, especially in terms of branding continuity as everyone tends to want to capitalize our name when it does not apply, or remove the exclamation point (the struggles of managing a brand are real) but I digress.
Changing a brand ID is not just a flip of a switch; there is so much more to a brand than just the name. The vested understanding by your customers of the quality and performance you have a trend of offering can all be destroyed in the swipe of a pen making such broad changes. Also While the name could be anything really, it is the cornerstone for which the company was founded, and the overarching mission statement to make great performing PC components that are also designed to decrease the noise coming from the same system.
I totally get your view; I had similar thoughts when I was introduced to their brand. Personally, I've come to like the branding actually -- the name stands out from the rest and the color scheme looks sleek and professional. It would be great to see performance in terms of airflow and thermals (case/fans) on par with or even beat competition while having the absolute edge of performing exceptionally silent. As of now, I would say their standing exclusively leans toward the latter.
We're getting better, please meet my good friends, the
Pure Base 500DX, and the
Silent Base 802.
Yeah, it's just my PITA opinion.
Definitely no right or wrong here.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I can definitely see where you are coming from. However keep in mind that the inception/creation of the company is in Germany and there are likely some differences in brand representation between the USA and Europe that I will not pretend to know well enough to explain.
I picked up a new Be Quiet! Straight Power 11 power supply a few weeks ago and I like it a lot. Also have had a couple of Silent Wings 3 120mm fans installed for a few months which do a great job at silently pulling air into the system.
I always look favorably on products that don't cut corners in the quality of the unseen components. Using a power supply as an example, I would rather pay extra to have peace of mind that it's going to last a good 10 to 15 years at least. So even though the power supply fan could be a cost-cutting area, it's great that they put a Silent Wings 3 fan in there that won't fail any time soon. Simplifying the design to reduce possible points of failure is a good thing. I heard that the soldering on some power supplies is sloppy but I checked the one I got and it seemed fine.
Oh yeah, and the complete lack of RGB.....don't change that
I'm happy to hear that and am definitely happy to hear someone say they would happily pay for a quality PSU, as so many seem to forget this when building a new awesome rig.
The no RGB thing is what we do, but we have started a small venture into it, although thus far it has been more subdued and targeted aesthetic.
Then again I come from the era when case lighting first started with cold cathodes, UV reactive rolled/sleeved IDE cables, and let us not forget UV active motherboard like the DFI LP series. (RIP)... Then suddenly LED.
The general timeline after the introduction of consumer RGB LEDs went as follows: (This is only my view and somewhat in jest)
- No RGB is my game baby
- Ok, maybe a Lil RGB...
- Dear god... too much, let's go back!!!
- Lets try this RGB thing again
- Let's RGB all the things!!!
- RGB... Mousepad?...
- RGB on the monitor... <--- We are here
- RGB on the ********
Who knows what will be RGB next, but I'm sure we will know soon.
The thing is, the brand has been around for a long time already, and quality as already became a part of the brand strentgh. Changing name at this point will just make people say : "xxx ? no they are not newcomers, it's bequiet, you can trust them. " The new name will live in the shadow of the old one.
Changing a brand visual identy is already a risky move, chaging the whole brand name should only happen if the old one is associated with failure, or if you are doing a big shift in business were you don't want/need the legacy that comes with the old name.
Look at what happened with massdrop when they became drop. Type drop in a search engine, dropbox is the first thing that will show. Drop doesn't even appear on the first page. Type "massdrop" and drop will be the top result. The new name got no presence at all. Someone who heard about drop will have a hard time to find them without a direct link. The old name is still carrying the company.
(Besides it's not like bequiet products looks like toys or racing car like so many other very popular computers brands
. Their design, packaging are really understated compared to many of the industry big names.)
Being a branding guy I feel this in my soul. Very few people understand the complexity in brand creation, brand management, and strategic pivots from this. While I appreciate every bit of feedback, sometimes there is simply no way to accommodate such a change in a realistic way while keeping the brand identity and long-standing trend of commitment to quality that be quiet! has accomplished.
OUCH!!! is this too soon? I know its been a while but still hurts as I have fond memories of some great DDR2 from OCZ, and by that same token several not so great experience with SSDs..