Customer Reviews

Cooler Master 120mm Silent Case Fan 4-in-1 Value Pack - (R4-S2S-124K-GP)

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great value. The fans are silent as advertised and they are packaged in a perfectly sized box.

One thing to keep in mind if buying these fans is that they use the 3-pin connectors. You may need to get 3-pin to 4-pin power connectors if you don't have any spots on your motherboard to connect these fans.
***4-PIN ADAPTERS ARE NOT INCLUDED.

You will simply not find more bang for your buck. These are quiet fans that last and they will plug right into your motherboard. Just FYI, you want to mount these fans vertically and not horizontally because they are sleeve bearing fans. I have made the mistake of mounting these fans horizontally and they get loud and die prematurely. This is not CoolerMaster's fault, it is simply the nature of sleeve bearing fans. For horizontal applications you can use fans with a ball bearing, a rifle bearing et al.

I originally found an entry on an unnamed "deals of the day" website that had a competing site selling 2 Scythe S-FLEX (E-Series) fans for $20. I heard they (Scythe fans) were some of the best fans out there, and was about to spring for that deal... but when I realized after the added 8 dollars for shipping, it came out to be about 30 dollars... 15 bucks per fan. not so much of a bargain anymore. some fellow in that thread mentioned that if you want a real bargain, get these puppies from Amazon. Four 120mm fans for just over 10 dollars. Of course I had to take a look, and I'm glad I did.

Now, when I built my computer, I bought a CoolerMaster case (CM690). This case has room for 7 case fans I believe. It came with three of these very same model fans, so I already knew from personal experience that they were very quiet and did the job. Certainly worth 3 dollars a fan, no doubt; plus I wanted to add some extra fans since I had so many available mount areas in the case and the daily temps are in the upper 90's right now.

Ordered them, got exactly what you see in the picture. It's been said before, it's only 4 fans, and 12 screws for mounting. The fans are three pin. In my case, I have areas for 7 fans, but my board only has 3 headers! So I feel a lot of you are going to have to either get a couple of 3-pin splitters or something for these to use them all.

The fan cords themselves are approximately 12" long. My front fan cord will not reach any of the fan headers on my motherboard, so I had to use the dreaded 4-pin molex adapter /slash/ monstrosity that turns your tidy cable management into a rat's nest. I would really recommend something like this -- http://www.amazon.com/1FT-TX3-Power-Splitter-Cable/dp/B002DY7M1G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1277947201&sr=8-1

That will allow you to hook up 2 of these fans into only 1 motherboard fan header -- plus, it gives you an extra 12" of cord. With 24" of cable (including the fan's cable itself), it should reach to the darkest corners of any sized case, and will be a lot more manageable and cleaner looking than the hideous molex/4-pin adapters.

So how about the noise? What can we compare it to in real life? Ok -- right now, in my case (1 foot from me, at about shoulder level) I have 6 of these fans running, plus the CPU fan. I would most closely compare the noise level to that of an air vent or air conditioner intake when your central AC is on. Just a very low, non-distracting flowing air noise.

Now if I get crazy and crank them to wide open, they are a bit noiser, but really not too unbearable. I would compare 6 of them at full speed to the noise level of maybe... an electric toothbrush? This is a bit distracting, as it actually catches my attention (as said though, the case is 1 foot from me, nearly level with my shoulders/head).

If you let the motherboard control the speed of the fans, they are very near silent. It sounds like maybe a newer CD-ROM drive steadily spinning a CD at idle (*not* revving up).

So if you are even questioning getting this... just spring for it. They may not be super high-end wind tunnel 250CFM fans that will allow you to use your computer case as a second freezer, but they do the job, and they do it well for such a tiny amount of money. On a side note, I recommend CoolerMaster products in general... especially their cases. Sturdy and well thought-out designs.

P.S. -- fan direction and airflow is sometimes a science, depending on where your mount holes are and what kind of heatsink, etc, you have. Personally, this is my config:

1 front fan pulls air into the case, over the hard drive bay area
1 back fan, obviously pushes hot air out the back
2 top mounted fans, with air flowing upwards and out of the case (my thought behind this was hot air rises, so at the top of the case is most likely going to be hot air that I want to remove from the case, not blow it back in)
2 side mounted fans (this one is tricky, as one is over the add-in card area... which I have pulling in cool air -- and the real question is: what about the fan mount right above the heatsink? I'm using the Intel stock heatsink & fan, which blows air straight up off the processor, which would be perpendicular to the side of the case. my thought here was at this mount area, have the fan blowing air *out* of the case, since hot air is going to blow off of the heatsink, into this fan, which will expel the air out the side of the case)

Point is, though: When you start working with 4, 5, 6 or more fans... you're creating areas of high and low pressure, which can make the heat move differently than you might expect. Some configurations that I expected would dramatically reduce case temps in fact did the opposite and raised my temps!

The only things I wish these fans had but don't are 1) shielded/covered cables. looks a lot nicer when the three yellow, red and black cables are wrapped in a black shielding. I imagine this could be done with some duct tape after you got your cables routing where you want, so it's not a big deal... and 2) maybe if the cables were a little bit longer... like maybe 18" would be great, for larger cases. It gets annoying having to reach in and unplug the side fans every time I want to take the side cover off! Other than that, this pack is the cat's pajamas.

works well with cooler master elite 341 case... these arent high performance but this should move a fair amount of air on a un-overclocked/un-modded pc.. provides enough ventilation and lower the temps a bit.....

I purchased this pack and installed 2 of the fans into an Antec 300 case:

Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case External 3 X 5.25; Internal 6 X 3.5 2*Usb2.0

I installed one fan in front of my hard drives and one on the side of the case for my video card. The hard drives now run around 3 or 4 degrees (Celsius) cooler than before, and the video card does as well. I am saving the other two fans for later (to be used as replacements, or possibly on another system at a later date).

Pros:

- the fans are as advertised, dead silent!
- screws are included for all 4 fans.

Cons:

- none!

Other thoughts:

- make sure you have free pins on your motherboard to connect the fans to, or get a converter for them to plug into/piggyback on the power supply cables.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the cables are kinda a pain. I had to buy splitters and converters in order to plug in a few of these to my power supply. They run incredibly quiet, but when you put your hand next to them, you can barely feel air moving away from the fan. I recommend this if you are just looking for a lot of 120mm fans that are quiet. I wouldn't recommend them if you're looking to really cool down your computer.

For the price I wasn't expecting very quiet fans, them being 120mm and running around 1300rpm's they are very quiet. Compared one to a Noctua NF-P12 120mm Fan outside of case, there was a very slight difference where the Noctua were slightly quieter, nothing to cry about. Considering the Noctua cost $20+ range apiece, you get four of the cool masters for less than $15 dollars; I would say they are a steal. Buy them you won't regret it.

I did not purchase fans for use in a PC case but used for Denon AV/receiver that was getting blistering hot when playing at extremely high volumes listening to music. Using two of the fans on top pulling the heat. These fans are quiet but when watching a movie you really don't want any back ground noise. So I also purchased fan controllers to reduce the noise. The fan controller did not work to well with the fans due to the already slow rpm motor. I did notice a little improvement in noise level at lowest setting. Don't expect a high CFM flow though. If you're looking for a well built quality quiet 120mm fan at a very cheap price for 4 at the price you might pay for 1 or 2 this is a great deal.

These fans are perfect for replacing a dead 120mm fan or installing an additional fan. The fans provide good airflow and are more quiet than other fans I have used in the past. One thing I love is that fact is that there are no annoying LEDs that I did not want. The new case I purchase could handle 3 more fans, and has been running beautifully for over a month. I still have 1 left over in case any of the original or new fans fail. The only complaint I could have is that the cables are little short, but probably about normal for most fans. Depending on your system you may need to pick up some extensions if you don't have them. If I need more 120mm fans I will definitely pickup another pack of these.

Purchased these fans in order to cool down my AV cabinet. I linked all four with a thermo-cooler, so that I didn't have to turn them on or off manually. The system works great! Very pleased with the result and now I can leave our armoire closed when using the receiver or PS3.
Recommended if you are on a budget and don't mind a little DIY.