Question What is the appeal to these ARGB fans?

[dev_cyberpunk]

I built up some computers using modern cases and just like its always been, they come with cheap fans. Why even bother making them ARGB? I guess so that they can do something other than try to move air. I took two sets of raidmax fans from a couple of cases and installed it in a Thermaltake tower 500. Sad to see that one wasn't working correctly, but whats even sadder is these fans at top speed don't really push air like real cooling fans do. I guessing its a form over function thing.

Has anyone else have notice these 'fancy' fans don't really push air like real cooling fans?

Also, WHY NO DRIVE BAYS!?!?

It must be the most retarded thing I see in retail now these days.

 

[USAFRet]

A lot of people like the blinken lights.

I'm not one of them.

 

[punkncat]

I tell ya this, if you are into flipping you can put just about anything from the past 15 years in a case with those lights and maybe a supplemental strip and they go like hotcakes. It IS the in thing right now.

 

[dev_cyberpunk]

I tell ya this, if you are into flipping you can put just about anything from the past 15 years in a case with those lights and maybe a supplemental strip and they go like hotcakes. It IS the in thing right now.

Is the general design with them I don't agree with as its controlled by a little toy RF remote, much less the freebies I got in a couple of cases don't really put out air.

If the fans really put out something, then I would find the four fan wires and land the standard fan connector on them and plug them into the motherboard where they belong.

It will be a here today gone tomorrow like the cold cathode light bars. I'm surprised no one has gotten into glass etching because it was a thing for the acrylic side case. Even though someone picked my brains about a year or so ago and asked me how to take apart LCD monitors and apply the lcd screen to the glass on a case. So I imagine screens are going to be the next thing.

But the lack of drive bays kinds of sets me back. As that is usually most of the cost of the case was making the drive bays. Now when I look at a modern case, it makes me wonder why I bought it in the first place since its just powder coated stamped sheet metal. Like this tower 500. I could have something like this for like $75 easy. Even cheaper than that if I did a production run. As far as a mid tower, I wouldn't pay more than $30.

 

[dwd999]

Often design is driven by the marketing department. So they emphasize flashing lights rather than fan cfm quality. After all when was the last time you saw a case advertised based on total cfm ventilation capacity. But they'll show you lots of colorful photos of flashing led fans and buyers just like to look at the flashy pictures. And it doesn't help that fan makers often charge really high prices for premium cfm fans. I'm getting ready for a new build and I spent $308 just on the 8 fans plus $150 for the cpu air cooler. I'm sure you can guess which company those are from. All of that just to fill out a $160 case. (And $330 for 9 fans to fill out another $100 case).

But I don't miss the drive bays. With new motherboards holding as many as 7 m.2 drives at 4TB each that's more than enough storage for most users.

 

[JayGau]

The guy just wanted to point out that those cheap and useless fans have RGB to make them appealing, and the "I don't like RGB so everything with it is crap" crowd immediately shows up. You know it's totally possible to have quality with RGB right? And if you don't like it just don't buy it. I don't mind paying extra to get RGB on an already good product. Corsair for example, sells the same quality stuff with RGB for a little extra. No need to call people who like to have some life in their case idiots who would buy anything as long as there's blinking lights on it.

 

[dev_cyberpunk]

Corsair for example, sells the same quality stuff with RGB for a little extra.

I saw a couple of their items being close to my specifications for 120mm fans (theirs approx. 100 cfm ) Which is 110 cfm. The fans I built with 30 years ago don't exists anymore. But I did repair one of my old servers I built with a Iceberg Thermal Fan to replace the Sunbeam fan that died because it was similar spec and construction. I refuse to use the what I call "the Delta Howler" fans. Even at slow speeds the delta fans put out harsh harmonics to the ear.

Has anyone compiled a list of ARGB fans with noise , bearing type, and CFM ratings at 100%?

 

[dev_cyberpunk]

But I don't miss the drive bays. With new motherboards holding as many as 7 m.2 drives at 4TB each that's more than enough storage for most users.

The tower 500 have some hard drive bays in the back, but I would have loved to have just one external bay at least to install a dvd burner. So I might do that and post a case mod thread about that. I'm thinking maybe a usb portable slimline drive in the lid.

 

[dwd999]

The tower 500 have some hard drive bays in the back, but I would have loved to have just one external bay at least to install a dvd burner. So I might do that and post a case mod thread about that. I'm thinking maybe a usb portable slimline drive in the lid.

I took my last internal burner and moved it into an OWC case. Then I got an LG BP60NB10 as a backup. So I'm fine as long as there are motherboards or cases with 2 usb A sockets.