Works Power 250mm Silent Case Fan
By: Dan Durland

  

Today I'm looking at the largest case fan I've ever seen. This fan has the Works Power Logo on it, but Works Power has proven to be an elusive company. As far as I can tell Works Power is now the 1st PC Corp, http://www.1pccorp.com/. An their site appears to still be under construction as I can find no listing for this fan. But do not fear, I have been able to find this product at multiple online shops, it will be listed as the store's own brand.

     


Specifications

Color: Black Bezel with Clear Fan
Fan Dimensions: 250 x 250 x 30 mm
Rated Voltage: 12v DC
Wattage: 11 Watts
Amperage: 0.9A
Fan Speed: 820 RPM +/- 5%
Airflow: 105.2 CFM +/- 5%
Noise: 19dBA
Connector: 4 pin Molex pass-through

This fan is also available with Optional Blue LED lighting at most stores for a couple Dollars extra. And some of these stores are also offering other colors (Green, Orange, Purple, Red, White and Yellow) for an additional $10.

Features

- 250mm DC Cooling Fan (including bezel) for PC Case
- 13 Bladed Clear Fan with optimal blade pitch for CFM
- Mesh Metal Fan Grill/Filter
- Black External Trim Ring (Bezel)
- Quiet Operation
- Do It Yourself (DIY)

Well I can tell you that this fan has been redesigned. It has to be as my fan only has 9 blades not the 13 being advertised as a Feature.

Contents and Installation

        

        

The Silent 250mm Case Fan arrived in a standard packing box. The fan itself has no special packaging, just (3) pieces in plastic bags (Bezel, Mesh Grill and the Fan). I was rather surprised that no screws were included in the box, so you'll need to purchase your own. I recommend taking the Bezel with you to the store to properly size the screws you'll need. I used (4) #4 x 7/16" and (4) #6 X 7/16" screws with large flat washers, but you'll want to shop for yourself. I used the #4's to attach the bezel to the case panel and the #6's to attach the fan to the bezel. But the bezel is a hard plastic and the fan stand-offs will break if the screw is just slightly too large. I know this because one of the #6 screws cracked one of the stand-offs and I had to superglue it back together.

  


With a fan this size you'll need to cut a hole in your case panel as the odds of it coming with a pre-cut hole are slim. My case is a CoolerMaster Stacker and it has a large round metal mesh grill pre-installed. But it's larger than the fan so I had to cut a hole in it. A template would of been really handy here and an instruction sheet would of been nice also. But neither of these are supplied so you'll have to make your own template, I didn't, but I will with the next one. Once your main hole is cut you'll need to drill 4 holes for the bezel stand-offs or you can cut (4) slots as I did and you need to drill 4 holes for the bezel attachment locations. Once that is done you just fit the metal mesh grill into the bezel, secure the bezel to the case panel and secure the fan to the bezel.

        

     

Testing & Result's

To test the fan I'm using a Mastech MS8229 Digital Multimeter with a built-in dBA meter and a La Crosse Technology EA-3010U Anemometer. The noise level was recorded at a distance of (1) meter and the airflow was measured at a distance of (1) foot. With everything turned off in my office, minus one light and a power supply, I recorded a dBA level of 25. I then powered the fan up and gave it (1) minute to stabilize at which time I recorded a noise level of 47 dBA. 47 minus 25 equals 22 dBA. When I checked my 12v line it read 12.74v DC so that could explain the extra 3 dBA's. To test the flow rate I set my Anemometer to record the average wind speed in Kilometers per Hour for 10 seconds. This produced a reading of 3.7 Km/h. To convert this to cfm's I'm using the Diameter Velocity & Flow Rate Ultra Calculator located at http://www.1728.com/flowrate.htm. Now all I have to do is plug in the numbers (250 mm and 3.7 Km/h) and hit calculate and we have a Flow Rate of 106.9 cfm

Noise Level - 22dBA
Flow Rate - 106.9 cfm

Conclusions

Overall I'm impressed with this Monster Fan. It's large enough to push a large volume of air over the entire surface of your motherboard and installed components. And it does this with a minimum amount of noise. To push this much air you would normally need 3 or 4 fans all producing noise. But this is not your usual 5 minutes and your fan is installed project. You'll need to shop for screws and make a template. Then you'll have to break out a Dremel and prepare your case panel. Overall it took me about 2-1/2 hours and a small amount of cussing. But I'm now the proud owner of a much cooler PC.

  

Pro's
- Excellent Air Flow
- Quiet Operation
- Optional LED's
- Looks Good

Con's
- No Hardware
- No Template
- Bezel Stand-offs are easily broken

While I'm not happy about the Con's, I'm extremely impressed with the Pro's. I'm awarding this product 4 Stars.

4 stars!
4 stars
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