Alphacool Apex Stealth Metal Power Review, Benchmarks & Noise

[@dasKeks28]

Thanks a lot for your review. I think the official graphs from Alphacool were based on Igor's lab (german tech channel) review. There's currently a lot of controversy around this test and the way they handled feedback. Alphacool already stopped using those graphs as marketing material.

[@mufc1417]

What a fan! it cured my insomnia, tuned up the car🚗 and painted the house🏡 even before getting it out of the box. This is not a fan, its a xmas miracle🎄☃

[@wtflks]

You could visually show this differences in sound pitch using spectral analisys. It's pretty simple to do. Recently I fell into a bad situation buying some iceberg thermal fans which are great in the spec sheet, but are damm near impossible to use due to high pitch harmonics.

[@MHLoppy]

I did this (and can't link it because doing so nukes my comment RIP). When RMS-normalized, the difference doesn't seem to be high frequency noise (the Metal actually has more high frequency noise than the other two when normalized!). Instead, the Metal has less distinct tonality. The AF12x25 has a strong tone at a bit under 300 Hz, and some secondary tones at around 650 and 950 (I'm sure you can find the exact frequencies in some reviews). The T30 also has tonality at a bit under 300 Hz, with its own share of secondary tones at around 500, 800, and some lesser ones at higher frequencies as well. I imagine these minor higher-frequency tones are the ones that might be making it more annoying than the AF12x25. The Metal's strongest tonality appears to be at around 100 Hz (which the other two fans display _some_ tonality at too), with its next-strongest being a weak tone at around 300 Hz. Its strongest tone is much weaker than the other two fans, i.e., its noise profile is more broadband (white-noise-like), and thus less annoying to hear. Several years ago Silverstone released a fan with 3 different fan blade sizes on the same 9-bladed fan. The effect was that the fan was very pleasant-sounding because it spread out the frequencies generated a lot, but it measured very poorly in terms of raw dB. The Metal seems to be a somewhat similar situation.

[@GlennsFastReviews]

I would like to know how to do that without a meter.

[@wtflks]

​@@GlennsFastReviewsthe android app I use to do this is called Spectroid

[@wtflks]

@@GlennsFastReviews there is no need for anything other than a phone, at least for simple visualizations. You'd need a specific meter only if you want to comply with some kind of standard and have you results comparable with other people's results. Otherwise all measurements using the same phone are comparable. My Poco f5 can detect from 1 to 40000 Hz no problem

[@ThePCExpertAmateur]

@@wtflks The only problem I have with phones is they need to be calibrated. I have tried a couple of different phone programs and it's not terribly reliable. I noticed that the readings were changing.

[@shrimp_p4rm]

I'm late, but this is one of your most impressive reviews. If anyone was on the fence about buying these, you no longer have an excuse. Buy it or not.

[@MajorSpam]

Many thanks for including the sound profile, I like it a lot more than that of the NF-A12. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but wouldn't it be easy to show it through something like a visualizer that most media player have? That way we'd have a literal picture, given that the individual speaker of the viewers might favor highs or lows. I believe keeping an actual recording is still important, though.

[@joelstamand3495]

From the sound sample, it definitely sounds like it has a pleasant sound profile. For the same reason I still prefer the a12x25 to the T30, it's not just about how MUCH sound it makes, i.e. the decibel reading, it's also about HOW it sounds. Even if it's technically louder, it can be a lot more tolerable at higher rpms compared to other fans.

[@ImDembe]

Yeah, Noctuas A12x25 have a more pleasant "hum" than alot of other fans aka motor noise.

[@BartekSzwedkowicz]

Have you measured the fan noise after mounting it on the radiator? Why aren't there any sound samples for the radiator?

[@tlv8555]

Have you rubbed your nuts on the radiator on a cold day & sampled the sound?

[@interceptor001]

I don‘t know. IMOP the 2800 rpm apex sounds worse and more annoying then the 2000rpm Noctua.

[@DepressedMusicEnjoyer]

It’s defo better than the phanteks😂

[@interceptor001]

Well that is not really a challenge imop😂

[@KarthikSankaran]

2500rpm case fan was quiet af - wh1000xm5 review

[@happyjys]

The actual noise you hear may differ depending on the recording and playback device. When comparing noise, it is important to actually listen.

[@interceptor001]

​@@happyjys I listened to it on various devices/headphones. Still they sound worse on every imop.

[@Kryujiin]

Such a detailed Video on that Fans! Loved it! much better and in depth then other Techtubers. You have my sub!

[@TheFlow2000]

Thanks for your very detailed and informative review and thanks for also covering the perceived noise which I miss on most fan reviews as this is in my opinion an overlooked part of determining how loud fans actually are. Just out of curiosity, could you record both fans (A12x25 and Apex Stealth) the same way, but mounted to a radiator. It would be interesting to see if anything changes there and if the Apex Stealth still has its perceived noise advantage. Some hopefully constructive criticism: Wouldn’t measuring noise in dBA rather than dB be more true to life as this accounts for the way we humans perceive noise and weights “more annoying” frequencys more than pleasant ones? Is there any specific reason you measure the noise 1m away from the fans? As I see it, that greatly limits the “noise resolution” which makes separating the fans at lower noise levels extremely difficult as the levels are barely above your noise floor and measurement uncertainty could have a big impact on the results at that point.

[@elteacher0223]

I would like to hear a sound sample. Both push and pull, mounted on a rad.

[@swizzler8053]

Nice looking fans but i still prefer my be quiet light wings high speed on my radiators. Keep up the great work bro and stay safe.

[@progenitor_amborella]

Would like to see spectral analysis from Gamer’s Nexus using their hemi-anechoic chamber.

[@Sugalime3D_FPV]

I really like the mount without damaging the frame a little bit. If the fan is expensive und you know you gonna switch case in some years that is a great feature...

[@elteacher0223]

Thanks a lot for sharing!

[@DanielKennedyaeos]

Omg the 90% on the Apex is so much worse than the 100% on the Noctua. I would say it sounds great at comparable rpm. The issue for me resides in the completely misleading and disingenuous marketing done by alphacool in the lead up. Using this dodgy testing to secure preorders is super unethical in my mind and enough of a reason not to buy from them. Before someone says it was Igor's fault, alphacool confirmed that their in-house testing matched Igor's.

[@TheJjjoj]

This is exactly what I expected out of the Apex Stealth. Best in class noise performance and very good temperature performance. I never expected this to be best in class for temp. so I am happy with this. You have addressed my complaints with most sound testing and display calibration. Just because something is right to the measurement tool used, doesn't mean it is actually consistent with reality.

[@ubacow7109]

The best way to do noise testing is by using a true audio measuring mic and not a decible-meter. You can isolate the loudness @ frequency and remove the frequencies that don't matter in the DBaverage to determine say things like @ X RPM you will get resonance @ X Frequency & output if X CFM which equates @ Y Thermals.

[@bobbygetsbanned6049]

Human ears are much less sensitive to lower frequency noises, so the same DB at a lower frequency will sound significantly quieter to humans. This introduces an interesting variable to fan noise testing, since the DB meter without Hz doesn't tell you the whole story of how loud the fan will actually sound. It would be really interesting to see the hz and db of each fan at a 2000 rpm and higher.

[@IDDQD1984]

Need more reviews with radiator included on test.

[@ThePCExpertAmateur]

This is a really good review, thank you. Shared to my channel. 18:35 Unfortunately, you made a large error. The graphs you referenced at various parts of the video were for the Apex Stealth Metal fans, not the Power version that you stated you have. So, I strongly suggest that you get rid of that section and see if you can also remove the other erroneous bits where you confuse the fan in your hands with the one that IL/AC tested.

[@Falk4711]

Missing the Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm.

[@Aedrrow]

i've watched the review from "Der Bauer". He tested these fans and the performance isn't really good.

[@rusTORK]

SURE STS got this! I i see it right after der8auer video. AWESOME! Nice review, really nice. And decent fan from Alphacool. Expensive, but decent. P.S. SeaSonic next? =)

[@4Core100]

Looks interesting but the whole sandwich thing seems like gimmick. They just moved silicone pads from corners like Noctua and others do into middle of a fan, over engineering the whole thing.

[@ukaszsmoa8416]

What db meter are you using?

[@mateuszkwietowicz2470]

I wonder if the pre-release tests were done on a different fan. In the show fan it was said it was running at 2500 rpm - so before there were any 2000 and 3000 models announced.... maybe igor labs tested a pre-production prototype, which ran at 2500 rpm and had a different construction or sound profile... still, it sucks that the pre-release documents overhyped those fans - which are still very good, but overall feel disappointing forn not meeting their marketing standards.

[@Tanktaco]

It's time!

[@noxious89123]

The NF-A12x25 doesn't go up to 3000rpm.

[@squatch545]

You can overclock it with liquid nitrogen. 🙂

[@Leviathan1099]

Do these perceived sound differences remain when mounting to a radiator? Your chart shows the T30 is pretty much winning completely at all points, but as you rightly observed that will be different due to the loss of the high end sound signatures. I'm currently on the fence about canceling an order because other reviews were showing it coming up short in all departments - static pressure, cfm, and sound. But, your review makes them look a lot more attractive as specifically for a radiator or cooler mount, where those RPMs will go much higher. Any plans to test them on traditional heat pipe coolers?

[@Dylan-ti7oq]

very interesting. I've watched a few of the performance reviews on this now and i'm still on the fence abou treplacing my T30's with these. I'll have to do some comparisons myself for noise once mine arrive.

[@maxzett]

I'll take your old T30s lol. Dunno why you'd even think about replacing very good fans. Even if they give you like 5% better performance noise wise, it's definitely not worth the hundreds of euros it costs to replace all fans...

[@Sneedles]

Where are these other reviews?

[@swizzler8053]

​@@Sneedlesder bauer

[@Falk4711]

​@@SneedlesIgorsLab

[@mchawesren]

I was going to replace all my a12x25 with these if igors benchmarks turned out to be true. But they are not at all, not worth it imho

[@maxzoRHD]

Chrome version looks so good, by the tittle some review channels posted , i was thinking it would have metal blades too 🤣

[@lonelymtbrider3369]

Thanks for a balanced review! In other words, it's a good fan, but it does not have magic properties. One reason the db reading could seem a bit "off" is that the apex may have a more balanced but slightly louder sound spectrum, whereas the noctua has a noticeable tone to it, making it seem louder and/or more annoying while being measurably not so loud. One single tone sticking out a bit in a spectrum of many many tones, may not measure so high, but it will be more annoying and seem louder.

[@brachisaurous]

ive now spent more on fans than my RAM!! please stop guys!!!

[@annasalieri5085]

Hello,can i install it on a cpu air cooler single tower? (thermalright)

[@digitalmike330]

How come Be Quiet isn't on your list of comparisons?

[@DanielKennedyaeos]

Cast 'metal' - not CNC cut aerospace alu or brass or stainless is not significantly more expensive than a cast high performance plastic, sorry to tell you.

[@JtwasLuck]

Can't wait to receive my apex fans, I have the Noctuas on several builds and this is just a game changer. The last time we had innovation like this was when the NF12x25 first came out during the Gentle Typhoon days!

[@Erksah02]

I wish they used this technology on a cheaper frame and stuff

[@Mintor94]

Perfect solution for daisy chaining, this is way better than all these proprietary solutions of Phanteks, Lian Li and Corsair etc. But I'm not sure about this metal frame. What if they decoupled normal ABS frame of the same shape instead of Zinc? Less weight, less cost, less scratches.

[@cccxixixi]

The harmonics of the T30's sound are obvious at high speeds, and the sound frequency is much higher than that of common fans. This comparison is not representative. ARCTIC's P12 and P12max are better comparison objects. They only have five fan blades and the frequency of rotation noise is low.

[@theshadow6273]

This is like the dog whistle of high performance pc fans. Too bad they're so damn expensive! I'll stick with my arctic p14 max 5-pack for 60$ CAD. thanks hahah. Yes I suppose they're a decent price if you compare the materials and what the competition charges for similar fans but 40$ (before tax) cad for a single 120mm pc fan is alot.

[@lafayette23]

We’re is the 140 ?!!😢

[@elzio7]

Amazing Review

[@FanPhys]

The production value of this video is great and you've presented it well, but I can't help feeling that this is just a plug for the fan. Of course a 3,000rpm fan is going to "beat the majority of fans out there," because it has roughly 150% the power of those fans. I'll no doubt be doing my own rigorous testing, but I don't think it's worth all this hype when the comparisons are not strictly apples-to-apples. Run this fan at 2,000rpm and compare it to the NF-A12x25, then we can talk. :)

[@Z0mbieMike]

140mm when?

[@100500daniel]

What if Phanteks makes a metal T-30?

[@PSXman9]

a lot of critical comments are deleted?

[@AMGPilot]

Why didn't you compare the water temperature with the fans running at the same speeds at different RPM? No one in the real world runs a fan at 3000 RPM on a radiator while gaming. You were comparing fans running at 3000 RPM to fans running at 2000 RPM, how is this a good comparison?

[@KG_BM]

because either its sponsored and they need the data to match the spec sheet, or because hes not a gamer and doesnt care about making a practical review. either way, hardware canucks and gamers nexus will do a better job doing normalized fan tests

[@jameycates3457]

I would avoid @alphacool products. They have the worst customer support. I've been waiting over 7 weeks for repair parts on 2 new V2 GPU waterblock for my 4090 GPUs and still nothing from Alphacool support.! 💩

[@4loveit]

Arctic p12 )

[@JJ-gk5tn]

This fan is meh Just get a arctic fan

[@ronnyspanneveld8110]

Bearing Type Fluid Big pass for me...

[@AutodidactEngineer]

Arctic rains supreme again