Though I think the performance is fairly acceptable when using the Nexus fan (only 2 C from the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ at 5V), I feel deeply disappointed by the performance when the stock fan was used. At the beginning of this review I was really hoping for a competitor for the CM Hyper 212+ since there are virtually no competitors in that price range, at least here in Denmark. The only alternative would be the Scythe Katana 3, but it's not quite in the same league.

Looking at the results tables the Nexus fan is totally superior to the stock one. It cools 5°C better (50 vs 55) while running slower 720rpm vs 820rpm and putting out 12dB(A) vs 14dB(A). Anyone have any theory why the Nexus is able to cool better at slower speed than stock fan?

IIRC from other SPCR reviews it's not always the case the Nexus is better per RPM but is almost always better per dB(A), which I guess is down to bearings, drive electronics and blade shape.

Seb

Bigger blades produce higher pressure, which pushes more air through the relatively thin gaps of the Enermax HS fins.

Oh my, the tests just keep coming!

This one was rather a treat, since it's the first Enermax cooler I've ever come across. Shame it was a bit of a poor show, but things do not appear to be hopeless for Enermax: the cooling power is probably there, they just need to work on the details. Would be rather nice to have a budget cooler with a decent fan for once - not that this fan was.

If i remember correctly, the twister fans were always praised as a reasonable quiet case fan. If you'r in for some bling-bling they are the only suitable case fans (Apollish, Vegas). Some people reported that using them vertically placed results in additional noise.

As the review showed, they can reach acceptable levels of quietness when undervolted. But the review also showed that Enermax would have been wise to pick a different fan for use with a cpu cooler.

Personally i believe that a good cpu cooler design has to incorporate many more details than Enermax research budget perviously covered. I cannot understand why Enermax chose to put up with something "second best", they should have tested different fans, maybe they did and marketing told them to shove 2$ off of production cost.

My thoughts exactly, since we're talking budget coolers. Could have been business strategy as well, telling them not to make the budget stuff too efficient, or the eventual/current premium monsters wouldn't sell. Or maybe they were floating in these fans and it was a zero-cost choice.

But there's always just plain laziness and bad design to explain things.

I got one ETS-40 cooler before. As Heat Direct Touch cooler often tends to be mediocre in terms of cooling performance compared to traditional cooper base cooler, I'm fine with it. At least, I got it at a very tempting price. To my surprise, I'm shocked by its stock fan's airflow ...... I DO like this fan as it's very quiet across the whole RPM range, but the airflow suffers severely.

Btw, I also have one similar fan, Enermax Magma 120mm 1200RPM PWM variety, running in my main system. I may need to consider swapping it for another fan. Sigh.....I appreciate Magma/Twister-bearing fans based on its very very quiet sounding, now I may need to change my belief...?

I can't say something about the magmas, because i havn't seen one before.

The twisters are superb case fans if not running on 12V or used horizontally. But using them on a cpu cooler can be tricky, as the review has shown. Changing because of the change is wasted money imho.

If your fans are quiet enough for your liking and the temps inside your PC are fine, i wouldn't change anything. If not, go ahead and try some Nexus/Noiseblockers/Scythe/Phyoba fans.

Thanks for your suggestions. I guess I'll keep on using Magma fan as I'm too lazy to disassemble the computer.
Frankly, I rarely stress 4 cores of cpu..... so temp is not a huge concern.