Antec 80mm TriLight LED Fan

Author
Aron Schatz
Posted
November 2, 2002
Views
44744
With three LEDs and different colors, this fan is awesome.
Tags Cooling

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<B>Introduction</B>:

Originally, I wanted to get a CompUSA Cold Cathode. Some guy bought ALL of them out of the store at once. I ended up buying 2 Antec Tri-Led fans, and I am glad I did. It doesn't compare to a cathode, but it is a fan, and we all know we needs lots of fans!

<B>The Package</B>:

Here is a shot of the front and back of the package. It is all snazzy and stuff wouldn't you say? It caught my attention more than the Tri-Led Blue one, it was only blue Smile. On the back it gives you all the important stuff.

<center><img src="http://www.aselabs.com/images/articles/nov02/trileds/backandfront.jpg"></center>

<center><img src="http://www.aselabs.com/images/articles/nov02/trileds/upoff.jpg">
<img src="http://www.aselabs.com/images/articles/nov02/trileds/off.jpg">
You get the fan and some screws</center>

<B>The Fan</B>:

The fan itself is clear, which is new to me (but you've seen them everywhere lately). What is weird is that it feels more plasticy than a normal black fan. Now I know that sounds pretty stupid, but if you had one, you'd know what I mean. It is 80mm, normal size. The average speed of the fan is at a scant 2,600 RPMs. Air flow is 34CFM with a 30dBA noise. The fan is much more quiet than my Sunon 80mm, but you can tell that the airflow is less. Even so, I got these for the lights. My case was bare after my EL inverter burned out.

The power connector uses a normal molex connection, the problem is that it isn't a pass-through, so if your low or have no extra molex connections, it'll be hard to use this fan without a Y splitter. On the plus side, the wires are encased and it also has an RPM wire that goes to the header of your motherboard.
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<B>The Lights</B>:

I did buy the fans for the lights, and that's what we'll see. It uses a blue, green and red LED that are pretty bright, but you can get brighter. The green strip on the outside of the fan is the power for the LEDs.

<center><img src="http://www.aselabs.com/images/articles/nov02/trileds/bothlighted.jpg">
<img src="http://www.aselabs.com/images/articles/nov02/trileds/bothdark.jpg">
Cool effects huh?</center>

I really like how the lights emit off the blades of the fan, it spreads out the light over the entire fan. As you can see, there is enough light for each fan to justify its cost.

<center><img src="http://www.aselabs.com/images/articles/nov02/trileds/isoon.jpg"></center>

The green LED almost gets washed out by the blue one, but you will be able to notice it.

<center><img src="http://www.aselabs.com/images/articles/nov02/trileds/grill.jpg">
See any green through the grill?</center>

This shot shows that the green and the blue kind of mix together to form an aqua or teal. It does create a nice effect, but also the exposure on my camera is horrible. Looking at it in person, you can see the green, but mostly blue and red.

<center><img src="http://www.aselabs.com/images/articles/nov02/trileds/window.jpg"></center>

Wondering what the thing that it is lighting in the center?

<center><img src="http://www.aselabs.com/images/articles/nov02/trileds/tt.jpg">
Volcano 7 in action!</center>

The TT Volcano 7, or any other heatsink that uses a 80mm fan will be able to use this. The only problem is the airflow, it is a great deal less than my variable speed fan that comes with the Volcano 7. I had to put the original one back on, but if you have a slow CPU and you want it to look awesome, use the lighted fan.

<B>Conclusion</B>:

At $11.99, it isn't cheap. If your undecided about the lighting for your case and need some more fans, this would be a good option. If you have enough fans, get a cathode instead. Hopefully next week I'll have the CompUSA one for review.

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