be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm PWM Fans Review

The most definitive review of The Silent Wings Pro 4 by BeQuiet! - we look at specs, unboxing, manual, accessories, performance, and if its worth getting In 2022.

Verdict

The Silent Wings Pro 4 are excellent performers in their class. With their classy look, superb build quality, and solid performance punch, these fans are the ideal choice for any thermal solution. No wonder these fans have won our Editor's Choice award.

Pros

Cons

be quiet! has launched new fans named Silent Wings Pro 4. These are by far the most advanced and progressive fans from the manufacturer. We all know that Silent Wings fall under the High-End category from be quiet! so one must expect something aggressive in this range and I must say be quiet! has done it in quite some style.

We have a new design all-together as be quiet! went back to the drawing board and did it from scratch though most of it is to catch up with the likes of Phanteks and Noctua, it is good to see that more brands are now on the bandwagon when it comes to delivering a true high-performance, most advanced cooling solution.

Some of the characteristics of the new Silent Wings Pro 4 include:

The fan is shipped inside a paperboard packing box in the typical black color theme from be quiet!. The tag lines are:

There are two more boxes inside the main packing box. We are showing the details, as be quiet! has done some aggressive product presentation in terms of the packaging. The top box is labeled as Accessories and it contains the screws and mounting corners. The bottom container has the fan itself.

The above picture shows the fan in its box.

The above picture shows the accessories in the box.

A user guide is provided in the box.

The above picture shows the accessories provided in the box. We have two sets of mounting corners with push-pins and screws.

Let's take a look at the fans.

The Silent Wings Pro 4 are available in 120mm and 140mm sizes. These are all black color fans that are non-RGB. The main focus here is the ultimate performance that a fan can deliver. be quiet! has come up with the new blade design and they have done it by removing the gap between the frame and the blades which reminds me of how Noctua achieved the same with their NF-A12x25 series fans. Noctua was the first one to have achieved this breakthrough.

The tip clearance plays a significant role when it comes to sustaining the high pressure while delivering the flow as it reduces the turbulence. The fan has 9 blades with a textured surface in an altered layout.

The center of the fan has a large diameter. The fan sticker is also in the black color having the brand name on it. The main frame is circular with detachable mounting corners. As we can see that these are new mounting corners that have not been the cup of tea for be quiet! for some time.

The above picture shows the close-up of the mounting corner. The fans come with pre-installed corners specially designed for the radiator. These fans have detachable mounting corners and be quiet! has provided two more sets in the accessories bag which can be put on conveniently subject to the requirement. There are cut-to-size anti-vibration pads on the corners.

These mounting corners have given a different outlook to the fans. The all-square frame design is quite appealing and given the trend of square bracket fans, this is a wise implementation.

The above picture shows the other two sets of mounting corners. We have a total of three sets:

The left side corner mount is the one mentioned as the plastic whereas the right side corner mount is the anti-vibration one.

The above picture shows the 4x pre-installed radiator corner mounts removed from the fan. The removal and installation of the mounts is convenient. There are two latches on each side of each corner mount. Pressing them at a time would release the mount which then can be taken off. Similarly, place the corner mount on the fan corner and press them for installation.

The above picture shows the other two corner mounts installed on the fan.

The mounts have Corner Type A and B carved on them. This makes it easier to identify when installing the mounts.

The above picture shows the mounting side on the fan with Corner Type A carved into it. The user needs to match the A on the fan side and the corner mount.

The above picture shows the frame of the fan. The fan's frame is sturdy and the overall weight of the fan is more than the other standard 120mm fans in the market. We can spot two carved arrow indicators on the frame. These are there to identify the direction of airflow and the direction in which the blades will spin. The latches on the corner mounts are also visible. Pressing them would release the mounts.

The backside of the fan shows a four-arms assembly with one arm widened to provide passage for the wires.

Now, we know the reason for having a large diameter center. Normally the RGB fans have large diameter centers as the center houses the RGB LEDs. These fans have circuitry inside the center to control the speed of the fan using the button on the backside. The fans are rated for a maximum of 3000 RPM speed.

The above picture shows the slider button located on the backside of the fan. It has three labels:

When we set the speed to any of the pre-defined limits using the button, the maximum speed under that limit will be applicable even at 100% PWM cycle. Keep that in mind when installing the fan.

I personally, did not find the button idea convenient. What if we have installed the fans in the system on the radiator and we need to change the speed? We would need to remove the fan to slide the button for that.

I would personally prefer setting the button at UHS and then controlling the speed via UEFI/BIOS but that is my personal view. The user can proceed as per the situation. There is a date printed above the speed dial labels. This is probably the manufacturing date of the fan.

Each fan has a 4-pin PWM connector using a sleeved cable. This connector is a new one for me and I appreciate the attention to detail from the design team.

The look and feel of this connector are premium and it makes the installation and removal (particularly) convenient.

The standard PWM connectors fit on the header at their full height making their removal a bit inconvenient. be quiet! has solved that with a premium-looking connector.

be quiet! is using Fluid Dynamic Bearing in these fans having a life span of 300,000 hours. These bearings reduce the vibration which helps in reducing the overall noise output. On top of that, these fans are using 6-pole, 3-phase motor.

We saw a similar layout on the SilverStone SF120 which is SilverStone's high-end fan offering the same speed with high airflow and air pressure rating.

The salient specifications of the fans are:

The following test bench is used for thermal performance testing: –

CINEBENCH R23 is used to stress the CPU for 20 minutes. The system is left idle for 5 minutes to record the idle temperature. The average of all P-Cores maximum temperature is taken and reported in the graph. For comparison, we have the RAIJINTEK EOS 12 ADD RBW 120mm fans and SilverStone SF120 fans. Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste is used.

Please note that not every run of the stress test may yield the same result. This could well be due to many factors like mounting pressure, thermal paste application and varying ambient temperature. Not to mention the silicon differences even among the same category of chips. Hence, it is pertinent to mention the testing methodology along with the specifics.

The fans were run at Medium, High-Speed, and Ultra-High-Speed dials for each run. Let's take a look at the result.

We can see that be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm PWM fans are neck-to-neck with the SST-SF120 PWM fans. Both these fans use the same motor and bearing and both are high-performance fans with high-end specifications. But the Silent Wings Pro 4 has a better noise output as compared to the SilverStone fans so this is where the be quiet! has done a good job.

Here is a table showing RPM range and corresponding airflow and speed measurements of the be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm PWM fan:

We are raking the airflow reading by placing the instrument closer to the fan. The values would vary depending upon the distance between the anemometer and the fan.

We are not recording the noise output due to certain uncontrollable environment noise. Based on our hearing which is subjective, we have found these fans to be making less noise compared to Noctua iPPC NF-F12-3000-PWM (been using these fans for some time and know how they sound) and SST-SF120 fans at full speed.

The Silent Wings Pro 4 are a new breeder from the be quiet! and these fans pack a solid performance with a high-quality finish all around. These fans are available in 120mm and 140mm sizes. be quiet! has gone back to the drawing board to come up with a new design with high-performance out-of-the-box. The end result is the Silent Wings Pro 4.

We have taken a look at the 120mm PWM size fans. These fans have a solid build quality and we have observed that these fans weigh a bit more than what we have seen on the other 120mm size fans in the lab. The salient feature is the new altered blade layout with a narrow gap between the fin tip and the frame which would result in higher air pressure on the edges.

Another salient feature is the removable corner mount. be quiet! has provided 3 sets of corner mounts each with specific use case scenario. The fans come with the radiator mounts pre-installed.

These mounts give the fan a square frame finish which looks quite elegant and premium. The other two sets include anti-vibration corners which is what we have been seeing in the previous generation of be quiet! fans. The other set is of the plastic corner mount. These two sets cater to the PC case and heatsink mounting. be quiet! has provided screws and push-pins.

These fans are using Fluid Dynamic Bearings having a life span of 300,000 hours and a 6-pole, 3-phase motor which all in conjunction, produce less vibration and are heat efficient as well. The SST-SF120 fans also employ the same bearing and same motor.

Another salient feature is the premium-looking PWM connector with sleeved cable. This connector not only looks good but it also makes the plugging in and out convenient.

There is a button on the backside of the fan with three-speed dials. These are:

Each dial sets the fan speed to the set limit and the user can't exceed this limit even at 100% PWM cycle. The noise output also differs at each dial.

These fans are rated for up to 3000 RPM with a minimum of 1200 RPM. The operating voltage range is 7~13.2VDC. This fan draws 3.6W using 0.3A at 12VDC. The airflow rating is 83.9 CFM with a static pressure rating of 5.31mmH₂O at 12VDC. We expect these fans to perform well given these high-end specs.

The be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm PWM fan pack has an MSRP of Euro 31.90. This is quite a premium price tag but be quiet! has gone all-out over the features. The thermal performance of these fans on the radiator is quite impressive as per our testing. The SilverStone SF120 and these fans have a tight competition but the winner is be quiet! Silent Wings Pro 4 120mm PWM fans as their noise-to-performance ratio are better than the SilverStone fans.

Thank you! Please share your positive feedback. 🔋

How could we improve this post? Please Help us. 😔