Recently, Kris took a look at the Kama Flex 92 mm Silent Case Fan from Scythe, today, I will be looking at its little brother, the Kama-Flex 80mm Case Fan.
Touting a 80000 hour life span and a fan speed clocking in at 1500, the KamaFlex looks like a great fan for keeping your case cool and quiet for quite some time. Like the 92mm version, the Kama-Flex 80mm Case Fan features the Sony developed S-FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) to provide quieter and improved performance.
Lets take a look and see if this model matches the perfect score of the bigger version..
Scythe Kama-Flex 80mm Case Fan Review
Reviewed by: Tomas Ratas
Sponsor: Scythe
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Scythe "KAMA FLEX" 80 mm Silent Case Fan
Tuned by Scythe to make it Affordable!
Equipped with Fluid Dynamic Bearing also known as C.O.S.C (Closed Oil Shaft Carrier), Long Life, Silent, and High Performance!
Specs:
Model: SA0825FDB12SL
Dimensions: 80x80x25
Speed: 1,500 rpm
Noise level: 14.0dBA
Air Flow: 19.0CFM
Power: 0.09A
Rated Voltage: DC12V
Connector: 3-pin (4-pin adapter included)
Cable Length: 30cm
Bearing Type: FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) also known as C.O.S.C (Closed Oil Shaft Carrier)
* On some packages, MTBF is shown as 80,000 hours & 60,000 hours (for 120mm/1900rpm Only) but the actual MTBF is 120,000 hours.
Features:
Equipped with FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing)
This fan is equipped with FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) also known as C.O.S.C (Closed Oil Shaft Carrier) to provide long-life and stable bearing operation.
Market Leading Low-Noise Level
FDB technology drastically eliminates the friction between the bearing and the shaft which makes this fan nearly inaudible to human ears. Additional suction magnet optimizes the magnetic force balance within the rotor to achieve the absolute silence.
Outstanding Long Life of 120,000 Hours
Patent Pending structure allows the fan to last up to 120,000 hours.
Tuned by Scythe
Fan RPM as well as PCB are originally tuned by Scythe engineer to better meet the demand for the users in PC DIY (Do It Yourself) market.
MSRP: $9.50
{mospagebreak title=A Better Look at things}
A Better Look at Things
:
The Kama-Flex 80mm Case Fan arrives in a clear rectangular plastic box. The fan sits on the lower 2/3 of the package. Above it is the Scythe logo, the Kama-Flex name and the features of the fan.
The rear of the package lists the specifications in a number of languages, shows a diagram of the S-FDB system and several items about why the Kama-Flex is the one fan you will ever want to use.
Scythe gives a two year warranty on the Kama-Flex.
Found in the package, behind the cardboard area is a set of four screws and the 4-pin adapter.
The fan is a basic black fan with six fins on the fan itself. Running off it, is a three pin connector. In the center are the Kama-Flex name and the Scythe Logo in black and white with a neon greening line listing the fans model number.
It looks like most case fans and does not seem to have any unique features or eye candy.
Installation, Testing and Comparison
Installation is simple. It is a case fan and if you have installed one, you probably have installed them all.
The fan screws into the case using either the included screws or the fan attachment features of the case. Once physically installed, the three pin connector can be plugged directly into the motherboards fan header or if you want to use PWM, then using the 4-pin adapter. I connected it to the Scythe Kaze Master 5.25, which I recently reviewed for fine control of the fan speed.
For installation, I placed the Kama-Flex 80mm Case Fan into my Lian-Li PC-60B case which features four built in 80mm case fans. The sad part is that these built in fans are way too loud for this excellent case. So I decided to replace them. The Kama-Flex replaced the fan near the rear of the case, since this was one of the loudest ones in my opinion. The Lian-Li case fans were 2500 rpm fans, so I was able to even the speeds, so that they all ran at 1500 RPM to determine the loudness of the fans.
For testing, I ran all four Lian-Li fans at full speed and at 1500 RPMs. I subsequently replaced the rear Lian-Li case fan with the Kama-Flex and measured the case temperature for all three setups.
Obviously the Lian-Li fans running at full speed produced the best temperature reduction. However, this set up was the noisiest, by far. The Lian-Li fans with the Kama-Flex produced the quietest configuration and were the same temperature as the four Lian-Li fans running at 1500 RPM.
By setting all the case fans to run at 1500 RPMs I tried to create a level playing field. Subsequently, only one fan was run to determine how loud the fan was in relation to the other three. The Kama-Flex was no louder than the three Lian-Li case fans running at 1500 RPM.
Summary:
The Scythe Kama-Flex 80mm Case Fan seems to match the performance of its bigger version, the Kama-Flex 92mm. It is a quiet, yet effective case fan and would fit in nicely with any system, where silence is a premium.
DragonSteelMods gives the Scythe Kama-Flex 80mm Case Fan a 5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award as well.
Pros:
-Simple Installation
-Whisper Quiet Performance
-Quality Construction
Cons:
-None
I would like to thank Scythe for the chance to review the Scythe Kama-Flex 80mm Case Fan and for their support of DSM.
Discuss, Questions HERE
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