Aerocool DS Dead Silence Fan (120mm and 140mm) Review

1. Introduction2. Aerocool DS Dead Silence 120mm Fan3. Aerocool DS Dead Silence 140mm Fan4. DS120mm Cooling and Acoustic Performance5. DS140mm Cooling and Acoustic Performance6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

To test the Aerocool DS Dead Silence 140mm fan today, we are using the Corsair H90 140mm High Performance Liquid CPU cooler.

Test System

• Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K
• Motherboard: MSI Z87-G43
• Memory: 8 GB Kingston 2133 MHz
• Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-2
• Case: NZXT Phantom 530
• Graphics Card: AMD Radeon 280x
• Graphics Card (noise tests): HIS Radeon HD 5550 Silence

The fan included with the Corsair H90 is a 140mm ‘high Torque' fan which spins at 1,500 rpm. This fan is designed to push a lot of air through the large radiator – Corsair claim a maximum 94 CFM, although it is unlikely to be running at 100% most of the time.

The 14cm AEROCOOL DS fan spins at only 1,000 RPM at 12V, but it still manages to push 64.8 CFM at 50% less speed than the Corsair unit.

Even though the AeroCool DS Dead Silence 140mm fan is spinning slower than the Corsair fan, the temperatures are evenly matched, peaking at 53c.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

We can only accurately measure down to 28dBa with the noise meter in our environment, so anything better than 28dBa cannot be accurately recorded in our tests. That said – anything rating at 28dBa in our graphs is going to be realistically ‘almost silent' in the real world.

The Corsair fan can be clearly heard under load, emitting almost 36dBa – clearly audible and moderately intrusive. The 140mm Aerocool DS Dead Silence Fan by comparison is again extremely quiet. The AeroCool DS 14mm is rating right at the accurate limits of our noise meter, meaning it is probably well below the 28dBa rating we can present today.

Our findings show that while cooling performance between the 140mm Corsair fan and the 140mm AeroCool DS Dead Silence fan is almost identical, the noise differences are once again considerable, in favour of the Aerocool unit.

AeroCool rate the 120mm unit at 15.8dBa at 12V and 12.1dBa at 7V. We really are not in a position to verify either of these claims, but we can say the DS Dead Silence Fan is almost silent, even with our ear 3 inches away from the blades during operation (be careful if you do this yourself!).

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