Cougar CFD14HBG 140mm Fan Cooling (Green)

Update (11/18/2013): I have been using these fans now on a couple of radiators and they do a great job at that. They are not designed in my opinion as a case fan, but do a pretty good job on a radiator. I updated my stars to a 4 star now.I purchased 3 of these Cougar fans because of multiple positive reviews read on the web and videos seen using them. I have never paid $60 for 3 fans before, but I wanted to replace my CoolerMaster SickleFlow fans (Blue) as they can be a little loud @ 12v, but they do move a lot of air to be fair. The SickleFlow at lower RPM's are very quiet overall, but I was striving for an even quieter system. I replaced 3 SickleFlow fans with the Cougar Dual-X fans. I replaced 2 intakes (120mm) and 1 exhaust fan (120mm) with the Dual-X Blue LED fans (120mm). These Cougar fans (120mm) are very quiet @ 12v, but my overall case temp did rise using the Dual-X fans because they don't move as much air as the $7.00 CM SickleFlow fans to my surprise. My H2O cooled GPU temp rose from 39c idle(CM Fans) to 42c idle(Dual-X) and from 46c load(CM Fan) to 50c load(Dual-X) with the Cougar fans used as case fans. I can get the GPU temps back down with the cougar fans, but I have to run the Dual-X fans at 12v constantly. I can run the SickleFlow fans at 50% max for the same temps and roughly the same sound level heard. Between the SickleFlow fans and the Cougar Dual-X LED fans, I noted a big decrease of cool air being sucked in and blown over the hard drives physically at approximately the same audible level using a dB meter. So unfortunately, the Cougar Dual-X fans @ 12v is roughtly the same as a Sickleflow fan @ 50% max rpm. I unfortunately ended up changing the front intake fans back to the CM SickleFlow fans and the temps dropped again. I really wanted the Cougar fans to out perform the cheaper sickleflow fans, but can't say they have honestly except with the 12v max sound level. The Sickleflow at about 60% max starts getting loud to me but can move a lot more air as they spin up to 2000 rpm (1950 rpm actual). The Cougar Dual-X fans may be better as Radiator fans, but all my radiators have Corsair SP-120 quiet fans that work great. I ordered these Dual-X fans because I needed some good Blue LED fans and Cougar had the best looking LED fans with the best reviews. To be honest, this was the first order from Amazon I actually considered returning, but decided to keep the Cougar Dual-X fans. I replaced other internal fans with the cougars and run the Dual-X fans on a fan controller and PULL air over the HDD's and SSD's in my system which is seems to do a good job at. At 12v, the Dual-X fan does move air OK but not as much as the SickleFlow fans, but as a case fan overall, these are not my first choice. The Dual-X fans have a max listed RPM of 1200, but the true max RPM for my cougar fans are around 1390 RPM and very quiet actually. Again, I think these fans would possibly be a better radiator fan instead of a case fan. I haven't tested them as radiator fans, but for using as a case fan, I would look elsewhere. Using my Asus Fan Xpert2 software, I can turn down the Cougar Fans to 448 RPM and they are not audible at all, but useless for moving air at that rpm. To get beneficial air flow with the Dual-X, one would have to run the fans at a minimum of 1000 RPM which is basically maxed out almost. I can't say I would buy any more of these, but will use the fans I purchased. I am using these fans inside the case at higher RPM's, but can't be heard due to their quiteness. As intake fans, they are not up to the task in my book for moving large amounts of air into and through the case. I will say, the Dual-X fans are some of the best looking LED fans on the market which is why I bought them along with the positive reviews seen. I do wish they performed better for the elevated price paid and my cheaper Coolermaster Sickleflow fans are capable of doing the same exact job better. They get 3 stars and not 2 stars because I do like the look of these LEDs and maybe I am not using them to their best potential which may be as a radiator fan, but it doesn't list it as a radiator fan only.

Ok So i just got 3 of these fan to put into my Phanteks Luxe case. Man They are really good i get blue LEDs which i love i get quietness and awesome performance. I had Corsair fans in my case i even had some Cooler master at some point. But now i found my fans Not only are these quieter and blow more air then the Corsair ones but helps to keep all my components a lot cooler. I completely bought 4 of these leds 120 fans but i bought 8 Cougar 120 Vortex PWM fans. I tried having all my fans at 80% and that about only time i really hear them but not like i bad thing i just hear the air being pushed not like any annoying sound from the fan just air being moved. So i either keep my fans at 50-60% and it quiet i don't hear my fans i have to put my ear by the case. What i like about these fan as well is how there not so much compared to like nocta there not cheap but still these fans give you a balance. One last thing so you know what your buying check out the Cougar website the and the Corsair one and you see Cougar fans flat out beats them. My main take away from the fan is how quiet they are at whatever speed you want them to perform compared to my old corsair fans i had. My Phanteks Luxe case alone with these fans and an hyper 212 evo and my cpu and every part is kept cool and not noisy which i love. I like having a performance machine but don't believe they need to sound like jet when blowing air. What awesome is at higher Speeds what you hear is the air being pushed not the fan, So i definitely recommend these fan there worth you money i bought 3 2 of which are on my hyper 212 evo and another one inside case on harddrive cage. Best thing you can do is look at the fan website so you can see how much air there rated at pushing and how quiet they are Cougar has everything you could want in a good fan.

I was extremely apprehensive about paying literally double the price than most other LED fans, whether they claim to be silent or not or simply perform miraculous feats of cooling cases to -20 under room temp. but, I am building a small and clean Hackintosh for wife's upcoming b-day and felt it worth a few extra bucks to have a truly quiet machine. something about silent PC's just make them seem of higher quality, and of course, they don't become annoying to sit next to for hours on end. I didn't know much about Cougar as a brand, except my son got a gaming mouse of theirs over Christmas and it's of stellar quality, so that made me feel comfortable buying a pricey fan. anyway, glad I did, it moves a ton of air and it's stupid quiet. the LED's are of standard placement, on the inside of the corners like thermaltake or coolermaster, nice bright look without being obnoxious. I like the added shape to the frame, the white rubber feet that are pre-applied to both sides have a recision fit/finish(unlike a few other lesser companies that give you a set of sticker pads that are a PITA) and I've never seen or used the tool-less rubber pins, but I can only assume that this only helps to decrees noise by absorbing some shock between frame and CPU case. five-stars, I'll be keeping an eye out for some deals in the future, I am pretty much going to be forced to upgrade my other two builds with full sets of these now that I've experienced a quality case fan, it makes a difference. I am eager to try even more Cougar products, they've impressed me twice now and others seem to feel the same way.

Pros:- Moves a lot of air. On maximum revs it's quieter than the old fan on low speed and still performs well.- It's relatively quiet. I would even say that it's completely quiet. Seems to be a great solution for a quiet system build.- Not that expensive.- Comes with 3-pin to MOLEX connector. A big advantage for those who doesn't want to plug it to Motherboard.Cons:- It vibrates. Not much but it DOES vibrate and makes your case resonate even if you use rubber screws. Had to keep a heavy book on my case all the time to dampen vibration.- Slight vibration means that advertised Hydraulic bearing is not as good as promised.- You need to get a quality screwdriver to install it. It comes with no threads and you'll need to put all four screws through BEFORE mounting it. Just thread the holes first and attach after. This is not a big disadvantage but be aware.- Rubber screws coming with it are pure 100% GARBAGE. I've used identical products before for a dozen fans at least and can confidently say that supplied ones aren't good. They simply don't go through mounting holes. Tore two out of four trying and gave up. You definitely need them to deal with humming vibration noise though.- LEDs aren't done good if you install it to suck air from the case instead of blowing it in. The light is very uneven and looks like four separate streams. Looks even worse than $4.99 Rosewill.Sent it back. Even after using quality rubber screws couldn't eliminate annoying vibration noise.

I have multiple of this fan in my main gaming rig and I am installing another in the front of my HTPC build. Moves a lot of air, very silent, nice subtle blue light that isn't overpowering. Due to this being a 3-pin fan if you downvolt the fan to make it run at a lower speed it will make the LED dimmer but that's true with any 3-pin LED fan. Having my fans downvolt to 7v it still keeps enough air going through my case and they are quiet enough that I can't hear if my PC is on when sitting next to it.I included a pic on how they look in the front of my Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 case

Bought it when it was on sale; however, it doesn't seem to move as much air (spec: 73.18 CFM) and/or has as much static pressure (spec: 1.40 mm/H2O) as it ought to be. I used it at the front in a Define R4 case with 8 drives and it didn't seem to move much air at all with all those drives in place.Wouldn't recommend it (all hte Cougar CFD14 has the same spec) if you are looking for a static pressure fan even though its spec for static pressure is rated higher than most others in the same category.

Very quiet operation. They don't move a lot of air, but it keeps my system cool. They only have a 3 pin plug, so for speed control you can't use PMW. Nice bright green LED's matches my GPU and AIO cooler green LED's. They come with both screws and rubber mounting and the fans have rubber on the mounting tabs too.

Awesome fans for the price, pretty silent til I am overclocking. Bought these for intake, picking up 2 more for exhaust because they perfectly complement my green/black build