Scythe Kaze Flex Super Test – Which Ones Are Right for You?

Mike Sanders / 6 years ago

Final Thoughts

How Much Does it Cost?

120mm fans are highly popular purchases for PCs for various reasons. Some buy them to upgrade from the stock fan/s provided with their CPU cooler. Some buy them to replace the fans pre-installed on their chassis. Particularly when their fans do not have any RGB options.

These Scythe Kaze Flex fans operate under two different price structures;

The non-PWM models will retail for a price in the region of – £12.95

The PWM models will retail for a price in the region of – £14.95

So in terms of cost at least, there’s very little to separate the two models. Logic would suggest spending the little extra to get the PWM variants. In that regard, however, you must make sure that whatever you intend to use them for has a suitable 4-pin adaptor on the motherboard. In terms of pricing though, these are very reasonable for the performance that they give. Remember as well that this isn’t just RGB lighting, this is also entirely syncing capable.

Which Model is Right For Me?

Well, this depends on exactly on where your priorities lie. We should note that although we tested these fans as CPU replacements, they are just as viable (and more aimed towards) chassis fans. It is, however, a bit hard to test a chassis fan in a comparative way. Our results should certainly not be indicative of our other CPU cooling results or methodologies.

The results produced are created under circumstances that will provide the best indication of fan performance, not for their application. The results are fairly logical in this regard.

Conclusion

While the high-performance fans are clearly impressive in the way they can shift the air, in truth, we were most impressed with the low-speed models. The 800rpm models provided surprisingly good temperature results, despite operating at speeds clearly lower than other models.

While the high-speed models certainly give the best performance, the noise levels required to create such a clear distinction will be a matter of consideration for many.

If we were to make a criticism of the range we tested, the middle 1200rpm speed fans seem to give the most inconsistent results. They are ok in some areas and not so much in others. It’s difficult to recommend them because, frankly, there’s nothing much to say about them.

In brief, if you are interested in these fans (and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be) while the high-performance models are truly excellent, we’d have to give a huge endorsement to the low-speed models. In terms of their rpm count, the results they give are highly impressive and surprisingly competitive with alternative models. It’s (nearly) all the performance, with a lot less of the drama!