The text below is an extraction from the Corsair PR text:

3 things you need to know about the Corsair Fan series:

 

 

1) Design based on solid scientific research and engineering principles

The research in testing fans, done by the Corsair development team, showed that not many fans met the promised performance specifications. Corsair backs up their fan series, warranting the advertised performance, this based on their own solid research and sound engineering principles.

 

2) Corsair fans are accurate:

Again, via internal testing Corsair warrants that the specifications advertised, are identical to the performance the end consumer gets. No false claims, nor inaccurate listed specifications.

 

3) Two different designs: High Airflow & High Static-pressure:

Corsair developed fans specifically for use as case fans and a seperate range designed for best performance as Heat Sink Fans (HSFs) and liquid-coolers radiators.

• SP series: Static Pressure: designed for pushing air through the fins of heatsinks and liquid cooling radiators. Featuring 7 thick blades ready to move that air. Only available in a 120mm model.
  
  
• AF series: Air Flow: optimzed for high airflow in less obstructed environments such as case airflow fans. The blade design is finer then the SP series, 9 blades for the 120 models and 11 blades for the 140mm version.

 

High Air Flow on the left and the Static Pressure model on the right.

 

But Corsair didn't stop with these two models. For each series they included a high rpm aka High Performance or a slower rpm Quiet Edition model, so that the fan choice can be optimized to suit the end user's needs and ears.

Each fan of the Corsair Air Series has it's own custom designed fan housing, by creating a duct shape housing, the airflow is directed straight onto the target. In the picture below you can spot the user replaceable fan ring. Corsair includes a red, white and blue variant in the box.

 

 

 

 

The rubber corner inserts are a nice feature to reduce the vibration created by the fan motor thus limiting the noise transfer from the fan onto the enclosure. Securing the fan via screws is however not a problem, as tiny plastic inserts are integrated in the rubber housing. Nice design by the Corsair team!

Corsair tested their blade designs with this Longwin Testbench to assure the labelled performance matches the real life one.

 

The Air Air Flow series come in a 120 or 140mm version. In a single fan or duo pack outfit ( the latter retail at a slightly cheaper price per fan ) Quiet and Performance models for the 120 mm version, however only a Quiet edition for the 140mm model.

 

 

The SP ( Static Pressure ) series are only available in a 120mm model, again in Quiet and Performance configuration.

 

 

Some pictures to highlight the craftmanship from the Corsair design team...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our testbed comprises the following parts:

• ASUS Sabretooth X79 motherboard
• Intel i7-3960X OC'ed at 4500MHz 1.35Vcore
• G.Skill 16GB 2133MHz C9 rams
• Western Digital 1TB Green Caviar HDD
• 2 x ASUS Geforce GTX480 videocards
• Corsair HX1000W Power supply
• Corsair C70 Vengeance case

 

 

 

Prime95 is still our favourite CPU torture test. By selecting the Custom test and setting 12-12K we force the CPU to go straight flatout. After 30 minutes we verify in RealTemp the maximum load temperature results accross the 6 cores. For the idle temperatures we just let the sytem during 15 minutes warm up, practically doing nothing then just monitoring the temperatures. 

For the motherboard readouts we trust the ASUS Sabretooth Thermal Radar application, included in the AI suite. Reading out chipset, PWM, mobo temperatures, all these being monitored during the CPU torture test.

 

The GPU test comprises the PNY GTX 580 Xlr8 card, cooled by an Asetek all in one liquid cooling solution. The min and maximum temperature are logged via the GPU-Z sensor tab. Three loops of GPU tests in 3DMark Vantage are conducted. The output in the chart is the mean score of the three results.

Noise measurement done via Corsairs Reviewers' Guide, measuring the generated noise at 1 meter from the fan front. Fans were hooked up straight to a PSU via a molex adapter. Noise tests were only conducted at 12V.

 

 

First test case of the day is Alpenföhns Matterhorn Pure CPU cooler, a well balanced single fan air cooler, available at a very affordable price. Even though the Alpenföhn company is known for favorising the silent treatment then the performance aspect it is still interesting to see if we can improve this tower CPU cooler by adding one or two of our Corsair Static Pressure fans.

 

The fan Alpenföhn uses is from their own WingBoost PWM controlled series, spinning at a minimum of 500 and max up to 1500rpm. The results of the boxed fan are reflected by the stock fan results in the below chart.

 

 

Once we replace the WingBoost fan with the Quiet Edition ( QE ) of the Static Pressure series we can spot that the Corsair claims result in 2° Celsius lower loaded temperatures. If we add a 2nd QE fan the loaded temperatures drop even more. Take note that the Corsair fan is spinning at max rpm on the ASUS Sabretooth at a mere 1360rpm ( claimed 1450rpm by Corsair ). Swapping the QE fan for the High Performance ( PE ) version spinning at 2230rpm we see that one fan is enough to nibble of 5°C from the boxed version.  

 

Test case number two, the Croation Zalman XPS14 twin tower cooler. Equipped with one central 140mm silent type fan, running at max 1350 rpm. However has the ability to house two extra 120/140mm fans, for improved cooling performance.

 

 

 

Once we added the two Quiet Edition Static 120mm pressure fans, we see this cooler kicking some serious butt. The i7-3960X operating temperatures remain 3 degrees lower then when just running the XPS14 with it's stock cooler. With the QE fans the cooling setup remains at an acceptable noise level. Though for those that look for maximum performance, the High Performance fans spinning at 2230rpm, cool close to 6°C better when stress testing our testbed. So far for the air coolers. Let's find out if Corsair's own Hydro 80, equipped out of the box with two high speed fans, get's a cooling performance bump, if we swap them noisy fans with the brand new Air Series.

 

The Hydro80 is one of Corsairs' most popular all in one liquid solution cooling kits, ssporting good performance and great case compatibility. However when running the included fans at full blast, the noise level generated gets housewife unfriendly. The pump unit has got a speed control button, which has three preset settings: low, balanced and maximum performance. Thus adjusting the fan speed accordingly. We test the H80 unit at the Balanced and High Performance preset. This as the Low preset is out of the comfortable zone with our 3960X hexacore based testbed.

First up the Balanced results:

 

 

Equipped with the two stock fans the Hydro 80 can keep up with a good air cooler, but once we installed the two Quiet Edition fans we observed a serious cooling performance drop. Cooling 6°C worse then the two included fans was not really living up to our expectations. Quickly swapping them with the High Speed Performance fans showed that these are where the Air fan series show their true colours. A 4° Celcius gain at a lower noise level, now that is what we call technological progress. It seems clear that the far slower QE fans don't cut it with our test setup, the fan speed is too low to beat the performance of the older, but far more noisier fans. Let's dial in Perfomance mode and recheck what happens.

 

 

 

Even at the H80's performance setting, the Quiet Edition fans are far from a perfect match with the Hydro 80 all-in-one cooling unit. The Performance Editon fans stay in front of the boxed fans with a 3°C gap. Take note that the boxed and PE fans are running at a similar rpm level (2230rpm region). The new housing and fan blade design seems to pay off, better cooling and less noise generated.

Let's test a Graphics card, equipped with an Asetek GPU cooling unit. Sporting a similar design as Corsair's older Hydro 50 CPU coolers. The PNY GTX580 comes with a factory OC.

 

We sticked to the basic PNY installation method, with the cooler sucking out hot air via the aft of the case. This too avoid dumping the hot air, generated by the overclocked GTX 580 graphics core, inside the case.

 

 

By using the Quiet Edition Static pressure fan we were able to drop the GPU temperatures by 2°C while running a 3 loop 3DMark Vantage. The temperatures were monitored by running GPU-Z in the background, keeping track of min and maximum temperatures. By using the Performance Edition of the Corsair Air Series fans we get a nice 5°C temp reduction.

Now let's test the air flow fans in Corsair's own Vengeance C70 case. While we liked the sleek design and features of the C70 case, a top fan was seriously lacking to draw out the hot trapped air. We swapped all the original boxed fans with the Air flow series Quiet Edition fans. Secondly we opted to position the two 120mm fans in front of the HDD bay, instead of the C70's setup with the fans at the rear of the HDD bays.

 

 

Biggest temperature difference is made by adding a 140mm fan in the top of the Vengeance C70 case. This one draws out the hot air, that is generated by the X79 Sabretooth's PWM area. Overal dropping the PWM temperature by a nice 6°C. If we opted to install the fan to blow ambient air on the PWM area, we got the PWM area temp hoovering steady around 80° Celcius. The rest of the used hardware parts hardly benefit form the newly installed fans, meaning that the Corsair engineers did an okay job with selecting the boxed coolers.

 

Noise Measurements:

We measured the generated noise at 1m distance from the fan intake. In the chart we included the stock fans of the CPU, GPU and case fans. The measured results can be found in the below chart:

 

 

Loudest fan is without doubt is the high speed fan of the Corsair Hydro 80 all-in-one cooling unit. If we compare it with the highest performing Static Pressure version of the Air Series, we spot a 10dBa difference.  Similar outcome compared to the other fans, just the C70 case fans and the Alpenföhn WingBoost fan are already dead silent out of the box. However better cooling performance at a similar or lower noise level, mission accomplished !

The Fremont giant is well on the way to have one of the most diverse gammas in hardware. Starting off initially as a pure RAM company, the addition of CPU coolers, cases, power supplies, SSD's, peripherals and now optional fans tell the tale.

With the Air fan series Corsair obtain a solid lineup in that department, particularly the difference between the Static Pressure and the Air flow makes picking a fan for a specific purpose far easier then wading through all them technical and sometimes confusing spec sheets.

The claims made by the Corsair PR department got confirmed during the testing. The Static Pressure versions are very high performance, yet remain at a far more comfortable noise level then most of the boxed fans.

 

 

The Static Pressure Quiet Editions are a perfect fit for air coolers, offering a good balance between cooling performance and noise. However if you are using an all-in-one cooling solution, the High Performance SP versions are the only way to go. Equipped with two SP High Performance fans, our Hydro 80 was far more enjoyable during the stress testing. Even when selecting the Hydro's medium profile, the cooling capacity still nicely improved and the noise level got less, but testing with the Quiet Edition fans showed mediocre performance compared to the noisy boxed versions.

For the Air flow fans we observed minor improvements in our test setup when swapping the original Vengeance C70 fans. Biggest improvement was installing a top 140mm fan to exhaust the hot air coming from the PWM area. The other fans were more of an enhancement in the visual department. The changeable ring inserts will offer casemodders a nice professional looking finishing touch.

 

 

Too bad corsair didn't include a 4 pin PSU molex to 3 pin adapter in the kits or even a splitter cable in the duo packs would be a welcome accessoire.

 

Price wise these Air Fans are in the 15 euro zone for a single fan or sub 29 euros for the duo packs. Not really cheap, but the design, performance, noise level and on top of that, the 2 year warranty make them worth every penny.

 

For their excellent performance Madshrimps awards the Static Pressure Performance Edition the Performance award:

 

The entire Air Series, due to their specific design, customizability, performance versus noise ratio and the 2 year warrranty, obtain the Novelty award:

 

 

 

Thanks to Gareth from Corsair for sending us the Air Series fans to equip the Vengeance C70 case.