At first we would like to thank GELID for sending out their Silent Pro 14 PWM Case Fans for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About GELID:

 

“GELID Solutions

The English word "gelid" is derived from the Latin word “gelidus” (extremely cold, icy).

 

GELID Solutions Ltd. is a Hong Kong based company with Swiss Management and founded in 2008 by Gebhard SCHERRER and VC TRAN. Both have worked in the PC Cooling industry for a number of years and successfully built up an IT company with their expertise.

 

GELID designs and manufactures packaging, thermal solutions, CPU coolers, fans, and other computer hardware for both gamers and silent enthusiasts and for international OEM and ODM customers. We provide computer hardware distributors, retailers and system integrators with innovative, virtually silent, high- performance and top quality thermal solutions with unique design and packaging.

 

Design, quality and innovation are key. And, being Swiss, we leave nothing to chance. That's why we provide a total solution – from bearings to thermal compound, from design to shipping, from the molding of the fan to the print on the box – with state-of-the-art machines and experienced staff.

 

Our Vision:

 

Combine quality and ingenuity to set the standard in creating best- in- class products for global computer enthusiasts

 

As their latest venture, GELID Solutions Ltd. is a privately owned limited liability company with a registered share capital of HKD 1’000’000. Strategically based in Hong Kong, “Asia’s World City”, it enjoys an unrivalled location at the geographical and economic center of Asia. For our customers, this means easy and quick access to our vast manufacturing base in mainland China.”

 

Product Features:

 

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)

Silent Operation w/ Rubber Fan Mounts

Optimized Fan Blades

High Airflow & High Static Pressure

Long Lifetime (50'000 h MTTF at 40°C)

5 Years Warranty

 

Product Specifications:

 

 

GELID Solutions has been for quite some time in the PC cooling business and recently the company portfolio has expanded in order to include other products too. In the current article we will focus our attention upon one of their latest products, the Silent Pro 14 PWM fan. The product includes a new PWM IC which eliminates the clicking noise of regular fans and when connected to a motherboard, the speed can regulate from 450RPM up to 1500RPM, depending on the mobo PWM setup.

 

The product ships inside a themed cardboard enclosure, with a small window so we can see how the fan does look like without the need of unsealing the package:

 

 

 

The back side can be checked out for a product description and here we also have the list of technical specifications:

 

 

 

The main product features are represented with icons on the lateral sides:

 

 

 

 

What items do we have inside? Well, there is the obvious Silent Pro 14 PWM fan along with the bundle, which is placed in a separate transparent plastic bag:

 

 

 

A sticker is available which each of the fans in order to mount it on the case:

 

 

 

We also get a set of rubber fan mounts which are easy to install:

 

 

 

The Silent Pro 14 does come with Hydro Dynamic Bearing system and 9 white blades, optimized for high airflow and silent operation. While the fan is a 140mm design, the mounts are compatible with 120mm design. The problem is that if we need to install the fan on 280mm radiators or cases which do only have 140mm hole mounts, we need to purchase some adapters which are not coming along with the product:

 

 

 

 

Here is a look on the back side of the fan, which also exposes the central sticker with technical specs:

 

 

 

 

A closer view at the fan shows the areas where the rubber mounts will get installed:

 

 

 

 

For extra durability and good cable management, we get braided cables:

 

 

 

The cable also ends with a black 4-pin PWM connector:

 

 

 

In order to test the Silent Pro 14 PWM fans, we are using again the InWin 909 case along with the Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC fans combination in order compare the cooling performance:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Test Bench:

-BIOSTAR Z170GT7 Motherboard

-Intel Skylake 6700K CPU @ 4.6GHz 1.285V inside UEFI

-Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4 2666MHz C16 Memory

-NZXT Kraken X60 All-in-One Water Cooler for the CPU

-HIS Radeon R9 390X

-Creative Sound Blaster ZxR + daughter-board

-AMD Radeon R7 240GB SSD

-SAMSUNG HD204UI 2TB drive

-Toshiba MG04ACA400A 4TB drive

-NEXUS 1.1KW Gold PSU

-InWin 909 Case

 

Before installing the fan onto the case mounts, we have attached the rubber accessories:

 

 

 

The next step was to mount the fans as intake on our InWin 909 case adapters:

 

 

 

Four Silent Pro 14 PWM fans were mounted as intake, while two NF-A4 industrialPPC 12V 140mm were cooling the NZXT radiator:

 

 

 

Multiple tests followed, with the following configurations:

 

 

Test 1: 4xNF-A4 industrialPPC 24V 140mm as intake, 2x NF-A4 industrialPPC 24V 140mm on the radiator (silent profile)

Test 2: 4xNF-A4 industrialPPC 24V 140mm as intake, 2x NF-A4 industrialPPC 24V 140mm on the radiator (performance profile)

Test 3: 4xNF-A4 industrialPPC 24V 140mm as intake, 2x NF-A4 industrialPPC 12V 140mm on the radiator (silent profile)

Test 4: 4xNF-A4 industrialPPC 24V 140mm as intake, 2x NF-A4 industrialPPC 12V 140mm on the radiator (performance profile)

Test 5: 4xGELID Silent Pro 14 PWM 140mm as intake, 2x NF-A4 industrialPPC 12V 140mm on the radiator (silent profile)

Test 6: 4xGELID Silent Pro 14 PWM 140mm as intake, 2x NF-A4 industrialPPC 12V 140mm on the radiator (performance profile)

 

 

 

During the tests, the intake GELID Silent Pro 14 PWM fans ran at full speed (as the Noctua NF-A4 industrialPPC models).

For you to get a general idea about the sound produced by these fans, we have taken some measurements with the sound meter, which was placed 30cm in the front of the fan, at a 45 degree angle:

 

GELID Silent Pro 14 PWM

 

The new Silent Pro 14 case fans from Gelid did impress us positively because they are able to drive plenty of airflow while staying silent enough. The PWM feature means that it is not mandatory to have them connected to a fan controller in order to regulate the speed, but the fan RPM will be modified continuously based on the load of the system, when plugged in to the motherboard; PWM profiles can be also altered via the system BIOS in order to have a perfect balance between noise and cooling performance.

 

For installing the case fans, Gelid has supplied with each product four rubber mounts which are easy to work with. What we are missing inside the box are the 140mm hole mount adapters, since these fans use the same mounting hole form factor as 120mm fans.

 

The white/black color scheme of the fans make them perfect for installation inside black or white case setups with a window but if you are also looking for fancy LED lights, then you may need to check out other models.

 

Gelid did not use insane pricing on this model, so the reviewed design can be purchased for about 9.25 Euros.

GELID Silent Pro 14 PWM Case Fans are Recommended For:

 

 

 

We would like to thank GELID for making this review possible!