PC Review Forums Hardware User Reviews AeroCool Chameleon Case Fan

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Old 01-05-2005, 02:36 PM   #1
Raje
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Default AeroCool Chameleon Case Fan

AeroCool Chameleon Case Fan
Manufacturer: FMI
Mfg Part #: 060577
Product Number: 314036

Color will change at 26°C (78.8°F) from Blue to Orange.

Color will be completely changed at 33°C (91.4°F) and above.

Air Flow: 21.5 cfm
Cooling Fan Technology: Sleeve
Mounting: Internal (Chassis)
Noise Level: 20.3 dBa
Device Type: Case Cooling
In the Box: One 80mm fan, one 4-pin connector and four screws
Height: 25. mm
Width: 80 mm
Depth: 80 mm
Limited Warranty: 3 Months (90 days)

SO this is whats said on the box and all. Now I was not sure what to think of this fan. When I saw it i was very interested because constant monitoring of temperatures can be difficult. Plus, expensive. This was a fairly inexpensive alterantive, though a expensive fan. The fan was $12.99 US.

This fan is quiet, I swear once inside the case it was almost inaudible. What the box does not tell you is that it also had 4 blue led lights, which actually made me very happy to see, since I've been modding a lot lately. Now I decided to try this fan out as a processor fan. I wanted to make full use of this color changing fan. I mounted the fan on top of a solid copper thermaltake socket A heat sink, replacing the plain black MADDOG fan. It fit on perfect and screwed into place easily, as all fans do. I mounted the hit sink and fan and it fit, with no problem, even on my tiny motherbaord.

Pros: -4 Blue led lights
-Fan blades change color according to temperature
- Quiet
Cons: -3rd party fan, not listed as a CPU fan(a con for my situation)
- Color change chart only shows 5 images, cooler, cool, normal, warm, warmer with no temerature estimates.
- not an inexpensive fan

I wanted to see if this thing could keep the processor cool (AMD athalon 3200+ 32bit). I decided to connect it straight to the mother board so that the internal sensors would control the speed. I also turned the other five fans down to thier lowest setting.

I then went to a website that tests your system preformance (basically to really crank the system into gear). The fan ran like a dream in my opinon and took almost 30min before the color change became very noticable and about 40 min until the fan read "warm" It had turned orange with a tint of purple still leading me to beleive it was at a decent to warm temperature. What I wanted to see was how long it would take for the fan to switch to the higher speed. It never did. Also the color never turned more orange than it was. Leading me to beleive that either the new heat sink and fan combo do a fantastic job, or my motherboard cannot control the fan. I going to go with it doing a fantastic job because even the old 60mm fan and nickel heat sink rarely increased speeds.

As for finishing touch, I added a UV fan grill. The fan grill initially made the fan louder, not allowing it to draw as much air as it wanted. I decided to add some small washers between fan and grill to raise the grill a good 3-4 mm off the fan, the noise dropped dramatically, but still a tiny bit louder than before, still almost inaudible from my chair. I also turned on the rest of my case fans as they would normally be set. The fan blades became a more purple color, more closely matching the "normal" image.

I'm going to give this fan a 8 out of 10.

First off I used it a a processor fan, and the system is still running. It has the 4 leds and the color change ability. The color chart could have provided a little more detail, regaring what colors meant in temp range, I do not think "cool" cuts it. It was also an expensive fan in my opinion. I have decided to leave it on the processor, but i have turned on my other fans to thier normal settings. Othewise, if your looking for a fairly cheap way to monitor temperature easily I'd recomend giving this fan a try- do keep in mind that my processor does not heat up as much as the newer 64bit boards, and results will vary according to case and ventalation.
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Old 31-05-2005, 02:58 AM   #2
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hey reje where did you buy the fan from?? IM thinking about buying one Payday :-P but do they have ones that turn red when it gets hot? and blue normal would go with my case better well let me know liked the review for such a small item :-P very well done man

ANd by the way its 10.49 us on newegg.com and shipping 4.99 which equals 15.48 shipped and all is that good?
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Old 31-05-2005, 05:45 PM   #3
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As a matter of fact I bout my fan at CompUSA. They are all purple and turn orange but it has blue leds so should fit your case nicely. And I'm thankful someone FINALLY replied and besides, its looks blue if your not looking for purple , you know what I mean?
$12.99 at Comp USA --- I saw it on the fly and picked it up, if your near one then I'd say its worth the drive-- Cheaper this way to, in florida with tax it comes to ---just about $14.00 i think; so evens out with gas money... Your call
http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...4036&pfp=SEARCH
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Last edited by Raje : 31-05-2005 at 05:49 PM. Reason: spelling and grammer
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