Cooler Master Silencio FP 120 PWM Case Fan Review

Ever since I built my new PC I’ve had to put up with using the old case fans. Unfortunately, the one I originally put inside had begun to squeak -- it was eight years old and obviously past its shelf life. So I put the spare left over from the case, which wasn’t squeaking. However, it ran quite loudly, and headphones couldn’t always drown it out.

I bought a Cooler Master Silencio, because it claimed to be recommended for a silent PC, and given the decibels vibrating through my living room, I figured that was the best bet. When your cooling is drowning out the noise of your four kids, you know it’s an issue.

The fan itself feels nice and solid, and it spins very smoothly. There are a couple of arrows near to the power cable to let you know which way it spins, and which way the it pushes air. Don’t laugh, I really didn’t know...

The Silencio comes with four rubber anti-vibration screws, as well as four actual screws, so that you can mount it in a number of ways. I used the rubber screws to attach it behind my CPU cooler, to help the airflow out. It wasn’t as difficult to attach as my old one, although I had to remove my PSU to manage to grab the bottom left screw, and pull it out. It may have been easier to use the screws, if I’m perfectly honest, but there it is.

The cable is nice and long, compared to the old fans, so I had to wrap it around the fan chassis to keep it out of the way. The old cable only had to go around about a quarter of the old fan. I’ll be honest, my cable management leaves something to be desired…

Whilst running the PC is pretty quiet now, and according to the box the Silencio will at most register at 14 dBA when running its top speed of 1400RPM. It only has 0.36 W power consumption and weighs in at 158g, so really won’t negatively affect your rig in a big way. Of course, it’s the 120mm sized fan that I have, but the width is only 25mm which gives almost twice the gap between my CPU cooler and the fan, thereby increasing the airflow nicely.

Not being technically minded, I figured I would leave these figures here in case you were, and they affected your decision. Air Flow 38 CFM (64.5 m3/h) ± 10%, Air Pressure 1.2 mmH2O ± 10%.

If I had to buy another fan, it would probably be one of these. It’s doing a good job so far, and will apparently continue to do so for 18 years of constant use. Even taken with a grain of salt, it’s certainly going to outlive its five year warranty.