Home / Component / Cooling / Silverstone Air Penetrator SST AP181 Fan review

Silverstone Air Penetrator SST AP181 Fan review

The Silverstone Air Penetrator SST AP181 fan arrives in a cardboard box which is actually offering much more protection than a standard ‘clear package' design we are used to seeing.

The rear of the box focuses on specifications and includes an illustration of the airflow methodology incorporated, we obviously covered this in detail on the last page.

The fan is an impressive looking unit with two cables emitting from the center. One is a simple header connector for a motherboard and there is also a switch included for a low and high speed setting.

The rear of the chassis shows the seven blade design in all its glory.

The blades connect with the hub and you can notice there is a slightly raised ridge just before they enter into the central area – this is to help focus the air.

This header connects to a switch so the user can toggle between 700 and 1,200 rpm for either improved airflow or lower noise.

Two final shots of the fan from both front and rear angled positions. Now its time for the all important testing.

Become a Patron!

Check Also

MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi Review

MSI's MPG X870E Carbon WiFi is packed with features, including the headline USB4 ports and WiFi 7

14 comments

  1. great to see a company creating something different!

  2. I found the technical elements of that review very interesting indeed, didnt know half of the airflow systems with ordinary fans

  3. They are really only charging 3-4 more than a traditional fan of the same size, thats pretty good marketing from Silverstone.

  4. How can you not like Silverstone as a company. the Raven 02 design and now these fans. So much high quality products reviewed on this site, its as if you filter though all the crap no one wants to see, thanks!

  5. Impressive design and I also found the overview of the technology very interesting to read. A lot of great work has gone into this product.

  6. very solid design, was interested to see how ordinary fans work, and the smoke video on the last page was a good representation of how the flow is generated upwards. very smart. Cant wait to see the review of the Raven03 here.

  7. Its always good to see a company such as silverstone trying to do something new with technology rather than akasa, who churn out £3 products for decades.

  8. Fung Wung Hung Long

    Just ordered three of these for my Raven 02. Cheap upgrade I reckon and I dont have much cash lately, so its something to play with 🙂

  9. £15 isn’t too bad, bit more than a normal fan, but I bet the R&D for this cost a lot.

  10. Frank Streamliner

    £15 isn’t too bad, bit more than a normal fan, but I bet the R&D for this cost a lot.

  11. I started reading this and saw 6 pages and almost shit myself. How could they write 6 pages about a fan??!

    Well clearly you could as I read the whole lot and thought it was one of the best fan articles ive read in recent years. I think Silverstone are onto a winner, bit concerned with the high speed noise though, I think their last fan design was around 28dBa under high speed settings, so clearly this new design can be slightly louder.

  12. Very nice looking new design, I may have to order 3 for the Raven 02

  13. Great Review, I will be grabbing 3 of these to replace the 180’s in my FT-02

  14. will also be grabbing 3 for my Raven 02 !!