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Silverstone Air Penetrator SST AP181 Fan review

Silverstone really do deserve a lot of credit for the creation of the Penetrator fan, it is not just an effective design, but this company are clearly trying to push the boundaries of both chassis and fan design by spending a lot of R&D cash to emerge with creative new solutions.

While we have done all the real world testing today and explained how the technology has advanced fan design, the video above is a great visual indicator of exactly how the air flow has changed when compared to a traditionally design fan ethic.

The fan is not only well constructed and designed but you have the option of two speed settings. At low settings we were rewarded with low temperatures on the heatpipes during real world testing with the added benefit of virtually no noise at all. At high setting the noise became noticeable, but within a general enthusiast gaming chassis, 34dBa would be quieter than most CPU or chassis fans. This is a choice Silverstone have handed to the customer, and is something we like to see.

In the UK, the consumer cost is just under £15 inc vat which is clearly a very competitive price, especially for such a large fan with a radical new design implementation.

KitGuru says: If you are looking for a new chassis fan and your case can handle the size, then this should be on your shortlist.


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Rating: 9.0.

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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 !!