Phanteks T30 case fan in the test – surprise on the dark side of power

Turned up, mowed down and sewn back on – so you really shouldn’t stick your fingers in there at 3000 rpm. However, the new Phanteks T30 are still quiet enough even at full rotation to grandiose underestimate the cutting resistance of the rotor blades and the force behind them. Yes, they can do something (except very loud), I can spoil that in advance. And in places they even bring tears to our eyes with so much headwind. But enough of the preliminary praise, now it will be discussed and tested first.

With Sunon, Phanteks relies on an experienced OEM who is also popular with small fans in 3D printers, for example, and who can also cover very large speed ranges in the OEM area. What is particularly interesting here is the very rare thickness of the fan of 30 instead of 25 mm, which of course also offers greater leeway in terms of the rotor blade geometry. However, when installing, you have to make sure that you also need more space in the depth. The torsion-resistant rotor (and frame) made of LCP (I’ve already written something about my fingers) is joined by a high-speed 3-pole motor with six coils, whose PWM control is a bit tricky and whose pulling force is almost brutal.

You can let it run from 280 rpm or unbraked at up to 3000 rpm or limit it to 2000 or even only 1200 rpm using a small dip switch. Then the set value is, for example, what you can set the motherboard to be 100% PWM. You can argue about the meaning, because such a broadband fan is actually almost a luxury good if it performs as well or perhaps better than the reference at 2000 rpm and can still add a little extra in an emergency.

The magnetic levitation bearing (MagLev) is perfectly fine, as are the gaps. The power consumption is a bit more generous at full engine speeds of over 4 watts, but power comes from fuel. There is no RGB, not even at an additional cost. You can safely afford the 6 year guarantee with the built-in technology, so you give it too. The almost 30 euros are more or less appropriate for the features and performance, but more on that later in the conclusion.

On the next page you can see how and what we test and why. Understanding the details is extremely important in order to be able to classify the results objectively later. The differences between many models are more in the details and the best fan for all situations can hardly exist. There is a certain optimum in every situation and of course there are also good all-rounders. But they usually have their price. If you are planning specifically with 60 mm radiators, for example, you can perhaps save money by choosing the best model for your application, which might not do so well as a case fan. And vise versa, of course.

For your curiosity, I also have the original data sheet at hand:

The fan is currently not in stock, but it is already listed by the distributor and is being sold: