Alphacool Core 140 2500RPM Review

Introduction

While the Core 140 2000RPM managed to slightly elevate the Core 140 lineup noise-to-performance ratio compared to the smaller models. Now let's find out if the 2500RPM model can push this even further!

What's in the Box?

Unlike most Fans we had a look at before, Alphacool's Core 140 series comes in the most OEM packaging possible.

Hidden inside a simple white box we will find the Fan and nothing but the Fan.

Therefore, BEWARE, there are not even screws included with this fan. For people building PCs on a regular basis, this may not be a huge issue as it's quite normal to accumulate a small mountain of regular fan screws over time. For first-time builders or people who only build PCs every few years, you might need to keep this in mind and get them beforehand. 

Other than the white color, the box is kept simple to a degree at which the sticker on the lower left corner is the only thing enabling your to keep the boxes apart.

Installation

Installing an Alphacool Core 140mm fan without any preparation might become quite an obstacle without any included screws.

However, once you got some, may it be because you have a dedicated bag full of them, or purchased them, installing the fan is as easy as it is for any other fan out there.

Position the fan, screw in the 4 screws, done.

To make the fan spin we just need to connect the 40cm long PWM cable to one of the available case fan headers on the motherboard and we are good to go. 

Appearance

Similarly to the 120mm lineup, the new Core 140mm fans are staying true to their own name.

Being all "Core" means no unnecessary extras. Every aspect of the fan is kept as simple as possible while only concentrating on delivering a High-Performance. 

The Fan itself, as well as every one of its details, is coming in an all-black finish. All around the fan, simplicity is king. Therefore there is no rubber around the screw holes, no accent colors, nothing that could catch somebodies attention. The most detailed aspect of the frame can be found on the corners, which have extra reinforcements for additional strength.

In contrast to the 120mm lineup, the 140mm immediately switches both the bearing and the wing design. For the bearing, the fluid dynamic had to be let go in favor of a dual ball bearing. The Wing design got a change in form of a 7-Wing design with quite thick wings. Although it's definitely a change compared to the previously used 11-Wing design, this is also a tried and tested one. Surprisingly similar to what we would see on Noctua's 140mm A-line of fans, we can already prepare ourselves for quite some performance.

Benchmark

We tested Alphacool's new Core series 140mm fan spinning at max 2500RPM in our usual hybrid Case-almost-Heatsink benchmark machine.

Letting the Fans spin at their max speed, they managed to keep the CPU at 38.1°C above ambient. A fantastic result. This catapulted the 2500RPM 140mm version to the very top of the list making it perform just like an Arctic P12 Max.

On the Noise to Performance ratio, the 2500RPM version performs roughly similarly compared to the 2000RPM one. The main difference comes in form of the enormous Performance overhead that the seemingly small difference of 500RPM did.

Conclusion

Overall, the 2500RPM Core 140mm fan is the next logical step. Having all of the benefits that the 2000RPM version created, we were happy to see that the fan Wing design change did not have a negative impact on the Noise-to-performance ratio. 

In the end, the 2500RPM version seems to be just as good as the 2000RPM, but it comes with a performance overhead big enough to make it perform like an Arctic P12 Max. 

Of course, it is in no way shape or form as noise efficient as the more expensive Arctic counterpart, but given its 7.99€ price tag, it is still very much acceptable.

Considering everything mentioned above, we don't see any reason to not recommend the Core 140mm 2500RPM. Of course, it's not going to be the quietest experience if turning at high speeds, but as long as it spins at realistic speeds for a case fan, it becomes an interesting option, even for gaming PCs.