Xilence XPF120X.B.PWM Review

Introduction

Let's have a closer look at Xilences newest XPF120X.B.PWM fan, the fan for every use case. Used on their new AIO, Air Cooler, and as an independent case fan, it seems to be the perfect fan for everything! Let's find out more!

What's in the Box?

Xilence's newest all-rounder fan comes in rather a conservative package. A plain white box with the usual amount of Xilence color palette. 

Inside, we will find the XPF120X fan itself as well as a set of case fan screws for installation.

Although there is a short spec sheet on the box itself, we summarized it down below:

Installation

Installing Xilence's newest fan is nothing different from most other fans. Position the fan, screw in all 4 screws and connect the 450mm long PWM cable to a free case fan header on the motherboard, done.

Appearance

With their XPF120X, Xilence definitely tried to strip the ties to their older approaches.

Instead of the iconic, yet slightly outdated red color scheme, their newest approach focuses on simplicity and stealthiness.

Looking from every angle, the Fan is kept exceptionally simple with an all-black fan frame, inner Wings, and rubber corners around each screw hole.

The only noticeable optical aspect would be the Xilence Logo in the center of the fan.

However, instead of just going for a simple sticker, the Logo is stamped out using a slightly touchy- metal feeling piece. It might be just a small step in a large production but gives you quite a good feeling about the quality of the fan.

Overall we would describe the fan as being on the upper shelf when it comes to fan quality. Everything feels rather sturdy and doesn't bend too easily. Comparable, or even a bit above an Arctic P12.

For the wings, Xilence went with a 9 slightly bend wing design. However, in contrast to most fans, the wings on here make another strong bend upwards as they reach the outer border. An interesting design whose performance needs to be tested.

Benchmark

We benchmarked the Xilence XPF120X on top of our usual benchmark machine.

Letting the fan spin at its full 1500RPM allowed the CPU to be cooled down to 52.6°C above ambient.

This positions it next to Arctic's BioniX F120 and Arctic P12 ARGB.

Overall, the XPF120 landed roughly where we would expect the average Case fan to land. 

Compared to their previous attempts, Xilence made quite some advances. Scoring 6.5°C below their previous XPF120 fan proves that Xilence did quite some things right!

Over on the noise-to-performance side, we can see that there is still a lot to be done.

Although Xilence's XPF120X performed comparably to Bitspower's Griffin or Arctic's P12, they are still very far away from Benchmark toppers such as Noctua's NF-A12x25.

Conclusion

Overall we do not see anything wrong with Xilence's new XPF120X.B.PWM.

Sure, it is not a benchmark breaker like Lian Li's Uni SL Infinity fans, but it was never intended to be one.

Being aimed at the budget-customer market, the performance reflects exactly that. 

The new XPF120X performs like a relatively good case fan, with a relatively good noise-to-performance ratio. Sure it could be a bit quieter, and sure it could be a bit better performing, however, it could also be much more expensive.

As of writing this review, Xilence's XPF120X.B.PWM can be found for as little as 7€. And its performance definitely fits into this window.

For the quality, however, we even believe that it is quite above what we would expect from that price segment.

Therefore, if you are looking for a reliable, but higher-quality case fan that performs as it should, we can absolutely recommend the XPF120X.