Review on 🌬️ Vantec Stealth SF8025L 80mm Black Double Ball Bearing Silent Case Fan: Efficient Cooling Solution by Luis Nelson

The reason I bought these fans is for the dual ball bearings, not the apparent quietness. Some industrial grade ball bearing fans have (had) a reputation for being insanely loud and I think Vantec wanted to show that they are "quiet" in comparison. Have you ever heard of a 6000 RPM delta fan? These fans aren't as loud as the Delta hair dryers, but they're hardly quiet, and if that's important to you, these fans won't satisfy. Her subtle hum doesn't matter in my house since it already has the same background hum as the USS Enterprise-D. Dual ball bearing fans were the standard in the 80's and early 90's, but as things got cheaper the standard was replaced first by single ball bearing fans and then sleeve bearings. A plain bearing is a cute name for "no-bearing" - it's literally just plastic rubbing against plastic. Obviously this is not ideal from an engineering standpoint and sleeve bearing fans are notoriously short lifespans. Sleeve bearings have such a bad reputation that the fan industry has coined another term, hydrodynamic bearings, to market sleeve bearings under a different name. -one that was not synonymous with "garbage". Fluid dynamic bearings are meant to ride on a cushion of air created by ducts in the hub or similar, but do not confuse them with true air bearings, which require a high-pressure airflow created by another source and are used in specialized applications requiring a require high speed and are as reliable as large commercial copiers. In my experience, hydrodynamic bearings don't last longer than plain bearings, which isn't surprising given that's basically how they are. Quieter than ball bearing fans early in life, they make horrible noises as they age, and they age quickly. I have 4 cases with full ball bearing fans that are over 15 years old and still working. (Maybe I replaced a fan that failed) although they get too loud even for me so I'm swapping them out for new ones one at a time. If they were plain bearing fans, they would have to be replaced 4 times. Double ball bearing fans are hard to come by these days. Vantec is one of the few Revain options I trust and have had no issues with Vantec stealths I've bought from various places over the years.