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The SilverStone Air Penetrator AP181 is the 180mm big brother to the 120mm AP121 fan that we recently reviewed and awarded a perfect ten score and an Editors Top Pick. Both fans have a unique fan blade design with an air channeling grille permanently attached to the front. The resulting focused air column is said to be able to push through typical case obstacles to provide better cooling performance. The fans are meant to be used as intake fans and promote the positive air pressure philosophy.

The AP181 is an excellent upgrade option. SilverStone's own Raven, Raven 2, Fortress FT01, FT02 and the upcoming SG07 SFF case all use this size fan and the speed switch will integrate seemlessly into these cases. The AP181 can be run at either 700rpm or 1200rpm using the in-line switch.

Specs

SilverStone Air Penetrator

AP181 Fan

The AP181 at the lowest speed is nearly silent yet still pushes a fair amount of air. The high fan setting will provide a huge airflow advantage but at the cost of fan noise. Your other component fans will most likely drown out any sound from the AP181, so we wouldn't mark these down for that factor. The omission of fan accessories is our only gripe. The AP181 still receives our Top Pick because they will make a positive impact on case temps when swapped for the older fan designs. MSRP for the AP181 is $23.99.

6/22/10 -Keith Soreghen-

Packaging

Conclusion

The AP181 has a plain package design and no accessories. The lack of mounting screws and molex fan plug adapter is curious. The fans would probably be used to replace an existing SilverStone case fan and you would be able to reuse the fan screws that come with the case, but it would still be nice to see these included so you could also install these in another brand case if desired.

Air Penetrator Fan demonstration

The video below is a SilverStone test using the AP121 fan which is the 120mm version. The AP121 and AP181 have a similar design and should have similar results.

The AP121 (left) and the AP181

The front of the AP181

The fan speed switch can be installed in place of the stock one in cases like the Raven, Raven 2, or Fortress 2.

The back of the AP181

The Fortress 2 fan switches