be quiet Light Wings ARGB 120mm/140mm Fan Review

Testing – Revisiting the be quiet Pure Base 500DX 

Last year, we reviewed be quiet’s Pure Base 500 Deluxe enclosure, and since then it has become the home of our SSD testing rig. For our fan tests today, we have taken our SSD testing rig and replaced its fans with be quiet’s new Light Wings ARGB fans. 

Below is what the case looked like before the change. 
  

  
Installing be quiet’s Light Wings ARGB fans

Installing these new fans is a simple process, all you need to do is remove your existing fans, mount be quiet’s light wings with their supplied screws, and connect their 4-pin PWM connector to your motherboard or (fan controller) and the fan’s ARGB fan connector to your motherboard’s 5V ARGB header (as seen below).

If you bought the fan as part of be quiet’s triple pack, things will be a little more complex, as you may need to connect be quiet’s fan hub. Thankfully, this process is also simple. Mount the fan hub wherever you want, connect its 5V ARGB connector to your motherboard and then connect your fan’s ARGB fanc connector to the hub. Simple.  

  
  
Fan Control Software and Options

be quiet doesn’t have dedicated fan control software. be quiet isn’t interested in locking you into an RGB ecosystem, they just want to sell you quiet fans. This means that your ARGB software solution will depend on your motherboard (in most cases), which means that you will need to rely on the software that your motherboard maker has created. 

The good news is that this will make it easy for you to synchronise the lighting of your fans and motherboard. The bad news is that your lighting options may be limited depending on the quality of the software your motherboard maker has provided you. 

For us, we are not fans of the RGB look, where a rainbow is emitted from your system at all times and all style is overwhelmed by seemingly every conceivable colour in the universe. For us, RGB lighting’s main draw is colour options, allowing you to choose your favourite colour, and change it should you ever decide to. RGB is about user choice, and if that choice is rainbows… well… that’s your choice. 

  
  
Fan Control – Continued

be quiet’s ARGB fans can produce some beautiful lighting effects, and their diffusers do a great job at splitting the light provides by each fan;’s 20 LEDs. Unlike some other RGB options, it is hard to see exactly where each LED is located, especially when colour changing options are enabled. These are good looking fans, and it is clear that be quiet has put in a lot of effort to make these fans look good.