Thermaltake SWAFAN 12 & 14 RGB Radiator Fan Kit Review

Getting to have a look at the newest products to market is always exciting and today is one of those days as Thermaltake has sent over the SWAFAN 14 & 12 kit(s) optimised for radiators, and with their unique features, we’re sure they are going to have your attention. HINT: “SWAFAN” is shortened from “swappable fan blades”.
Read on to find out if this kit justifies its “premium edition” branding and price tag.

Thermaltake SWAFAN 12 & 14 RGB Radiator Fan Kit: Specifications

Features

• Swappable fan blade design (package includes 3 additional reverse fan blades)
• Customisable air flow directions without losing any RGB lighting
• Enhanced cooling performance with a maximum fan speed of up to 2000 RPM
• Three individual RGB rings with 30 ultra-bright addressable LEDs
• Detachable hydraulic bearing design

Thermaltake SWAFAN 12 & 14 RGB Radiator Fan Kit: Closer Look

In the “typical” Tt fashion, they have packaged up the SWAFAN 14 & 12 kits in their usual black box fashion with a good photo of the product and highlighted selling points. Overall the box does a great job of product promotion and looks premium. More importantly, it does a great job of making sure the product itself arrives safe and sound.

Internally, the three SWAFAN fans, additional reverse flow fan blades, and all other accessories are packaged neatly. However, we would have preferred to see those plastic fan trays replaced with cardboard trays or boxes, even if it increases the cost slightly due to the extra complexity, within reason.
Unboxing the accessories: we find three sets of case and 30mm radiator mounting screws (individually bagged), a 4th generation Tt fan controller, with power cable with a MOLEX connector, a USB internal header to dual Micro-A connector cable, and a separate bridge cable, which is used to daisy chain fan controllers. Finally, a syringe of shaft lubricant is included to lubricate the fan shaft when needed.

Looking closely at the 4th generation fan controller, we can see a stamped logo on the top of the unit and three of the five fan connectors on the top edge.

The opposite side has the latter two fan connectors. The left side houses the USB Micro-A connector and the 4-pin bridge cable connector. This connector is used to connect to an additional controller with the ability to bridge 16 controller boxes in total.

The right side has the power connector, which uses the “old-school” floppy connector and terminates at using a MOLEX connector, which is a disappointing connector choice as SATA power connectors have been the go-to for a while now.
The bottom of the box reveals the dip switches which are used to set the controller box number when more than one is being used. Refer to the manual which clearly guides you on what switch to set for the box number you wish to use.

Taking a closer look at the SWAFAN 14 and 12, we can see three addressable LED light rings in total. Two on the front and 1 on the rear of each fan with a total of 30 LEDs per fan. 12 on the front, 6 in the middle, and 12 on the rear.
Something I am really impressed with is the attention to detail on the SWAFAN 14/12 kits. They all have a braided material wrapped around the cables which I have to say helps with aesthetics for sure, but they also give the cables a bit more durability as well assisting cable management; they’re more rigid than bare cables and they should stand up well to a less-than-ideal environment, such as bare edges of cable management holes, sharp components and such.
The corners all have anti-vibration rubber mounts as standard, which help stop vibrations from being passed on to radiators or the case. Something now found on all of Thermaltake’s premium fans.
The fans terminate into a USB2.0 internal header connector (or a proprietary connector that looks very similar) instead of a typical 3 or 4-pin connector. This is to ensure they work exclusively and properly with the provided TT 4th gen fan controller.

The LEDs are really bright, and the light ring does a great job of diffusing the light overall. The middle light light ring which sits around the edge of the fan bearing does a really good job of putting a decent amount of light into the fan blades themselves which adds to the overall lighting of the fans in a very positive way.

With the SWAFAN 14 & 12 kits being Thermaltake’s new flagship product, it’s time to discuss the point of the SWAFAN branding. The highlight of the SWAFAN kits is that the fan blades themselves are swappable. Thermaltake includes two sets of fans which are very easily swappable to change the direction of the airflow through that fan instead of removing and rotating a fan like usual. It also has the unintended added benefit of being able to clean the fan blades easier as they are removable. Notice that the fans also have different coloured labels, the black label is a standard fan blade used for air intake through the fan and the silver label is the reverse fan blade which reverses the flow pulling air through the ‘back’ of the fan.

The detachable hydraulic fan bearing is clearly visible here as well as the fan motor. Thermaltake recommends using the included shaft lubricant every 3 to 4 times the fan blades are exchanged.
Turning over the fan itself shows the fan shaft itself. It has a satisfying click letting you know you’ve installed the fan correctly.

Thermaltake SWAFAN 12 & 14 RGB Radiator Fan Kit: Installation

Installing the SWAFAN 14 and 12 kits went without much issue. We made the decision to mount each fan to the case for ease, but they will just as easily mount to a radiator with the included screws.

The cables are sized to fit into even the largest of cases, but fitting into our Thermaltake Divider 500 TG Air Snow mid-tower case the cable length went from the top to the bottom with length to spare, making it easy to connect to the fan controller boxes and hide everything away on the floor of the case with no issues.

Turning on the computer and the light show is immediately started. The SWAFAN 14 and 12 kits look stunning installed in the case and will add immeasurable RGB goodness to any build.

Thermaltake SWAFAN 12 & 14 RGB Radiator Fan Kit: Tt RGB Plus 2.0 Software

The software package used to control the fans in the SWAFAN 14 and 12 kits isn’t new to us, and we like the fact they bundle it into the TT RGB Plus 2.0 software package, as it’s an all-in-one package that can also control other Thermaltake products like the TOUGHLIQUID Ultra 360 AIO we reviewed recently.

The software package allows the user to select what fans and where they are positioned on the controller on the first page. Thermaltake recommends a maximum of 3 SWAFANs be connected per controller, so make sure all controllers are used per pack. This is due to the 5v power cable limitation and is also the reason they are sold in packs of 3.

As you can see above, three fans are connected per controller.

The MY PC window opens up the fan control profiles. From here, the Silent and Performance speed modes can be selected. Using these profiles we recorded 630rpm and 2000rpm respectively. A PWM mode is also available which runs alongside the speed profile and increases and decreases the fan speed depending on the CPU load to provide additional cooling at the cost of noise. Speaking of noise, at full speed the fans are certainly audible but not annoyingly so, and at 33db, all 6 fans were pushing a lot of air through the case.

Finally, the lighting tab offers a whole bunch of lighting customisation. From individual LED colours per fan to a truckload of pre-made effects to select from. Of course, you can make your own customisations or just set a static colour should you wish for something more understated.

Thermaltake SWAFAN 12 & 14 RGB Radiator Fan Kit: The Verdict

Having used the SWAFAN 14 and 12 kit in our test bench for the last week we’re pleased to report they work fantastically well. Especially considering they’ve been used as airflow fans and not radiator fans are they’re intended.
The build quality is solid, with a strong matt black plastic that contrasts the LED strips/diffusers and fan blades perfectly. The LEDs are some of the brightest we’ve ever seen and light up the entire fan. They really do look premium in the test bench.

These fans excel in the cooling department too. Even when ramped up under load and whilst certainly being audible at the full 2000rpm they were not at all loud. The PWM and Performance profile was used in the Tt RGB Plus software to control the fan speed depending on CPU load.

So, the Thermaltake SWAFAN 14 and 12 kit performs well in the cooling department, has a decent software package designed around them that is simple and easy to use.
It’s fair to say that these are some of the nicest looking and brightest RGB LED fans money can buy.

Let’s not forget that the new flagship product can change the fan blades to control the direction of the airflow. This also has the added benefit of not having to remove the fan at all, the blade is easily removable, which also removes having to potentially remove radiators making life just a little bit easier.

It also gives you the added flexibility of being able to easily control airflow in the case to fix issues with positive and negative air pressures.
Finally, the fans can now also be installed in a less traditional pull configuration inside the case attached to a radiator but still show off all the RGB goodness you’d typically only get on the front of the fan. Simply put the reverse fan blades on to pull air through the radiators and still get awesome RGB inside the case. Win, win!

With all these premium features comes a premium price. Though that being said, at £89.99 for both the SWAFAN12 and SWAFAN14 kits at Scan UK it’s considerably cheaper than kit prices we’ve seen from Thermaltake before (Tt Riing Quad 12 Review). Making these premium fan kits a more attractive consideration.

Finally, onto awards. The Thermaltake SWAFAN14 and SWAFAN12 kits walk away with our Gold award which is well deserved. Both kits work perfectly and the fans look and perform to the highest standard.

We’re really hoping to see case airflow variants in the not-too-distant future!

What’s hot:

• Excellent LED illumination.
• The ability to have 16 controllers working simultaneously.
• Swappable fan blades to control airflow direction.

What’s not:

• Premium product comes with a premium price tag.
• The ability to only use 3 SWAFANs per controller when it has 5 ports due to power restrictions from the…
• MOLEX connector?!

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