Enermax D.F. Pressure Fans Reverse To Blast Away Dust

By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

Enermax' new fans will spin in reverse the first 10 seconds of each startup to clear out dust buildup. Neat!

It never ceases to amaze us about how filthy some PCs can become over time, and it seems that Enermax was so shocked at the number of dirty PC pictures on the Internet (you're welcome) that it decided to solve that problem. To do so, the Taiwanese manufacturer built the new D.F. Pressure fan, where "D.F." stands for "Dust Free."

In order to prevent the fans from collecting dust, Enermax set them to spin in reverse upon startup for 10 seconds at the maximum user-set speed. You can adjust the speed via a slider at one corner of the fan at 1000 RPM, 1500 RPM or 2000 RPM. The minimum speed is always 800 RPM.

If you do manage to get dust to collect, perhaps by never switching your PC off, the fan blades are detachable for easy cleaning, too. Enermax also designed the fan with high static pressure in mind, so the blade structure features nine blades that together push up to 4.812 mm of water. This makes the D.F. Pressure fans ideal for use on water cooling radiators.

The fans have a 4-pin connector for power, draw up to 3.6 w at full speed, and will make between 16 and 27 dBA of noise. Minimum airflow sits at 33.69 CFM, whereas at full speed, the fan can push up to 85.43 CFM.

Enermax did not announce pricing yet, but it did say that the D.F. Pressure fans will be available in May. Each unit will come with three sets of rubber dampers that are plain gray, red, and white to match your system.

Update, 4/28/16, 11:20am: Fixed typo.

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Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

Topics
Cooling
18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • heinlein
    Not trying to be a grammar nazi but I believe the word you wanted was "ceases"; although "It never seizes" would be a good thing for an engine.
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    I don't really get those kinds of fans, even if the fans go in reverse, dust still clings to the case. Maybe not as much dust, but it's still there.

    Now if those fans had built in dust filters right on them, that would be cool.
    Reply
  • sillynilly
    I am not sure how this will combat dust at all really. So it blows the dust back OUT of the case into the environment that the fan will then use to suck air back INTO the case? Am I missing something here? Seems like a wasted exercise since 10 seconds is not going to clean a PC that runs all day, every day. I like that the fins come off for cleaning - that is pretty cool.
    Reply
  • ansar
    Yeah, seems odd to me. I do like the removable blades though.
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    My MSI video card from 3 years ago does this too. It is not of much help since the system is on 24/7.

    I think the smoother blades pick up less dust.
    Reply
  • beoir
    Buy 75 micron screens from McMaster Carr and make some dust screens. Clean them periodically. No fancy tricks needed.
    Reply
  • atreies
    The dust collects slowly on the surface of radiators, heatsinks etc. Now I don't think this will stop it entirely it will pull some dust off of these surfaces therefore reduces the frequency of needing to blow out the PC, except the GPU :(
    Reply
  • Simon Anderson
    "nine blades that together push up to 4.812 mm of water" - the wha now?
    Reply
  • falchard
    Nice amount of CFM at those decibels. Naturally, I use the... Delta Electronics fan that pushed over 200 CFM. It also makes for a realistic sounding Airport Runway.
    Reply
  • Darkbreeze
    "nine blades that together push up to 4.812 mm of water" - the wha now?

    Static pressure is measured in mm of H2O.

    For example if you look at the Noctua specs at the following link, mm of H2O is what's used to list static pressure, as do all fan manufacturers. This is nothing new.

    http://noctua.at/en/products/fan

    Reply