Enermax' D.F. Vegas Fans Are Self-Cleaning, Lit Up Like Christmas Trees

By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

Enermax's new fans come with the company's reverse-flow dust-cleaning tech and tons of LEDs.

Cleaning case fans can be a real pain, so it’s always nice to see manufacturers make fans that don’t need as much maintenance. Enermax’ new 120mm D.F. Vegas and D.F. Vegas Duo both come with a self-cleaning feature. In April, Enermax outed the D.F. Pressure fans, but those are pressure optimized; the new D.F. Vegas fans are all-around case fans with fancy lighting effects.

The self-cleaning feature works by spinning the fan blades in reverse at maximum speed for 10 seconds upon startup. This should work great if you’re someone who switches your PC off every night, but won’t be any help if you’re not. Nevertheless, if too much dust does build up, the fan blades are also detachable for easy cleaning.

Enermax also equipped the new fans with its adjustable peak speed (APS) feature, which allows you to switch between 1,100, 1,300, and 1,500 RPM top speeds. Whichever you choose, the minimum fan speed will always be 800 RPM, and the range is controlled through a PWM signal.

The D.F. Vegas fans come with 12 LEDs and five lighting modes, whereas the D.F. Vegas Duo come with 24 LEDs and 13 lighting modes.

Enermax did not specify pricing yet but did say that both models will be on shelves by the end of the month.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Speed ModeUltra Silent ModeSilent ModePerformance Mode
Speed800 - 1,100RPM800 - 1,300RPM800 - 1,500RPM
Air Flow33.21 - 45.33CFM33.21 - 53.66CFM33.21 - 61.92CFM
Static Pressure0.979 - 1.297mm0.979 - 1.425mm0.979 - 1.898mm
Noise16 - 18dBA16 - 20dBA16 - 22dBA
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
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • problematiq
    Just out of curiosity, how many people here turn there computer off when not in use? (I for one do not)
    Reply
  • Jeff Fx
    18591019 said:
    Just out of curiosity, how many people here turn there computer off when not in use? (I for one do not)

    It depends on which computer it is. My home theater PC is off whenever the theater is not in use. My livingroom/VR PC is on about 50% of the time. Laptops are on only when in use. My media server is always on.
    Reply
  • NeatOman
    Not me, in fact I never turn it off unless i have to restart it. Which is about once a month at the most or when power goes out.

    I use it as a file/media server. But, something I still haven't seen is a decent filter on a PC. I have to cut out and put in a filter made for a home. Not only does it filter much better (ACE hardware branded, the cheapest ones made of fiberglass) It holds many times more dust and seems to flow air better especially after dust buildup. You have to find a place where you won't compress the filter too much or not at all otherwise it wont pass air or get clogged easy. I Replace it maybe once a YEAR. After 3+ years there is only a very small film of dust that you can only see when up close on the inside.

    I have a Lian-Li PC-7HWX that has two 140mm front fans spinning at around 1200 rpms, no exhaust fans. FX-8320@4.5GHz, R9 280x @1.1GHz/1650vram, Three HDD's (two in ReFS RAID 1 and one normal). Currently the filter looks dirty, CPU temp is around 40-45c during normal use and around 30-35 at idle with a EVO 212+ (single stock fan) after maybe 10 months of using the same filter without cleaning.

    I do knock off the dust off the front every few months, currently it looks like it has 3+ months of dust on it :)
    Reply
  • jaber2
    I am surprised you even let is build up for 3 Months NeatoMan
    Reply
  • gdmaclew
    Send us a picture if you can Neatoman. I am curious.
    I use these dust filters from Xoxide.
    DEMCiflex 120mm Magnetic Fan Dust Filter - Black
    Reply
  • Honis
    I turn my PC off every night if I know I wont be using it until after work. Weekends it is on all day.

    I know it's hard to do but it would be nice to see a review of fans once a year or more.
    Reply
  • Jeff Fx
    18591320 said:
    Send us a picture if you can Neatoman. I am curious.
    I use these dust filters from Xoxide.
    DEMCiflex 120mm Magnetic Fan Dust Filter - Black

    I can't find many reviews for the Xoxide filters, but those I found were positive. One said you might need to add better magnets.

    I've just been blowing out my PCs with an air-compressor when they get dirty, but I'll give these filters a try.
    Reply
  • Rheotome
    I turn my PC on in the AM and off at night. After say ,10 years that would be 3650 cycles. If you turn a PC on and off frequently , you could easily get to 10K, 15K, 20K cycles. A decent rule of thumb for consumer electronic reliability is to limit cycles to 10K over the life of the equipment, based on solder joint fatigue criteria.
    As for dust, keeping a PC on the floor will make it collect more dust. My PCs are always on the desk.
    Reply
  • vinay2070
    I switch off the PC if I know that I am not using it for the next 2 hours. I either put it to sleep or shut it off. With SSDs today, PC boot up time is negligible. I am OK waiting for 20 seconds for all the power it saves. :)
    Reply
  • synphul
    The self cleaning seems to be a bit of a gimmick. Even a high speed industrial fan with 4mm/h2o or more static pressure doesn't put out near the air pressure of a compressed air can. Even blowing on the front grill of a pc case with a couple quick puffs of breath would do more. The fan blades along with everything else will still get dusty requiring compressed air and/or a cloth.

    Similar to taking a car to a diy car wash with 'pressure sprayers'. Throw some soap on there, spray it off all nice and clean then wipe your finger along the car while it's still wet and watch more muck come off. (I used quotes because there are industrial pressure washers capable of removing the dirt however they tend to remove the paint with it as well which defeats the purpose.)

    Msi did this with their gpu fans, allowing them to spin backwards for 30sec when booting up. That was back in 2011. In 2013 lenovo had a similar feature on their p500 laptops. A few other spotty appearances on different products. Being that it hasn't caught on should be an indicator that it's rather ineffective or everyone would be doing it.

    At least the blades are detachable, that's likely to be the best feature for cleaning.
    Reply