Introduction

When is the last time you saw a press release about a new fan garner over 25,000 views and 100 comments within a couple of days? Alphacool had a strong showing at Computex last year wherein it showed off the new Alphacool Core and Apex product lines with multiple products each. The Core lineup is supposed to be more value oriented and yet the Core 1 CPU block and Core 4090 Strix GPU block both impressed heavily. The Apex equivalents are on the way but we didn’t have to wait as long for the Apex skeleton case and Stealth fan to show up. In fact, that very fan was launched with so much marketing hype that it was already generating sales even before it officially launched in stock.

Alphacool, as did some tech reviewers, had strong claims about the Apex Stealth that seemed hard to digest. Then came an early review which was used in the marketing materials that seemed to defy physics, which also led to some drama we won’t get into, and ultimately more questions were left than answers about the actual fan itself. I also decided to wait for the launch version so as to have a more representative sample akin to the paying customer, meaning we didn’t have much to say about the Apex Stealth until now. Alphacool’s retail units are here and boy are they colorful. One of the biggest selling points of the Apex Stealth is it is a “metal fan,” but let me clarify right away that the rotor is not made of metal and it’s the frame that comprises of two thick zinc panels here. Alphacool has still decided this is an opportunity to put out different colors and finishes, be it a more tame matte black or white or go bold with glossy gold or chrome. We also get a choice of slower fans which max out at “just” 2000 RPM or Power versions going up to 3000 RPM. There are even some RGB versions planned sooner than later to where it would be fair to say Alphacool is banking on the Apex Stealth to be a strong contender in the extremely competitive PC DIY fan market today. Let’s see how the Apex Stealth performs conclusively in our review which begins with a look at the product specifications in the table below. Thanks to Alphacool for providing review samples to TechPowerUp!

Specifications