To this day, the air cooling market has matured, but the uniform tower design has become somewhat aesthetically tiresome. Looking back over a decade ago, when cooling manufacturers had not yet fully grasped the concept of “airflow,” consumers were eager to let their computers “show off”: at that time, the air cooling market was truly a bloom of diversity, with many oddities emerging.
Blade-less “Fan”?
The “blade-less” technology popular in the home appliance industry shocked the entire sector over a decade ago—how could such a simple technical transformation lead to such a clean product design?
As a PC manufacturer that prides itself on “innovation,” NZXT naturally would not miss this opportunity for change: by merging the principle of “blade-less fans” with “PC cooling,” the Cryo V60 was born amidst the astonishment of many.
NZXT
Cryo V60
This is not a manufacturer’s rendering, but a real photo of the Cryo V60—yes, you read that right, it is indeed a “blade-less” laptop cooler.
The raised front prevents the laptop from slipping, and the surface is made of ABS plastic with a “baked paint process.” Coupled with a fan switch, speed adjustment, and three USB 2.0 ports, these are all the elements of the Cryo V60.
The central ring is completely empty, with no sign of blades—yet, it is not merely decorative. In fact, NZXT drew inspiration from home appliance products. The technical principle of the Cryo V60 is identical to those “blade-less fans.”
“Using an ambitious vortex design, the unique blade-less fan principle can continuously generate airflow”—this is NZXT’s concise description of it. If you are curious about its technical details, let us focus on the tail end of the base: two 75mm turbine fans are located within.
The fans are located on the left and right sides of the cooler, with their air intake at the bottom. The conical outer shell provides intake space, and the interior is equipped with a carefully designed airflow structure: using the rotation of the turbine blades to draw in air, which is then evenly expelled through the gaps in the “ring.”
However, the “fan” is not the only source of airflow: air always flows from “high pressure” to “low pressure,” and the high-speed expelled airflow creates a pressure difference, thus driving the surrounding air—at this point, the entire ring area will generate uniform airflow.The airflow produced by a “blade-less fan” is typically several times the intake volume!
Besides the simple design, the greatest advantage of a “blade-less fan” is the ability to produce a gentle airflow while avoiding the risk of accidentally touching the blades—however, you can also see that these “advantages” are unnecessary for a PC cooler. And when it comes to its shortcomings, the Cryo V60 is particularly obvious.
The two fans can be infinitely adjusted in speed, but the operating range is only between 1000—1600 RPM. A lower speed does not mean quiet—in stark contrast to its understated and simple appearance, when pushed to the limit, it can be quite aggressive!
Once you turn on the Cryo V60, you will immediately be attracted by the loud wind noise. Even measuring from a meter away, the V60’s noise still reaches a terrifying 47.8 decibels.
To make matters worse, the cooling performance of this product is also quite average. Both review media and users who have encountered it have expressed dissatisfaction with its airflow performance—during a 30-minute Prime95 stress test, compared to having no cooling base at all, NZXT’s product only reduced the temperature by 2°C!
Compared to cooling, it is more suitable for “making noise.” However, if we talk about why to buy this “useless” product, I believe everyone’s answer would be the same—after all, NZXT’s design goal has been achieved, hasn’t it?
BeQuiet!
ZeroWings AI
Having witnessed NZXT’s similar technology, you probably won’t be amazed by such a simple cooler. Yes, this is indeed a completely blade-less “cooling fan,” but so what?
If you really think that way, you are gravely mistaken—over the past decade, we have made significant technological advancements. You can surely understand: when the most ordinary things are paired with the suffix “AI,” they immediately become extraordinary.
In the preview video released by BeQuiet!, we get a glimpse of this groundbreaking product: unlike NZXT, which uses “innovation” as a gimmick, you can always trust the strength of established manufacturers. Be Quiet claims that this is a 12cm cooling product that has airflow equivalent to a standard fan running at 8500 RPM!
Moreover, by completely eliminating the blades and bearings of a standard fan, the cumbersome ZeroWings AI achieves unprecedented ultra-low noise—believe me, this will be more impressive than AlphaCool’s achievements.
True to its name, ZeroWings AI will spark an “AI revolution” in the cooling market. BeQuiet! proudly states that this product features high-performance AI and revolutionary “Controlled Airflow Technology” (CAT). By using temperature sensors on the AI perception board known as “FAN OS,” this “fan” can freely adjust airflow output.
ZeroWings offers two airflow modes: concentrated and dispersed, corresponding to the “air volume”/”air pressure” type of traditional fans. As a DIY computer hardware, ARGB lighting is naturally essential—this is also controlled by AI.
Like most “predictive artificial intelligence,” the technical principle of ZeroWings is not complicated: sensor data will be used to create real-time thermal images inside the case, thus predicting when the hardware will heat up. “Deep learning” will help the AI identify heat-generating components in the computer and analyze them based on user habits.
Ultimately, ZeroWings will take action silently before overheating, and this process is completely autonomous. The airflow will always blow to where it is most needed. However, users can also intervene through the Be Quiet! application—if you find software control too cumbersome, issuing commands via voice is also possible.
If you are dissatisfied with the cooling effect, users can even use multiple fans to create a “Swarm” computing system—by having multiple high-performance AIs jointly control the air, airflow can be directed to the most needed areas inside the case at any time. The AI within ZeroWings is truly “omnipotent,” and this is beyond doubt.
Now, the only question is: when will it be available for purchase?
Regarding this concern, BeQuiet! has also made its promise: ZeroWings AI will go on sale today—on the first morning of April. As a hardware enthusiast, are you ready to witness this real “cooling revolution”?
This article ends here. If you have any questions about the content and cooling selection, feel free to communicate with FAN OS!
（The article is the same!）
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