Sharkoon is a well known manufacturer of gaming, modding and storage solutions. Especially in the German IT market, Sharkoon products have great respect amongst the enthusiast community, who are always looking to get that little extra from their PC case. In 2004, Sharkoon expanded its product line and now manufactures P.S.U.s, coolers and fans, network cards, input and multimedia devices, and many many more. You can see the complete product line here.

Generally speaking, all the cooling solutions on the market are very similar. Even the performance of case fans and CPU coolers is similar. For example, any 80mm fan will perform almost the same as any other 80mm fan when their rotation speed is the same. Sharkoon hopes to make false this claim with their latest Silent Eagle 2000 fan series. From a first look at the fan, there's nothing out of the ordinary and it certainly doesn't look like it's hiding any surprises in terms of performance. But if you look a little closer, you will notice a difference, hidden in the blades themselves. :-)

- CDRinfo's Golf Lessons!

This might sound strange, but you have to know how to play golf to understand the operation of this fan. So, if you're not a golfer, CDRinfo is going to teach you the basics.

When golf was invented, the golf ball was a smooth surfaced spherical ball, and very few liked golf because the ball's direction and spin were too hard to control. Only highly skilled players could play the game and even they could not perform as well as they would have wished. The problem was in the ball itself. The smooth surface offered the greatest air resistance and even a quick gust of wind was enough to send the ball of track.

Many tried to lower the air resistance of the golf ball, and they finally succeeded when they introduced small pits on the ball's surface. What actually happens, is that air is trapped in the pits and it is this same air that creates a turbulent layer on the ball's surface making the air flow around the ball, and hence reducing resistance.

Now, look closely at the following picture. Can you see any similarities between the new Sharkoon Silent Eagle 2000 and a golf ball? This surface structure provides an improved airflow, practically making the fan more effective at low rotation speeds. This gives you quieter operation and more effective cooling.

In addition to this, there is one more difference between conventional fans and the Silent Eagle that some of you might have already noticed. The black frame housing has rounded edges, making air flow smoother and increasing air intake.

In the package, apart from the Silent Eagle 2000 fan, you will find the usual stuff, like screws and a 3-pin to 4-pin converter cable. You will also find 4 rubber bolts that can be used to help absorb vibration, even if there is almost no vibration at 2000RPM.

We should also note that there is also the Silent Eagle 1000 available from Sharkoon, with the only difference being in the rotation speed (1000RPM), while there is always a "led" version, the Eagle 2000, that lights up blue when in operation.

- Features / Specifications

To summarise, these are the main features of the Sharkoon Silent Eagle 2000

• Unique rotor blade and frame design
• Robust metal sleeve bearing
• Cable protection from rubberized fabric sheathing
• Universal connection cable
(3-pin and 4-pin plus separate signal line for fan speed monitoring)

Here are the detailed specifications as provided by Sharkoon: