Building a PC in 2021 is expensive; thanks to parts shortages due to the Covid-19 pandemic, plus ongoing tariffs on China, gamers are having to pay a premium; as soon as retailers confirm that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is back in stock, they buy up their inventory. It doesn't help that duffers are taking advantage of the situation. Almost a year after its release, the $699 reference Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is now selling for over $1,600 on eBay.

After months of hunting down the right components at the right price, plus Amazon Prime Day deals and the connections I've developed over the years as a journalist, I had everything I needed to build a modern, powerful computer. I had to camp out for two nights in front of the microcenter, which was no fun.

The case I chose, a Cooler Master NR200P ($129 on Amazon), included some case fans, but they seemed generic and did not have the RGB pop I was looking for. I then started looking into good quality RGB fans and found that the Corsair QL120s were probably the best on the market according to reviews, but needlessly expensive. At $40 a fan, I needed four.

I refused to pay more than $160 for a case fan. No matter how much I wanted the inside of my computer to radiate like Baskin-Robbins' Wild 'N Reckless sherbet, it just wasn't worth it to me.

Other brands less well known than Corsair were also available on Amazon. However, after some Googling, I came across Gelid Solutions and their new Stella Frost fan. What first attracted me to this blower was its glacier-like "ice" design, which glows on both sides.

Another thing that attracted me was the price: on the Gelid Solutions website, the blower sells for US$11. I decided to order four.

Unfortunately, shipping costs added $25 to the total to send the fans from Gelid's facility in Hong Kong. Still, $69 was still cheaper than over $150.

I contacted Gelid Solutions to learn more about the company and this fan. An email was returned from VC Tran, co-founder of the company. He offered to send me a fan as a press sample. In the interest of transparency, he cancelled my initial order.

According to Gelid's company profile page, the company was founded in 2008 by Gebhard Scherrer and Tran in Switzerland. The company boasts of its Swiss roots and claims that these roots have led it to create products with the same quality and attention to detail as Swiss watches; a quick look at Reddit reveals much praise for the company's GC-Extreme thermal compound. I don't know if that extends to the company's entire product portfolio, but reviews of other Gelid products on Amazon seem to be good.

It took a while, but the Stella Frost fan arrived. The bright white fan has 24 ARGB LEDs, double ball bearings, and a noiseless motor. The maximum speed is slightly higher at 1,600 rpm versus 1,500 rpm, but it has 10 fewer LEDs than the Corsair QL120s.

After installing the fan, I was stunned by the improvement in noise and ambient temperature. Don't get me wrong, the default Cooler Master fans were fine, but a bit on the loud side. However, after adjusting some fan curves and letting the Stella Frost settle in, we were stunned by its quiet circulation.

Additionally, when performing idle tasks, the Stella Frosts did a great job of pushing hot air out of the case. While every computer is different, the CPU and motherboard temperatures remained steady. On average, my CPU (AMD Ryzen 5 5600X) was 46 degrees Celsius and the motherboard was 39 degrees.

Gaming performance was also good. Even when playing a loaded title like "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" at 4K with the ray tracing effect turned on, CPU and motherboard temperatures hovered around 65 and 46 degrees Celsius, respectively. Sure, the fans spun up, but that was to be expected.

Now, I should state that I have not personally compared the Stella Frost to Corsair's QL 120, and I am confident that Corsair's fan will deliver superior performance. TweakTown gave this fan a 96% rating. Still, it is difficult to justify this price when there are better performing alternatives available at a quarter of the price. [At this time, Gelid Solutions Stella Frost fans can be ordered directly from the company's website. The company confirmed to Tom's Guide that Stella Frosts will appear on Amazon within the next few weeks.