Review: Corsair QL120 and QL140 RGB fans

#5738338 Posted on: 12/06/2019 01:52 PM

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Could these be used with the Corsair H115i platinum aio or do they need there own node controller.
Thx in advance.

#5738339 Posted on: 12/06/2019 01:57 PM

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These are good looking fans to use as side intake in the O11 Dynamic.

#5738349 Posted on: 12/06/2019 02:34 PM

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I missed a Noctua fan in that mix. Im all in for performance/noise, so this RGB fans are out of my playground.

#5738352 Posted on: 12/06/2019 02:39 PM

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you can put a phanteks halos or similar on a noctua fan, done this a few times.

#5738378 Posted on: 12/06/2019 04:04 PM

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Wonder how they compare to the ML120/140s.

#5738386 Posted on: 12/06/2019 04:30 PM

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as someone with a Lian-Li O11 Dynamic XL "pimp my ride" rgb build
here are my toughts
1) the LL series looked beautiful but it forced you to orient your fans in only one way, the good looking side visible, which made for less than ideal airflow decisions (for example I had to make my "side" fans exhaust when really you want them as intake, it has been tested by hardware canucks)
2) the airflow of the LL120 is weak, if they are worse that's going to be a problem
3) if you use that kind of rgb fans it's recommended to have a push-pull config on your radiator for looks (front mounted) but also to help those weak airflow fans
on the lian-li I have the radiator on the side fans emplacement with rgb visible inside and better non-rgb behind exhausting air (which is the wrong direction, it's sucking my gpu hot air to cool the cpu :/) but with the LL you didn't have a choice

#5738397 Posted on: 12/06/2019 05:11 PM

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Hi there

ML140 or ML120 are lot better fans, these ML fans are one of better fans there, I would stay away from LL or these fans if you are looking for radiator or case fans there, similarly I would stay from Thermaltake fans, they just don't push enough air through the radiator or case

Hope this helps

Thanks, Jura

#5738410 Posted on: 12/06/2019 06:03 PM

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Hi there

ML140 or ML120 are lot better fans, these ML fans are one of better fans there, I would stay away from LL or these fans if you are looking for radiator or case fans there, similarly I would stay from Thermaltake fans, they just don't push enough air through the radiator or case

Hope this helps

Thanks, Jura
Thanks, I already have 2 ML140 fans and they've made a world of difference in my case airflow.

#5738469 Posted on: 12/06/2019 09:18 PM

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I have ML,LL,QL,bequiet,noctua etc...4 drawers full of them, I'm a fan hoarder ><
I'll repeat this whenever someone seems to be hesitating :
LL and QL are look above function fans
if you go RGB either go full RGB no matter the cost (lower performance) or don't do RGB at all, RGB is a pain to wire and configure there's no point going half way, apps are also heavy on the cpu

if you value performance the ML are very powerful but noisy
if you value silence I recommend bequiet or noctua I personnally like bequiet sound better, they make a pure "moving air" smooth noise, which you can hear at high rpm but it's not whine-y and not annoying
there are in-between too, bequiet for example makes the "pure wings" which are silent-ish performance fans, again you hear them but the noise is bearable compared to other brands

#5738479 Posted on: 12/06/2019 10:06 PM

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I have ML,LL,QL,bequiet,noctua etc...4 drawers full of them, I'm a fan hoarder ><
I'll repeat this whenever someone seems to be hesitating :
LL and QL are look above function fans
if you go RGB either go full RGB no matter the cost (lower performance) or don't do RGB at all, RGB is a pain to wire and configure there's no point going half way, apps are also heavy on the cpu

if you value performance the ML are very powerful but noisy
if you value silence I recommend bequiet or noctua I personnally like bequiet sound better, they make a pure "moving air" smooth noise, which you can hear at high rpm but it's not whine-y and not annoying
there are in-between too, bequiet for example makes the "pure wings" which are silent-ish performance fans, again you hear them but the noise is bearable compared to other brands

Agree with BeQuiet fans, have used them too on several loops, tried like Pure Wings or Silent Wings 3 and SW3 I like a lot like for radiators ir as case fans

Noctua A12x25 are another great fan which I can only recommend, nice sound profile under load or idle, Phanteks PH-F120MP are another great fan, push nive amount of air through the radiator or case restriction, Thermalright TY-143SQ or TY-147ASQ fans have used them on radiators or as case fans, I use them on Phanteks Enthoo Primo or current Caselabs M8 with pedestal

Corsair ML120 noisy, this depends, at max RPM or speed, they're noisy as any other fan which can ramp up to 1800-2500RPM, some fans at max RPM have still nice sound profile like Thermalright fans or some Phanteks or Noctua fans, usually I run these fans as max 600-950RPM(usually they sit in 600-650RPM) and they're not noisy fans at max speed or RPM off course they're noisy

If budget is low then I would suggest get Arctic Cooling P12 PWM, running these fans on MO-ra3 360mm and on Hardware Labs SR-2 360mm radiators and they're quiet fans and push nice amount of air through the radiators

Hope this helps

Thanks, Jura

#5738481 Posted on: 12/06/2019 10:17 PM

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I have ML,LL,QL,bequiet,noctua etc...4 drawers full of them, I'm a fan hoarder ><
I'll repeat this whenever someone seems to be hesitating :
LL and QL are look above function fans
if you go RGB either go full RGB no matter the cost (lower performance) or don't do RGB at all, RGB is a pain to wire and configure there's no point going half way, apps are also heavy on the cpu

if you value performance the ML are very powerful but noisy
if you value silence I recommend bequiet or noctua I personnally like bequiet sound better, they make a pure "moving air" smooth noise, which you can hear at high rpm but it's not whine-y and not annoying
there are in-between too, bequiet for example makes the "pure wings" which are silent-ish performance fans, again you hear them but the noise is bearable compared to other brands
I dont run the MLs at full blast, so they are not noisy to me. Re RGBs, have no use for them and never will.

#5738583 Posted on: 12/07/2019 11:21 AM

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I use the ML140 Pros, and over 50% they are definitely a bit noisy. But I don't really ever need to use them over that. They can push serious air though at 100%. Really nice fans with the pro version.

#5738644 Posted on: 12/07/2019 05:32 PM

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Arctic recently released their new P-Fan series with high static pressure for heatsinks/radiators while not being loud.
They have very low vibration and a 10 year warranty to boot!
I cant find any reviews yet.

Worth a look if you are after performance, no RGB though
https://www.arctic.ac/uk-en/products/cooling/case-fan.html

#5738658 Posted on: 12/07/2019 06:37 PM

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These look gorgeous...

Who knows, 2020 might be the year of RGB for me too... so far I've shown serious restraint (with just keyboard/mouse being RGB, for a very specific purpose - indicator of what's going on in my supported games)

#5739205 Posted on: 12/09/2019 05:53 PM

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got them spent half a day swapping 10 fans and the verdict is....buy LL instead

the LL "good side" looks way better than either side of the QL
you can see visible led "spots" all around on the QL making the brightness and colors uneven
rotating color transition isn't as smooth as in the LL (spiral rainbow effect)
their only positive thing is that you can see the rgb from both sides

for my specific current build I was a bit forced to at least get 4 (because you can only drive 1 fan type per rgb hub you can't mix models and I have 6+4 already on 2 hubs)

but yeah not an upgrade which for the price is disappointing to say the least
I would only buy them if you have very visible fans that face the wrong direction (fro airflow purpose) would not buy again and actually I cancelled an order of QL140

the good thing of today will be that I finally found what was causing my 10% cpu usage on iCue
On your Corsair RGB memory ICue settings, disable "enable full software control"
it will remove your ability to make complex layered effects or prevent you from customizing each individual led, without full control led color is "by stick" but you'll gain 8% cpu usage