Cooling

Corsair HD Series & SP Series RGB LED Review

vortez
October 18, 2016 11 Min Read
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In the spotlight is the new HD Series & SP Series RGB LED cooling fans – today we’ll be exploring how these fans perform and what enthusiasts can expect from the LED lighting!


Product on Review: SP Series RGB LED & HD Series RGB LED
Manufacturer and Sponsor: Corsair
Street Price: SP Series: £54.99 HD Series: £74.94

Corsair have released their SP120 RGB LED and HD120 RGB LED fans. Corsair supply these RGB LED fans without and (preferably) with controllers. These are multi-color LED fans. Those controllers specify the various colors and visual effects these fans produce. The purpose of the fan/controller combo is to produce an entertaining light show while cooling your computer or your radiators for you. Let us look at these fans.




Corsair started by selling memory in 1994. Now they sell quality cases, power supplies, coolers, peripherals, SSDs, memory – and fans. In their own words:

Corsair SP Series RGB LED Case Fans
The CORSAIR SP120 RGB LED high static pressure PC case fans combine excellent air delivery with hub mounted RGB LEDs for vivid lighting effects.

Corsair HD Series RGB LED Case Fans
The CORSAIR HD120 RGB LED high performance PC case fans combine excellent air delivery with individually controlled RGB LEDs. Designed to perform quieter and provide better airflow than standard case fans, the HD120 RGB LED fans offer an array of customization and vivid lighting effects.

Specifications


Corsair kindly provided specifications for their RGB fans and their RGB fan kits. In their reviewers kit they have provided the MSRP for these kits in US dollars. The actual online prices were posted at the beginning of this review. The fans shown after the table are SP120s spinning in white.







Packaging


A three-pack of fans comes in a handsome box that touts the fan inside. On the back of the boxes you can read the fans’ features in several languages. There is also a fairly complete table of specifications there.






Inside the box the controller and the accessories are contained in a carton and stacked on top, like a cap.



Under the cap the fans themselves are in trays, laid alongside each other in the box.

Bundle

The little carton that forms a cap on top of the trays unfolds to show you the accessories and small parts that come with the Corsair RGB LED fans. The accessories and parts look the same on external inspection, so I’ll show you one set.





First we have a SATA power connector for the LED controls. Next to that we have one of the three bagged sets of four standard fan screws. At the top we have the user’s manual – more on that later. In the center we have the LED hub that distributes the LED commands to up to six fans. The bundled cable comes from the hub and goes to the controller. Next is a folded cable that connects the controller to external switches. At the right we have the LED controller itself.



A picture of the switch connecting cable shows it connected to a cable from a reset switch. This is the kind of switch you find on your case. We have a graphic demonstration, then, that you can control these LED’s with external controls mounted on the outside of your case.





What you see now are pages from the manual that show the effects of Color, Mode and Speed Control of the LED’s. The differences between the two are in the Demo mode, the Sequential, the Marquee and the Rainbow modes of the HD RGB fans.

A Closer Look

The Corsair RGB LED fans come comfortably ensconced in trays.


SP120 Exhaust-Intake



HD120 Intake-Exhaust


As you see them in their trays, I hope you notice that there are cardboard side compartments. These compartments hold the power and LED control cables for the fans.



The pictures above show us two things: the RGB LED fans have two cables, and the LED control plug is unique. Having two cables is nice, because – as you will see below – you can light up these fans independently from the speeds that you run them.


SP120 Corner



HD120 Corner


The SP120 corners have a groove in them to facilitate installing the fan. The HD120, on the other hand, has pads that press up against whatever the fan is installed on. These reduce an vibration that would otherwise get through.

Test Setup

The setup we used to test these fans is the same one we used in our earlier review of Corsair’s ML fans. We tested the fans at both 12 and five volts, because you might want to use these fans as case fans. You might have noticed that some of our fan shots show the LED’s lighting up while the fan is still. This is a graphic demonstration of how the fan power and the LED power are independent of each other. This independence is how the fans will run perfectly well at five volts, even though they were designed for 12 volts. We tested them with this adapter:



What differed from the past in our current testing of the RGB LED fans is that we stepped through all of the modes and colors for you. For example, these:


SP120



HD120

Test Results – Air Handling

The following long charts put these fans in the context of other fans. The first chart shows you what will happen if you use these fans as case fans; that is, fans that you set up to blow air through your case. The fans are lined up according to how much air they pull through a standard dust filter. The lower two results show you what happens when you set them up with five volts; you won’t hear them.

The second chart shows you where these fans fit in with PWM fans on a 30 fin-per-inch radiator. The third chart shows you RPM vs PWM of the HD120 RGB LED fans.





Test Results — Light Show

Here is when we come to what these fans were designed for – to show off. We ran these fans through their paces. They cycle through all their colors – either one by one or sequentially.





The fans cycle through their modes. They breathe, they flicker. They alternate between the two.





And that’s just the SP fans. When you get to the HD fans, you appreciate some really bright fans. The specifications say that the LED’s on the SP fans draw 0.06 amps. The HD RGB fans draw 0.47 amps – more than each fan itself! OK, each SP or HD can make seven colors, but the HD give you a whole level of brightness you have not seen in a fan before now.

The speed control works as advertised, sending a fan from slow motion brightness and or color changes, to a moderate speed suitable for flickers, a fast samba, swishing those colors around. Three modes the HD have which the SP lack are Sequential, Marquee and Rainbow. The Sequential mode involves sequentially lighting up the LED’s, similar to this:





I say similar because the effect on you is not what the camera captures. In person it is far lovelier and far more dramatic.

The Marquee mode flashes the lights back and forth – just like a marquee at a show. And the Rainbow mode shifts you from one color to the next, briefly blending them as it goes.


Conclusion

Corsair has hit a home run with its new 120mm RGB LED fans. The phrase is an Americanism, but please forgive your author, who is American.

First of all, these fans will cool your case or your radiator without making excessive noise. But their use as fans is only the beginning of the Corsair RGB LED story. These fans, the Corsair RGB LED fans were made to be looked at. They were made to shine from your case, outside and in. They were made to deliver the light show of your choice, and deliver it they do. Unlike some LED fans, these can change their display at your whim with a remote controller. The colors dance. They flicker and breathe for you. And when you want them to do something else, press a button. Instant entertainment.


Even more interesting than that, you can set up your case to control these fans. Now I’m not sure that Corsair have thought of this, but you can buy separate case switches for your case. You can mod your case with additional buttons to control your light show from the outside of your case. This is a testimony to the flexibility built into the system.

The minimum speed of the PWM in the HD series covers 30% of the possible PWM spread. That allows for a lot of sloppiness in your PWM controller.

When we were putting the SP120 RGB LED fans through their paces, they really impressed. These fans really put on a show. The Corsair SP120 RGB LED fans and controller together are beautiful, easily worth a Vortez Gold award. But then we lit up the HD120’s.

First of all, the HD120 RGB LED fans are really bright. Then they put on a wonderful show, pirouetting, flashing, glittering, with flowing colors – not to mention a Demo mode that showcases all of it. Luckily for us, Vortez now has a Platinum award. Corsair’s HD120 RGB LED fans and controller have certainly earned that award.





Corsair SP120 RGB LED Pros
+ Bright
+ Seven Colors of LED’s in each fan
+ PWM Speed Control
+ Multiple Modes via Controller
+ Selections Include Changing Colors Automatically
+ Selections Include Varying Speeds

Corsair SP120 RGB LED Cons
– Without a Controller, the fan is dark
– 140mm Fans are Not Available (Yet?)


Corsair HD120 RGB LED Pros
+ Very Bright
+ Seven Colors of LED’s in each fan
+ More Modes via Controller
+ Selections Include Changing Colors Automatically
+ Demo Mode Really Puts on a Show
+ Selections Include Varying Speeds

Corsair SP120 RGB LED Cons
– Without a Controller, the fan is dark
– 140mm Fans are Not Available (Yet?)

Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.

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