Final Thoughts
Corsair’s LL series RGB fans were already impressive and now Corsair has taken things to the next level with their new QL series fans. They have added more than double the RGBs with a total of 34 RGB LEDs across four distinct light loops. This not only adds more lighting, but it addresses a big issue, making the rear of the fans look good. If you’ve ever installed fans in the bottom of a case as an intake you know the RGB lighting is basically hidden. Now with the QL series fans you won’t have to worry about that, these fans look great from both sides.
The 34 RGB LEDs inside each fan are individually controllable so if you wanted you could make each one a different color or have a different effect. This means you can really customize these fans to your liking. If you don’t want to get into crazy customization Corsair has quite a lot of preset effects that look amazing. I also really liked that in the iCUE software you can toggle the front and rear lighting of the fans on and off. Being a Corsair product you can link the effects of the fans with other Corsair products you own.
There really is not much to not like about the new QL series fans, but some things need to be said. First these fans and the Lighting Node Core use proprietary connections so you cannot connect these fans to another ARGB controller and you can’t use the controller with other ARGB fans you might have. This makes sense as Corsair wants to keep you in their ecosystem. Another thing to note is that there is no fan hub included with the 3-fan kit. So you will need to have at least 3 open fan headers on your motherboard or a fan controller to power these fans. As I said earlier I really wish Corsair would come out with a fan hub / RGB controller in one so we could control everything through iCUE.
We reviewed the CO-9050098-WW kit which includes three QL120 (120mm) fans and the Lighting Node Core RGB controller. Corsair will also be selling these fans in single packs (120mm & 140mm) as well as a dual 140 mm kit that comes with the Lighting Node Core as well. The QL120 RGB triple fan kit will sell for $139.99, while single QL120 RGB fans will be $44.99. The dual fan QL140 RGB kit will be $119.99 and single QL140 RGB fans will be $49.99. This makes the triple-fan kit only $10 more than the LL series fans, which isn’t bad considering you are getting more than double the RGB LEDs! Overall ThinkComputers gives the Corsair iCUE QL120 RGB Fans a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– 34 individually controllable RGB LEDs!
– Software control via iCUE
– 3-pack comes with the Lighting Node Core
– Only $10 more than the LL series fans
– Looks great from both sides
Cons:
– RGB connections are proprietary
– No fan controller included in the 3-pack
