Seasonic MagFlow ARGB 120 mm Fan

[VSG]

Seasonic enters the RGB case fan market with the impressive MagFlow ARGB 120 mm. It uses a performance-centered LCP impeller paired with a sturdy frame, a good bearing, and a reliable motor to excel at different use cases while still having lots of RGB LEDs for an eye-catching light show.

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[TechLurker]

Any chance of putting up a direct comparison between the Non-ARGB MagFlow and ARGB MagFlow? I'd like to see how much of a performance difference exists between the two considering you do mention the RGB penalties, and the fact that the Non-ARGB MagFlow uses a slightly different fan blade design and polymer but costs about the same.

Off-topic, I'm impressed with how well that legacy GT is still holding on. Here's hoping you can review the Scythe Grand Tornado and Thermalright TL-B12 (20 USD and 10 USD average) to see how well those hold up against the classic and the current competition.

Semi-related, any plans for a fresh 140mm fan review anytime soon? Or is the competition still too low to warrant testing those?

 

[VSG]

Any chance of putting up a direct comparison between the Non-ARGB MagFlow and ARGB MagFlow? I'd like to see how much of a performance difference exists between the two considering you do mention the RGB penalties, and the fact that the Non-ARGB MagFlow uses a slightly different fan blade design and polymer but costs about the same.

Off-topic, I'm impressed with how well that legacy GT is still holding on. Here's hoping you can review the Scythe Grand Tornado and Thermalright TL-B12 (20 USD and 10 USD average) to see how well those hold up against the classic and the current competition.

Semi-related, any plans for a fresh 140mm fan review anytime soon? Or is the competition still too low to warrant testing those?

I don't have the non-ARGB MagFlow fans here, Seasonic wanted to prioritize the newer ARGB versions and I can see why since they at least win the RGB fans performance category. But, as you mentioned, the two fans are different enough to where we really can't tell what the performance hit is just from the inclusion of RGB LEDs.

Unfortunately I don't have any contacts with Scythe/Thermalright these days and I don't have the time to start a 140 mm fan review database either. Fans take the longest to test of anything I review and the 120 mm fan market is still where most of the exciting releases are.

 

[mechtech]

Just curious if you measured gap (blade tip to housing)? Noctua likes to point out their "tight" clearance on their NF-A12x25 fan.............

Not sure if it's diminishing returns on PC fans?

edit - correction
"Ultra-tight tip clearance - The NF-A12x25 has a record tight tip clearance (distance between the blade tips and the inside of the frame) of only 0.5mm."

 

[VSG]

Just curious if you measured gap (blade tip to housing)? Noctua likes to point out their "tight" clearance on their NF-A12x25 fan.............

Not sure if it's diminishing returns on PC fans?

edit - correction
"Ultra-tight tip clearance - The NF-A12x25 has a record tight tip clearance (distance between the blade tips and the inside of the frame) of only 0.5mm."

Hard to actually do it in an assembled fan.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Hard to actually do it in an assembled fan.

Buy this

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

We're the videos showing the lighting controlled by the hub or by a motherboard? Because whenever you connect them to the motherboard, all you're able to do is repeat the same exact pattern on every fan and it doesn't look like that's going on in the video, but I could be wrong.

Also, Come on Seasonic....it should be S.O.P. to have a white option

 

[Chrispy_]

Ugh, I know it's just reviewers getting given the flagship products to review for marketing reasons but $100 for 3 fans is really getting silly.

They look like good fans, but I'm accustomed to paying £50 for 3 good fans, and rarely spend that much because £15 gets you 3 good-enough ARGB PWM FDB fans. It's rare that I can justify upspending to the premium £50 fan pack and doubling the cost again to £/$/€100 for fans that are tested as middle-of-the-road among other premium fans makes these a very hard sell.

I guess I shouldn't care; ARGBLED vanity builds usually throw performance/$ out of the window and come with bling-tax anyway. Anyone focused on pretty lights probably doesn't care about value because ARGBLED fans as a category are already worse fans at higher price by default. I suppose the fact that these ARGB fans aren't significantly worse than their non-ARGB LCP counterparts makes them valuable to people with infinite budgets who want it all. Realistically, you're going to have at least four of these in a PC, more likely 7+

Also, Come on Seasonic....it should be S.O.P. to have a white option

Harder to do with LCP, the Sterox blades always seem to look dirty, which is part of the manufacturing process I guess

Just curious if you measured gap (blade tip to housing)? Noctua likes to point out their "tight" clearance on their NF-A12x25 fan.............
Not sure if it's diminishing returns on PC fans?

I'm sure it is diminishing returns - there's the whole aeronautics wingtip vortices considerations but there comes a point when the vortices are so small proportional to the air being moved by the fan that they become lost in the noise.

Fans are usually given RPM specs +/- 10% because the variance sample to sample is so great - I'd be amazed if the difference of 0.5mm and 1.0mm gap was enough to even show up between two samples or be completely dwarfed by the sample-to-sample variance.

 

[Oberon]

The thing about the NF-A12x25 tip clearance is also just a bunch of marketing fluff that led to a bunch of people claiming insane things like that you couldn't paint them without the blades rubbing. The gap is small but not anything crazy. I can run my 5V version up to almost 3000 RPM before the blades start rubbing the frame (AFTER painting it )

 

[Athlonite]

Meh fan with a holy feck price point the Lian-Li uni fan V2 sp120's are a better deal