Closer Examination

The CORSAIR AF120 ELITE is a standard 120 mm square frame fan that is 25 mm thick. This makes it almost guaranteed to fit inside every PC case intended to use 120 mm fans for airflow and cooling. It comes in two different colors—black and white—and I have three individual units of the latter here which makes for a nice contrast to the black fans everywhere on the market. No matter what version you go with the net result is a fan that uses a 9-bladed rotor in a highly curved manner, reminding me of the Nidec-Servo Gentle Typhoon and a few other fans that adopted a similar design from the likes of Cooler Master and Silverstone. This is not a clone because everything else is different including the frame, materials used throughout, the stator vanes, and the motor + bearing, so let's hold off on unnecessary comments. The frame is curved inwards although the contact surfaces maintain the straight edges that matter in not leaking air when using these as radiator fans. CORSAIR branding is seen here as well as on a sticker over the front hub with another side having arrows to help indicate the direction of the blades rotating as well as that of the air flowing through the fan. The fan corners have rubber pads to help minimize vibrations from being passed to/from the case itself. The corners are closed and appear to extend outward as a result of the curved sides with "AF ELITE" printed on one of them.


From the back we see the nine curved stator vanes—as opposed to the usual four in a more straight design—that help make up CORSAIR's AirGuide technology which aims to have airflow be a focused field going through the fans as opposed to spreading out in a cone shape immediately. These stator vanes do this by helping minimize Eddy currents and vortexes in the airflow field through the fans. The absence of any LEDs also means we get blades that are typically longer than those with LEDs in the hub or frame or both. Interestingly, there is no sticker on the back with power draw specifications but, as it turns out, these specifications are present on a label sticker placed on the fan cable itself. The same logo-only sticker is seen here and there is nothing relevant underneath either. Thankfully, CORSAIR does mention the AF120 ELITE is rated for a max current draw at 0.38 A (including startup boost) and that in turn means ~4.6 W per fan if you go with these fans at full blast. Running the fans at slower speeds will of course consume less current off the 12 VDC rail, but it's still a surprisingly high number. The AF120 ELITE uses a fluid dynamic bearing that also promises low bearing noise and minimal vibrations, on top of longevity with its five years of warranty. Given this has no RGB, there is a single cable coming from the fan motor hub on the back. The CORSAIR AF120 ELITE fans are PWM only for fan control and thus we get a 4-pin connector on the end of a typical-for-CORSAIR flat ribbon-style cable with a matching insulation color in white here.