Introduction

If you are reading the title of this review and thinking that sounds familiar, perhaps that is because we recently published a review of the CORSAIR AF120 ELITE fan. I had mentioned in that review how every CORSAIR fan reviewed on TechPowerUp—until then—had been an RGB fan, given that's simply where the market is these days. Having RGB fans also helps complete CORSAIR's ecosystem comprising of hardware and software coming together for a light show that now extends not only from the PC tower and desk but also to your living room. The AF120 ELITE was a departure from that in being hybrid use case fans, that arguably would be better suited as case fans or on air coolers rather than more restrictive PC DIY watercooling radiators, without any LEDs on them at all! I suppose I should have known it was only a matter of time before an RGB version came out.


As the name states, the new CORSAIR AF120 RGB ELITE is effectively an RGB version of the older AF120 ELITE fans. But there's a bit more beyond just having added RGB LEDs here. CORSAIR mentioned that the performance deficit between the two versions should be minimal owing to the use of LEDs only in the fan hub area. This has the potential to leave the actual rotor unaffected should the product team have managed to squeeze in those LEDs without taking up much room. This just makes me want to ask CORSAIR whatever happened to its Capellix LEDs that it was planning on incorporating everywhere? Either way, these newer fans also come in black or white color options as well as boast a higher max RPM to where they might well outperform the non-RGB version for those who prioritize pure performance! Thanks to CORSAIR for providing review samples to TechPowerUp as we test these fans in this article which begins with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications