Closer Examination

Having the QX120 RGB starter kit means the three fans come already connected together to save you some time. But for the sake of this review I decided to split them up so I could show you how the stacking works here. It's not like the sliding magnetic connectors used by a few brands which have landed some in potential IP hot water, but rather the use of a USB hub-based solution means CORSAIR has something truly its own here. On the sides where the fans connect together are what CORSAIR calls active and passive bridges with associated active and passive bridge connectors. The active connections happen where the fans have the iCUE Link active port and the other side is passive to be used to stabilize the physical mating of the fans. In the last two photos above, the active connection is on the left and the passive one on the right, so you can visually observe the difference.


Since the two bridge connectors are removable, you can easily stack up the fans as you deem fit. It also allows you to have fans placed individually as opposed to being part of a fan group and removing the connectors also showcases one of these iCUE Link QX120 RGB fans more easily. As expected, this is a standard 120 mm square frame fan that is rated to be 25 mm thick, but keep in mind you will need some room for the iCUE Link cable on the side. The fan comes in black or white color options with the latter potentially also being the one to go if you want a brighter RGB light show. The two are otherwise identical when it comes to the fan design and performance, be it the use of a frosted white rotor with seven hybrid-style blades that seem to cater for a balance of static pressure and airflow, or the integrated strips exposed through the frame on the top and bottom—the two sides where you don't have the iCUE link connectors anyway—for side lighting as well. There are no doubt LEDs in the central fan hub which in turn has branding in the form of CORSAIR logo stickers. The fan blades are not the shortest I've seen, although having that frosted white section on the inside of the frame no doubt curtails the maximum length and thus associated performance to an extent here. There are tiny circular rubber pads on the closed corners to help dampen vibrations from the case to the fans when installed via screws. There are also subtle arrows on the side to point the direction of airflow through the fan and that of the blades rotating.


From the back we see a fairly standard 4-way stator vane configuration employing a typical straight design although these are thicker than usual. Perhaps this has something to do with one of them having an integrated temperature sensor to detect the temperature of the air flowing through the fan. This means every single iCUE Link QX120 RGB is also a thermal probe and you can use this to your advantage by positioning some fans for intake and others as exhaust in push or pull configurations to measure the cold air entering and hot air exiting the case, as well as potentially seeing how well radiators are working if you have fans on either side. These sensors can also be used to set custom fan curves, so, while it may seem overkill to have these on every single fan, there is some method to this madness. I suppose it would have been nice to have some fans without these sensors to be used alongside the default ones but I am fairly certain the cost savings will be minimal in this regard.

We don't get any power draw info on the back of the fan or on the fan cables this time and this means we have to go by the rated 1.02 A metric on the product page. This corresponds to peak current draw for a single fan, which is a lot although not an issue when it comes to managing fan headers on your motherboard, since these fans are powered separately off the iCUE Link system hub via PCIe power anyway. Each fan has a standard 4-pole motor but then we get a rarely seen magnetic dome bearing that has the shaft spinning over the support with minimal friction. It's not a magnetic levitation bearing where you have an air blanket between the two, but that would have likely increased the cost of this premium fan even further. Connecting the fans is as simple as putting the fan groups together and having the lead fan be connected to the system hub via the provided, or your own, iCUE Link cable. This means you can have two groups of fans connected to the same system hub or get a signal splitter if you wish to have more such groups connected. The system hub then has its own set of cables for power and data as seen above. Also be aware that you can't hot-plug new fans in or out of groups and you will need to do this when the system is off. A maximum of seven QX120 RGB fans can be powered and controlled off a single iCUE Link port on the system hub, allowing for a total of 14 fans if you have a starter kit and then get other add-on fans.