Closer Examination

The new CORSAIR iCUE QL RGB fans look similar to the equivalently sized LL RGB fans in that the common "L" stands for the "loop" that is the LED ring (12 RGB LEDs) composed of frosted white plastic on the front by the rotor blades and connected to the frame. A second inner loop by the front hub houses more LEDs (4), but this is where the QL fans go further. First up, the fan hub on the front has a machined aluminium sticker with the CORSAIR logo and a set of two more such LED rings on the back, with the back inner and outer rings housing 6 and 12 more such RGB LEDs for a total of 34 dRGB LEDs per fan across four zones.

The QL120 pictured above is a standard 120 x 120 x 25 mm fan with a square frame to aid in performance. The fan corners have rubber pads for vibration dampening and are black along with the rest of the frame for contrast with the frosted white loops and rotor. There are nine blades on the rotor to push air through, and overall build quality is solid. It is on the heavier side of average compared to most ABS plastic fans owing to all the LEDs and additional power circuitry onboard, but lighter relative to the PBT plastic fans with a more industrial design in mind.


A closer look at the fan hub on the back reveals another metallic sticker instead of the typical fan power information we usually see. This was a deliberate choice by CORSAIR to match the design of the rest of the fan, and indeed, the pertinent information is found on stickers accompanying the two fan cables instead. Each QL120 fan is rated for 0.3 A (3.6 W) on the 12 VDC rail in total, which corresponds to the peak draw with startup boost and is a combined rating for the fan and the LEDs. I noticed a maximum operating current draw of 0.063 A (0.76 W on the 12 V rail) for the fan motor alone, so you should be able to operate a good number of these fans off a single 1 A header if start-up boost can be accounted for since the LEDs are separately powered via the Lighting Node CORE (or similar). Alternatively, you can also get a powered PWM splitter and leave nothing to chance by powering the fans directly through the PSU. The QL120 and QL140 RGB fans also use a hydraulic bearing, which should provide a good balance of noise and longevity, but remains something that cannot be tested within a reasonable amount of time for this review.

The fan has a power cable for the PWM motor that runs it and a second cable for the LEDs. Both cables have individual wires with black insulation in a flat ribbon style, with the fan cable terminating in a 4-pin fan connector to be plugged into any standard 4-pin PWM header on your motherboard or similar fan controller. The cables are 60 cm (~23.5") long, which is longer than average for most fans and works well with large cases that support watercooling.


Here is a look at the QL120 and the QL140 next to each other. Nothing more to say except that the two complement each other well, and you can go about using both in a PC build with the same controller.