Closer Examination

Looking front on, the Corsair RS120 MAX looks like a decent static-pressure optimized fan. It's only available in black, at least as of the date I write this review, and then you realize the fan weighs just under 300 g when you hold it in your hands. This is a chunky 30 mm thick, solid fan which uses a 120 x 120 mm square frame. The 20% increased thickness over the more common 25 mm format allows for the seven blades to also be larger than usual, which means—at the same fan RPM—they can push out more air through the fan than the same fan blades would if they were thinner, owing to the larger effective surface area available. It's not a linear improvement, so don't expect 20% higher performance, but this is the easiest way to release new fans with the goal of boasting higher performance. The actual design of the rotor will influence whether they are more airflow-optimized or static pressure-optimized, especially relating to the airflow restriction typically experienced in a PC case, be it a case filter, a heatsink, or a radiator with differing fin stacks. The RS120 MAX is designed with watercooling in mind, hence also why we have the spare screws in the box.

Noteworthy here is the use of liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) for the rotor akin to many high-performance PC fans in the market today. This typically allows the fan maker to push the blades to be even closer to the inner frame and not worry about the blades hitting the frame over time due to material "creep." However, the RS120 MAX has a black rotor compared to the native gray that LCP resin typically ends up in. This is glass fiber-reinforced LCP resin that is clearly dyed, so the final composite may not have the same strength and material properties that pure LCP, or even a composite with more LCP in it, would have. It also looks like the blades here are not as close to the inner frame as some other LCP fans thus, so keep this in mind. Branding comes in the form of the Corsair "Sails" logo on the front hub as well as the product line on one corner facing out, and we see vibration-dampening silicone rubber pads on the corners too.


From the back we see 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. There's another Corsair sticker on the back hub, and the fan specs are seen on a label located on the fan cable closer to the other end, as opposed to the back hub where they are usually seen—clearly Corsair doesn't like to do things as everyone else. The RS120 MAX uses an efficient 3-phase motor that is rated to consume a max of 0.2 A (including startup boost), which means you only need to allocate a maximum of 2.4 W per fan. Running the fans at slower speeds will of course consume less current off the 12 V DC rail, and I had no issues controlling all three fans off a single motherboard fan header rated for 1 A total output. We see the same magnetic dome bearing showing up here that we saw on other recent Corsair fans. This is a relatively new bearing that has the shaft spinning over the support with minimal friction—Corsair claims there is a "careful balance of magnetic forces to suspend the rotor within the fan's casing" here, and also promises a quiet operation and extended lifespan of the bearing. Given the relatively simple nature of this fan with no LEDs or iCUE Link multi-fan connectivity, we have a single flat, ribbon-style cable terminating in a standard 4-pin PWM connector.