Ring RGB LED PWM Case Fans?

enc0re

Limp Gawd
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Feb 6, 2007
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I'm shopping for my next build and need some [H]elp finding the right 120mm case fans. I intend to build in an InWin 101C case and need 6 x 120mm case fans. The case fans should ideally meet the following three requirements, and of course be high quality in general:

1. Ring LED (to match the look of the AMD 2700X cooler).
2. Addressable RGB (so that the motherboard can manage colors/effects. Probably RGB Fusion, possibly Aura Sync.).
3. PWM (so that the motherboard can manage fan speeds, including turning them off).

I have only been able to find fans that meet two out of the three. For example:

A. Enermax T.B.RGB. Exactly the right look and RGB sync capable. But it uses its own controller that doesn't accept PWM. Speed must be manually managed using a remote control.
B. InWin Polaris Aluminum. RGB Sync and it hooks up to PWM, so the motherboard can manage fan speeds. But it doesn't have the ring LED look.

Can you all help me find the right case fans for my purposes?
 
Have you considered the Phanteks Halos? They add some thickness but can be used with any fan, a fan with clear blades would likely give you a very similar look to the prism. The "digital" version is addressable and supports Asus Aura as well as MSI mystic but only the non-addressable version lists Fusion support, I know fusion supports 5v addressable RGB so it might still work but I wouldn't bet on it.
 
Have you considered the Phanteks Halos? They add some thickness but can be used with any fan, a fan with clear blades would likely give you a very similar look to the prism. The "digital" version is addressable and supports Asus Aura as well as MSI mystic but only the non-addressable version lists Fusion support, I know fusion supports 5v addressable RGB so it might still work but I wouldn't bet on it.

I didn't know about those. Thanks! It isn't the exact look I'm going for because the ring is concealed by the plastic frame and not directly visible. But if I can't find my holy grail, this one is definitely getting added to the decision matrix with the Enermax and the Polaris.
 
I seem to recall that Thermaltake offered something like this, though i don't know how they stack up on all the features and fan overall performance.

Have you looked at Corrsair's new lineup? They have both a Ring RGB fan as a non-ring setup but has MagLev bearings (which I've found to be excellent, on par with Noctua; I have the older single color white MagLevs). Both of them are addressable per LED as you can see on the Corsair site now, and I think both allow PWM and voltage modulation without affecting lighting viability. The only thing that may be a hitch is I know they require connection to a "lighting node pro", but it comes in the kit with multiple fans anyway.. I know that Corsair's iCue software can control them and has lots of features, but the node also plugs into the motherboard and thus takes direction from there. Its of note that http://project-aurora.com/ will soon support fans and other hardware as well as Asus / Gigabyte / MSI RGB lighting APIs, so it may be a way to add unified lighting control. There are also other 3rd party ways to control or wire in support for RGBs

I am unsure if Corsair's new offerings will tick every box, but I think they are likely worth a look perhaps especially given their newer second generation RGB kit.
 
I seem to recall that Thermaltake offered something like this, though i don't know how they stack up on all the features and fan overall performance.

Have you looked at Corrsair's new lineup? They have both a Ring RGB fan as a non-ring setup but has MagLev bearings (which I've found to be excellent, on par with Noctua; I have the older single color white MagLevs). Both of them are addressable per LED as you can see on the Corsair site now, and I think both allow PWM and voltage modulation without affecting lighting viability. The only thing that may be a hitch is I know they require connection to a "lighting node pro", but it comes in the kit with multiple fans anyway.. I know that Corsair's iCue software can control them and has lots of features, but the node also plugs into the motherboard and thus takes direction from there. Its of note that http://project-aurora.com/ will soon support fans and other hardware as well as Asus / Gigabyte / MSI RGB lighting APIs, so it may be a way to add unified lighting control. There are also other 3rd party ways to control or wire in support for RGBs

I am unsure if Corsair's new offerings will tick every box, but I think they are likely worth a look perhaps especially given their newer second generation RGB kit.

Thanks for the tip! I didn't know about those Corsair fans. Link here if anyone else wants to check them out.

Unfortunately they have the same shortcoming as the Enermax T.B.RGB. While the fans are PWM, they have to be plugged into a controller that sets fan speed. The controller does not have a PWM connection (only RGB) to the MoBo; it uses SATA for power. So you have to manually set the fan speed rather than allowing the MoBo to dynamically control fan speed in response to load.

I like bling, but it would be such a shame to miss out on the smart fan controls that modern motherboards offer.
 
Thermaltake RIING meets your three criteria I think - and look similar to the AMD SPIRE cooler.
http://www.thermaltake.com/Cooler/C...iator_Fan_Sync_Edition_3_Fan_Pack_/design.htm

here are three of them in my case on my radiator. They are RGB so you can choose the color.
104688_40E76F7E-25A2-433B-8FA1-E02412A21059.jpg


Here's a stock Thermaltake photo showing examples of the colors you can obtain
pic7.jpg
 
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As far as I know for the Thermaltake Riing, only the radiator fans support motherboard RGB! The case fans are PWM but run RGB only through a Thermaltake controller running Thermaltake software in Windows.

If I’m wrong, that would be great!
 
I think the Coolermaster MF122R might be the first case fan to meet my requirements. But I can find it nowhere to buy, no manual, no reviews, not even pictures of its connectors anywhere in order to confirm that.

The fan on the Wraith Prism is a Coolermaster. I wonder if those fans are related.
 
We have a couple of the Thermaltake fans in the lab. No apparent issues. I can't speak to a performance-comparison, but they make pretty colors.
 
not true

It says right on the Thermaltake Riing product webpage that they hook directly into the motherboard RGB headers - shows pictures even.

http://www.thermaltake.com/Cooler/C...iator_Fan_Sync_Edition_3_Fan_Pack_/design.htm

View attachment 71976

As I was saying, that’s true for the radiator fans; which you linked. To the best of my knowledge the case fans require their controller on the other hand.

I’d love to be wrong about that, but your link is to the radiator fans.
 
As I was saying, that’s true for the radiator fans; which you linked. To the best of my knowledge the case fans require their controller on the other hand.

I’d love to be wrong about that, but your link is to the radiator fans.

What's significant about them being labeled radiator fans? If that's not just marketing speak it should mean they'd likely have higher static pressure (better airflow against fins) which should be a bonus anyway. I'm not sure why you couldn't use them as a case fan? They look like normal 120 mm fans. I'm looking at one now.

mine are just the single color red LED units - not RGB - but from what I can tell they look to be the same form factor.
 
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Normally the trade off is that cooler fans have higher pressure but less airflow (CFM), making them not ideal for case fan usage.

I only bothered looking at the Thermaltake case fan specs as a consequence. But you aren’t wrong: their radiator fans still move 41 CFM. That could be an option!

I’ll wait if something pops up for the Coolermaster MF122R first though. As a case fan, it moves 49 CFM. Probably the more sensible choice. Or maybe Thermaltake will come out with a sync edition of their Riing case fans.
 
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