Corsair SP120/SP140 RGB ELITE Fan Kit Review

Installation and Performance

Although ARGB fans are never overly complicated, there is undoubtedly a bit more involvement in them when compared to standard non-RGB cooling fans. As such, consulting the manual is often well-advised to ensure you fit them correctly and avoid anything that could potentially restrict their overall performance.

Alas, the manual you are provided with for both the SP120 and SP140 isn’t overly great on information. In fact, given the masses of languages inside it for localization, the information on how to install your fan kit is actually restricted to just 2 pages.

On the plus side, however, Corsair had the excellent idea to provide their customers with a video showcasing how the fans should be installed correctly.

ARGB fans surely can’t be that hard to install, right? Well, in the case of the SP120 and SP140, there is a somewhat unusual quirk with the hub controller. Namely, that the fans must be installed in the numerical order stated on the hub. In other words, if you fitted a fan in ports 1, 2, and 5, the fan in 5 would not operate until switched to 3. As such, when testing all of the fans in our possession, we had to hook them up sequentially. Not a major issue, but something that will undoubtedly catch some people out!

Finally, ending on something factors that definitely are mild grumble, while Corsair does give you a hub controller for the ARGB lighting connectors, you are not given any splitter cables for the PWM connections. This is an issue particularly felt in the SP120 given that you are provided with 3 fans all needing to be attached to the motherboard. As such, before hooking all of these up, you might either want to invest in a splitter or make sure your motherboard has some free PWM fan ports. Additionally, although you are given a hub controller, this does not allow for manual control. As such, you pretty much need an ARGB motherboard to get the light show running both in terms of power and functionality!

Functionality

Once connected, the Corsair SP120/SP140 RGB ELITE fans look absolutely fantastic pumping out bright, vivid, and thanks to the iCUE software, some amazing potent patterns. You can see now in the pictures below why we were more curious to look at both of these kits together rather than individually!

With it almost certainly being a feature of a numerical requirement of the hub controller, the lighting effects can be turned on to ensure that, while working in synchronization, patterns can be smoothly distributed between the different fans.

Performance

Although we do not profess our testing or methodology to be 100% accurate, we do feel it is important to check the actual performance when compared to that rated on the packaging. Specifically, in terms of recorded airflow and noise output. So, with that in mind, let’s turn those fans up to max speed and see what happens!

Corsair SP120 RGB ELITE Results

Starting with the SP120, our tests found that the performance figures given were entirely in line with those provided on the official specifications:

AIRFLOW

• Rated Maximum Airflow – 47.73 CFM
• Actual Recorded Airflow – 46.91CFM

FAN SPEED

• Rated Maximum Speed – 1500 RPM (+/- 10%)
• Actual Recorded Speed – 1502 RPM

ACOUSTIC OUTPUT

• Rated Maximum Sound Level – 26.5 dBA
• Actual Recorded Sound Level – 26.9 dBA (Adjusted from 35.1 dBA to account for ambient noise)

Corsair SP140 RGB ELITE Results

In something that was no surprise following our test of the SP120, the SP140 also provided results that were (within a reasonable margin of error) entirely in line with the rated amounts:

AIRFLOW

• Rated Maximum Airflow – 68.11 CFM
• Actual Recorded Airflow – 67.15 CFM

FAN SPEED

• Rated Maximum Speed – 1200 RPM (+/- 10%)
• Actual Recorded Speed – 1192 RPM

ACOUSTIC OUTPUT

• Rated Maximum Sound Level – 26.8 dBA
• Actual Recorded Sound Level – 27.1 dBA (Adjusted from 35.3 dBA to account for ambient noise)

Fans in Action

With five of these fans in our possession, we couldn’t resist the temptation to hook them all up to the RGB hub controller and see what they looked like. So, if you want something of a ‘real-world’ presentation of the both the SP120 and SP140 RGB ELITE fan kits in action, check out the video below!

NB. As these fans have RGB lighting effects, the video below may contain flashing images and, as such, may not be suitable for those with photosensitivity issues.