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Review on ๐ŸŒฌ๏ธ DEEPCOOL CF120 Plus: High-Airflow 3x120mm PWM Fan 3-Pack with A-RGB Dual Loop Lighting Zones and Low-Noise Operation - Control via Motherboard or Included Controller by Lance Foster

Revainrating 3 out of 5

Nice colors but too expensive for 3 standard liquid bearing fans with short cables.

I have 2 of these installed in the front intake and 1 exhaust in the rear. I also have two Artic P12 PWM RGB that push air through the top of a Coolermaster ML240L V2 pump. Artic are the quietest fans I have ever owned, even when running at 2000rpm max they are quieter than these 1800rpm max fans. Artic are designed for static pressure and good fans but the RGB is a bit frosted (on top of my case and still not visible which is ok). Deepcools are built in as my case fans and are way prettier than some RGB/ARGB I've tried recently (GIM KB-23 and KB-24, Coolermaster Sickle Flow including pump and Artics). Deepcools are also very quiet when running below 1300 rpm or so. They are also sturdy and heavy fans and are nicely packaged. Made in China like most things. However, there are a couple of major problems with them: Design flaw #1) PWM fan cables are too short. I used the included PWM fan hub which allows you to easily connect 4 fans and 2 front fans. Then I tried to connect an exhaust fan and it didn't work. I had to route the exhaust fan connector to my own fan header on the motherboard. I need to buy a PWM fan extension cable to use on all 3 or more fans. Design flaw #2) Does the ARGB hub have 5 ports but the fan hub only has 4? why are they different At least the ARGB cables from the fans are slightly longer than the fan cables and I had no trouble connecting all 3 cables to the ARGB hub and moving them to the right place. Design flaw #3) ARGB connectors are proprietary, not conventional. Standard 3 pin ARGB type. You need to connect them to a hub and then use a hub connection to the motherboard. If the hub burns out, the fans are useless unless you can find or make an adapter cable. The Artic p12 uses a standard 3-pin ARGB connector and offers a Y-branch for daisy chaining, which is a much better solution. Standard liquid bearing fans are $49 in my opinion. If you need more than 3 fans, you need to buy a second set ($100 total). I just found some PWM ARGB fans from similar competitors that give you 5 fans for $49, EZDIY-FAB Moonlight. I bought them and installed them (pics attached, EZDIY below). EZDIY only has 1 LED ring on the front and 2 on the side. Dipculae reversed, 2 in front and 1 on the side. EZDIY also has a standard 3-pin (4-1) ARGB header with each fan, and the cables for ARGB and fan are long (so there are no similar design flaws). The EZDIY is slightly slower at 1600RPM vs 1800, but the CPU burst test showed similar speeds. So. Save EZDIY, return these. To me, these are connectivity issues that are unacceptable at this price point.

Pros
  • Well built
Cons
  • No