Corsair Air Series AF140 LED Quiet Edition High Airflow Fan

Corsair isn't a name unfamiliar to most computer enthusiasts. From cases, to power supplies, to cooling products and more, Corsair has a reputation of making high quality products that won't break the bank. Today I'm looking at a slew of products from Corsair's Air Series of cooling fans.When a rather large box showed up on my doorstep I was not expecting it to be filled with fans. After opening the box I realized that Corsair had sent a pair of every fan in the Corsair Air Series. That leaves me with a pair of each of the following fans: AF120 Quiet, AF120 Performance, AF140 Quiet, SP120 Quiet, and the SP120 High Performance. Each of the 120mm fans were delivered in a twin pack while the AF140 fans showed up in individual packaging. The boxes themselves clearly denote the model number along with the basic fan specifications at the bottom left of the front of each box. A large window makes it extremely easy to get a good look at each of the fans before you buy them should you be shopping in your local Fry's or Microcenter. Now that I've had my fun stacking all the boxes in interesting ways…Features:Flow optimized based on application (air flow versus restriction)Hydraulic bearings for quiet and reliable serviceRubber corners for reduced vibration and noiseInterchangeable trim ringsLow-voltage adapter included for even less noiseThe SP series fans may not be something you'd buy to replace fans on your current heat sink or radiator, but if you were buying parts without included fans they're a great choice! The quiet version of the SP120 doesn't move a ton of air to cool highly overclocked CPUs on air cooling but it was essentially silent during the test runs. The faster of the two SP120 fans cooled incredibly well at the penalty of increased noise. Keep in mind though that the SP120 High Performance Edition still isn't a loud fan. They don't hold a candle to the Vantec Tornado screamers of yesteryear and if you aren't picky about noise they'd suit you just fine even at full speed. The quieter SP120 Quiet Edition is what I'd recommend to anyone who needs an absolutely silent computer… for anyone else the SP120 High Performance Edition (maybe using the low-voltage adapter) would be the way to go.Overall both the Corsair AF-series and the Corsair SP-series fans were impressive. Both lineups include editions oriented towards quiet cooling and performance cooling. Even the performance-oriented versions of the fans were very quiet with the exception of the SP120 High Performance Edition, which, while performing highly, did not do so in silence at 12 volts. The included low-voltage adapter quieted the beast right down though! The interchangeable color rings are a nice touch and the frames and rubber noise isolating inserts are built extremely well and will offer years of service. Corsair has served up winners here!Pros:Superior airflow at any given noise levelInterchangeable rings add a nice touch to any themeExtremely quiet (with the exception of the SP120 High Performance Edition)Included low-voltage adapter for even more quiet operationCons:Slightly higher cost than other fans

This was a great deal; this was the far and away most efficient way to score cooling options for my computer case.The Good: Corsair fans have a great reputation, and it's well earned. They're very quiet at under 2000 RPMs, which is a good speed for casual use. I don't even really hear them over house background noise unless I've got them pushing over 3500 RPM, and that's to support a full load on my water-cooled machine. I'm currently using 3 of them for air movement and 3 of them on Swiftech radiators, and the total cooling gains is roughly 30C on full load over a solely air cooled system. The LEDs project directly over the blades and do the pattern you see here, but the fans are very 'red' looking and not just partially illuminated.The Bad: There is some play in the frame, so you need to make sure you've got them bolted down entirely. Missing even one screw can cause oscillation that makes them buzz harshly. The exhaust/input isn't well labelled so make sure you check flow direction before committing to your install. The LEDs scale in power to the speed of the fans, so there's no way to make the LEDs brighter or dimmer without increasing fan speed, too.Improvements: An LED brightness option would appeal to some people. A flow direction marker, clear and legible, would just be very helpful.TL;DR: I really enjoy having these and would buy again for any build. They're a slick addition to any aesthetically pleasing case build, and they're priced very, very well for being such excellent fans with a neat feature of the LEDs.

I like Corsair and I love blue, so these fans felt perfect for me in my new PC with a blue case by Fractal Design. Unfortunately, the new motherboard doesn't have very many fan headers. I'm actually using an old adapter just to get all the installed fans to work. This Fractal Design case I bought already comes with two similar (but not blue) fans pre-installed on the front. I have a Corsair AIO water cooler, which takes up the fan space on the back of the PC. There seems to be room for two fans at the top of my case, but only if I remove the CD/DVD drive bay, which I don't want to do (even though I almost never use my CD/DVD drive). I did install one of these fans at the top, which was only slightly complicated because of the case. It looks like I was only able to attach one side of the fan to the top of the case and I had to use some nuts to get it to stay. But, again, that's not reflective of the fans, it's reflective of the case (and perhaps my own confusion). I could replace one of the many fans in my PC with the second that came in this 2 fan pack, but I haven't, due to laziness and avoidance of the extra work. I'd love to find a way to fit it in, but it seems my case is pretty much full of fans and it's quite quiet and cool, actually. Still, I love these fans. My only concern is that these are 3-pin PWM fans and I think (I could be wrong) that basically means that you can't control their speed, although it seems you could do this within BIOS and some other programs, otherwise you could install a fan controller. However, this is only very minor and doesn't deserve to lose a star. The one I have runs at full speed and helps keep my PC cool along with all the other fans installed. When gaming, I most definitely want all of my fans running at full speed. They don't need to when I'm not gaming, but if they're going to be as quiet as these fans are, then they can run full speed all the time and it's fine. I love this fan more than any other in my case, because it's blue (my passionately favorite color) and matches my blue case. You can get these fans in a few other colors, if blue isn't what you want. Even though I'm only using one at the moment, I think these fans are great. Either I cannot hear the fan running at full speed or the noise is incredibly insignificant. This isn't the only Corsair component I put into my new PC. :)