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Corsair ML fans do not change the world, however they are an interesting move. The new magnetic levitation bearings are an irrelevance to us, although they make a neat hook for marketing purposes. Once plugged in, it’s time to actually install the fans. Despite moving from 120mm to 140mm, the fans still fit easily next to our existing components. We placed the bottom fan first, screwed it in, then the next one flush on top of it and screwed that in too. Corsair is excited about ML as it allows the fans to spin much faster than normal. Where we typically expect a 120mm/140mm fan to max out at 1,400rpm-1,600rpm, in the case of ML120 the range is 400rpm-2,400rpm and for ML140 the figures are 400rpm-2,000rpm. Corsair was adamant that we should test ML using Intel LGA2011-3 as the mainstream LGA115x is less efficient and responds less well to changes in cooling. We entirely agree with this assessment and if you are serious about cooling and are not yet using LGA2011-3 consider that you are pretty much wasting your time. The design of the fans is good and the use of a hybrid design that can replace SP and AF models is welcome. The styling, construction, colours, airflow and LED layout all work well. In an ideal world Corsair would upgrade H100i and H110i with the new ML fans and life would be generally improved.
Corsair has employed some nifty technology in its new range of ML fans however we have to be careful with the name. The bearings that support the rotors on the motors use Magnetic Levitation but this is not shortened to Maglev (like the famous trains) as that is a trademarked term so we either have to say Magnetic Levitation or take the easy route and call them ML. options: PROFIBUS DP, CANopen®, DeviceNet™, PROFINET, EtherCAT®, Modbus RTU, ASCII or TCP/IP, EtherNet/IP, POWERLINK, FLOW-BUS The subtle blue outline around the periphery of the centre and the coloured corners match the LEDs built into the centre. To reiterate, we’ve gone for the Blue option but White and Red (and no LED at all) are also options for the Pro. Instrument to be rigidly bolted to a stiff and heavy mass or construction for guaranteed zero stability.Next, we investigated the power situation. The fan controller card only sports 3 pin connectors and our motherboard fan connectors are occupied, so we’ll use four pin connectors connected directly to the power supply instead. Normally case fans aren’t too exciting, but they’re a critical piece of any PC build — and these ones are actually pretty cool. Corsair’s new ML120 and ML140 fans use magnetic levitation instead of ball bearings, providing zero friction. That should make them quieter than fans running at the same speed (or equally, at higher speeds when producing an equal amount of noise). That sounds promising, so let’s see if Corsair’s new fans deliver on their promises.
Quiet mode costs you less than 5 degrees, regardless of the cooler or fans, so the extra noise of Performance mode makes it pointless. By contrast in Performance mode the coolers were intolerably noisy, even with the glass side panel installed on the be quiet! Dark Base 900 case and it has to be made clear the be quiet! case lives up to its name and is very quiet. This highlights the point we make in the video which is that it is all well and good to improve the technology used in the bearings in a fan but when you crank up the speed and start shifting air it is going to get noisy. With the fans installed, it was time to turn on the PC and see what differences in noise and performance we could find!
Magnetic bearing harnesses magnetic levitation technology to provide lower noise, higher performance and a longer lifespan
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