Corsair RGB Fans - HD120 & Commander Pro

[Watlinguk]

Hi guys. I'm hoping this is in the right section.

I'm looking at buying 8 x 120mm fans with RGB lighting effects. I'm just unsure how the Corsair HD120 work. I understand they have two cables, one for the fan and the other for the lighting. I also understand they come with a controller which controls their basic colours.

Would I need to get a Corsair commander pro to control the lighting even further as well as the fan curve on these fans please? If so is that all i need? Or do i need to buy any additional cables to make this work please?

Is they any better alternatives from other companies please? Looking for bright RGB lighting for my system

 

[RockSteddy]

I'm no expert as I've only just bought a Commander Pro and a 3 pack of the LL 120 RGB fans for my set-up but the fans and the pro was all I needed.

I'm not sure what packs of the HD120's you intend to buy but I assume they would contain similar hardware. The 3 pack LL120's I bought contained the fans, a Lightning Node Pro and an RGB hub which is enough to get the FANS set-up but if you go for a Commander Pro it can take the place of the Lightning Node Pro as it has two LED channel controllers built in. Now bear in mind if you didn't buy the Commander Pro you would need to plug in your fans to your motherboards PWM FAN headers to control their speed but as you intend to buy 8 fans then you would not have enough headers on the Pro as it only supports up to 6 fans (unless you use splitters but I do not know if that would work as I have no experience in this type of set-up).

So if you go with the HD120 fans and Commander Pro you would connect the RGB leads from the fans and plug them in to the RGB hub (assuming you get one) and the other PWM leads from the fans in to the Commander Pro. Then there is a cable that plugs from the RGB hub which then connects into one of the 2 LED channels on the Commander Pro and finally there is a USB 2.0 lead that plugs in to the Commander Pro with the other end going in to a USB 2.0 header on your Motherboard which provides the software control through iCue. There is also 2 USB 2.0 headers on the Pro itself in case you only have one USB 2.0 header on your motherboard and also need to connect an AIO cooler for instance.

Anyway that is my take on it, I'm sure there are more experienced people on here that can advise further, especially on other brands.

 

[Doug2507]

Commander pro (Will need it for fan headers) & x2 rgb hub (6 fans max per hub). 2 fans will need to be run off the mobo.

I've just done exactly the same setup myself apart from using an h150i aio which has 3 fan headers on the pump. I've got 10 fans, 8 LL 120/140 and 2 nf-af12. 8 LL through cue software (5 on the pro, 3 in the aio) and 2 noctua through mobo (push/pull hybrid and set to fixed rpm in bios).

 

[Dave Burton]

I'm no expert as I've only just bought a Commander Pro and a 3 pack of the LL 120 RGB fans for my set-up but the fans and the pro was all I needed.

I'm not sure what packs of the HD120's you intend to buy but I assume they would contain similar hardware. The 3 pack LL120's I bought contained the fans, a Lightning Node Pro and an RGB hub which is enough to get the FANS set-up but if you go for a Commander Pro it can take the place of the Lightning Node Pro as it has two LED channel controllers built in. Now bear in mind if you didn't buy the Commander Pro you would need to plug in your fans to your motherboards PWM FAN headers to control their speed but as you intend to buy 8 fans then you would not have enough headers on the Pro as it only supports up to 6 fans (unless you use splitters but I do not know if that would work as I have no experience in this type of set-up).

So if you go with the HD120 fans and Commander Pro you would connect the RGB leads from the fans and plug them in to the RGB hub (assuming you get one) and the other PWM leads from the fans in to the Commander Pro. Then there is a cable that plugs from the RGB hub which then connects into one of the 2 LED channels on the Commander Pro and finally there is a USB 2.0 lead that plugs in to the Commander Pro with the other end going in to a USB 2.0 header on your Motherboard which provides the software control through iCue. There is also 2 USB 2.0 headers on the Pro itself in case you only have one USB 2.0 header on your motherboard and also need to connect an AIO cooler for instance.

Anyway that is my take on it, I'm sure there are more experienced people on here that can advise further, especially on other brands.

Thank you for your detailed write up, you've given me a better understanding of this setup than Corsair themselves were able to, and have answered the questions i had.

Edit: I'm not the OP, just had a similar query recently.

 

[RockSteddy]

Thank you for your detailed write up, you've given me a better understanding of this setup than Corsair themselves were able to, and have answered the questions i had.

Edit: I'm not the OP, just had a similar query recently.

No worries, glad it helped someone at least.

One thing to say that Doug2507 picked up on and that I forgot to mention is that if you do have more than 6 fans you will need two RGB hubs as they like the Commander Pro only support 6 fans.