DeepCool FC120 Case Fan Review

The DeepCool FC120 Case Fan is a brand-new model of case fan introduced this year. What sets this fan from other fans from DeepCool is its design. It’s designed to be installed as a unifan. Let’s learn more what this fan is and how does it work.

FC120 3-in1 Package Contents

DeepCool FC120 Case Fan
One box of FC120 Case Fan 3-in-1 set contains these parts.

This model particularly comes in a triple fan pack. Inside the package are three FC120 fans, a cable extender, and cable extension that is used to connect to the ARGB socket, and PWM called the RGB Power Interconnect cable. We’ll learn more about how the cables are used as the review proceeds. Finally, included are the screws for securing the fans to the case.

FC120 Case Fan Design

The FC120 Case Fan is your typical 120mm ARGB case fan. It has dimensions of 120x120x25mm (LxWxH). There are two colors, white and black to choose from. The special feature this case fan has is that we can daisy chain it to other FC120 Case Fans (up to a total of 9) leaving only one cable to connect (or two if grouping some fans together) to the motherboard. This cleans up the mess of cables on the side of the PC case.

FC120 Case Fan
The ribbon coming out is for daisy chaining to another FC120 fan’s connector as seen here. Or that ribbon cable can connect to the power interconnect cable to the motherboard and power.

To work around any existing unifan design, DeepCool simply bundled all of the argb/pwm wires together into one ribbon cable and add a connector onto the frame where another fan can connect to. That way, all fans in the series will only have one cable use. Also, the ribbon cable for each fan is short enough to be able to connect to another fan. How is it able to connect to the board? The fan that connects to the board will need to connect to the special cable extension piece. A single cable setup ensures only one main cable connects all of the fans to their headers.

FC120 Case Fan RGB Power Interconnect Cable

Installation of the FC120 is a different experience from the typical ARGB PWM Fan that I’ve done. Normally, for PWM fans, I would connect the PWM cables together to a fan hub controller or splitter and connect it to the Chassis Fan connector on the motherboard and that should power up the fan and work. The same goes for its RGB/ARGB cable, connect to a RGB hub or splitter and then connect it to its 3-pin plug to an ARGB headeror 4-pin plug to the RGB header on the motherboard and it will light up.

FC120 Case Fan
A single cable is all that is needed to power, connect to the PWM and ARGB Header (and can accept an ARGB splitter cable too)

DeepCool’s design for the FC120 calls for us to connect to a SATA 5v cable from its RGB Power Interconnect cable. This actually provides power to the PWM part of the fan. It makes the installation process accident proof. Users need to power this cable’s SATA plug from the power supply, and its design does away with getting power from the 4pim PWM header. It only connects to the PWM header Tachometer and PWM pin. This eliminates accidental short circuiting if the user plugs both SATA and PWM power. 

FC120 Case Fan Installation

My test setup involves using the DeepCool CG560 airflow case. The CG560 airflow case comes with 3 RGB fans, but are not used for this test. Two packs of FC120 3-in-1 Fans are provided, I will be utilizing 5 fans with one connection.

Daisy chaining the fans is an easy job. Simply connect each before attaching to the case. Three intake fans in front and two on top as exhaust is the orientation that I’m going for. Next, I’ve positioned the ribbon cables facing the side of the case. This setup effectively hides the cables, since the ribbon cables are short.

The installation order goes front first, then from bottom going to the top. Since there is a significant gap between the third fan in front and the first top fan, the cable extension comes in handy for bridging the large gap between fans. I’ve setup to connect the RGB Power Interconnect Cable to the bottom fan and route it to connect to the bottom PWM Chassis Fan header and ARGB header of the motherboard.

Performance

FC120 Case Fan
Cable routing for the FC120 setup is clean, no dangling cables seen here. Only the cables connecting to the headers are visible.

The FC120 case fan has a rated 61.91CFM fan airflow. This pushes more air through the case compared to my MF120GT fans (60.6CFM). Overall temperature reported by the motherboard is around 33 degrees (Intel i7 12700k with AK620 Tower Cooler on a B660 motherboard) on idle and a maximum of 87 degrees on full boost. There is noticeable airflow pushing through from the front with the side cover opened. It gets stronger while running my benchmarks, while keeping as much noise down. Running the PC normally (no games) provides a whisper quiet operation. The PWM side of the fans work fantastically well with the motherboard’s fan control software.

Summary

The DeepCool FC120 tries a novel approach on a unifan setup, without costing a lot of money for the buyer. Design wise, it uses a standard 120mm frame, so unlike the MF120GT fan that DeepCool has. But who knows, there may be an update later on will let us see the MF120GT design having unifan functionality. Gimmicks aside, the FC120 does its job well as a case fan, moving fresh air in, or exhaust hot air outside the case. Its price is wallet friendly, with some units sold online from DeepCool Official Store in Lazada at Php 1,650.

8.5 Total Score
The DeepCool FC120

The DeepCool FC120 tries a novel approach on a unifan setup, without costing a lot of money for the buyer. Design wise, it uses a standard 120mm frame, so unlike the MF120GT fan that DeepCool has. But who knows, there may be an update later on will let us see the MF120GT design having unifan functionality. Gimmicks aside, the FC120 does its job well as a case fan, moving fresh air in, or exhaust hot air outside the case. Its price is wallet friendly, with some units sold online from DeepCool Official Store in Lazada at Php 1,650.

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