I didn’t think case fans could evolve much, but I was wrong

I’ve built a lot of PCs over the past decade, and a part of the process I hate the most to this date is cable management. Call it a “skill issue,” but there have been times when I’ve spent more time tidying up cables and routing them properly than putting all the PC parts together. It’s particularly bad if you’ve used an AIO or if you have a lot of RGB fans in your case for good airflow, because, well, more fans means you’ll have more cables to hide.

Things are looking a lot better now, though, as we’re starting to see some innovation in this space, making case fans more interesting and a little less annoying to work with. No, seriously! Case fans have largely been a basic and boring component which enthusiasts barely glanced at, but it seems as though they have finally evolved for the better to take their final form.

Daisy-chain your way out of cable clutter

Fewer cables to hide

A lot of manufacturers out there are putting out daisy-chained fans these days, and I’m here for them. These fans, in case you are wondering, connect to each other via a proprietary connector, and they employ fewer cables overall to work. The biggest and the most obvious advantage of using these new daisy-chained fans on the market is that they let you eliminate the cable clutter within your PC case. Most newer fans on the market, including Corsair iCUE Link QX120 RGB and Lian Li’s UNI Fan SL12, only make you connect a single cable from a cluster to the hub, greatly reducing the number of cables running through your case.

If you were to install, say, six of these fans on your PC (perhaps three for an AIO and three for regulating the airflow within the case), you would only need to route two cables from those clusters to the hub, which then feeds into your CPU fan header, USB, and the power connection. Some fans, like the Cougar Apolar 120 RGB, have separate cables for ARGB and fan header, but even that’s easier than having to deal with two individual cables per fan. The end result is having to deal with fewer cables within your system overall, at least the ones coming from fans, and that’s a big win, especially for those who often struggle to manage cables.

These fans are easier to work with

Particularly good for small PC cases

Not only do you have to worry about fewer cables overall, but many of the newer RGB-enabled fans that support daisy-chaining also attach to each other via some sort of proprietary connector that keeps them together. That automatically makes them easier to install within a case or even pair them with an AIO or a liquid cooler’s radiator. You can essentially just screw in the edges on both sides and avoid dealing with a lot of screws, too, making it easier to build with.

Fans like these which are easier to install and make you deal with fewer cables are particularly great for those working with a relatively small PC case. Building inside a small PC case like the ASUS Prime AP201 case, for instance, was already quite challenging, and the abundance of cables coming from the five fans I managed to cram inside it didn’t make things any easier. I totally see myself picking up a lot of these new fans that can be daisy-chained together for a simple installation, and I’m definitely adding them to my recommendations list.

A bit on the expensive side, though

The cost of these fans can quickly add up

As convenient as it is to work with these fans, there is no denying that they carry hefty price tags. You’re essentially looking at $150 for a pack of three Corsair iCUE Link QX120 RGB fans, or $86 for three Lian Li UNI SL-Infinity fans. Cougar’s Apolar 120 RGB that I mentioned above also costs $70, which is still on the higher side when you consider case fans. The underlying technology behind them and the implementation is pretty neat, though, and the price — at least in my opinion — is totally justified. That, however, may not be the case for everyone, and I’m hoping to see them becoming mainstream.

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Perhaps a good way to lower the cost would be to ditch the RGB lights and launch a variant specifically for those who don’t necessarily need all the lights. Not only will it help reduce the price at least by a small margin, but it would eliminate the additional ARGB cable that comes out of some of these fans. I know I’m not alone in wishing there was a variant that had no RGB lights, because not everybody wants to put on a light show when they turn their PCs on.

I’m replacing my old with these new ones, and you should do it too

I’m definitely swapping out my existing fans with new ones from the likes of Corsair, Lian Li, and more, as a part of my next PC upgrade, and I can’t recommend them enough. It’s a no brainer for those who are looking to build a beautiful custom PC similar to the ones you may have seen your favorite streamer showcasing or using on their stream. Notably, it’s also good for those who have trouble managing the cables in their PC cases, as these fans are guaranteed to make things a lot easier.

The humble case fan isn’t the only component that’s seeing some innovation to reduce the cable clutter. Both ASUS and MSI have their own versions of motherboards with connectors at the back. In fact, ASUS even has a graphics card with a new PCIe-based connector that removes the need for a 12VHWPR cable. Incorporating them in your build, however, is easier said than done because of the limited case support. That’ll definitely improve over time, so I’d personally stick with just the fans for now.