Fractal Design Prisma AL14 140mm PWM RGB

Writing this review to help other beginners confused by RGB setup.1. This can be plugged into, and controlled by a compatible motherboard. I bought a gigabyte motherboard before knowing that their RGB software isn't compatible with my corsair's AIO cooler RGB software. The other option vs. buying this fan was to add a splitter to the AIO cooler's RGB fans since the pump has enough power to run 32 total LED. However, I'm not sure the corsair software will see more than 2 fans or if the data link is smart enough to know I'm using a splitter. The 3rd option would be to plug everything into a controller and fan hub, which is another expense in addition to fans. With the Fractal fan, I can confirm it's seen as it's own fan by the motherboard RGB software, which I can set the colors and patterns.2. Connect the RGB plug into the 5V RGB header on the motherboard. Do not plug it into the 12V RGB header or else it will fry the LED! The fan motor is powered by the other plug which goes into your sys fan header on the motherboard.3. This is PWM, or pulse width modulation, which means it can control the speed of the fan off a temperature curve. Many other fans aren't PWM so they just run at full speed which can be loud.

The media could not be loaded. I bought these to replace the stock (non-RGB) 140 mm fans that came with my Fractal Meshify S2 case. Besides the RGB, I liked that the Prisma AL-14s had significantly better airflow and static pressure than the stock fans. I'm running four of these AL-14 PWM fans in my current setup (three as exhaust and one as intake), in addition to two Noctua NF-A14 iPPC-2000 as radiator intake fans for my AIO (EVGA CLC 280) and two CoolerMaster 120 mm intake fans on the bottom of the case (these are hidden beneath the shroud in the pictures of my rig). Overkill? Probably. But this setup allows my R9 3900X to idle at 28-32°C and max out at ~70°C at load. I have the front-top fan oriented as an intake to work in concert with the radiator intakes and the remaining top fans oriented as exhaust—this mixing of intake/exhaust on the same side of the PC case is unconventional, and although I haven't exactly done any scientific testing of it, I find that it works a little better than the more traditional method of orienting all three top fans as exhaust, at least for this particular case.Perhaps most importantly, the RGB lighting/color is rich and vibrant and gets the job done.

Custom build

Needed some new fans unexpectedly for a case swap I was doing. I had been using Coolermaster stuff but every model I was interested in was out of stock so I looked around for alternatives. Really didn't want to do the $$$$ Corsair stuff. Then I remembered seeing some in video advertisements on some YouTube channels I follow for "new Fractal RGB fans" and looked them up. Now I have 7 of them. 4 of the 140's and 3 120's on a 360mm radiator. All are the PWM model.Really liking the fan performance of these so far. The 120's have about 40% more static pressure than the coolermaster SF360R I was using on the radiator before so I'm getting better airflow through the rad with still no noise.The RGB is great looking as well. I'm sure the Corsair stuff is a step above ( probably have more than 6 LED's in them) but these are plenty bright enough for now. Also appreciate that they don't need a hub and extra software to control, though recent experiences with Aura and Armoury Crate from Asus are kinda making me wish maybe I had done Corsair after all.I think about the only negatives I can say about these are mounting was difficult. Whatever material the made the frames from the screws they include really don't like to tap into it vs other brands I've used. Also I wish they'd figured out a way to make the PWM power connectors daisy chainable like the RGB connectors if desired.