Question In your opinion, which RGB fans are better: Lian Li, or NZXT?

[LegoTekFan486]

Those are the 2 brands I see at a local store (other than my current one, which I won't name a manufacturer, but I will say their tech support is lacking, to the point of recommending an incompatible product that I had to return)

I'm looking towards the user experience, as in, knowing which lights are compatible with which controllers, longevity of the actual fans, and so forth.

 

[Lutfij]

Lian-Li or Corsair's iCue Link series of fans. NZXT have been trash for a long while.

Moved thread to Cooling section from Components section.

 

[dwd999]

Those are the 2 brands I see at a local store (other than my current one, which I won't name a manufacturer, but I will say their tech support is lacking, to the point of recommending an incompatible product that I had to return)

I'm looking towards the user experience, as in, knowing which lights are compatible with which controllers, longevity of the actual fans, and so forth.

It would help if you could describe your setup with greater detail, especially in terms of how many fans you want to have and what other argb components you have. For example, you mention "controllers"; why would you want to use any controller when you can hook the fans up directly to the argb connectors on your motherboard? Does your motherboard not have any argb connections or if it does, how many does it have? argb spitter cables are readily available so you could hook up multiple fans to a single motherboard argb connection. Or you could buy fans in sets that lock together and need only 1 connection for 3 or 4 fans.

It might also help if you could describe any software that you may have tried to control your argb devices. I use SignalRGB to control both my fans and my Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO RGB case lights so that they both display the same thing at the same time. If you have had bad experience with other software it might help if you describe what those problems were.

As a minor note, when comparing NZXT and Lian Li fans the NZXT fans produce a higher CFM air flow.

EDIT: read the manual for the NZXT fans and noticed they use a 4 pin RGB connector so you would need to have one of those on your motherboard if you don't want to use their controller:

https://www.datocms-assets.com/34299/1681849583-rgb_core_digital-manual_230320_v1-1.pdf

 

[LegoTekFan486]

It would help if you could describe your setup with greater detail, especially in terms of how many fans you want to have and what other argb components you have. For example, you mention "controllers"; why would you want to use any controller when you can hook the fans up directly to the argb connectors on your motherboard? Does your motherboard not have any argb connections or if it does, how many does it have? argb spitter cables are readily available so you could hook up multiple fans to a single motherboard argb connection. Or you could buy fans in sets that lock together and need only 1 connection for 3 or 4 fans.

It might also help if you could describe any software that you may have tried to control your argb devices. I use SignalRGB to control both my fans and my Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO RGB case lights so that they both display the same thing at the same time. If you have had bad experience with other software it might help if you describe what those problems were.

As a minor note, when comparing NZXT and Lian Li fans the NZXT fans produce a higher CFM air flow.

EDIT: read the manual for the NZXT fans and noticed they use a 4 pin RGB connector so you would need to have one of those on your motherboard if you don't want to use their controller:

https://www.datocms-assets.com/34299/1681849583-rgb_core_digital-manual_230320_v1-1.pdf

My current motherboard doesn't have argb connectors, hence the need for a controller. However, I'm more looking to replace the fans when I get a new motherboard and CPU combo (when future app/game compatibility requires it, that is). But if a Lian Li argb connector makes the motherboard more expensive or limits my options too much, I'll probably have to go the "controller" route when I do that. (Obviously, a motherboard with a Lian Li argb output would be preferable, the separate controller being "plan B")

In my current case, which I plan to reuse for my next build, there's a 120MM spot in the back, and 2 140MM spots in the front, thus a 3 fan bundle probably won't do the trick for my case.

Since I don't really overclock, an air cooler for the CPU should suffice, but that's for another thread.

 

[dwd999]

My current motherboard doesn't have argb connectors, hence the need for a controller. However, I'm more looking to replace the fans when I get a new motherboard and CPU combo (when future app/game compatibility requires it, that is). But if a Lian Li argb connector makes the motherboard more expensive or limits my options too much, I'll probably have to go the "controller" route when I do that. (Obviously, a motherboard with a Lian Li argb output would be preferable, the separate controller being "plan B")

In my current case, which I plan to reuse for my next build, there's a 120MM spot in the back, and 2 140MM spots in the front, thus a 3 fan bundle probably won't do the trick for my case.

Since I don't really overclock, an air cooler for the CPU should suffice, but that's for another thread.

Most current motherboards (full size atx) contain at least 3 argb connectors, which you can add an inexpensive splitter to, so that you could have as many as 15 argb devices without needing a controller. You can use any 3 pin argb device with those, so your choice of fans is wide open. You do not have to use Lian Li's feature of combining multiple fans together, so 3 separate fans will be fine. The same applies to NZXT.