Photos and Features
So Lian Li sent over one of the Uni Fan AL120 3 fan kits as well as three individual white AL120’s as well so I could check out both. The packaging for both is very similar to the SL120’s. They both have the light blue trim around the front with a black background. I love that they have an actual picture of the fans on the front and they even went as far as to make sure the white fans have white fans on the front. The pictures show the fan lighting on and on the front they do let you know up in the top right corner that the set has three fans and the individual packs have one fan as well as mentioning the 2-year warranty. Around on the back, they have another picture of the fan and on the set, they also have a picture of the controller that is included. Below that they have a full specification listing and a list of what you will find in the box. Then Lian Li has a feature list to highlight a few of the key features as well as a link to the software download as well.
When you dive into the set, right up on top they have three of the adapter cables. These come with a small bag covering the connection part of the cable. Then all three fans have a bubble wrap bag on them and you have an accessories box and documentation. They include a basic paper that kind of goes through how you can attach all of the fans together and how to hook the cable to them. Then the color book has instructions on how to use the included software.
So the adapter cables all come with a heavy black sleeving and each adapter cable has two cables on them. One is a traditional 4-pin fan plug and the other is the lighting connection. The connection has two tabs that stick out to latch on to the fans and on the underside, they have 6 pads to pass through the connection through the pins on the fans.
The accessory box has the same picture as the front of the packaging and the model name across the top. Inside they have the box packed full. They have the controller which comes also inside of its own protective bag. Then there are a few cables. One is the controller's power cable which uses a SATA power plug. One of the cables is an adapter to double up an RGB connection if your motherboard doesn’t have extras. Then the last is a cable that lets you tie the lighting and fan controls to your motherboards headers. The box has three small bags of black fan screws. Then two mounting pads for the controller.
The controller has the Lian Li branding on top as well as UNI FAN AL etched into the top. But it looks basically the same as the controllers that came with our SL120 sets other than the plug numbers aren’t labeled. The top has small clips for each of the RGB plugs, these are how you unlatch the cables later if you need to remove them. On the sides, you have a total of eight plugs for four fan cable connections. You can hook up a total of four fans to each of these plugs meaning one controller can handle 16 fans. So there is room for expansion well beyond the 3 that come in the original set. Each set of fans has a four-pin fan header then the three-pin addressable RGB plug. Then at the bottom edge, you have all of the controller's own connections. It comes with the USB data plug preinstalled. Lian Li didn’t do this with the SL120 sets, but that is a sensitive connection so I have to wonder if they did this to prevent damage. Then the right plug is the power plug and the left hooks up to the included fan and RGB cable for when you want to link everything to your motherboards control.
So there were a few big changes coming from the SL120’s to the AL120’s here. The first is in the fan blade itself. These have a slightly wider blade which is how they were able to improve the static pressure from 2.54 mmH2O up to 2.62 mmH2O. They also improved airflow from 58.54 CFM on the SL120’s to 64.5 CFM which is a big step up. The overall size of the fans is a little smaller now as well, fitting into the 120mm dimensions where the original fans were just slightly wider which also made the fan blade inside look small when it wasn’t. Then the other big changes are aesthetic-focused. The SL120’s has a U-shaped RGB bar design at the top and bottom on both sides. The AL120’s have dropped that and have lighting in two areas. Each of the corners just below the rubber pads have a small accent. Then the fan blades themselves are now translucent and they have the entire blade lit up. For the centers, they have real metal caps with a machined face and the Lian Li logo etched into them which look great.
On the back, Lian Li has dropped any additional branding by putting a machined cap on the center as well. This means they don’t even have a sticker showing all of the fan specs visible and it gives the back a clean look. That center cap has its own RGB lighting ring around it as well as the back having the same accents on each corner just like the front. Then the fan motor has an X-shaped mounting which is a little different than the SL120’s which had a twitch to them and they have the lighting cable hidden in one of the arms to keep things clean.
It’s what does on the edges of the AL120’s that make them so unique though. Two of the sides have a metal plate which on the black fans has a black finish and a machined line down the center. The SL120’s had an aluminum trim as well that was a little different from this. I liked the SL120’s design better honestly, but the thickness of that metal accent is also part of why those fans didn’t fit the “normal” 120mm fan size and could cause fitment issues. The other two sides are where everything connects together. One side has a set of six pins sticking up and the other has a contact section with 6 pads to match up together. That’s how the fan and RGB connection is passed from fan to fan. Then to latch everything together these have the same T-shaped hooks sticking out and those slide into matching indents on the other side of the fans.
The same mounting setup used to attach the fans together also works with the included adapter cable that you hook everything up with.
While the black AL120’s do look good. The white fans look even better. This is partially because the translucent blades match the white. But also because of the silver used for the metal trim on the top and bottom edges of the fans which looks amazing. The white fans also light up a little better in my opinion with the lighting but I will get into that later. I like that Lian Li even matched the plastic on the adapter cable as well, though white sleeving would have been even better as it does stand out a LOT against the white. Especially if you use these in an all-white build.
