One of the most frustrating aspects of building a gaming PC is cable management. After you’ve invested a couple hundred dollars in parts with RGB, and they are getting clouded by unwanted wires, it beats the purpose of RGB. However, cable management might be getting a whole lot easier as Lian Li decided to take an active approach and solve this issue.
New Lian Li wireless fans unveiled
In a recent post by Lian Li Global, they showcased the Uni Fan SL Wireless PC case fans with a 2.4GHz control. However, as you might’ve suspected, these fans aren’t entirely wireless as you need a power source to get them going, but the number of connections and wires required has been reduced as you only need a dongle to control the lighting and speed.
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Instead of needing a platform to connect multiple fans, these Uni fans feature a daisy-chain design, allowing you to connect up to four by simply sliding and attaching them. The only wired aspect of these fans is the motherboard PWM connection needed for power, the rest of the functions are controlled wirelessly.
This gives it a truly wireless feel compared to other Lian Li Uni fans such as the SL120 and SL140. On top of that, these fans feature a 1.6″ LCD in the middle; you can mix and match LCD and non-LCD fans together. This adds another layer of accessibility as you can use the L-connect 3 software to display information such as the RPM, CPU temperature, and more.
There are also preset animations you can use regardless of the fan’s orientation. You can also create custom MP4, GIF, JPG, and PNG elements to display on the fan LCD, which will add a bit of personality to your rig. Whether you like cats, an anime character, or just want a picture of yourself on there, it’s up to you.
The wireless controls also go beyond just controlling the fans, as if you’ve got a Lian Li RGB power cable, it can sync all the RGB to give your build a more aesthetic look. It also has a total of 10 channels and each fan or group of fans takes up one channel, so you can control 10 groups of four fans simultaneously.
While 40 fans inside a PC case is definitely overkill and I don’t know of any PC case that supports this amount of fans, the overhead is nice to have. That said, connecting four fans together does have a protocol that you’ll need to follow. A group of four fans can only be arranged in the following format:
- LCD x 2 + LED x 2
- LCD x 4 + LED x 1
- LED x 4
Plus, a group of three fans can all have the LCD variant. According to the Lian Li website, the LCD fans have fluid dynamic bearings with a maximum RPM of 1900 and an acoustic noise level of 29.5db(A). For reference, a whisper can measure at around 30 dB. On the other hand, the normal fans have a maximum RPM of 2000 with a noise output of 28.5 dB(A) and the reverse blade variant has a 1900 RPM but a marginally higher noise output of 31 dB(A).
Whether we’ll see 140mm variants of these fans, we’re not sure, but we wouldn’t be too surprised to see Lian Li making those as well. Lian Li has also posted an introductory video that showcases its design and features.