Corsair CO-9050046-WW Product Data Sheet

Advertorial

MAGNETIC LEVITATION
COOLING FANS: TAKING

TOMORROW OUT FOR A SPIN

Hoverboards aren’t here yet, but Magnetic Levitation
is the next best thing ready for your new rig

HE LOWLY COOLING FAN doesn’t

get half the credit it deserves.

T

that’s a good thing. Without them, your
pricey CPU, laptop, or graphics card would
overheat and become a paper weight in a
few short minutes.

is keep cool and quiet: competing goals
that aren’t easy to satisfy simultaneously.

There’s one on almost every
serious piece of hardware, and

The hotter the hardware, the harder it

Turn up the RPM and temperatures drop
fast, but get ready for a racket; beyond
1200 RPM the noise from conventional
fans goes from noticeable to noisome.

While most fans are judged by how
much air they can move, measured in CFM
(cubic feet per minute), there’s another
factor to consider. Cooling units frequently
require fan installation against a radiator,
heat sink, or dust screen. These obstruc
tions slow air flow and require special fans

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with a high static pressure to overcome
the resistance they introduce.

This means not all fans are created
equal. Some are made for high-volume
airflow into a case through low-pressure
side panel grills, while others are made to
push air through dense filters and metal
vanes. Moreover, excellence in one area
limits performance in others, so it pays to
know your fans.

Static Pressure (mmAq)

ML140

P-Q Curve

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Static Pressure (mmAq)

Airflow (CFM)

P-Q Curve

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

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4.5

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Static Pressure (mmAq)

Airflow (CFM) ML120 ML140

ML140

P-Q Curve

Static Pressure (mmAq)

Airflow (CFM)

P-Q Curve

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

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3.0

3.5

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Static Pressure (mmAq)

Airflow (CFM)

P-Q Curve

MAGNETIC LEVITATION DIAGRAM

By replacing conve ntional, f riction -inducing fan hub co mponents w ith a design th at uses magnetic pl ates, Magn etic Levit ation
hubs pr omise next g eneratio n jumps i n the spe ed and effici ency of cool ing fan desig n.

MAGNETIC LEVITATION
TOMORROW’S APPROACH

KEEPING IT QUIET while also staying chill

is a tall order, and requires going beyond
any off-the-shelf solutions available
today. Corsair’s new 120mm and 140mm
ML lineup tackles these long-standing
challenges with a series of fresh rotor
designs that improve pressure and air
flow, but the big innovation is in the hub,
which holds a surprise that ditches current
mechanical paradigms and takes a page
from futuristic aerospace R&D.

All current consumer cooling fan
technology is based on a handful of
straightforward mechanical bearing
designs. No matter how smooth or well
made, traditional bearings are wear
items that eventually fail. Moreover, each
solution has plenty of quirks.

Ball bearing fans get noisy long before
it’s time to replace them, making their lon
ger lifespans a double edged sword. The
sleeved bearing designs used by most of
the industry have a shorter duty cycle than
pure bearing solutions and prefer vertical
orientations, limiting where they can be
used. That’s the price of moving par ts and
friction, especially over time.

Instead of a purely mechanical solution,
Corsair employs Magnetic Levitation tech
nology in the hub of its new ML series fans,
sidestepping friction and wear problems
by partially suspending the rotor within a
magnetic field. Because of reduced con
tact with other fan components, the newly
designed, high-efficiency blades are free
to move more quickly, quietly, and without
the drag of mechanical driveline com
ponents draining power and shortening
operating lifespan with every rotation.

That reduced friction also pays off with
increased rotor speeds and lower decibel
readings. For example, while most con
ventional designs top out loud and proud
under 2000 RPM, ML120 series fans spin
a full 20% faster, up to a heady 2400 RPM,

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BEARIN G

STANDARD
MAGNETIC
LE VI TATI ON

FLEXIBLE
MAGNET

MAGNETIC
LE VI TATI ON
FLUX

MAGNETIC
LE VI TATI ON
PL ATE

P.C .B.

and with subdued sound levels older de
signs can’t touch. ML fans also wind down
to 400 RPM for a quiet mode that lives up
to its name, providing a vast RPM range to
play with during test and tune sessions.

The result? Enough silence, fan speed,
and static pressure on tap to keep up with
virtually any application.

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through thick metal grills, braided cables,
or dark Lucite panels.

When it’s time to upgrade the fans
on that CLC system or huge heat sink,
remember that high static pressure fan
kits provide the push needed for cooling
thick radiators while retaining the options
found in high airflow varieties. For Corsair,
this means including Magnetic Levitation

LOOKING GOOD MEANS
MORE THAN MOVES

A PROP ERLY SORTED RIG is about more than

speed these days: fashion is also a factor.
Cooling fans with plain blades and a box of
screws won’t cut it when you’re pushing a
build beyond brown-bag basics.

For a slick but subdued look, products
like the ML Pro series come with a range of
four colors for corner caps, matching most
components and cases right out of the box

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Airflow (CFM) ML120

hubs, interchangeable corner color caps,
and even a high static air pressure led­illuminated version.

Availability in both 120mm and 140mm
sizes for all models provides a solution
for ever y case and cooling scenario. Big
or small, slick or subtle; no matter what
build project you’ve got planned, the new
wave of Magnetic Levitation fans, such as
Corsair’s ML series, have you covered.
Find out more at corsair.com/MLSeries.

without going gaudy. Even
if stealthy sleeper systems
are more your style you’re
still good to go since black
is included. Beyond good
looks, the caps’ soft rubber
design dampens vibrations
before they touch the chas
sis, stopping secondary
sound problems before
they start.

For more flash, the
ML Pro LED series adds a
quad-LED arrangement
that diffuses hub-mounted
light throughout the
impeller with a layout
bright enough to show

Whil e popular,
120MM fa ns work
hard to p ush air
and make more
noise than their
bigger brothers.
It take s a smoot h
design to prod uce
high pr essure,
high RPM and qu iet
performance.

An ext ra 20MM
may not s eem
like muc h but the
numbe rs don’t lie.
With lower speeds
and the refore
less n oise, the big
blad es push air
much mo re easily.
If your c ase has
the spa ce, go big
when it comes to
fan siz e.

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