120mm RGB Fan Power Consumption | Power Hungry or Power Saver?

A 120mm RGB fan usually consumes around 4 Watts of power from the wall. Fans usually do not use as much power as the other components of a PC. Besides RGB LEDs use unnoticeably low power, for which RGB fans are low power consuming.

Power consumption does not differ much from size to size. Consequently, 120mm and 140 mm fans both take 4 Watts to run. Larger fans use a little more juice. However, it is not very concerning. 

How Many Watts Does a 120mm RGB Fan Consume?

A case fan usually takes 1.8 Watts. But fans with RGB usually take a little more power than that. To be more specific, Cooler Master MF120R A-RGB’s RGB rated voltage is 5 Volts, RGB rated current is .34 Amps which means it draws 5*0.34= 1.7 Watts.

In the case of the fan, the rated voltage is 12 Volts and the rated current is 0.2 amps. So, the fan’s power consumption is 12*0.2= 2.4 Watts. As a result, the total power consumption of the RGB fan is 1.7+2.4= 4.1 Watts. You can find a fan’s power consumption rate by the rated current, voltage, and the formula of P=VI.

If you are looking for Cooler Master MF120R A-RGB fan, then here is a worth looking into.

Do All Types of 120MM RGB Fan Consume Same Amount of Power?

SickleFlow 120 ARGB has an RGB rated voltage of 12V, RGB-rated current of .21A, fan-rated voltage of 12V, and fan-rated current of .15 Amps which means the total power consumption is 4.3W. This fan consumes less power than other RGB fans. 

Thermaltake Riing Quad 120mm has a power consumption of 1.08 Watts (12V) and 4.5 Watts (5V Fan x1). Cougar Hydraulic Vortex RGB consumes 3.6 Watts whereas the LED power drawing is 1.8 Watts.

Check out the SickleFlow 120 ARGB fan if you’re interested in upgrading your PC’s cooling and RGB lighting.

How to Run the 120mm RGB Fan on Wall Power?

If you want to power the PC fan without the PSU (Power Supply), you will need a 12V Ac power supply adapter or a battery. The AC solution is best for most cases. You can find the adapter here on.

First, plug the adapter on your wall socket. Make sure the switch is on. Then connect a side of the converter cable to the adapter’s head and the other side to your fan. This trick is not only applicable for 120mm RGB fans but also for other 12 Volts fans.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Do RGB fans waste electricity?

No. Each LED is likely to use less than a quarter of a watt. It wouldn’t matter if there were hundreds of them inside a chassis. RGB LEDs don’t generate a lot of heat as well. So, it will not heat your overall system.

Do RGB fans affect performance?

Basically, the RGB fans do help to enhance the performance of the system. But here are some facts you should also consider. It can only be possible when they are set to red. If they are set to green, they will become power efficient. On the other hand, if they are set to blue, they only focus on lower the temperature.

Conclusion

The Molex connector, which is commonly seen on case fans, is 12 Volts by default (the same as your Hard Drive and Optical Drives usually use). A 120mm RGB fan’s power consumption is not a concerning thing. There is doubt you’ll need to worry about the power supply unless you’re adding 50 fans.