Arctic BioniX P120 A-RGB Bundle

[testman78]

Introduction

For the PC connoisseur, part of an impressive build these days often revolves around the implementation of lighting effects. What is a blinged-out system without a bit of RGB lighting? As such, with consumers starting to really think about its usage, we have seen many manufacturers start to really take it seriously. Of those, perhaps one of the biggest brands doing that at the moment is ARCTIC. When it comes to creating a unique and aesthetically pleasing desktop environment, it certainly doesn't hurt to have options. This is where the new BioniX P120 A-RGB fans from ARCTIC come into play! ARCTIC, one of the leading manufacturers of low-noise PC coolers and components recently has launched their new LED case fan to market for the first time with its BioniX P120 A-RGB. The pressure-optimized, PWM-controlled 120 mm fan comes with 12 addressable RGB LEDs for a customizable color experience. With many motherboards from common manufacturers, LEDs are controlled directly via an A-RGB connection on the mainboard - alternatively, they can be controlled using an external controller with remote control. The Arctic BioniX P120 ARGB fan comes in two different options, and these options come in either a single fan or a three fan pack. These buying options allow users to buy either a single fan or a three-pack to provide significantly more airflow and RGB lighting. With the BioniX P120 A-RGB bundle of three fans, the controller is included in the package.



The BioniX P120 A-RGB has the following specifications:




Packaging & Contents

The packing box is made of a cardboard box and it comes in a black design. The front side of the box has Arctic's logo printed on the top left side with BioniX P120 A-RGB bundle on the middle. There is a picture of fans on the main section. This box has 3 RGB fans, single 3-1 controller, and single control box. It is a 3 fans pack. These fans offer support for the most common manufacturers. The top of the box has an Arctic's logo printed on it.



The back side of the box has the specifications of the fans printed in the tabular format.



The left side of the box has the product's brief. It is printed in 12 different languages.



Key features of the fans are printed on the right side. Features are highlighted pictorially as well.



The fans and the included accessories are packaged in individual cardboard boxes.



The included accessories is in a brown cardboard box.



A connector block is included in the scope of delivery for wireless series connection. The controller feels nice and solid. Often these can feel cheap and flimsy, particularly the connectors. The Arctic one though feels built to last though. There are more than enough ports to connect the supplied fans and you are even given plenty of options to customise this further and even add many more fans to the controller if you wish.






The new BioniX P120 A-RGB fan is also impressive when it comes to installation and expandability. It is equipped with two 8-pin connectors that serve as input and output to pass on fan and lighting signals. This considerably simplifies the cabling.



The supplied remote is what you have to control the LED's. There are three colour buttons, a fan speed control , two brightness buttons, two mode buttons for scaling up and down the available preset modes, motherboard sync on/off, two speed buttons to adjust the speed of the effects and finally On , Auto and Off are for LED operation with Auto cycling through the various preset effects. The remote is powered by a button battery inserted into a compartment at the bottom.



Double side adhesive pads and screws.



Several extension cables are included like fan to fan and extension cable, male connection block for expansion, power cable with ARGB and PWM connections for the board and cable for connection to Arctic controller.



Along with the installation hardware, Arctic has included a compliment card with support information inside, and a QR code to scan, which takes you to their support site for installation instructions.




A Closer Look

The BioniX P120 ARGB fan has a five blade design. The fan, measuring 120 x 30 mm, generate an air flow of 81.55 m3 / h.



The BioniX P120 ARGB fan features a black plastic casing and an ARGB ring around the fan blades. This allows for a large amount of completely customizable lighting to easily illuminate a PC case's internals.




Each fan features a total of twelve RGB LEDs, which use a 5-volt connection to offer support for a variety of different motherboard manufacturers.



They have connectors on both sides. They allow connection to the equipment in various ways and interconnection with other units without cables in between. With many motherboards from common manufacturers, LEDs are controlled directly via an A-RGB connection on the mainboard. Alternatively, they can be controlled using the external controller with remote control.



This fan has been pressure optimized to offer high static pressure and high airflow, and this fan features a fan speed range of 400 RPM up to 2,300 RPM. This fan offers a static pressure of 2.1 mm H20 and a maximum airflow of 48 CFM. This optimized design ensures that the air passing through the fan is concentrated and can take away the heat that the other internal components create quickly and efficiently.



This fan features a Fluid Dynamic bearing, and this bearing enables that quiet operation and the long life span provided by these fans. This bearing provides a near frictionless design to increase the efficiency of the fan.



The motor of the P fan generates only 5 percent of the commutation vibrations of a conventional DC motor thanks to its sinus magnetization and should therefore be barely noticeable even at the lowest speeds.




Test System & Methology

Test System:

MSI X370 Gaming Pro Carbon
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
Corsair Vengeance 2400MHz 2x8GB
EVGA GTX 980 Ti
Thernaltake View 31 TG
Pump Alphacool EispumpeVPP655
Radiator MagiCool 360 Slim
CPU Cooler Alphacool Eisblock XPX Polished Clear
GPU Cooler EK-FC TitanX/980Ti@1450Mhz/4000Mhz




The 120mm fans are tested on a 360 radiator. An AMD RyZen7 1700X is used as the test system, which we did not overclock. During the tests with a 360, the temperatures could get too warm, especially since the GPU is also cooled here. As soon as the radiator is only supposed to cool the processor, that's no problem. It should also be noted that the Ryzen CPUs have a very good DIE to heat spreader heat transfer. With Intel CPUs, the temperatures can look very different, especially with the mainstream platforms that use CPUs like the 9700K. We do not use overclocking with voltage changes for the graphics card, the set 1450MHz GPU and 4000MHz memory clocks run without a changed voltage. To see how well the fans cool the radiators, we start Prime95 to fully utilize the CPU. After the CPU temperature test, we start the game Prey and stand at a previously selected position where the graphics card (GPU) is fully utilized. The CPU utilization in this scene is 20-25%. We measure the water temperature and the room temperature. This allows us to calculate the Delta K value and see which fan is better for cooling a radiator.


Performance

Writing an entire article about RGB fans isn't necessarily an easy task - you can see from the specifications if they're quiet enough for you or fit your budget but I'm going to do my best to do justice to these fans from Arctic. As the party piece of this fan system is the RGB lighting, the installation of the fans isn't really an issue here. It is, after all, going to be entirely based on how much wiggle room you have within your specific system. We can confirm that all fan cables are a decent length and as such you should not have any problems getting these into your system. There is, however, the matter of the RGB control hub. As this has quite a complicated lighting system it obviously needs a piece of hardware to ensure the right messages go to the fans. The Arctic BioniX P120 A-RGB fan is one of the best example of an RGB fan I have ever seen and when they launched with such fancy images on their marketing/point of sale, I was intrigued to know if it was just good photoshopping or they actually did look that good. With 12 RGB LEDs per fan, each individually addressable, the sky is the limit with getting the aesthetics just the way you want them. I think the main kicker for most people comes down to needing the Hue+ controller to operate the RGB function.



The BioniX P120 A-RGB fan from Arctic is the clear winner here. Well, I can safely now say that they not only look good, but they are actually very powerful too!



While operating at full speed, we did not record a noise level higher than 45dba. At idle loads, the fan speed is only around 400rpm and is practically whisper quiet. As such, in terms of noise levels, we see no reason to suggest that these fans should be any discernably louder than what you would already have in place.




Final Thoughts

After I spent several days examining the bundle, the structure of the products and their performance I am really happy with what I've experienced. Overall, the fans are very interesting and most of all very effective products, which makes them an amazing choice for all possible cooling setups inside every modern rig. The fan design is rather straightforward and overall, without the RGB, the fans look exactly as you would expect. The fans are made as a set of advanced technologies to provide quality and stable airflow and wide operational range, which is good news either for users seeking quiet operation at low voltage operation and also extreme performance for the gamers, overclockers and enthusiasts. Throughout the tests they performed really well and achieved good results, which led me to think that they will be a good choice to be installed on a case fan slot to boost the overall airflow inside every modern case and also be a main cooling unit for CPU heatsinks or watercooling radiators compatible with either 120mm fans cooling low, middle or high grade processors working at default or seriously overclocked frequencies. Regarding the noise I was able to observe a quiet operation. And for great cooling performance, the noise level should be sacrificed. But that is normal and intended. When the fans are connected in a daisy chain to the HUE+ and controlled by the remote or motherboard software they can achieve just outstanding visual effects with several different lightning patterns and a lot more colours. A feature, which will definitely make every rig an eye catcher and will attract the attention of every modern build or modding project. The fact that the controller actually creates more cabling for a single block is a little troubling.



At the end of the day, BioniX P120 A-RGB fans deliver cool and quiet airflow wrapped up in a gloriously lit aesthetic. In terms of the RBG lighting, this is where the Arctic BioniX P120 A-RGB Bundle really starts to shine. The effects on offer are fantastic and varied. Better still, the controller hub feels exceptionally well made and durable. This isn't always the case and we have in the past seem many such controllers feel like they were made of glass. The BioniX P120 A-RGB is available individually (RRP $24.99) as well as in a bundle of 3 BioniX P120 A-RGB + controller (RRP $54.99). The performance is there, and they look phenomenal. What more could you ask for?