ASUS ROG Strix XF 120 Case Fan Review – Not even bad, but way too expensive

1 - Einführung und technische Daten 2 - Testaufbau, Messkammer und Equipment 3 - Anlaufspannung und Drehzahlen 4 - Volumenstrom (Airflow) 5 - Statischer Druck 6 - Geräuschemission (Lautstärke) 7 - Zusammenfassung und Fazit

If already a full portfolio, then please also with fans. With street prices starting at around 29 Euros, Asus positions the ROG Strix X120 as an upper-class fan for cases and radiators, but it also sets the bar very high for itself. You can safely do without the missing RGB, but what is this high-priced offer really good for and can the fan defeat the reference, which is even offered cheaper? Today’s test will tell, of course.

I’m not going to subject myself to the PR-speak of the Asus homepage and slides now and quote all the great neologisms in full that are attributed to the fan in an advertising manner. The design, however, seems well thought out, so that you can describe it briefly and succinctly as functional and free of visual frippery. The fan does what it’s supposed to, which is the main thing. However, we will have to write about a few things that you can’t see (and hear) at first glance. But I will get to that in the course of the article.

Front

Back

45°

Verpackung

Zubehör

The magnetic levitation bearing (“MagLev”) used is supposed to reduce friction and prevent canting in the bearing, which is also convincing in practice. The principle of action is not new, but quite effective. with the specified 400,000 hours MTBF for the bearing, at least according to the data sheet, you are very well in the race. Of course, we can’t test it, but the offered 5 year warranty is something that buyers are happy to take.

The frame is plain and black, rubber applications at the screw openings are to reduce structure-borne noise and the rotor blades follow the current trends with their rounded ends. Due to the omission of the RGB illumination, the hub can also be somewhat smaller and the fan opening is also not reduced inside by light rings in diameter. So less is definitely more and you will painlessly survive the lamp shop being closed today. No fair then, thanks for that.

The accessories turn out neat, because you get besides the fan and the obligatory four case screws also silicone decouplers and a Y-splitter. The manual is rather deco, because you can’t really do much wrong. If it weren’t for the price, which of course includes the Asus brand and the ROG brand. Such fans are available in the OEM business from about 4 to 6 USD, so the margin is also right.

On the next page you will first see how and what we test and why. Understanding the details is extremely important in order to be able to objectively classify the results later. The differences between many models are more in the details and THE best fan for all situations can hardly exist. There is a certain optimum in every situation and of course there are also good all-rounders. But they usually have their price. But if you plan to use 60mm radiators for example, you might save money by choosing the best model for your application, which might not perform so well as a case fan. And vise versa, of course.

For the new ones I also have the original data sheet as PDF at hand:

ASUS ROG Strix XF 120, 120mm (90DA0010-B09000)

	Onlineshop: lagernd, Lieferung 2-3 WerktageFiliale Dortmund, Filiale Hannover/Laatzen: lagernd (keine Online-Reservierung möglich)Filiale Berlin, Filiale Düsseldorf, Filiale Hamburg, Filiale München, Filiale Stuttgart: nicht lagerndStand: 24.04.24 09:16	14,60 €*Stand: 24.04.24 09:17
	Sofort verfügbar, Versand innerhalb von 24h	14,90 €*Stand: 24.04.24 10:03
	lagernd	14,90 €*Stand: 24.04.24 10:10

*Alle Preise inkl. gesetzl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten und ggf. Nachnahmegebühren, wenn nicht anders beschriebenmit freundlicher Unterstützung von geizhals.de