Overall and Final Verdict

Lian Li continues to innovate and offer different fan designs with their Uni Fan line of fans and their latest fans, the new TL and TL LCD fans are a great example of that. The new lineup is surprisingly diverse with 24 different SKUs and even when you aren’t including the triple fan kits that come with a controller there are 16 different models once you include the black and white color options, 120 mm and 140 mm sizes, reverse and regular airflow directions, and LCD and non-LCD models. They all have the Uni Fan linking design that cuts back significantly on the wiring needed. The new design also has a great-looking lighting design that improves on previous fan designs like the SL-Infinity but now wraps around the edges and ends of the fan while still including the infinity mirror design which now butts up to the edge. All of that means that the lighting and the mirrored design now carry on from fan to fan and is visible from more angles. Then on top of that the TL LCD fans have a display on the center section of the fan that you can customize to show your own videos or pictures or to show current system status information.

Performance-wise I was surprised with the performance of the TL fans. The TL LCD isn’t in the same range as the Lian Li P28’s which were crazy, but the non-LCD TL fans do put up some impressive numbers, taking advantage of the liquid crystal polymer used in the fan blades. When you add the screens into the mix the RPM drops down some and there is less room for airflow but they aren’t JUST for looks. You get solid airflow without making too much noise when you aren’t running them cranked all the way up.

One of the downsides to the TL and TL LCD models is they aren’t designed to link together directly. You can run them all on the same controller but I would love to see a future model let you mix in the LCD models in the middle of a run of normal TL fans. The TL fans also have a new cable connection that lets you hook up on both ends of a line of connected fans which is useful, sadly the TL LCD doesn’t have that. The Uni Fan design inherently does force the fan housing to be a little thicker than your standard fan and to compensate for the fan size that cuts into Lian Li runs the fans a little thicker so keep that in mind. The same goes for the TL LCD models, especially the smaller 120 mm model. The 1.6-inch display is larger than the standard fan center section, cutting into the total airflow. None of that is enough to stop me from recommending these fans. The only other issue I ran into was the use of a PCIe 6-pin power connection whereas past controllers use one or two SATA power plugs. This will be fine with most setups, but you do need to make sure you have an extra cable on your power supply. If you are using a newer 12VHPWR connection you should be good though.

My biggest concern when Lian Li first introduced the TL LCD design at Computex and when the fans came in was just how expensive it would all be. We have seen displays on water cooling raising the pricing on those coolers significantly and in this situation, you would be running three or maybe more. The pricing however isn’t bad. The base TL fans are $32.99 or $35.99 depending on fan size and the triple packs which come with the needed controller are $109.99. The TL LCD models are more expensive but not as high as expected. The single fans are $46.99 and $51.99 for the 120 and 140 models then the triple pack with controller is $149.99. Now this is the most expensive set of fans on the market but with lighting AND the three LCD screens, the set is only $10 more than what the Corsair QX triple pack would run you which has dropped in price from its original $160 MSRP. I do wish though that they had a 140 mm triple pack as well, as it sits you have to buy a set of 120 mm fans to get the controller then can add in 140 mm fans.

All together, Lian Li has hit the nail on the head once again. The Uni Fan TL design is an improvement on their past designs and it is a fan design I would run if I want lighting in my build. Adding in the TL LCD models is just a bonus as another way for someone looking to build a flashy PC to customize things.

Live Pricing:

Lian Li Uni Fan TL

Lian Li Uni Fan TL LCD

Author Bio

Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org

Editor-in-chief

You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.