If you would have asked me years ago who was innovating in the fan market Lian Li wouldn’t have been on my list at all. They surprised everyone with their Uni Fan design which cleans up wiring through a daisy chainable design back in 2020 and since then they have brought out a few other variations which have been extremely popular. Their most recent design is the Uni Fan SL-Infinity and today I’m finally going to get the chance to check out the new design which integrates an infinity mirror design. It’s a look I’ve never seen used on a fan so I’m excited to see what it looks like.

Product Name: Lian Li Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB Fans

Review Sample Provided by: Lian Li

Written by: Wes Compton

Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE

Photos and Features

The Lian Li Uni Fan SL-INF 120’s have the same packaging look as the last two sets of Lian Li Uni fans that have come out. The 3-pack box which is what we have here today has a black background with blue trim around the corners. Then in the center, they have a picture of all three fans lined together with the fans and their lighting on. The Lian Li logo is up in the top left corner and then below the picture the model name is the largest font. Below that they do let you know that they daisy chain together and the bottom right lets you know this is the white model because the Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGBs are also available in black as well. In the top right corner you have a badge for the 2-year warranty and then an icon letting you know this is a three-pack of 120mm fans. They do sell these individually as well but you don’t get a controller with the single fans but at least you can add more if you need them. Around on the back, they have a picture of the fan and the controller with the power off. On the right, there is a feature list and a link to the software and the left side below the photos has a list of what is in the box and a specification listing which is nice. Anything you might need to know if shopping in the store is all here.

When you open the box up the top is just packed with cables. Below all of that each of the three fans comes in a bubble-wrapped bag and next to that there is an accessory box with everything else needed inside.

For three fans the Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB come with a surprising amount of accessories. For documentation you get a can with a thank you for your purchase, there is a small piece of paper listing everything inside of the box, and then you have an instruction manual. Lian Li also includes clear plastic covers that you can install on the infinity sides to protect from scratches. These aren’t mentioned in the package contents on the card or the box, however. For cables, while the Uni-Fan design as a whole is designed to use very few fans the three-pack of fans does come with a bunch of options. You have one cable which is on the right in the picture below that has a traditional PWM fan header and an addressable RGB plug that you can use if you don’t want to use the included controller. Then there are three of the same cable that has a plug to connect to the controller. The daisy chain design means that you will most likely not need all of these, but you get three in case you need to use the fans individually. Each cable has a matching white connection at the end to go with the fans. You get three sets of black fan screws, one of these wasn’t in our accessory box.

Then Lian Li includes a controller which has its own bundle of cables. You get a USB cable that has a micro-USB connection on the controller end and a USB 2.0 header on the other. You have a cable that has a fan header and an addressable RGB plug to tie the controller in with your motherboard controls when needed. Then there is also a splitter for hooking up a 5^th group of fans. The controller itself comes with its SATA power cable built into it but I should point out that it takes two SATA power connections. Then the controller also comes with a mounting pad, which is magnetic and has sticky tape on the other side to attach somewhere in your case. The controller itself has the Uni Fan SL Infinity model info etched into the top as well as the Lian Li logo. There are sync buttons on top as well. For connections, it has four of the fan or fan group plugs, two on each side. These connections cover the fan and the lighting all in one connection, this is something that I have been saying for a long time that other companies should be doing. Normally hooking up RGB fans means a mess of cables but Lian Li is not only cutting that down with the daisy chain design, but the cable itself cuts it down even farther.

If you have seen any of the previous Lian Li Uni Fans two of the sides of the new Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120s isn’t going to be a surprise. What sets the Uni Fans apart from most of the competition is the design on the sides that allows them to be linked together physically and this also passes the wiring through contacts on the sides for a daisy chained design that cuts out a majority of the wiring that makes RGB fans such a mess. One side of the fans has two T-shaped hooks on them and in the center the 6 contact surfaces. The other side has slots for the two T-shaped mounts and pins in the center to pass through the wiring. There are smaller T-shaped holes around the pins as well which is where the included wiring attaches.

What is new however is the mirrored finish on the other two sides of the fans. Past Uni-Fan designs had aluminum panels on the sides and they do still mimic this with the silver finish around the mirrors. But these panels also have RGB lighting behind them and a second mirror that gives that “infinity” look. Even without that, the mirrored look goes well with the white fans.

The back view of the Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB has the Lian Li logo in the center cap which has a nice aluminum finish. The housing itself is thicker than the average 120mm fan and what I mean by that is most fans have a larger blade inside with the goal to fit the largest fan blade possible inside for the most airflow but the Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB like all of the Uni Fans also uses that space for lighting and for this design they do also need room for the infinity design on the sides. The Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB uses a fluid dynamic bearing here and the fan runs at up to 2100 RPM which is 2000 RPM higher than both the other SL fan and the AL Uni Fans. This gives the Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB 61.3 CFM which for reference the original SL Uni Fan did 58.54 CFM and the Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB now has 2.66 mmH2O for static pressure vs 2.54 on the original which should help with radiator use. The motor is mounted with four twisted arms around it but one is thicker to house the wiring for the fan and for the LEDs built into the center section that light up the translucent fan blade. 

The front of the Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB we get a better look at that translucent fan blade which has 7 blades and the center cap has been given a mirror finish to match with the rest of the Infinity styling. The Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB does have lighting that faces out on the front and back with a C-shaped diffuser on either side. Then for mounting each mount does have a large white rubber pad to keep vibration down. Another small detail but on the right side in this picture there are two small marks, these let you know when the fans are locked together or unlocked when latching them together.

Officially for dimensions the Uni Fan SL-Infinity, 120 RGB fans come in at 120mm tall, 25mm thick, and 122.1mm wide. A standard 120mm fan is 120x120x25 so these are right on in two out of the three dimensions but the third is wider because of the latching hooks sticking out on one side. If you plan on using a few of these in a single fan configuration you do need to keep that in mind in case it is in a tight space.

Here is a look at the three pack of Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB fans all latch together. With this configuration, you would only have just the one cable going from the end to your controller or the motherboard. This clean daisy chained look is really what makes all of the Uni Fans from Lian Li so great and the Infinity design doesn’t change any of that.

Lighting, Software, and Performance

Before getting into performance for the Lian Li Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGB Fans I hooked everything up including the controller and jumped into the software to get things set up. The main landing page for the L-Connect 3 software which is Lian Li’s software shows us that they have expanded past just controlling their Uni-Fans with it. The landing page has your system info from CPU, RAM, and GPU usage, clock speeds, fan speeds, and temperatures, and also your storage and network information as well. The fan speed page now also includes the mention of pump/fan on it and on that page, we have the four ports on the controller listed. Each port can be set to a different fan profile and you can change what device it is tied to for temperatures as well which is great. In the bottom half of that page you can pick from a list of fan modes or on the right you can create your own fan profile or set a specific speed across the board.

The Quick/Sync lighting page has a case picture and here you can quickly set up an LED mode along with setting its speed and direction.

Then the SL Infinity Lighting page is where you can dive into more detailed control. This has all four ports on the controller shown and you can set different fan speed modes and LED modes for each port here not just the entire system. There are a LOT more lighting effects on this page as well and for a lot of them you can get into more detail like setting up the colors that are being used

The Setting page has a few tabs up top but for the most part, there isn’t too much going on here. You can set the software to run on windows startup and minimize it all of the time as well. You can pick your language and temperature readout as well. Beyond that, you can let it know what devices you are running when it comes to fans so the lighting controls know the number of LEDs in the fan and you can check for updates on the update tab.

For performance testing, I did noise testing of the three fans with a decibel meter setup 18 inches away. I tested using the four different speed settings in the software using the controller. I tested with a standard A weighting on the meter and then again with C weighting. With A weighting it cuts out some of the higher and lower frequencies similar to how your ear would, this page right HERE explains it more with graphs showing the range. I was surprised for one just how slow the RPM of the fans were when running in the quiet setting but that and the standard speed settings did a good job as far as noise goes. At full speed with all three fans running at 2100 RPM are loud though, thankfully the software does give options to avoid that with custom profiles and the premade profiles.

In addition to checking out the noise performance on the Lian Li Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120 RGBs, we did also need to look at the lighting as well. Especially with esthetics being such a big focus with them. Each fan has a total of 40 individually addressable RGB LEDs in them. Lian Li has LEDs inside of the center of the fan blade to light that up and also light up a ring around the back. Then both sides of the fans have diffused LED strips along the top and bottom edge. But what sets the Infinity fans apart from the rest is the mirrored area on the top and bottom edges which have LEDs around the outside edge of the two-way mirror design that gives that infinity effect of the lights going down an infinite hole.

Overall and Final Verdict

When it comes to fans where aesthetics are also a big concern Lian Li has found the sweet spot with their Uni-Fan lineup and done a great job of relooking at the design and bringing out fresh and new looks while keeping what makes the fans so great as well. The daisy chain design significantly cuts down on the wiring that all fans but especially RGB fans have which in itself helps create a clean look. But the Uni Fan SL-Infinity’s add on to that with a great-looking white design (black looks great as well) and minimal branding combined with the mirrored touches are clean. The L-Connect 3 software has continued to improve over the last few years as well with lots of effect options and it is easy to use.

The amount of complaints that I have for the Uni Fan SL-Infinity fans is minimal. The design which has the fan blades being a little smaller than the average 120mm fan does mean that to keep up in airflow and static pressure the Uni Fan SL-Infinity fans are noisy when you crank them up to the 2100 RPM limit. But for some people that noise is fine. For me, noise is always a concern but given how good these look I might be looking to just add more and keep the fan speeds down for a win-win. The only other thing to consider is that not every case is going to position the fans where you can even see the infinity effects on the sides of the Uni Fan SL-Infinity fans so keep that in mind when picking components.

The three-pack of Uni Fan SL-Infinity 120mm fans which includes the controller as well has an MSRP of $99.99 which isn’t cheap but when compared to other higher-end RGB fan sets like Corsairs LL and Ql fans the set is $30 less than those kits which isn’t too bad.

Live Pricing: HERE

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.