AMD Wraith Max - some questions

nheather

nheather

nheather

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Hi,

I have just bought some upgrade components including an AMD Wraith Max cooler. I have a couple of questions that I hope you can help with

  1. The fan comes with three leads, one is permanently attached which is for the fan. The other two are detachable and plug into sockets on the fan. I assume that these are for the LED lighting, but why are there two. At the board end one has a 4x1 plug and the other has a USB 2.0 header plug. But they also have different sockets at the fan end. Are these both for the LED lighting, if so I assume you only ever fit one of them, if so why would you pick one over the other. And if you aren’t interested in the LED lighting I assume you don’t need to fit either.
  2. Thermal paste. Is the pre-installed stuff any good? Or should I use third party stuff? I have some Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
Hi,

I fitted one of these last week, the pre-applied paste has been fine for me; ran some benchmarks etc. and has been great - far cooler than before.

The main wire is for the CPU fan as you say.

The other two wires gives you options for the RGB - if you board supports RGB then you can use the RGB plug to connect to the MB connection. If you don't have RGB support on your board, then you can use the other wire to connect to a USB header on your MB - and then use the AMD software to give some RGB effects. So just use one of of the extra wires, not both of them.

I used the RGB wire, as my boards has an RGB header, is working great :)

If you don't want RGB, then don't plug either of them in.
 
Many thanks. I’ve been doing some research myself and it seems that to get the full LED functionality, you need both cables.

The RGB is for lighting effects on the fan blades. The USB is for lighting effects on the ring and AMD logo on the fan casing. Apparently if you don’t fit the USB then the case lighting defaults to white and cannot be changed.

I’m not bothered about lighting as I have a solid case so I’ll leave them both off.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
nheather said:
Many thanks. I’ve been doing some research myself and it seems that to get the full LED functionality, you need both cables.

The RGB is for lighting effects on the fan blades. The USB is for lighting effects on the ring and AMD logo on the fan casing. Apparently if you don’t fit the USB then the case lighting defaults to white and cannot be changed.

I’m not bothered about lighting as I have a solid case so I’ll leave them both off.

Cheers,

Nigel
Click to expand...

Mine only has the rings around the centre - has no RGBs on the fans.

The AMD logo on mine is white and cannot be changed.
 
Mike 702 said:
Mine only has the rings around the centre - has no RGBs on the fans.

The AMD logo on mine is white and cannot be changed.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is what I am saying (according to what I have read, not from experience).

The colour of LEDs on the fan are controlled by the RGB cable.

The colour of the LEDs in the AMD logo and the ring on the case outlining the fan are controlled by the USB cable. If you don’t have the USB cable connected, these will default to white and cannot be changed.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I think there are different models of this. I have plugged in both the Rgb cable to the MB and the USB cable to the USB header, but all I can change is the ring on the case. The AMD logo stays white and I don't believe the fans have any RGBs on the one I have.
 
Threepwood said:
This is correct.
Click to expand...

Do you have a picture of the cooler with the different RGBs?

Here is a pic of mine, as you can see there are no fan RGBS on mine - just the outside rings?

20200112-094924.jpg


I can see that the Wraith Prism cooler comes with fan RGBs, is that maybe what you are thinking of?

Coolers.jpg

jVHHCxD.jpg
 
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Mike 702 said:
Here is a pic of mine, as you can see there are no fan RGBS on mine - just the outside rings?
Click to expand...
I imagine its still the same with the max, have not actually got one to test with, but if it is the same as the wraith one lead will do the ring and one the amd word, like set brightness, trun on/off set pattern etc. No RGB but still do things with the lights that are there.
 
Threepwood said:
I imagine its still the same with the max, have not actually got one to test with, but if it is the same as the wraith one lead will do the ring and one the amd word, like set brightness, trun on/off set pattern etc. No RGB but still do things with the lights that are there.
Click to expand...

Seems to be different, I plugged in both leads and used the AMD (Coolermaster) software, also tried the Mystic light software - all of them just gave me the ability to change the ring colour, no option for the AMD logo.
 
Mike 702 said:
Seems to be different, I plugged in both leads and used the AMD (Coolermaster) software, also tried the Mystic light software - all of them just gave me the ability to change the ring colour, no option for the AMD logo.
Click to expand...
Try plugging that lead into a usb 2 header on the motherboard instead, it might recognise it then.

The other lead is deffo for the AMD light, its what its there for.
 
Threepwood said:
Try plugging that lead into a usb 2 header on the motherboard instead, it might recognise it then.

The other lead is deffo for the AMD light, its what its there for.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have done that.

The instruction I saw, said to use one or the other - the USB option is there for people who don't have an RGB header on their MB.

A quote from someone else

"The RGB ring around it adds a lot of beauty to this part. I wish the AMD logo on it was RGB also, but sadly it just appears white and there is nothing that you can do about it."
 
^^ I used to think the same, but then I read somewhere you need both for full control, I'll try and find where I read that.

Edit: I only use one for cleanliness, but my sons we had to use both to alter all three zones, thinking about it now, maybe we didnt need both but only the USB header to be able to control all three. But are thinking need both because thats how it ended up when fully working.

I'll keep looking for the thing that said use both. Have you tried the USB header only?
 
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Not tried USB only, will do that and see what happens.

Edit - So tried USB on its own - no change.

If I use either cable, or both I can get the software to work fine ; both the AMD (Coolermaster) software on the Mystic Light MSI software. They both detect the cooler and give the RGB options for it.

There is just no option to change the AMD logo in any way.

There are two rings on the case, which you can change. The is no RGB on the fans.

I am confident that this MAX cooler does not have any more RGBs, the prism cooler has transparent fans I believe.

I cannot see a single picture of the MAX cooler with the AMD logo a different colour.

I believe mine is working perfectly, as designed, and think there might be some confusion with other models.
 
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Mike it sounds to me and by going off the picture you posted you have the Wraith Max cooler, only the rings can change colour on this cooler.

It sounds like OP has the Wraith Prism cooler which has more rgb options, rings, fanblades and AMD logo can all be changed.
 
I have found the pre-applied thermal paste with AMD coolers OK (after that when reapplying I use thermal grizzly kryonaut).
 
do the wraith max and prism avoid RAM with high highspreaders (I have 8 pack modules that are about 54mm high)? can anyone tell me what high they are? as I have a SFF case
 
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