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- 16 Jul 2024
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Firstly I want to apologise for what is going to be a long message, but I’m looking for clarity on how to connect up fans and RGB lighting as I’m going around in circles. I don’t know what to connect where and have RGB coming out of my ears!
Let me start with what I have.
AIO Thermalright Frozen Prism 360 Black ARGB cooler. Each fan has two wires, presumably fan power and LED power. The pump on the CPU also has two wires, pump power and LED. The cooler comes with a small hub (Photo 1) It has 3 ports labelled PWM (x2) and one labelled PWM/FG. Instructions say to “connect Pump power to motherboard WATER PUMP or CPU OPT. Connect fan to FAN HUB, then FAN HUB to CPU FAN socket on motherboard.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/057CthE9UThVLsOjF4sfDO-NQ
I have an additional 3 ARGB fans which are identical to the 3 on the 360mm AIO, so intend to run 6 in total.
I have a an ASRock B760M steel legend MB. The manual schematics show following connectors: CPU fan connector (CPU_FAN1), CPU/water pump fan (CPU_FAN2/WP), Addressable LED header (ADDR_LED1, 2 & 3), Chassis/water pump fan (CHA_FAN1,2 & 3/WP) and RGB LED header (RGB_LED1)
My case is a Gamemax Lumina ARGB Lightboard mid tower. It has a front LED panel and two LED strips built along the side. The front panel is powered separately by a Molex connector. The case has a pre-mounted RGB hub which the LED strips are connected to. The hub has six 3 pin power ports on left and bottom and six 4 pin ports on right. On the top there is a male SATA connector, presumably for power in. Next to that cable is two female power cables (photo 2) but I noted that only two cables run to them so not all pins are used. Given they are fairly long cables perhaps these are controller inputs supposed to be connected to the motherboard??
share.icloud.com
share.icloud.com
The blurb reads: “Motherboard Sync - connect the 3pin to your motherboard and you can use the mobo software to sync your fans”. “LED Lighting Control - Included in the Lightboard is a 6 x 3 Pin fan ports and with a SATA power connection for easy installation, you now have the ability to connect to on board RGB headers with a 3 Pin AURA connector included”. Again I note that the photo 2 only shows 2 physical wires going to each connector.
So key questions are:
Presuming that the motherboard will want to control the fan speed of the 3 fans on the AIO, do I use the small Hub that came with it and where do I connect that to on the MB? Then where do I connect the water pump to on the MB?
This leaves me with power/control for the other three fans. Do I connect these somewhere directly to the MB and is the intention that their speed will be controlled or are these supposed to be dumb fans and operate at one speed?
Then on to the RGB lighting.
By my reckoning I will have lighting to the 6 fans, case LED strips and CPU water pump lighting. Front pane
Will act independently. Do I utilise the case hub (and how) or run these directly to the board (and where)? If the hub, does the hub need to take some form of control from the MB or just power up from the SATA cable when PSU comes on?
Thanks
Jon
Let me start with what I have.
AIO Thermalright Frozen Prism 360 Black ARGB cooler. Each fan has two wires, presumably fan power and LED power. The pump on the CPU also has two wires, pump power and LED. The cooler comes with a small hub (Photo 1) It has 3 ports labelled PWM (x2) and one labelled PWM/FG. Instructions say to “connect Pump power to motherboard WATER PUMP or CPU OPT. Connect fan to FAN HUB, then FAN HUB to CPU FAN socket on motherboard.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/057CthE9UThVLsOjF4sfDO-NQ
I have an additional 3 ARGB fans which are identical to the 3 on the 360mm AIO, so intend to run 6 in total.
I have a an ASRock B760M steel legend MB. The manual schematics show following connectors: CPU fan connector (CPU_FAN1), CPU/water pump fan (CPU_FAN2/WP), Addressable LED header (ADDR_LED1, 2 & 3), Chassis/water pump fan (CHA_FAN1,2 & 3/WP) and RGB LED header (RGB_LED1)
My case is a Gamemax Lumina ARGB Lightboard mid tower. It has a front LED panel and two LED strips built along the side. The front panel is powered separately by a Molex connector. The case has a pre-mounted RGB hub which the LED strips are connected to. The hub has six 3 pin power ports on left and bottom and six 4 pin ports on right. On the top there is a male SATA connector, presumably for power in. Next to that cable is two female power cables (photo 2) but I noted that only two cables run to them so not all pins are used. Given they are fairly long cables perhaps these are controller inputs supposed to be connected to the motherboard??
iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud
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share.icloud.com
iCloud Photos - Apple iCloud
View, organize, and share photos and videos with iCloud Photos on the web. Changes will sync across your devices with iCloud.
share.icloud.com
The blurb reads: “Motherboard Sync - connect the 3pin to your motherboard and you can use the mobo software to sync your fans”. “LED Lighting Control - Included in the Lightboard is a 6 x 3 Pin fan ports and with a SATA power connection for easy installation, you now have the ability to connect to on board RGB headers with a 3 Pin AURA connector included”. Again I note that the photo 2 only shows 2 physical wires going to each connector.
So key questions are:
Presuming that the motherboard will want to control the fan speed of the 3 fans on the AIO, do I use the small Hub that came with it and where do I connect that to on the MB? Then where do I connect the water pump to on the MB?
This leaves me with power/control for the other three fans. Do I connect these somewhere directly to the MB and is the intention that their speed will be controlled or are these supposed to be dumb fans and operate at one speed?
Then on to the RGB lighting.
By my reckoning I will have lighting to the 6 fans, case LED strips and CPU water pump lighting. Front pane
Will act independently. Do I utilise the case hub (and how) or run these directly to the board (and where)? If the hub, does the hub need to take some form of control from the MB or just power up from the SATA cable when PSU comes on?
Thanks
Jon
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