Software controlled RGB Controller ?

Jamin280672 · 3 Sep 2023 at 17:51

Can anyone suggest a software controlled RGB controller please, I dont know where to start looking really.

I looking at buying some Phanteks D30 120mm fans, but as these dont come with any sort of controller im going to need one for them, id prefer software controlled, maybe something that plugs into a USB2 header on my board, so I dont have to run the same colours on all the fans.

Mcnumpty2323 · 3 Sep 2023 at 21:31

Connect them to your motherboard?
Then use the motherboard software to control them
Though personally I prefer using signal rgb
Even free version has a ton of presets
And if you want to really dig into
The settings
You can change every led individually

Jamin280672 · 3 Sep 2023 at 22:50

Mcnumpty2323 said:
Connect them to your motherboard?
Then use the motherboard software to control them
Though personally I prefer using signal rgb
Even free version has a ton of presets
And if you want to really dig into
The settings
You can change every led individually

There's only 2 headers on the motherboard though, I'd have 2 devices plus about 9 fans connected to them, I think then half of the 11 devices would be all the same colours / pattern and the other half would be another colour / pattern ?

The only downside of my motherboard software is it's a major major piece of bloatware, Asus Armoury create, it's rubbish........I could never get the hang of signal RGB, I'm using open RGB at the moment

I think this may work for what I'm looking for though https://nzxt.com/en-GB/product/rgb-and-fan-controller

Fatpizza · 4 Sep 2023 at 08:42

I'd like to recommend Aquacomputer stuff, like the Farbwerk360, but it requires adapters as it uses it's own rgbpx connector. and it's also not that cheap.
Advantage is that you can program it with software, but it saves the settings in hardware so that it'll work even if the software isn't running.

Glanza · 4 Sep 2023 at 11:25

The D30 can be daisy chained together if you are getting more than 3 so you can run them off 1 header on your mobo, I run mine with Armory crate controlling them and 0 issues at all.

clone · 5 Sep 2023 at 07:11

I bought a phantek rgb controller when I had no rgb headers on my old motherboard £20 very easy to set up.

ttaskmaster · 5 Sep 2023 at 09:38

Fatpizza said:
I'd like to recommend Aquacomputer stuff, like the Farbwerk360, but it requires adapters as it uses it's own rgbpx connector. and it's also not that cheap.
Advantage is that you can program it with software, but it saves the settings in hardware so that it'll work even if the software isn't running.

They're also limited to 90 LEDs per channel.

Mike_J_Smith · 5 Sep 2023 at 18:15

If you want to run different colours on each fan then you won’t be able to daisy chain them together in any way. Some of the cheaper rgb/fan controllers work that way, so they take 1 input and send that out to multiple fans. At least that’s how the Antec Prizm controllers that came with my fans work.

I’m using an Aquacomputer Farbwerk 360, they actually have standard 5v 3 pin connectors as well as their own ones, so I haven’t found that an issue. Problem is they only have 4 per unit, so if you wanted to have individual control over lots of fans, it can be expensive.

However, if you wanted to have sets of fans (eg 3 sets with 3 fans in each set, with each set doing something different but each fan of the set the same) then you could daisy chain off the farbwerk connectors. Up to 90 leds, which is probably at least 4 fans.

ttaskmaster · 7 Sep 2023 at 15:46

Mike_J_Smith said:
However, if you wanted to have sets of fans (eg 3 sets with 3 fans in each set, with each set doing something different but each fan of the set the same) then you could daisy chain off the farbwerk connectors. Up to 90 leds, which is probably at least 4 fans.

I believe they're 32 LEDs per fan, or 16 per side.
If you Daisy-Chain three fans, Aquasuite should register that as one long LED strip. You'd then set the first 32 LEDs to do one colour/thing, the next 32 to do another, then the final 26 to try and resemble the first two.
It's possible each side would register as a separate LED strip, which would give you two strips of 48 LEDs. That could mean up to five fans on one RGBpx port, and as many software controllers as you can fit.

Mike_J_Smith · 7 Sep 2023 at 17:31

ttaskmaster said:
I believe they're 32 LEDs per fan, or 16 per side.
If you Daisy-Chain three fans, Aquasuite should register that as one long LED strip. You'd then set the first 32 LEDs to do one colour/thing, the next 32 to do another, then the final 26 to try and resemble the first two.
It's possible each side would register as a separate LED strip, which would give you two strips of 48 LEDs. That could mean up to five fans on one RGBpx port, and as many software controllers as you can fit.

Oh that's interesting, I didn't know that's how these fans would work. Would like to get my hands on some and try them out; maybe on a future build

ttaskmaster · 7 Sep 2023 at 17:40

Mike_J_Smith said:
Oh that's interesting, I didn't know that's how these fans would work. Would like to get my hands on some and try them out; maybe on a future build

It's how it works when I daisy-chain any other LED strips together.
I believe there are some threads on the Aquacomputer (English) forum, explaining how it all works in detail. You can do some seriously funky stuff with Aquasuite!

Mike_J_Smith · 7 Sep 2023 at 17:51

ttaskmaster said:
It's how it works when I daisy-chain any other LED strips together.
I believe there are some threads on the Aquacomputer (English) forum, explaining how it all works in detail. You can do some seriously funky stuff with Aquasuite!

I used the term daisy chain rather than splitter. I’ve been doing mine through splitters, so the effects are mirrored. I’ll look into some other options.

ttaskmaster · 7 Sep 2023 at 19:14

Mike_J_Smith said:
I used the term daisy chain rather than splitter. I’ve been doing mine through splitters, so the effects are mirrored. I’ll look into some other options.

Yeah, splitting will do that.
Aquacomputer strips have an RGBpx at either end, so they do actually daisy-chain, just like the Lian-Li fans.
However, the D30 fans (which also daisy-chain) apparently only have 30 LEDs, according to their site FAQ, so perfect for an AQ controller!

Mike_J_Smith · 7 Sep 2023 at 19:38

ttaskmaster said:
Yeah, splitting will do that.
Aquacomputer strips have an RGBpx at either end, so they do actually daisy-chain, just like the Lian-Li fans.
However, the D30 fans (which also daisy-chain) apparently only have 30 LEDs, according to their site FAQ, so perfect for an AQ controller!

Nice; they are added to the wish list!

Parsley · 13 Sep 2023 at 13:38

To increase my RGB connectivity I use a Razer Chroma Addressable RGB Controller that plugs into an internal USB2 header, I don't bother with the Razer software and use OpenRGB to control everything. This works fine and picks up the controller with no issues. OpenRGB does take a bit of patience to get used to though. It's very customisable but not so intuitive. However, it also doesn't consume a lot of CPU usage the way a lot of other RGB software seems to.

Jay85 · 13 Sep 2023 at 14:02

I would probably invest in something like this:

RGBpx Splitty12 ACTIVE - Aqua Computer

RGBpx Splitty12 ACTIVE: Splitter für RGBpx-Beleuchtungssteuerung und ARGB-Komponenten mit externer Spannungsversorgung. Dieser Splitter kann zum Anschluss von bis zu 12 Beleuchtungskomponenten an einen einzigen RGBpx- oder ARGB-Ausgang verwendet werden. Dabei sind alle zwölf Ausgänge parallel...

shop.aquacomputer.de

Though there is a cost involved, the software included (aquasuite) is so much better without the bloatware or hardware hog. I use it on mine with different profiles setup which also seamlessly works without the controllers i have from the same company.

Overclockers sometimes sell it but i haven't seen it for awhile.

Jamin280672 · 13 Sep 2023 at 19:02

I did have a look at the Aqua bus things, but they are quite pricey, and would probably need a couple of them, so I tried a Corsair iQUE Core XT do da what ever they call it, with a load of hacked cables, got it all from the rain forest, I thought "great if it works, I can plug the fans and the RGB into one controller and be done with it".........buuuuuuut, it didnt work, so I sent the whole lot back.

As I have a Razer wireless mouse, I have Razer Synapse installed anyway, so I brought a Razor chroma RGB controller, you can connect 6 RGB devices to it, however, I have 3 fans on a splitter, and 2 other devices on a splitter, so have 13 devices plugged into it in total, it can handle 240 LEDs so more than enough, im using 154, so loads of headroom still, and dead easy to setup in the Synapse software.

Ive then got 3 of these which are tiny, connected to the 3 headers that are controllable on my motherboard (the other 3 headers are permanent !00% and not controllable), bios is handling the speed of the fans.

Software controlled RGB Controller ?

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