Motherboard rgb question

[hyperfuse]

I am currently using an old motherboard board paired with a i7 8700k cpu which is like 6 years old.

Motherboard model is the gigabyte z370xp sli

Wanna do some maintenance and bought myself a hyte y60 case with a bequiet rgb 360mm AIO cooler and some rgb fans.

My question is, my motherboard is an old board and how do I know whether it support rgb fans?

I checked my motherboard manual and don't see any rgb fan headers, only the standard cpu_fan/sys_fan headers.

However it has a LED_C header that is meant for rgb led strips instead. No indication its for rgb fans

My rgb aio cooler comes with a hub though but if my mobo don't support it, does that means my fans rgb won't light up?

 

[Ah Ken]

Your motherboard's LED_C header is a 12V RGB header.

Your new rgb fans may be running with 5V argb. Both are different in lighting controls whereby 5V argb enables you to control individual led to different colours and run different patterns (if possible). Yours is 12V, runs same colour through the different fans and have light patterns as well.

Their cable terminals are also different. 12V u can see full 4 pins present, 5V only has 3 pins.

 

[NightRaven49]

I checked my motherboard manual and don't see any rgb fan headers, only the standard cpu_fan/sys_fan headers.

However it has a LED_C header that is meant for rgb led strips instead. No indication its for rgb fans

the led_c header looks like a standard rgb header, so if ur fans use rgb headers they should be compatible. dont see any addressable rgb headers though, so if ur fans are argb likely u cannot power/control the lighting.

My rgb aio cooler comes with a hub though but if my mobo don't support it, does that means my fans rgb won't light up?

depends on how the hub is controlled and what kind of headers it has. also again depends on the rgb implementation of the fans. as ah ken mentioned, check the pins of the fans and the hub to determine these.

 

[hyperfuse]

Thanks for the replies. Really noob in this.

Basically I am using the bequiet pure loop fx 2 360mm aio.

I also have a 3 pack antec prizm rgb fans that I will be using.

Both the aio and antec fans pack comes with a fan hub that has that argb and pwm cable along with sata cable for power.

I googled my board and it has a software called rgb fusion but think it only controls led strips instead of rgb fans.

Should i use the hub that was given by bequiet or antec and plug to my led_c header on my mobo?

The antec prizm hub seems to have buttons to cycle modes and patterns for the antec fans.

The bequiet hub is just a hub to connect 6 fans with pwm and argb connections, but no buttons to cycle through.

If I use antec hub instead, what about my aio pump? I can connect the aio pump directly to mobo right? I think I saw a header for that.

 

[hyperfuse]

the led_c header looks like a standard rgb header, so if ur fans use rgb headers they should be compatible. dont see any addressable rgb headers though, so if ur fans are argb likely u cannot power/control the lighting.

depends on how the hub is controlled and what kind of headers it has. also again depends on the rgb implementation of the fans. as ah ken mentioned, check the pins of the fans and the hub to determine these.

Thanks for the reply.

Both my bequiet aio rgb cooler fans and the antec prizm fans are argb.

The LED_C header on the mobo is not argb for sure, probably old board don't have that tech?

When u say "most likely cannot power/control the lighting", means my rgb can't light up or I just can't control all of the rgb light patterns?

I don't really need any light pattern or pulses..just light up and change color I happy already haha

 

[keith]

try this:

 

[Ah Ken]

NightRaven49 bro's mentioned "most likely cannot power/control the lighting" is referring to being able to connect to your motherboard. This appears impossible since the header is a RGB 12V 4pin.

In order to even power up your fans' lighting which are ARGB, you need the ARGB 5V 3 Pin. Take a look at the number of pins on the motherboard vs your fans' wiring for ARGB, they are different.

Since you had purchase two different brands of ARGB fans, they comes with their own hub. You may wish to connect to one hub in order to get a homogenous/uniform lighting all together. If you use the individual hub, what u will get is the 3 Bequiet Fans in its own pattern and Antec Prizm Fans in their own patterns as well. They won't be able to sync up.

By any means if your hub has a USB terminal for you to link up with your motherboard's USB, it will be possible for you to use the individual brand's software to control your 2 sets of 3 fans.

 

[Ah Ken]

Also noteworthy is that if the hub has limited ARGB terminals, you will have to get a splitter cable to go link all 6 fans together. You may possibly savage cable from either brand if they have and able to be used.

Take note too that both brands' number of LEDs can be different, so if you run a lighting pattern, they may not end up very well either.. Will still light up but due to different number of LEDs, there will be noticeable difference in the pattern when you play around with it.

 

[hyperfuse]

NightRaven49 bro's mentioned "most likely cannot power/control the lighting" is referring to being able to connect to your motherboard. This appears impossible since the header is a RGB 12V 4pin.

In order to even power up your fans' lighting which are ARGB, you need the ARGB 5V 3 Pin. Take a look at the number of pins on the motherboard vs your fans' wiring for ARGB, they are different.

Since you had purchase two different brands of ARGB fans, they comes with their own hub. You may wish to connect to one hub in order to get a homogenous/uniform lighting all together. If you use the individual hub, what u will get is the 3 Bequiet Fans in its own pattern and Antec Prizm Fans in their own patterns as well. They won't be able to sync up.

By any means if your hub has a USB terminal for you to link up with your motherboard's USB, it will be possible for you to use the individual brand's software to control your 2 sets of 3 fans.

Ahhh so it means my rgb won't light up at all even if I connect my aio rgb cooler to either hub, and the hub connect to the LED_C header of my mobo?

 

[hyperfuse]

Also noteworthy is that if the hub has limited ARGB terminals, you will have to get a splitter cable to go link all 6 fans together. You may possibly savage cable from either brand if they have and able to be used.

Take note too that both brands' number of LEDs can be different, so if you run a lighting pattern, they may not end up very well either.. Will still light up but due to different number of LEDs, there will be noticeable difference in the pattern when you play around with it.

I am more inclined to use the antec prizm hub as that hub has 2 buttons on it, mode and led light speed (assume it controls the led pulse speed)

The hub is basically to connect argb and pwm( to spin the fans).

Then I saw 2 other cables from my radiator pump and the aio cooling block. I think those 2 cables plug directly to the cpu_fan header on my mobo

Plan to swap over this Saturday morning from my old case to the hyte y60. If the rgb don't work...means time to buy a new cpu n board liao

 

[hyperfuse]

try this:

This doesn't help me at all bro haha...

Mine is a bequiet / antec hub and my mobo has a 12v led_c header. my board dont have the ARGB header....

this video just shows the diff type of hubs/controllers but assume everyone has a argb header on their mobo.

 

[Ah Ken]

After checking both products' web, your best choice is the antec prizm hub like you mentioned. It offers the buttons to change light modes.

The Bequiet hub is just a basic distribution board with no controls. It received its control inputs from the motherboard only.

Your antec hub has the DC in which provides the power to light up. It will not need to involve your RGB header anymore. The mode and speed buttons will then function as control input by your physical pressing. There will be no option for you to connect PWM LED port to be controlled by motherboard.

Your 2 cables from the AIO pump are the PWM pump speed and the 5V ARGB.

 

[hyperfuse]

After checking both products' web, your best choice is the antec prizm hub like you mentioned. It offers the buttons to change light modes.

The Bequiet hub is just a basic distribution board with no controls. It received its control inputs from the motherboard only.

Your antec hub has the DC in which provides the power to light up. It will not need to involve your RGB header anymore. The mode and speed buttons will then function as control input by your physical pressing. There will be no option for you to connect PWM LED port to be controlled by motherboard.

Your 2 cables from the AIO pump are the PWM pump speed and the 5V ARGB.

Hi thanks for the reply. Appreciate it.

Ok so which means I will connect my bequiet fans on the cooler and my antec prizm fans to the antec hub provided.

Then that 2 cables that I saw coming out of the bequiet radiator pump and the cooling block, one of them is the pwm pump speed, this cable I plug directly to my mobo header called cpu_fan or there is another header called sys_fan3_pump.. confusing.....

Theb the 5v argb cable from the radiator I plug to the antec hub as well ya

 

[hyperfuse]

After checking both products' web, your best choice is the antec prizm hub like you mentioned. It offers the buttons to change light modes.

The Bequiet hub is just a basic distribution board with no controls. It received its control inputs from the motherboard only.

Your antec hub has the DC in which provides the power to light up. It will not need to involve your RGB header anymore. The mode and speed buttons will then function as control input by your physical pressing. There will be no option for you to connect PWM LED port to be controlled by motherboard.

Your 2 cables from the AIO pump are the PWM pump speed and the 5V ARGB.

I check both my bequiet hub and antec hub...looks similar. Both have sata connection for power and both up to 6 fans. Don't see any difference between them except that the antec one has the 2 buttons for mode and led speed.

So u mean the antec is a controller whilst the bequiet is just a hub?

Controller can independently light up my rgb whilst hub need to connect to a argb header on mobo?

 

[hyperfuse]

Last question!

Really thank you for helping me hehe..

Because I have rgb 6 fans in total, 3 from the bequiet rgb aio cooler and 3 from my antec prizm pack, but my antec controller only allow 5 rgb fans. .

I was thinking whether possible to utilize 4 slots on the antec hub for 4 fans and the last slot on the antec controller, I connect the bequiet hub to it. Den put 2 fans on the bequiet hub. Will that work?

 

[Ah Ken]

I check both my bequiet hub and antec hub...looks similar. Both have sata connection for power and both up to 6 fans. Don't see any difference between them except that the antec one has the 2 buttons for mode and led speed.

So u mean the antec is a controller whilst the bequiet is just a hub?

Controller can independently light up my rgb whilst hub need to connect to a argb header on mobo?

Yup, you right on this.

Your motherboard manual recommends that the PWM pump header to go for sys_fan3_pump header for the pump speed controls.

 

[Ah Ken]

Last question!

Really thank you for helping me hehe..

Because I have rgb 6 fans in total, 3 from the bequiet rgb aio cooler and 3 from my antec prizm pack, but my antec controller only allow 5 rgb fans. .

I was thinking whether possible to utilize 4 slots on the antec hub for 4 fans and the last slot on the antec controller, I connect the bequiet hub to it. Den put 2 fans on the bequiet hub. Will that work?

Yup, it can work. Due to the limited slots, you can:

1) Get a splitter cable
2) Daisy chain if the fan's argb cable allows
3) As you mentioned, you connected the ARGB input of the Bequiet Hub into one of the ports from the controller. Do connect the DC in for both. The fans also can. If you want better control then to the motherboard's header individually.

 

[hyperfuse]

Yup, you right on this.

Your motherboard manual recommends that the PWM pump header to go for sys_fan3_pump header for the pump speed controls.

My current setup, I using a non rgb aio cooler, and I plug it to cpu_fan instead. Because...that sys_fan3_pump header is ridiculously placed at bottom of the motherboard. The cpu cooling block is at the middle top of the board, don't make sense to plug to that sys_fan3_pump header at the bottom haha... use it for 6 years, no issue..overclocked my 8700k to 5ghz stable.

 

[hyperfuse]

Ok I learn a new thing from you bro. Thanks alot.

So fan controller can independently light up my rgb, I don't need to connect to any mobo header, just need power from sata cable.

Argb Fan hub need to connect to a argb header on a mobo. So for older mobos like mine that don't have argb headers, fan hub alone can't light up my rgb fans.

Heng..I don't need to buy new mobo already haha...

Will do this sat morning.

 

[Ah Ken]

Yeah, actually it doesn't matter since the CPU_FAN header is also PWM. Ultimately, you still get to adjust the rpm.