Questions about build using Fractal Design Define R4 and Asus Z97-A MOBO

tpallred · Aug 27, 2015

First build in about 25 years and I have a couple of questions about my R4 and Z97-A MOBO and i7-4790K CPU and 1866 DDR3 RAM.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DjNPBm

1. Is it better to put the front fan in the upper or lower bracket? I've got 4 HDs so I'm going to have to leave the top drive cage in place.

2. The front and rear R4 fans have 3-pin connectors but the front panel fan controller cable connectors only have 2 physical pins in the 3-pin sockets. Does this mean the fans also only use two wires inside their 3-pin connectors? I ask because the Z97-A has software called Fan Xpert 3 to control fans connected to the MOBO but it doesn't work with 2-pin fans. I can't tell for sure from the Fan Xpert 3 description if it reacts dynamically to realtime load/temperature but if that's the case then it seems like that would be better than me trying to decide which setting to put the R4's controller on at any given time. If Fan Xpert 3 doesn't respond dynamically then I might as well use the R4's front panel switch?

3. If I use the MOBO fan connectors, does it make any difference which fan is connected to which connector?

4. The MOBO has 3 switches - EPU, TPU and EZ XMP. Do I need to use them for this configuration or can I leave them in the default positions and let the one-click 5-Way Optimization software take care of CPU and RAM settings? I'm not planning to OC the CPU or RAM but the Z97-A manual has (O.C) beside all RAM speeds greater than 1600 so I'm not sure if the EZ XMP switch in particular needs to be enabled.

I'll be using Win7 but it won't be here for a couple of days so I won't be able to use any utilities that might be useful/informative (like CPUID CPU-Z for example) until then.

Thanks.

ak47jar3d · Aug 27, 2015

1. Is it better to put the front fan in the upper or lower bracket? I've got 4 HDs so I'm going to have to leave the top drive cage in place.

It really doesn't matter.I would make sure the is intake fan to push air from the bottom or exhaust if the fan is on the top.

2. The front and rear R4 fans have 3-pin connectors but the front panel fan controller cable connectors only have 2 physical pins in the 3-pin sockets. Does this mean the fans also only use two wires inside their 3-pin connectors? I ask because the Z97-A has software called Fan Xpert 3 to control fans connected to the MOBO but it doesn't work with 2-pin fans. I can't tell for sure from the Fan Xpert 3 description if it reacts dynamically to realtime load/temperature but if that's the case then it seems like that would be better than me trying to decide which setting to put the R4's controller on at any given time. If Fan Xpert 3 doesn't respond dynamically then I might as well use the R4's front panel switch?

Fan expert 3 will still dynamically changes the fan speeds since the included fan controller will be plugged to the case fan header on motherboard anyways. 2 pin typically can not be dynamically adjusted like 3/4 pin fans can.

3. If I use the MOBO fan connectors, does it make any difference which fan is connected to which connector?

No. Typically the fan headers are labeled for organization purposes.

4. The MOBO has 3 switches - EPU, TPU and EZ XMP. Do I need to use them for this configuration or can I leave them in the default positions and let the one-click 5-Way Optimization software take care of CPU and RAM settings? I'm not planning to OC the CPU or RAM but the Z97-A manual has (O.C) beside all RAM speeds greater than 1600 so I'm not sure if the EZ XMP switch in particular needs to be enabled.

Auto overclocking of CPU doesn't work well for me and I ended up doing it manually anyways. XMP profiles will quickly adjust the correct setting of your ram cards and its very simple.

tpallred · Aug 27, 2015

1. Thanks.

2. There isn't a connection from the case fan controller to the MOBO. There are 4 cables coming out of it - molex power and 3 fan socket connectors. The case fan controller is a 3-position switch - low, medium, high. If Fan Expert 3 is dynamic then I should leave the case fan controller completely disconnected and connect each fan to the MOBO.

3. Thanks.

4. Not knowledgeable enough to understand your answer. I don't want to OC the CPU. I want it to run at the 4.0GHz it's advertised for. At least I think I do. (Let me pause a moment to say those damned video commercials that keep running on this page as I type are a PITA!) I guess I don't fully understand the consequences of enabling the EPU and TPU switches vs 5WO. I guess "doing it manually" would be choosing particular values in the EPU and TPU software screens but I'd be doing that blindly at this point. Maybe I should leave the switches in the default positions and choose the 5WO until I get better educated on the choices.

"XMP profiles will quickly adjust the correct setting of your ram cards and its very simple." When you say "will quickly adjust" I think automatic. But when you say "it's very simple" it sounds like it's something that I should be doing and it's easy to do. I'll see what google has to say about it.

Thanks for the response.

tpallred · Aug 28, 2015

Fractal tech support says the fans wires are 3-pin but their front panel controller only needs two of them to operate. So I can connect the fans to the MOBO and let Fan Xpert 3 operate them.

tpallred · Aug 28, 2015

Amazingly the thing booted up. I had the monitor connected to the MOBO since it was the first boot but I ended up with a blank screen. Rebooted with the monitor attached to the GPU and got the boot screen. Everything looked okay on the main BIOS screen except that the RAM was listed as 1300 instead of 1866. The CPU was running at 4.0 which was what I expected. I ran the wizard and said it would be a media editing system. After it tuned things for that I got the screen below. You can see both the CPU (4080) and RAM (1903) are running at greater than advertised speeds although it still says the RAM is 1300 under the DRAM Status header. I'm a little concerned about overclocking putting unnecessary stress on the components. Should I be, or does this look okay to run with?

Gotta say, since this was my first build in a quarter century I was halfway expecting a popping noise and burnt plastic smell when I turned it on. Whew!

(Oops, couldn't figure out how to add the picture. Thought the picture icon was for that but it wants a URL.)

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