h100i GTX installed in a NZXT H440 case fan wiring & intake/exhaust setup

johentie

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Nov 5, 2014
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so i am about to start my build and searching for how to wire and setup the fans on the Asus Z170-A Board..
i am assuming the front 3 fans of the case are intakes and the back fan is the exhaust.
The h100i GTX suggests to setup as an exhaust... so my setup would be

Front: intakes x 3
Back: Exhaust x 1
Top: fans mounted on the bottom of the rad
PSU: fan facing up

also the h440 comes with a fan hub.. i read u can't control the fan speeds with this hub.. BUT..

If i connect the case fans to the hub and connect the hub to the black CPU_FAN and connect the h100i GTX fans to the WHITE CPU_FAN..

setting it up like this will the case fans be able to be controlled by Corsair Link? or will they still be running at full speed?

and will i have to change bios settings to avoid cpu fan errors?

i've seen this one guy do the h100i gtx fans into the PSU directly.. is that a better method?

Thanks
 
Solution
"Too many fans ..."
The most common design for mobo fan ports these days can supply up to 1 amp (at 12 VDC max) to the load from EACH port on the mobo. Now the most common fans used in computers draw about 0.2 to 0.3 amps at full speed, BUT for a very few seconds at start-up can pull 2 to 3 times that. Hence the guideline that you normally can connect two fans to each mobo fan header, but not more. Regarding the total number of fans on all mobo headers together, that's not really a problem - the limit is really just the two max per port. I used the word "normally" because there are a few fans available for heavy-duty cooling scenarios that blow a LOT of air and take much more power to do that, so using them on a "standard" mobo fan...

johentie

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Heyhey thanks for the reply.. Are u saying to put the hub connector to the cha_fan headers found at the bottom of the mobo?

Gotta check but I believe the z170-a board has several 4 and 3 pin fan headers
 

Paperdoc

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As far as I can tell from the NZXT website you are correct about the hub. I don't know why they call it a "PWM Hub" except that it can accept 4-pin fans. But it appears NOT to have any ability to control - only to provide enough power for a lot of 3-pin fans all running at full speed. What I suggest below will ignore that hub entirely and leave it unused.

What you propose concerning use of the CPU_FAN headers will not work. However, there is a simple way to achieve control of the four 3-pin fans supplied with the case mainly because your mobo has a LOT of flexibility in its four CHA_FAN headers.

We'll leave the h100i GTX unit for a minute and look at the case cooling fans which are all 3-pin style. You can plug each of these into one of the four mobo CHA_FAN headers. Then in BIOS Setup (manual Section 2.7, pp. 2-46 to 2-48) you need to configure all of those CHA_FAN ports to use DC Mode, not PWM Mode. Set them all to the same Source (that is, which of several mobo built-in temperature sensors), and I suggest set all at [MotherBoard] so they will work together. Then set the Chassis Fan Profile for all four to Standard so the mobo's automatic control systems will control your fans. You can do all this because you have four 3-pin case fans and four mobo CHA_FAN headers to work with. For future reference it is allowable to use 3-pin Y-splitters for fans to connect TWO fans to each CHA_FAN header, but not more.

Now, back to CPU cooling with the h100i GTX unit. Follow its instructions. It says there are three types of electrical connections to make. The first is to plug the 3-pin female fan connector on the end of a cable to the mobo's CPU_FAN header. The connector is 3-pin, and the header is 4-pin, but they only fit together one way. Your mobo automatically detects the correct configuration for its CPU_FAN header. This connection supplies power to the H100i GTX system and its two fans, and returns a fan speed signal to the mobo for monitoring. The second connection is to connect both of the H100i's included fans (on the radiator) to the male connectors on a cable coming out of the pump unit. Note that these fans must be connected here, and NOT to any mobo fan header. The last is to plug a cable from the pump into a mobo USB header. After it's all installed you also will install a software utility that comes with the H100i GTX system that does all the control work, and the communications for this between mobo and H100i system are done through this USB cable.

Note that ONLY the CPU cooling system is connected to a CPU_FAN header, whereas the four case ventilation fans are connected to CHA_FAN headers. Also note that you do not connect anything to the mobo's CPU_OPT or W_PUMP headers.
 

johentie

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awesome... thank you very much!!
my concern was connecting too many fans to the mobo might fry it or put it under unnecessary load since some people have said not to connect even the cooling unit to the mobo...I am assuming connecting the 4 case fans to separate headers to the mobo will be ok?

if i were to upgrade the fans to lets say the SP's, it would still work the same way i am assuming?

and corsair link will control all the fans in the method you mentioned?

I called corsair tech at lunch and they said that i would need a mini commander unit ... it's expensive... i'm sure there are alternatives but would this solution essentially be the same as the one you mentioned?
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
"Too many fans ..."
The most common design for mobo fan ports these days can supply up to 1 amp (at 12 VDC max) to the load from EACH port on the mobo. Now the most common fans used in computers draw about 0.2 to 0.3 amps at full speed, BUT for a very few seconds at start-up can pull 2 to 3 times that. Hence the guideline that you normally can connect two fans to each mobo fan header, but not more. Regarding the total number of fans on all mobo headers together, that's not really a problem - the limit is really just the two max per port. I used the word "normally" because there are a few fans available for heavy-duty cooling scenarios that blow a LOT of air and take much more power to do that, so using them on a "standard" mobo fan header needs careful thought.

SP fan designs generally do not consume significantly more power. Their blades are designed to blow air against a higher resistance to air flow than those of other fans designed for unimpeded air flow. It's just that at higher backpressure ( for example, blowing air through a finned heatsink) the fan will blow less air flow.

Corsair Link software will NOT control all the fans. It will control ONLY those fans plugged into the h100i GTX unit. Control of fans plugged into mobo CHA_FAN headers is done by mobo hardware under control of software in the BIOS. For each fan header there is a "Control Loop" that is actually a feedback control for TEMPERATURE, not fan speed. There is a temperature sensor (your particular mobo has several and you get to specify which of these is used for each header Control Loop) and a temperature target plus a few other parameters stored in the BIOS code. As the machine runs it constantly compares the measured temperature to the target and manipulates the speed of the fan on that header to increase or decrease air cooling and get the measured temperature to match the target. Of course, this means that as the system workload changes and heat generation changes, each Control Loop will manipulate its fan's speed to keep the temp on target.

Interestingly, this system does not need the fan speed to do its job. All it cares about is the temperature, and fan speed is just the tool it can manipulate to achieve its goal. Fan speed is sent to the mobo header for measurement for two reasons. One is just to be able to display it to the user for interest. The other is failure alarming - most mobos will send out an alarm if any of the fans it runs fails to send any speed signal back to it (on Pin #3 of its header).

I'm not sure what the mini commander is that Corsair mentioned to you, but I really think you do NOT need it. What I proposed previously uses the Corsair h100i GTX system to control CPU temperature as it is designed to do. That Control Loop system uses a sensor built into the CPU chip itself by its maker and fed out to the mobo on one pin of the CPU module. The Corsair Link software picks up this information from the mobo and uses it to control its own two fans. For your case ventilation fans, however, ideally you do NOT want that CPU internal temperature involved. Instead you want the sensor guiding these four fans to be one that measures the actual temperature of some critical point on the mobo. Its maker has provided one called [MotherBoard] and also two others on specific areas of the mobo in case you feel they are more appropriate. I suggest you start with [MotherBoard] until you have a good reason to change that. Since all four case fans will be doing the same job fundamentally, I suggested that you set all to use the same temperature sensor and the same automatic control system ("Standard Mode") so they will work together.
 
Solution

johentie

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thank you!! i finally got around to building my PC and i plugged all case fans to the cha_fan headers..
i plugged the h100iGTX fan (SP120 high performance PWM) cables to the splitter and plugged that into the cpu_fan header.

i download AI SUITE 3 and able to control the fans

i did a prim95 run and my temps reached 99-100 on my 3rd core.. i stopped the test...
i realized that the h100i gtx fans would not go past 700rpm...

i read somewhere ai suite and link collided but i download LINK Anyway..

i noticed the pump was not set to 100% and I was able to change the speeds of the fans to performance..

I ran the prime95 test again and now the highest temps it reached was 91 after 10mins..

i think i can improve this.. i am OC'd now at 4.3ghz XMP enabled..

now the pump is at 100% the idle temps are lower as well at around 20 degrees.


Link ---> PUMP and two FAns
AI SUITE --> case fans