iemidget :
Hey does anyone know how I can find out how many amps are coming off of the cpu and system fan headers? I want to plug in a fractal design s36 to cool my i7 6700k and I have a Gigabye Z170x Gaming 7 board.
I am worried that a cpu fan header won't be enough to run all 3 fans plus the pump for the AIO cooler. Any advice?
If you have the Celsius S36 (http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/water-cooling/celsius-s36), the 3x fans are rated at 0.20A each (total of 0.6A) while the pump is rated at 0.15A, for a grand total amp draw of 0.75A.
If you have the Kelvin S36 (http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/water-cooling/s36), the 3x fans are also rated at 0.20A each (total of 0.6A) but the pump is rated at 0.27A, for a grand total amp draw of 0.87A.
Both total amp draws (for 3x fans + pump) are all below the max. amp rating of a typical fan header of a motherboard, which is 1A. But for safety, I personally don't go past 75% of that rating, which is 0.75A, when I connect multiple fans/pump in one header.
Since your Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 7 motherboard has a total of 5x fan headers (CPU_FAN, CPU_OPT, SYS_FAN1, SYS_FAN2, and SYS_FAN3), it's best to limit the amp draw as you have an abundant available headers to plug your fan/s and pump into. Note that in your particular motherboard, only the CPU_FAN is a true PWM 4-pin fan header (i.e., supplying constant +12V via the 2nd pin and speed control/PWM via the 4th pin), while the rest of your fan headers are DC 4-pin headers (i.e., variable/speed controlled voltage via the 2nd pin).
So, with your S36 (whether the Kelvin model or the Celsius model), I would use the CPU_FAN to plug in the 3x PWM radiator fans (via a PWM 3-way splitter or a PWM fan hub) and use the CPU_OPT to plug in the S36 pump.
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