Advice for Setting up Fan connections in a NZXT H440 fan HUB and a x62 Kraken.

[DeclaredSnow]

Hey, doing my Second NZXT H440/X62 KRAKEN/Hue+ build. ( my own system for once ).

Loved the case so much I got one for myself.

I will list my components below.

I am planning on building a full system. I will use 8 fans in total on this build. ( 3x 120mm front, 1x 140mm Exhaust, 4x 140mm on the 280mm radiator for the AIO CPU cooler "Push/Pull")

3x of the 140mm fans are NZXT AER RGB ( 1 exhaust and 2x on the lower part of the radiator).
2x of the 140mm are the STOCK x62 KRAKEN fans.
3x of the 120mm fans are the stock chassis fans. ( ill might change these to NOCTUA fans if they don't live up to my expectations).

now. I've done some research before and I am aware of the fact that ill need to connect them to a 4 pin PWN. and a moled connection to the PSU. since I don't want all my fans to run at full speed

the manual informs you that you should use the CPU_header for the fan hub. Now I figure that this is a bad way of connecting the hub since the CPU temp and CHASSIS temps are very different.

The MOBO on the last build I did had a dedicated AIO pin for cooling. ( ASUS z270F). I believe my own board doesn't have this. so its natural to me to use the CPU pins for the KRAKEN pump connection. Should I connect the hub to a Chassis fan slot? ( 4 pin). those 8 fans would exceed one amp. but then again the hub should draw its power trough that moled instead of the board.

Now. I noted that the x62 KRAKEN also has a few extra fan connection points ( 3 of them if I am not mistaken ). should I use those? could those power the fan HUB?

Cable management is going to be interesting on this one.




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MY system:

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K@4.5ghz

Motherboard: ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING

Cooling: NZXT KRAKEN x62 280mm, 3x NZXT AER RGB 140mm, 2x NZXT FN 140mm. Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm

RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR4 3000MHz 2x8 GB

GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Strix Gaming, core@2139MHz & MEM@9216MHz
Monitors: ASUS VG248QE 24" 144hz/1080p ACER 24" monitor x2 60Hz.

Case: NZXT H440 v 2.0, White. HUE: NZXT HUE+

PSU: EVGA Supernova G2 650W GOLD

Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 250GB M.2 PCIe SSD, Samsung 850 EVO 500gb SSD, Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD, 2x WD Desktop Blue 1TB 3.5.

OS: Windows 10 Enterprise

Accessorize: Corsair K95 RGB Platinum. Mouse: ROCCAT NYTH / RAZER PLASMA / CORSAIR MM3000 PAD. TB XO 7 headset.
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[DeclaredSnow]

looks like i need to cut 2x of the 140mm fans and drop push pull for now. might mod the hat later.

 

[Paperdoc]

I have some confusion about what fans exactly and where, but we can get through that. First, let me get clear what I don't get yet.

The case comes stock with three 120 mm FN v2 for the front, and one 140 mm version of the same fan for rear exhaust. All these are of the 3-pin type with no LED's. They are best connected by using the Hub included with the case. Although it is described as a 4-pin fan hub, it really does it differently. It MUST have a PWM signal input from a mobo header using PWM Mode for control. It has ONE output port that is truly 4-pin; all its other ports are 3-pin and use Voltage Control Mode, well suited to use with 3-pin fans. Some people have reported that this Hub does not seem to work well if there is no fan connected to that single 4-pin port, so it is advisable to connect one there. Since it uses PWM Mode, a 4-pin fan is best for that hub port. Here's one point of confusion, OP. You say you plan to use one 140mm AER RGB fan for exhaust - does that mean that you will NOT use the 140 mm FN v2 fan supplied with the case? If so, that would work well. The AER RGB fan is a 4-pin type, so that's the one to connect to the Hub's Port #1. The Hub needs a connection to a SATA power output from the PSU, and a connection to a mobo CHA_FAN header that uses PWM Mode. Your mobo has three of those, BUT by default they arrive configured to use DC Mode. So you'll have to change that setting in BIOS Setup. You are right NOT to connect the case's included Hub to the CPU_FAN header. Since that Hub gets power for all its fans from the PSU, it does not overload the CHA_FAN header.

For the Kraken X62 cooling system, there is some mis-match on fan details. You indicate that you expect it will come with two 140 mm FN v2 (3-pin) fans, but the website says that unit comes with a pair of AER P fans which are 4-pin type. You were planning to add two AER RGB 140's to that, and now plan to drop two fans from the rad. Which two are you keeping? The AER P's with no LED's, or the AER RBG fans? Either way, whether you use two or four 4-pin fans on the rad, they all plug into a cable coming from the pump unit of the Kraken X62 system. That system controls its own fans via the CAM software utility, communicating with the pump via a USB2 connection. The pump also needs a connection to a SATA power output from the PSU (that's for all of the system's power, and no overload of the CPU_FAN header), and to the CPU_FAN header to report its speed to the mobo (but not draw any power for the fans).

Assuming you will have at least one AER RGB fan, you will be using the HUE+ hub to control the LED's on that (them). The HUE+ does NOT do anything for fan control - it is strictly a LED control system. It needs power from a Molex power output from the PSU, a connection to a mobo USB2 header for communication with the CAM software, and it comes with several cables to connect to the AER RGB fans in a daisy-chain arrangement. You run a cable from the HUE+ to the first fan's In port, then another cable from that fan's Out port to the In port of the next fan, etc. Actually, the HUE+ has two output ports that can be controlled separately so you can create two different groups of LED controls on separate daisy chains. None of this LED control interferes with control of the fans themselves via Hubs and mobo headers.

You really will end up using only two mobo fan headers, I believe. You will connect the Kraken X62 system's fan lead to the CPU_FAN header for speed reporting. But all of the fans on that system's radiator will NOT plug into any mobo header. They plug into a cable from the pump unit so they can be controlled by the X62 system. Then there are the four case ventilation fans (at least 3 of these are 3-pin) that can connect to the fan Hub supplied with the case. That Hub, in turn, plugs into one CHA_FAN header that needs to be set to use PWM Mode. That takes care of all those fans. Control of the LED's via the HUE+ module does not involve mobo fan headers.

 

[DeclaredSnow]

All right. I am sorry for being a little unclear on some of the parts. I wrote my question while I was at work and didn't double check the exact fan names and pins.

I am also sorry for throwing in a new question while I am at it. I hope this is ok for you. came to think of it while I did some work on that case late last night.

I am still using the three of the 140mm AER RGB fans. one as exhaust and two of them as a direct mount to the rad. witch will be mounted to the roof of the case.

now I still l have 3x of the 140mm AER P fans two that came with the x62 and one I had as a leftover from a previous build. I was planning to go for a push pull setup on the RAD, thinking that the shroud of the case roof was high enough. this was not the case. but nothing I care to much about since that was a last minute idea I got and thought it would be cool to do since I had so many spare fans.

my new question would be. would you recommend me removing the 3 stock 120mm FN v2 fans in favor of two of the 140mm AER P fans? I know the H440 is not the best case for airflow, since those AER P fans are of higher quality and designed for pressure, one would think they would do a better job then the 3 stock fans. and they are also 4 pin fans like you said. I also have two spare Corsair Air AF120 LED fans and a Noctua NF-S12A FLX 120mm I could use instead of the 3 stock fans.

The question is, would any of those two fan options do much difference then the stock fans?

the KRAKEN x62 part. that makes a lot of sense. using the cable unit to power the RAD fans. I am not sure why I would not do that, I even did that on the other H440 x62 build I did, guess I did not think much about it while doing so.

i did a good bit of research on the lighting part of the build before the first build. and i got that right, so it should not be a problem on this build. ( i forgot the lighting cables the first time around, remembered them when i already had mounted the RAD, mobo and pump. was a bit annoying to fix that mess but i learned and got it right on the second build ( well we will see when i get some power inside it for a test. but confident so far.)

the rest of your information was extremely informative and i will make good use of this knowledge.

awaiting your advice on the front fans.


Thank you for this detailed explanation. 10/10 would bother you again

 

[Paperdoc]

You have outlined three choices for the front intake fans. Reviewing their specs, I see that the AER P 140mm fans have significantly higher max air flow and max backpressure that the others. Taking into account the numbers of fans, the ranking from most to least airflow is:
2 x AER P140
3 x FN V2 120
2 x Corsair AF120 LED

Among these, only the AER P 140 fans are 4-pin, and they would be the best choice for air flow. You could plug each into its own mobo fan header, since you have three avaiable. (One will be committed to the rear exhaust AER RGB 140 unit.) Or, you could use a simple 4-pin fan splitter (NOT the hub supplied with the case) to connect the front two to the same mobo header. The AER P140 fans are rated at 0.35 A max each, so total load from two of them is quite acceptable on a single header. With that arrangement for front and rear case fans, you would have all of them 4-pin using two (or three) mobo CHA_FAN headers and not need the Hub supplied with the case. The Kraken X62 unit will use the CPU_FAN header only, providing power and control of its radiator fans via its pump unit and the CAM software utility.

Have fun!

 

[Paperdoc]

Thanks for Best Solution.