Question Can you connect any RGB fan to The Addressable Gen 2 header on the motherboard

[trigger8247]

Although have always thought RGB fans and all the other RGB bling is a bit on the silly side I have come round to maybe a bit of colour. Just bought my new case NZXT H5 Flow and thought you know what a couple of those fancy lit up fans would look quite good on the front, this is the only part that is visible when its in the desk. My question is the mobo Asus Tuf gaming X670E has both Gen 2 headers 3 pin (5V, Data and ground) and also Aura 4 Pin (+12V, R, G, B) can i connect the fan RGB's to these and control them through the motherboard or do i need some fancy extra bit to light them up if that's the case iprobably won't bother looking for two decent 140mm case fans with pretty lights.

I'm an aging gamer and thought why not

 

[Lutfij]

ARGB and RGB are two different protocols/connections/voltages. The answer is no. You plug an RGB device to an RGB header on your board/controller. You plug an ARGB device to an ARGB header on your motherboard/controller.

Per your motherboard's manual;
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...E_PLUS_UM_WEB.pdf?model=TUF GAMING X670E-PLUS
Page x, you have 1x RGB header at the bottom left hand corner of your motherboard. You could use an RGB hub that's fed supplemental power via SATA/Molex.

 

[trigger8247]

Hi thanks I know RGB is 12V with a separate line for Red green and Blue (hence 4 pins) and is totally different to an ARGB is 5V with a data line and only three pins i was just wondering if a fan that is ARGB could be connected directly to the motherboard and use the motherboard controls to set the lights on the fans rather than getting a controller. Most of the fans I have seen are ARGB.

 

[Paperdoc]

Correction on above. Your mobo does have one plain RGB header (4-pin, 12VDC) shown on manual p. 1-2 as key item 12. This can be used only for the OTHER type of lights - plain RGB (12 VDC, 3-pin). But it ALSO has three ARGB headers (5 VDC, 3-pin) in the newer Gen2 version as key items 11. Details p. 1-14.

So you can use Addressable RGB (ARGB) lighting connected to mobo headers with no extra Controller. There is a factor you must consider, though. There is a newer version of ARGB called Gen 2, and using it requires that you have BOTH a Gen2 controller (your mobo has this built in on those 3 headers) AND lights of that Gen2 type. So in choosing fans with ARGB lighting, look for that feature. It may be hard to find - most units on the market do not have that, and many are not well identified as such. If it does NOT claim Gen2, assume it is not. You cannot mix Original and Gen2 lights on the same mobo header, but they can be on different headers as long as those headers have choice options (below).

HOWEVER, since this Gen2 thing is new, to ensure easy acceptance in the marketplace virtually all actual Gen2 Controller systems include in their configuration options a choice of whether the Controller actually puts out original (Gen1?) signals suited to all common ARGB systems, or the new Gen2 signals suited only to Gen2 lights. In systems with more than one mobo Gen2 header I expect EACH header can have this option set separately, but that needs to be checked IF you have a mixture of lights to connect.

Neither the mobo User Manual nor its BIOS Manual tell us these details of the mobo headers. I expect that choice feature IS included. But WHERE to access it is not clear. I suspect it is within the Windows app called Armoury Crate you can download from the ASUS website to adjust your mobo's features. In particular, within Armoury Crate there is a tab for AURA Sync, ASUS's tool for configuring lights from mobo headers. That's where I would expect you can find the ways to configure the ARGB headers, including setting this option for the Original or Gen2 mode. To be sure about this, I recommend you contact ASUS Sales or Tech Support and get clear confirmation that this all is true for their mobo and the Armoury Crate package.

 

[trigger8247]

OK thanks for that, i'll have a good look and see if there are any gen 2. Used to be so much simpler without all of the lights

 

[Paperdoc]

To help start your search

https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/coolers/case-fan/masterfan-mf120-halo/

https://www.amazon.com/CoolerMaster...-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

also available in black, and in different sizes.

In a brief search it appears to me that only Cooler Master sells Gen2 fans, but I am NOT sure about that. You might contact ASUS, who are promoting this system on their mobos, and ask them who ALL of the fan makers are that offer the Gen2 feature.