Connecting chassis fans to an Asus Maximus Hero X.

[yebotekebo]

Hey mates,

before I describe my problem, a statement: I have checked these forums and have written to Asus tech support, but their help has been quite limited. So if any of you have some experience with this, I'd appreciate it dearly.

Motherboard: Asus Maximus Hero X, Z370 chipset. I have a Noctua NH-D15 dual fan CPU cooler and 5 chassis fans - that is total of 7 fans (2 CPU cooler fans + 5 chassis fans), all 4-pinned for PWM control. The fan connectors on the given motherboard: CPU_FAN, CPU_OPT, CHA_FAN1, CHA_FAN2, CHA_FAN3, AIO_PUMP, W_PUMP+, H_AMP and EXT_FAN. My proposed layout for connecting the fans to the motherboard:

CPU_FAN: 1st of 2 CPU cooler fans; connector's max current is 1A.
CPU_OPT: 2nd of 2 CPU cooler fans; connector's max current is 1A.
CHA_FAN1,2,3: three of my five chassis fans; all three connectors' max currents are 1A.

So far, so good, no problems.
My question: where can I connect the remaining two chassis fans? First, I wanted to do this:

AIO_PUMP: here I'd connect the 4th chassis fan. Problem: according to the manual of my motherboard, this connector isn't Q-Fan controlled, but rather runs at Full power all the time. Is there a way to make it Q-Fan controlled in BIOS/UEFI?

H_AMP: here I'd connect the 5th chassis fan. Problem: according to the manual, it's max current is 3A, rather than 1A. Is the greater current a threat to a single chassis fan (my 5th one), if I connect it here?

EXT_FAN: is a 5-pinned connector. I've read that it is rarely in use, so I'd try to stay away from it.

I got a limited answer from Asus tech support: they said that my proposed layout is wrong and doesn't work and I should consider splitters. So my follow-up question would be: if I do use splitters, I imagine two or more fans on one connector mustn't exceed the connector's max current. So where could I check how much current a single fan uses?

Can anyone experienced help out? Thank you all, enjoy the holidays!

 

[Lutfij]

If I were you, I'd have picked up a PWM splitter and have all fans signalling off the CPU_FAN header with the help of a PWM fan hub like the one Phanteks make.

Asus support is actually right. In essence you could still work of the High Amperage fan header but that means you have a lot of fans on one header thus the need for such high amps off one location. The power needed for an AIO pump is nominal, which is why you have AIO's with splitters on them that connect to fans on AIO, need power delivered to via a SATA power connector.

 

[yebotekebo]

If I were you, I'd have picked up a PWM splitter and have all fans signalling off the CPU_FAN header with the help of a PWM fan hub like the one Phanteks make.

Asus support is actually right. In essence you could still work of the High Amperage fan header but that means you have a lot of fans on one header thus the need for such high amps off one location. The power needed for an AIO pump is nominal, which is why you have AIO's with splitters on them that connect to fans on AIO, need power delivered to via a SATA power connector.

So this would mean I plug the PWM splitter (PWM fan hub from Phanteks, for example) into the CPU_FAN header on the Asus motherboard? And all the chassis fans (+ the one CPU cooler fan that would originally go to the CPU_FAN) into the PWM splitter? Seeing how CPU_FAN has 1A current limit, wouldn't plugging all the fans into it go overboard?

What about this layout:
CPU_FAN: 1st of the two CPU cooler fans.
CPU_OPT: 2nd of the two CPU cooler fans.
CHA_FAN1: 1st and 2nd of the five chassis fans, using a splitter. I'd have to see that the sum of the both would not exceed the 1A current limit. They'd share the same speed profile then, right?
CHA_FAN2: 3rd and 4th of the five chassis fans, using a splitter. I'd also have to see that the sum of the both would not exceed the 1A current limit. And they'd both share the same speed profile then, again?
CHA_FAN3: only the 5th chassis fan, no complications here.

Thank you for the patience