[SOLVED] Connecting RGB case fan to motherboard

[JRose4123]

Have sort of a strange issue, and need someone thats knowledgeable with it. Since my front case fan went out I decided to buy an RGB one (Corsair iCUE SP120 RGB Pro 120mm Case Fan 1400RPM), not knowing much about them I thought I could connect it no worries, But the problem is I have an older motherboard (ASUS P6X58D-E) and I only seem to have a few 3-pin and one 4-pin connector header ports on there. the fan has a 3pin connector on there and another 4-pin that other goes into an RGB hub, I cant seem to connect that cable to anywhere, and if I buy a hub Im not sure where to plug that in because theres no kind of RGB headers on my mobo. So the fan works and turns on , but doesnt light up.... Basically, Im just wondering what I have to do to get the RGB feature working, if I need to buy a separate cable/adapter or something to plug this into my mobo or whatever. I saw some different adapter cables on amazon and some other sites but not sure which one would actually work. Thanks

 

[Paperdoc]

This is a bit tricky and maybe not easy. The fan has two cables because it really is two devices in one unit - a fan motor, and a set of Addressable RGB lights in the frame. The MOTOR is of the older 3-pin design, so control of its speed will require that the mobo fan header you connect it to is configured to use that older Voltage Control Mode (aka DC Mode), and not the newer PWM Mode. The other cable is for the lights, and I believe it has a connector that does not fit the common mobo 3-pin ARGB headers; it has a Corsair-specific connector. That maybe does not matter because you don't have a mobo ARGB header of any kind. But what it does mean is that the controller unit you need must have the right port sockets to use, so your best bet is to get one from Corsair. IF you get a 3-pack of those fans from Corsair they come with their Lighting Node Core box. It has six ARGB output ports on its sides, and it connects to both a PSU power output and a mobo USB2 header. Then you download the free iCue utility from Corsair and run that. It uses the USB2 connection to communicate its instructions to the box and control the lights plugged into it.

Corsair also sells other lighting control systems, but some of them are NOT suited to this ARGB light system, so be careful which you get. There MAY be another unit that does suit and is less expensive, but you should ask Corsair Sales for that detail. Anyway, try to get a Corsair ARGB controller and use that to power and control the lights in that fan.

 

[JRose4123]

Thank you, and yes the fan has 1 regular 3-pin for power that I can plug into my 3-pin on my mobo and the other is a 4pin that has a sticker on it that says "To RGB Hub". But after looking into that theres still other issues I ran into.. 1) after doing so many hours of research online yesterday looking for something, I did find a cooler master hub that specifically plugs into my usb header port like you're saying, which works great and exactly what I need. I was very happy until I saw it was $50.. Unfortunately Im not really looking to spend that much just to get the RGB feature to light up after already what I spent on a brand new fan. (Plus would also prob need to buy a USB header splitter for the port since both are being used) so I just dont think its worth it, and only maybe if I buy more RGB fans later on. Its just frustrating because I wasnt expecting that to be that expensive, but oh well. Also another thing is I dont think I can use ARGB because my fan I got is RGB (theres a difference right?). But either way, happy that I found something that would work and its not too common, but after some thought Im thinking of just buying another 1 color led case fan and trying to sell the RGB one. I really didnt think it would end up being this complicated to hook up and require separate components too. There just was never enough info anywhere about how to connect these especially if you have an older mobo that doesnt have an RGB/ARGB header on it. So if I got the regular hub that plugs into an RGB header and since I dont have one I wouldve been screwed..

 

[Paperdoc]

Yeah, the RGB and ARGB scene is somewhat disorganized now, but it was MUCH worse when they first started to show up. At that time there was no agreement among makers on any "standards", and they all did their own designs. Some also tried the "make ours unique so they have to buy everything from us" marketing strategy. After the first lighted fans, called LED Fans, the first real multi-colour changing fans were the plain RGB (4-pin 12 VDC) system. Shortly after came the more complex Addressable RGB (ARGB or ADDR RGB) 3-pin 5 VDC system, and both have become very popular so that electrically, those two dominate the market. Both actually came from similar products sold to electronic hobbyists and adapted to computer cases. One consequence of this is that, although the electrical circuit designs have coalesced to a few, the connector and controller systems are still a bit diverse. That is mainly because several firms (like Corsair) were into this field early and have kept to their original designs. And even though most makers of the two dominant types have "standardized" on connectors, there is still a third less-common type of 3-pin ARGB header on some mobos. The other potential mix-up is that the newer PWM fan design has come to dominate so that many fans with RGB lights of either type are on 4-pin fans, but there are still many on 3-pin (older Voltage Controlled) fans. Add in the ultimate confuser: BOTH fan motors and the RGB LIGHTS in their frames are named using "3-pin" and "4-pin", even though the two devices (motors and lights) have NO relationship to each other electrically.

The fan you have is ARGB, and yes, that is NOT the same as RGB. In the fan description it uses the phrase "individually addressable RGB LED's". Also look at the photo and you will see a rainbow effect in the light colours. That effect is unique to the ARGB type - you cannot generate that with a plain RGB type of lighting - so that particular display often is shown to grab your attention and distinguish the type.

You dodged a bullet (two of them, actually) when you did NOT buy the Cooler Master RGB Hub. First, you were looking for the wrong type - your fan is ARGB, and Cooler Master does sell Hubs of that type, too. But secondly, on their Hubs Cooler Master uses the most common types of connectors, whereas Corsair's fan has their proprietary connector on its lighting cable, so you could not plug your Carsair light cable into a Cooler Master hub without some adapter (how to find?). That's why I suggested looking for a Corsair Hub.

 

[JRose4123]

I gotcha, but wait.. So since the fan I have is an ARGB as youre saying, does that mean if I get maybe the older RGB type fan does that need to plugged into a header on the mobo? Or can that go into a USB header or somewhere else? Hm Im thinking cause if thats the the case ill totally look into one of those. I dont really care about controlling the colors or anything like that, I would just let it run the same the whole time. But yeah I wanted ARGB effect with the rainbow colors would be cool. I built my comp around 10 years ago and havent upgraded my mobo or cpu since, so Ive been using different 1-color led fans that plug into the 3/4pin ports on there and the colors work automatically, very simple and easy and hassle-free. But if you know of any kind of RGB fans or multi color ones that have a simple connector please link me!

 

[Paperdoc]

Fans with lights are a bit confusing, both because there are at least three versions, and because they use some of the same names as plain fans, but use those same names to mean different things!

The first lighted fans were the type you have had already called LED Fans. They have only one cable from them, and the LED's mounted in the frame are simply connected in parallel with the fan motor. Usually they are of one colour only, and they always are on when the fan is running. On many, if the fan is fed a low-speed voltage signal the LED's also will be dimmer. Now, fan motors come in two dominant versions. The older type uses three wires and pins, and its speed is controlled only by sending it supply voltages from 12 VDC (full speed) to 5 VDC (minimum speed - less voltage may stall the fan). The newer design provides full 12 VDC supply to the fan at all times, plus the new PWM signal on Pin #4. Inside the fan there is a small chip that uses the PWM signal to alter the flow of current from the fixed supply through the windings to achieve speed control. LED fans have been sold with both 3-pin and 4-pin fan motor types.

The first version of RGB fans have two devices in one unit - a fan motor, and some lights in the frame. The lights are three colours of LED - Red, Green, and Blue. Along a light strip (or around a fan frame), all the Red LED's are on one circuit, all the Greens on another, etc. The Controller uses 4 pins to send out a constant 12 VDC power supply and then manipulates each of three separate Ground lines, one for each colour, to vary the intensity (brightness) of each colour and produce a huge range of colours and brightness. However, at any one moment the entire light system can be only one colour until they all change. This system usually is called plain RGB or 12 V 4-pin RGB. Its female connector on the end of a light cable has 4 holes in a straight line, with the +12 VDC line marked so you MUST align those at each connector junction.

The more complex system is Addressable RGB (or ADDR RGB or ARGB), and it uses the same basic three LED colours along the strip, but organized differently into NODES. Each Node contains one LED of each colour plus its own controller chip for that group only. The master controller provides common +5 VDC and Ground lines, and a Digital Control Line. Thus it is often called the 5V 3-pin system. Its common female connector looks very like the 4-pin one with one hole blocked off, so you can only plug it in one way, and you can NOT plug it into a 4-pin male header. The master controller sends along the digital Control Line a series of instruction packets each with its own address. Along the strip, all the Node control chips listen to that line and do only what their addressed packet says. Thus at any one moment all of the Nodes along the strip can be different colours and brightnesses. This allows more complex displays like rainbows, static or chasing each other along the strip. An ADDR RGB Fan simply has the lights mounted in its frame, rather than on a strip.

Both the voltage supplied and the methods of light display control are very different between these two, so they can NOT be mixed on one circuit.

Plain RGB or ADDR RGB can be built into frames of either 3-pin or 4-pin fan motors. And THAT is where the confusion really hits us, because there are 3- and 4-pin fans AND 3- and 4-pin RGB light systems, and the two types of devices really are separate but stuck together in one unit. Any of the possible four pairing are possible, but many are done solely with 4-pin PWM fan motors since they are the newer design and slightly better from a technical standpoint. The key thing to note is that the new RGB fans all have TWO separate cables on them - one ending in a standard fan connector for the motor to plug into a mobo fan header, and a second ending in a wider connector to plug into a plain RGB (4-pin) or ADDR RGB (3-pin) controller port or mobo header.

As it happens, OP, the fan you got has a 3-pin (Voltage Controlled) motor and a 3-pin (ADDR RGB) light system in its frame. You have connected the FAN cable correctly to a mobo 3-pin header, but your mobo has no plain RGB or ADDR RGB header to plug in the other cable. Since it has NEITHER type, you cannot get ANY fan to plug into a mobo lighting header. Your only option would be to buy and install a separate third-party ARGB or RGB controller. IF you plan to do that, since you already have a light system of the ADDR RGB (or ARGB) type (3-pin, 5 VDC), just get that. Changing to the other (plain RGB) lighting system would not remove your need for a lighting controller.

By the way, I think you bought the right fan. Your mobo's CHA_FAN headers all are of the 3-pin type that use ONLY Voltage Control Mode (even the 4-pin CHA_FAN header does this despite the fact is has 4 pins). This Mode is required for 3-pin fans; although a 4-pin fan CAN be controlled this way also, technically it is not ideal. Do not attempt to use the PWR_FAN header for any fan. The CPU_FAN header should be used only for the CPU cooler.

Let me undo your confusion about use of a USB2 header on the mobo. Such a header can NOT be used to power and control any RGB lights directly. When you install a third-party separate RGB or ARGB light controller it needs two inputs besides its outputs to light strips (fan frames). It requires a power supply from the PSU directly, either 4-pin Molex or SATA. Then most also have no real display control logic in them, and depend on a software utility you get free with the controller. That must be loaded and running, and it communicates its instructions to the Controller box using a connection by cable to a USB2 mobo header. The connection between Controller box and USB2 header is for communication only, and the header iself has no ability to power or to control RGB lights.