Question Coolermaster MA410M - question about RGB

[ackoman]

Hi,

I've just been given a Coolermaster MA410M cooler and have a question about the RGB aspect.

The cooler comes with a "RGB controller" which is small matchbox sized controller that has 3 or 4 buttons on it, which can be used to choose different lighting modes. My first question is this - how are you supposed to get access to this controller? Bring out it through one of the rear PCI slots and leave it dangling? Or is there is more elegant way?

My other question is related to whether this controller is even needed - my motherboard is a Asus 570X TUF Gaming (WiFi) and has 2 RGB headers. I run Aura Sync to control the lighting of my RGB fans - can I just use a similar approach for the cooler? Does the Coolermaster controller provide anything extra?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Ackoman

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

The cooler master controller is only there to make sure you can use the RGB lighting even if you don’t have an RGB header on your motherboard. It will likely just have some basic patterns built into it which you can change with the button.

Since you have an RGB header on your motherboard you should use that. You’ll be able to control the lighting with The Aura sync software which is way better than some plastic box.

 

[ackoman]

The cooler master controller is only there to make sure you can use the RGB lighting even if you don’t have an RGB header on your motherboard. It will likely just have some basic patterns built into it which you can change with the button.

Since you have an RGB header on your motherboard you should use that. You’ll be able to control the lighting with The Aura sync software which is way better than some plastic box.

Hi

Thanks for your reply. It would certainly be better if I didn't have to worry about what to do with that little black box.

When I said my mobo has RGB headers, it actually has two RGBs and one ARGB. Which one will the cooler need to plug into? For the full experience does it need to be the ARGB one?

 

[Zerk2012]

ARGB is 5 volt and RGB is 12 volt so you got to use the right header.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

Not sure. ARGB offers better control. The “A” stands for Addressable. So with ARGB you could set individual LEDs to different colours, with regular RGB you could only set them all to the same colour.

I presume it will work with either one, whether or not it’s individually addressable I can’t say. Best way it’s just to try it.

You can also link multiple devices to the same header.

 

[Paperdoc]

Where to plug in the lighting cables from that cooler is entirely based on which type of lighting system it is. You MUST match. The cooler fans contain lights of the more complex ARGB type. It can be identified by looking at the larger connector on each fan. It has 3 holes in it - looks like it had 4 but one is blocked off. These MUST be plugged into the ARGB header of your mobo at upper front. (See manual p. 1-18, Item 12, label ADD_GEN2.) You do NOT need the small manual control box or its cables for this. However, you DO need a small ARGB Splitter like this

https://www.amazon.com/SJZBIN-Split...keywords=ARGB+Splitter&qid=1638586598&sr=8-68

That's a 3-output Splitter, and you need only 2. Note that all its connectors are female (with holes) and it comes with little gender-changer adapters to convert the three outputs to males. Use only two of those, and tape over the unused connector. You can plug both fans' lighting cables into this, and thusly into the mobo ARGB header. Then you use ASUS Aura Sync to control those lights. Note that, since you are using Aura Sync already for the OTHER type of lights (plain RGB) in your case, the controls for this pair of fans will be different because they can do very different display types.

Similarly, you do not need that manual box and it cables to power and control the fan MOTORS on this cooler. Its manual indicates that it comes with a small 2-output fan Splitter you use to connect BOTH fans' motor cables to a single mobo header - the CPU_FAN header, specifically.

 

[ackoman]

Where to plug in the lighting cables from that cooler is entirely based on which type of lighting system it is. You MUST match. The cooler fans contain lights of the more complex ARGB type. It can be identified by looking at the larger connector on each fan. It has 3 holes in it - looks like it had 4 but one is blocked off. These MUST be plugged into the ARGB header of your mobo at upper front. (See manual p. 1-18, Item 12, label ADD_GEN2.) You do NOT need the small manual control box or its cables for this. However, you DO need a small ARGB Splitter like this

https://www.amazon.com/SJZBIN-Split...keywords=ARGB+Splitter&qid=1638586598&sr=8-68

That's a 3-output Splitter, and you need only 2. Note that all its connectors are female (with holes) and it comes with little gender-changer adapters to convert the three outputs to males. Use only two of those, and tape over the unused connector. You can plug both fans' lighting cables into this, and thusly into the mobo ARGB header. Then you use ASUS Aura Sync to control those lights. Note that, since you are using Aura Sync already for the OTHER type of lights (plain RGB) in your case, the controls for this pair of fans will be different because they can do very different display types.

Similarly, you do not need that manual box and it cables to power and control the fan MOTORS on this cooler. Its manual indicates that it comes with a small 2-output fan Splitter you use to connect BOTH fans' motor cables to a single mobo header - the CPU_FAN header, specifically.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. It seems that the lights are in the cooler itself, and not the fans - as such, there is a single ARGB cable.

I have tried plugging this straight into the ARGB header on my motherboard, and so far have not had any joy being able to control the lights using ASUS Aura Sync.

I have also tried using the little plastic box, which does allow me to change the lighting pattern but as per my OP I am not sure how you are supposed to do this once you've put the case back on the PC. Connecting the black box via USB to the PC allows it to be recognised by CoolerMaster's own RGB software called MasterPlus, but this doesn't seem to be particularly useful either - and again, how are you supposed to connect it to a USB port once you've got the case back on the PC? The only thing that seems to make any sense would be if the box could be brought outside the case - but I am not sure how to do that.

I made a mistake in my first post - I said I am using Aura Sync to control my case fans RGB - that is not the case, I am actually using Corsair's iCUE utility.

I cannot actually get Aura Sync to do anything. I am not sure what I am doing wrong.

Thanks,

Ackoman

 

[Paperdoc]

Normally i CUE is used to power and control accessories from Corsair. If you do not have any of those, it would be common to use the mobo's software. That is, use the pre-programmed capaililities of the FAN MOTOR headers to do that job, and use the mobo plain RGB or ARGB headers with the utility supplied with the mobo - Aura Sync with an ASUS mobo - for LIGHTS in fans and elsewhere. Now, some of what iCUE does is by manipulating the mobo headers. So, if you are already running that, I expect there would be a conflict with anyting (like Aura Sync) that tries to control the same mobo resources. So use ONE of those, and uninstall the one you are NOT using.