Corsair SP120 fans, H100i V2 and Maximus IX Hero Connections

[eddieblade21]

I must say this forum has helped a first time builder, make the process seamless. everyone has help me choose products and explain each product tremendously.

My current setup is as follows
Corsair 570X
Corsair H100i V2
Corsair RM750x
Corsair SP120 RGB (6 Fans)
Corsair Dominator 16GB CMD16GX4M2B3733C17
Asus ROG Maximus IX Hero
ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce® GTX 1080 TI 11GB OC Edition
WD Black Performance 2TB
Kingston HyperX Savage 480GB
Samsung M.2 850 EVO 120 GB

My question is if you can kindly review the pic i have attached and advise if this would be the proper hook up of all my fans and if not can you provide your recommendation.

Thank You
Eddie

 

[RARRAF]

they want to be attached too the cpu fan header which is near the cpu socket and nothing else as in the documentation for the H100

 

[eddieblade21]

Hi Rarraf

Those 3 connectors on top of the MOBO are as follows AIO_Pump, CPU_OPT and CPU_FAN.

 

[devbiker]

The manual recommend the CPU_FAN header as it provides a tach reading to the fan header; this prevents a the CPU fan warning during boot. As the tach reading is based on the pump RPM, putting it on the CPU_FAN header will then give you a CPU Fan warning if the pump fails ... something that can be useful. You don't get that if you connect to the "AIO_PUMP" header. IF you put the H100i V2 on the CPU Fan header as recommended, you WILL need to set that fan header to 100% power. Otherwise the pump will not get the power that it needs to operate (it needs a full 12V). If you Disable QFan control for the CPU Fan header (in the Advanced BIOS screen), this will effectively accomplish that.

That AIO_PUMP header is just another fan header with Q-Fan control disabled by default, providing a full 12V of power. You can enable Q-Fan control on this header and treat it/use it just like you would any other fan header.

The H100i v2 radiator fans are best put on the pump header. This allows you to control the radiator fans based on the coolant temperature, which is the most appropriate way to control them. However, the SP fans are DC-controlled fans, not PWM. The H100i v2 will only control PWM fans with the fan connectors that come from the pump. You would be better served using the stock fans on the radiator. They actually perform better than the SP fans at cooling a radiator and you'd be able to control them via the cooler using Link. While those stock fans are incredibly (and annoyingly) loud at high speed, unless you have a relatively high overclock, it's unlikely that you'd actually need to set them to anything greater than the "Quiet" profile. This will keep them under 60% fan speed. For comparison: my system is an i7-7700K @ 5.1 GHz and I'm using an H100i V2. I *rarely* have my fans exceed 60% speed or my coolant temp exceed 36C. The *only* time that ever happens is when I'm intentionally stressing the system with RealBench or doing a marathon encoding session. During gaming, it doesn't happen. At all. Ever.

If you do want to replace the stock fans, I strongly recommend the ML series of fans, rather than the SP series of fans.

Another thing to consider in all of this is the source temperature for your fan speeds/fan curves. By default, the motherboard will tie them to the CPU ... typically the CPU is the main component dumping heat into the system. However, with a liquid cooled system, this is not the case. Instead, your GPU will be the main source of heat inside the case. You'll also want to make sure that the internal case temperature is as low as possible if your radiator is configured as exhaust as that will be the source of the air that cools the coolant. So you'll want to consider tweaking the temperature sensor used to control fan speeds and come up with a custom fan curve designed to keep the case temperature as low as possible. Again, for comparison, I have a GTX 1070 - not quite as warm as your 1080 Ti but it'll put off some heat. I keep my case temperatures typically below 37C. I have my fan curves set to go crazy (100%) at around 40C.

Last, but definitely not least, test your setup. Put it under stress using a tool like ROG RealBench, which will stress both your CPU and your GPU. It will put a massive heat load on your system. If you can keep your temperatures stable and low running that for an hour, you're in good shape. And monitor your coolant temperatures. Under load, you should see them level off after about 15-30 minutes.

 

[eddieblade21]

HI Devbiker

Wow that was a lot to take in, but a great explanation, I truly understand to get the ML series over the SP which makes totally sense and they are better fans and also they are PWM.
I actually put everything together so far, and that is why I came here in regards to the connection of the 2 fans and AIO Pump.
What you recommend is connect the two fans to the splitter that comes off the corsair H100i V2 and the Air Pump connected to the CPU_FAN header, if I read that correctly.
But you also recommend to swap out the SP120 for the ML version so they can be controlled by the H100i V2.

Please don't hit me with a keyboard I am a newbie just getting started and just want to make sure I get everything right.

help?

Thank You
Eddie

 

[devbiker]

Hi Eddie,

Don't worry, I won't hit you with a keyboard. We were all newbies once ... even if it was a long time ago for some of us. And it's better to ask questions than stay silent and do something truly dumb. ;-)

So ... the ML fans are optional but yes, I do recommend them. You don't need the ML Pros either, you can get the 2 pack on Amazon and they will perform just as well as the Pros but are a great deal less expensive. No LEDs though. Not to be confuse things but they also have the ML-RGB fans, which are new and have addressable RGB. The new ones, however, don't run quite as fast as the Pros or the 2 packs (max RPM of 1600) but, to be honest, even at 1600 RPM, an ML series fan will do a superb job. I've artificially limited mine to 1600 to see if the ML-RGB would do the job and ... well ... they're still rockin' it. But I digress ... you don't need them either.

Given a choice between the retail SP fans (that you have) and the stock fans that come with that cooler, I'd go with the stock fans. They are louder, yes, especially at full speed. But they do perform better, they are PWM and, very honestly, you likely will be just fine on the "Quiet" profile, which keeps the fans at < 60% RPM. At those speeds, the sound isn't totally outrageously loud.

In fact, while I have the ML-120s on my primary desktop/tower, I still have the stock fans on the H100i V2 that's in my server. I have it on the quiet profile and, honestly, I can't hear those fans at all right now (and they are about 4 feet behind me).

One final note ... and I cannot stress this enough ... make sure to set the fan header that the radiator is plugged into to the full 100%. That's super-important.

 

[eddieblade21]

DevBiker, Thank you so so so much, one for answer a question that been bugging me and not hitting me a keyboard.

I will change my connection first thing in the morning, I am opting for PWM fans but RGB, which I will see if they have them at micro center.

Again I can't thank you enough.

Can I PM you if I have further questions? I truly understand if you say no.

I will keep you updated.