Question Help me get this idea out of my head. AIO Cooler Pump Connection To SATA

stevef22

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Oct 31, 2011
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I need help correcting a possibly mistaken belief about AIO pump connections. For the past 5-10 years, I've been connecting my AIO pump (the part that sits on the CPU) to a constant 12V power adapter, believing the pump should always run at 100% speed.

However, I'm now questioning this setup. Modern motherboards have dedicated headers like CPU_FAN, OPT, and PUMP - should I be using these instead? Where did I get the idea about needing constant 12V power, and have I been doing this wrong all along?

Image link of adapter:
Screenshot-2024-12-13-at-6-16-19-PM.png

If motherboard has AIO_PUMP header. Doesnt it just run at 100% anyways? I thought the only variable speed is the 2 or 3 fans on the radiator?



Can someone help clarify the correct way to connect an AIO pump? Thanks!
 
Your idea is right for most AIO systems. But you do NOT need that adapter to do it.

In an AIO system there are TWO devices that impact the rate of heat removal: the pump speed (how fast heat moves from CPU chip to rad), and ran fan speed (how fast heat is transferred from water to air via the rad, then blown out of the case). IF one sets things up so that the speeds of BOTH of these are altered frequently and automatically according to internal CPU temperature, you actually get POOR cooling control. Each has a different response time factor. So when both of them are changed (say, to increase cooling), the impact of one produces more cooling quickly and the CPU temp starts to drop. Then the impact of the change to the second device kicks in and the temperature drops even faster. This is detected and signals are sent out to reverse the action a bit by BOTH devices. Again, one has an impact before the other, and impact of the second one overdoes it. Cycle and repeat!

MOST AIO systems avoid this by having only ONE device control all cooling - the rad fans. So the speed of the PUMP is kept constant. In most cases the simple setting is constant full speed. There are SOME systems that allow you, as user, to change that manually to some slower speed IF you feel your cooling is too good and maybe needs better control. But that setting should be altered infrequently, or not at all. There also are a few systems that do adjust BOTH speeds according to their own strategies for optimizing, but NOT simply by scaling speeds of both to the same temp curve. For such latter systems you do need to read and follow the maker's installation instructions carefully.

For MOST systems, though, constant full speed of the pump is the design. In such systems almost always the pump is wired just like an older 3-pin Voltage Control Mode fan. That is, the pump speed is controlled only by supplying it with a VOLTAGE that may be altered. Full speed is done at a supply of 12 VDC; speed can be lowered by reducing that Voltage, as supplied from a fan header by Pin #2. There are a few ways to ensure this gets done right. The most straightforward is to plug the PUMP into a mobo AIO_PUMP header. That header will ONLY send out a fixed +12 VDC power supply from Pin #2 at all times. Many mobos have similar headers labelled something like "PUMP / FAN", with a configuration option to set whether the header is feeding a PUMP at constant Voltage OR a FAN that needs its speed altered.

If you have neither on your mobo you can connect the pump to any fan header and ensure it is set to ALWAYS send full power to the pump. HOWEVER, using just "any" header is a mistake, I say. You see, the CPU_FAN header on most mobos does a very important second function. It monitors that speed signal coming back from its "fan" ( in this case, pump) for NO speed which indicates FAILURE. Such an event normally results quickly in a warning message popped onto your screen so you know you have a problem. But a mobo also does MUCH more if the CPU cooling device fails. In a short time it may shut down your system completely without even waiting for the temp sensor inside the CPU chip to report high temps. This is to prevent severe damage to a CPU the overheats rapidly with NO cooling. Further, the mobo may NOT allow the system to start up unless it gets a valid speed signal at the CPU_FAN header almost immediately at power-on. Now, in a liquid-cooled system, the most imprtant component to monitor for failure is the PUMP. NO pump operation means no heat movement to the rad and no CPU cooling at all. Failure instead of one or even all rad fans would also result in poor or no CPU cooling, but SOME heat movement to the rad would happen so the CPU internal temp rise would be slower and that event would be detected by a different warning system based on that temp reading. For these reasons I always advise that the PUMP should be connected to the CPU_FAN header or, even better, the AIO_PUMP header or simlar. Those headers WILL provide this close monitoring of pump speed signal for quick action on failure.

If you connect a PUMP to the CPU_FAN header (or some others), it is necessary that you arrange that the pump WILL receive a full +12 VDC supply from pin #2 at all times. There are some options to do this. Simplest appears to be to set the header to the TURBO or max fixed speed option of its Profile setting. However, that means anything else connected to the header (maybe the rad fans) will also run full speed all the time. So there's another "trick" rarely shown in mobo manuals. Set that header to use PWM MODE, and NOT to Voltage or DC or Auto. In PWM Mode the signals sent out by a fan header include ALWAYS full 12 VDC power from Pin #2, and control of fan speed is done using the extra Pin#4 to send the PWM control signal to the fans. BUT an AIO PUMP is wired like an older 3-pin fan. It does not receive the PWM signal from Pin #4 and has no special chip in it to use that signal, so it will always run according to the Voltage on Pin #2. IF you set the header this way, even if you also connect other items like PWM-type rad fans to that header, they WILL receive and use the PWM signal to have their speeds controlled.

Two notes for using this "trick". First, if you are connecting both the pump and fans to the CPU_FAN header using a Splitter, remember that the Splitter will return to its host header the speed signal of only ONE of its devices. On simple Splitters, that is the ONE output socket that has all 4 pins (others are missing Pin #3). MAKE SURE you connect the PUMP to this socket so that the CPU_FAN header IS monitoring for FAILURE the PUMP speed. Secondly, do NOT set the MODE option of the header to "AUTO". In that setting the header tests the connected device at EVERY start-up by trying to reduce its speed using a PWM signal system. If that fails to make a speed change, it alters its setting to Voltage Control Mode and forces the device to slow down. That is exactly what we do NOT want for a PUMP! Set the MODE option to PWM Mode.
 
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