Build Advice Help with connections on new build.

[kevopj]

Hello,

I am currently in the process of building a PC and have questions about where the Phanteks G500A D-RGB cables connecting to the Asus Z790 Hero Motherboard. The case has 3 RGB fans and I also added an additional RGB one for exhaust. I also have a Phanteks LED Strip 1 Meter and Neon Digital RGB Strip which I plan to connect to the motherboard together with all 4 fans as well as a CPU cooler which contains RGB. The G500A has an 3 pin RGB 5V connector male and female and am wondering if I can daisy chain all 3 pin RGB 5V's connectors together and connect it to the motherboard? If yes, which header on the motherboard should I use, the Aura header or the Addressable Gen2 Header (1, 2 or 3)? The CPU cooler also has a an adapter to convert the RGB header to a 3 pin RGB 5V male and female splitter (Phanteks Glacier One 240 T30 V2).

I am trying to get all the LED lighting to sync together through the cases LED button on top, any help is appreciated, thank you for any advice or tips!

 

[Darkbreeze]

The included Phanteks D-RGB fans use proprietary connectors and connect to a software-free controller on the case that is limited in how it can be controlled. If you want to be able to use the motherboard I am 99.9% certain you will need entirely different fans. As far as I know there are no third party or native controllers that are capable of being used with the Phanteks D-RGB proprietary connectors. If you try, you will almost certainly end up letting out some "magic smoke" since the pinouts are not the same IIRC.

Then again, I might be wrong as there have been some changes to some of the Phanteks products over the last year or two. I'll double check it and get back to you but for now I'd avoid connecting anything to the motherboard until you verify. In any case, I think you HAVE to connect the fans to the integrated controller on your case and then connect the controller to the motherboard IF it turns out to be compatible, but again, you'll want to verify fully before connecting anything. I'll see what I can find because it's been a minute since I built anything in one of the Phanteks cases with D-RGB fans included.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, looks like you CAN daisy chain those fans, AND it seems you CAN connect them to one of the 3 pin ARGB headers on the motherboard, but I believe you need to connect the controller to the motherboard, not the fans. Manual says if you connect the controller to the motherboard it disables the "buttons" on the hardware controller that comes with the case so that you can use the ASUS software to control them.

https://phanteks.com/assets/manuals/Eclipse G500A - Manual - v1.0 PRINT.pdf

Is Digital-RGB compatible with my motherboard?
Digital-RGB from Phanteks is compatible with Asus Addressable-equipped motherboards and MSI Mystic Light Rainbow-equipped motherboards. Check with the Motherboard specifications if your motherboard has a ‘AURA Addressable Header’ or a ‘Mystic Light Sync Rainbow header’ with 3 pins.

So it seems they've gone away from the proprietary connector at least, from I can see, on the controller. I think those fans are still likely proprietary and need to be connected to the controller but since I can't see what the connectors look like on yours it's hard to say. If they are standard three pin ARGB connectors then you shouldn't have to use the controller but otherwise I think you will need to.

 

[kevopj]

Thank you for the response and help! The case has a male and female 3 PIN ARGB connector. I believe the female is the controller to sync with the motherboard and the male is for expanding DRGB products as it states on the instructions. Based on this, should I connect the controller to the Aura header or the addressable header on the mobo? Will the aura header allow me to still individually control LED's? This is where my main confusion remains, again I appreciate any help and insight, thank you again!

 

[Darkbreeze]

The three pin female D-RGB connector should be for connecting to the motherboard and the three pin male SHOULD be for expanding, as you say. I have no idea if the controller connections will allow you to individually control EACH different lighting component separately or if it will only allow you to control them ALL as if they were one device. You'll have to likely figure that part out on your own BUT DO NOT connect them to the Aura RGB header as that should be a four pin RGB and is not addressable and will likely let out the magic smoke IF you figure out some way to try and plug into that.

You NEED to connect to one of the three 3 pin Addressable Gen2 A-RGB headers, and since you have three of them you should be able to connect your controller (And thus, whatever is connected to that) to one of them as one device, and then if you have other A-RGB devices that are Gen2 compatible (Which is the majority of A-RGB products these days) you can use the other two addressable headers so that you CAN individually control most of your devices individually. Fans through the controller can be one device. Lighting strips can connect to the others or whatever you have that needs it. Graphics cards will simply happen through the ASUS software if it has compatible lighting. Etc.