Question Need help identifying cables.

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RenTheReaper

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These cables are from a Raidmax P805 case I just bought which features a RGB LED in the front. These cables seem to directly stick from the LED area and I was curious in knowing what they were or what function they had to be sure I correctly connected them to my new motherboard.
 
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Ralston18

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Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS for your build.

Especially the motherboard.

This case?

https://www.raidmax.com/product_d.php?lang=en&tb=1&id=884

I attempted to find/download the User Manual per the "DOWNLOAD" reference at the bottom of the specs.

However, I was unable to satisfy the search criteria to access the Manual via RaidMax's website.

= = = =

In any case, you will need the applicable case User Manual and the Motherboard's User Guide/Manual to work out the applicable connections.

That said the following link from within this Forum may also prove helpful.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/where-do-i-plug-vdg-cable-in-my-motherboard.3725340/
 
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RenTheReaper

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Ralston18 said:
Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS for your build.

Especially the motherboard.

This case?

https://www.raidmax.com/product_d.php?lang=en&tb=1&id=884

I attempted to find/download the User Manual per the "DOWNLOAD" reference at the bottom of the specs.

However, I was unable to satisfy the search criteria to access the Manual via RaidMax's website.

= = = =

In any case, you will need the applicable case User Manual and the Motherboard's User Guide/Manual to work out the applicable connections.

That said the following link from within this Forum may also prove helpful.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/where-do-i-plug-vdg-cable-in-my-motherboard.3725340/
Click to expand...
Asrock B365m Pro4 motherboard
i5 9400f
GTX 1660Ti
Raidmax P805 RGB Case
Windows 11

Indeed that is the case.
I see, thank you very much.
 
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Paperdoc

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What your pictures show I am sure is ONE cable with two different end connectors on separate branches. This cable is for only one purpose, and you can plug into a mobo header only ONE of the two. Both are for a connection to a mobo Addressable RGB (ADDR RGB, ARGB, Digital RGB) header with THREE pins. The most common header type for this is for the larger connector you see. As you can see, it looks like it had 4 pins (holes in your connectors) but one is missing. There is a slightly less-common version that has three equally-spaced pins. The cable from your case simply is fitted with both types of connector so you can plug it into an ARGB header on just about any mobo, no matter which type that mobo has. NOTE that the wider one will plug into its mating header only one way, but the smaller one with equally-spaced holes has labels on it - "VDG" - and you MUST match those to the labels on the mobo header pins.
 
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RenTheReaper

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Paperdoc said:
What your pictures show I am sure is ONE cable with two different end connectors on separate branches. This cable is for only one purpose, and you can plug into a mobo header only ONE of the two. Both are for a connection to a mobo Addressable RGB (ADDR RGB, ARGB, Digital RGB) header with THREE pins. The most common header type for this is for the larger connector you see. As you can see, it looks like it had 4 pins (holes in your connectors) but one is missing. There is a slightly less-common version that has three equally-spaced pins. The cable from your case simply is fitted with both types of connector so you can plug it into an ARGB header on just about any mobo, no matter which type that mobo has. NOTE that the wider one will plug into its mating header only one way, but the smaller one with equally-spaced holes has labels on it - "VDG" - and you MUST match those to the labels on the mobo header pins.
Click to expand...
In my hand are 6 cables. The two on the left come from an included ARGB fan with the case which appear as though it were a female and male 4 pin heads. The other 4 on the right side include the far right 2 cables in my hand you identified before. The 2 in the middle appear to be another 4 pin male header for what seems to be a SATA power cable. This case includes an ARGB LED strip on the front, and the included ARGB fan. Upon receiving the case, the cables were connected (although they were unconnected to make building easier), would it be best to connect the cables again to power them all through the SATA power cable? Or would there be anything recommendable in this situation?
 
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RenTheReaper

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Paperdoc said:
What your pictures show I am sure is ONE cable with two different end connectors on separate branches. This cable is for only one purpose, and you can plug into a mobo header only ONE of the two. Both are for a connection to a mobo Addressable RGB (ADDR RGB, ARGB, Digital RGB) header with THREE pins. The most common header type for this is for the larger connector you see. As you can see, it looks like it had 4 pins (holes in your connectors) but one is missing. There is a slightly less-common version that has three equally-spaced pins. The cable from your case simply is fitted with both types of connector so you can plug it into an ARGB header on just about any mobo, no matter which type that mobo has. NOTE that the wider one will plug into its mating header only one way, but the smaller one with equally-spaced holes has labels on it - "VDG" - and you MUST match those to the labels on the mobo header pins.
Click to expand...
https://imgur.com/a/F3ZVPoZ
View: https://imgur.com/a/F3ZVPoZ
 
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Paperdoc

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You say the cables were connected, and ask whether to re-connect. To what?

In your new photos the very wide connector at lower centre is a SATA power connector. Is this one normally plugged into a SATA power output connector from the PSU? If so, it then provides power to something -a circuits board or whatever - that has other ports on it to plug in some things. Right?

Most lighted fans now have TWO cables coming from them - one for the motor, and another for the lights in the frame. On your rear fan the LIGHTING cable I expect is the one that has the two connectors on the left. OR, maybe those two are on a cable that goes to a central circuit board so its signals can be distributed to the rear fan AND the front panel lights.

The two connectors on the left prompt a thought. SOME fans have a cabling system to allow a daisy-chain connection. That is, for several units (say, fan motors) to connect to a single mobo header (or other source), you plug in a FEMALE connector to the source, and then the MALE connector coming from that same fan is used for plugging in the SECOND fan's female connector, etc. Thus you get a chain of fans connected from one to the next, and only the first fan is connected to the source. Now, to do this on one fan you COULD have two separate motor cables coming from the fan with male and female connectors (such a fan with lights would then have three cables), OR you could have a single cable with TWO ends on it, one male and one female. I suspect that is what the two on the left of your photo are. OR maybe these two are for the LIGHTS in the fan frame, set up for a daisy-chain connection. I NOTE that those two are NOT the "standard" connectors used for fans today, they are unique to the fans with your case. That is why I suspect there is a central circuit board where they plug in, and that board gets power via a SATA source from the PSU.

That leaves the male connector with 4 pins at upper centre. What is that? It is not any "standard" connector for fan motor or lights. Is it the cable to the front panel lights? Where was it plugged in before? A circuit board, or the female connector on the left?
 
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RenTheReaper

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Paperdoc said:
You say the cables were connected, and ask whether to re-connect. To what?

In your new photos the very wide connector at lower centre is a SATA power connector. Is this one normally plugged into a SATA power output connector from the PSU? If so, it then provides power to something -a circuits board or whatever - that has other ports on it to plug in some things. Right?

Most lighted fans now have TWO cables coming from them - one for the motor, and another for the lights in the frame. On your rear fan the LIGHTING cable I expect is the one that has the two connectors on the left. OR, maybe those two are on a cable that goes to a central circuit board so its signals can be distributed to the rear fan AND the front panel lights.

The two connectors on the left prompt a thought. SOME fans have a cabling system to allow a daisy-chain connection. That is, for several units (say, fan motors) to connect to a single mobo header (or other source), you plug in a FEMALE connector to the source, and then the MALE connector coming from that same fan is used for plugging in the SECOND fan's female connector, etc. Thus you get a chain of fans connected from one to the next, and only the first fan is connected to the source. Now, to do this on one fan you COULD have two separate motor cables coming from the fan with male and female connectors (such a fan with lights would then have three cables), OR you could have a single cable with TWO ends on it, one male and one female. I suspect that is what the two on the left of your photo are. OR maybe these two are for the LIGHTS in the fan frame, set up for a daisy-chain connection. I NOTE that those two are NOT the "standard" connectors used for fans today, they are unique to the fans with your case. That is why I suspect there is a central circuit board where they plug in, and that board gets power via a SATA source from the PSU.

That leaves the male connector with 4 pins at upper centre. What is that? It is not any "standard" connector for fan motor or lights. Is it the cable to the front panel lights? Where was it plugged in before? A circuit board, or the female connector on the left?
Click to expand...
Interesting enough, I was considering there was a sort of daisy chaining thing going on along with a board in the front panel where the LED strip is also based.
 
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RenTheReaper

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Paperdoc said:
You say the cables were connected, and ask whether to re-connect. To what?

In your new photos the very wide connector at lower centre is a SATA power connector. Is this one normally plugged into a SATA power output connector from the PSU? If so, it then provides power to something -a circuits board or whatever - that has other ports on it to plug in some things. Right?

Most lighted fans now have TWO cables coming from them - one for the motor, and another for the lights in the frame. On your rear fan the LIGHTING cable I expect is the one that has the two connectors on the left. OR, maybe those two are on a cable that goes to a central circuit board so its signals can be distributed to the rear fan AND the front panel lights.

The two connectors on the left prompt a thought. SOME fans have a cabling system to allow a daisy-chain connection. That is, for several units (say, fan motors) to connect to a single mobo header (or other source), you plug in a FEMALE connector to the source, and then the MALE connector coming from that same fan is used for plugging in the SECOND fan's female connector, etc. Thus you get a chain of fans connected from one to the next, and only the first fan is connected to the source. Now, to do this on one fan you COULD have two separate motor cables coming from the fan with male and female connectors (such a fan with lights would then have three cables), OR you could have a single cable with TWO ends on it, one male and one female. I suspect that is what the two on the left of your photo are. OR maybe these two are for the LIGHTS in the fan frame, set up for a daisy-chain connection. I NOTE that those two are NOT the "standard" connectors used for fans today, they are unique to the fans with your case. That is why I suspect there is a central circuit board where they plug in, and that board gets power via a SATA source from the PSU.

That leaves the male connector with 4 pins at upper centre. What is that? It is not any "standard" connector for fan motor or lights. Is it the cable to the front panel lights? Where was it plugged in before? A circuit board, or the female connector on the left?
Click to expand...

Question - Curious cables

GTX 1660T i5 9400f Windows 11 Home Asrock B365M Pro4 motherboard Raidmax P805 case Currently I am in the middle of building a computer and as its my first time, I am quite confused as to how to connect things. At the moment I bought a Raidmax P805 case which has an ARGB LED strip and comes...
forums.tomshardware.com forums.tomshardware.com
More pictures of the situation.
 
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Paperdoc

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OK, those new pics in that other thread explain a few things. There is no separate circuit board for connections. All of that it done at the front panel lighting unit, and ALL of these connections are for the LIGHTS only - they do not involve the fan motors.

There are three cables connected to the front panel lights. One with the widest connector gets power from a SATA power output from the PSU and uses that for lights. A second has two heads - two different versions of ARGB mobo headers, and you use only ONE of these depending on what mobo you have - to get the mobo's ARGB control signal for lights. The third cable with a 4-pin male (with pins) connector is an output of ARGB signals to go to the next lighting unit - in this case, the lighted fan in the case rear.

At the rear fan the lighting unit cable has two 4-pin connectors on its end. The FEMALE one connects to the male from the front panel to receive the lighting control and power lines. The MALE one is an output to allow you to connect another identical fan (if you had one) in a daisy-chain arrangement. In this way the front panel and all the fan frame lights are controlled by a single mobo ARGB header, and power for the lights is obtained from a SATA power output from the PSU. None of these cables is involved in fan motor power and control. That will be a separate cable from that fan to plug into a mobo fan header.
 
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RenTheReaper

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Paperdoc said:
OK, those new pics in that other thread explain a few things. There is no separate circuit board for connections. All of that it done at the front panel lighting unit, and ALL of these connections are for the LIGHTS only - they do not involve the fan motors.

There are three cables connected to the front panel lights. One with the widest connector gets power from a SATA power output from the PSU and uses that for lights. A second has two heads - two different versions of ARGB mobo headers, and you use only ONE of these depending on what mobo you have - to get the mobo's ARGB control signal for lights. The third cable with a 4-pin male (with pins) connector is an output of ARGB signals to go to the next lighting unit - in this case, the lighted fan in the case rear.

At the rear fan the lighting unit cable has two 4-pin connectors on its end. The FEMALE one connects to the male from the front panel to receive the lighting control and power lines. The MALE one is an output to allow you to connect another identical fan (if you had one) in a daisy-chain arrangement. In this way the front panel and all the fan frame lights are controlled by a single mobo ARGB header, and power for the lights is obtained from a SATA power output from the PSU. None of these cables is involved in fan motor power and control. That will be a separate cable from that fan to plug into a mobo fan header.
Click to expand...
Hello and super thanks for all the help so far! I have currently begun to work on the computer again, and managed to ensure the rest of the cabling was connected and that the motherboard and other essential parts arr functional.
 
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RenTheReaper

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Paperdoc said:
OK, those new pics in that other thread explain a few things. There is no separate circuit board for connections. All of that it done at the front panel lighting unit, and ALL of these connections are for the LIGHTS only - they do not involve the fan motors.

There are three cables connected to the front panel lights. One with the widest connector gets power from a SATA power output from the PSU and uses that for lights. A second has two heads - two different versions of ARGB mobo headers, and you use only ONE of these depending on what mobo you have - to get the mobo's ARGB control signal for lights. The third cable with a 4-pin male (with pins) connector is an output of ARGB signals to go to the next lighting unit - in this case, the lighted fan in the case rear.

At the rear fan the lighting unit cable has two 4-pin connectors on its end. The FEMALE one connects to the male from the front panel to receive the lighting control and power lines. The MALE one is an output to allow you to connect another identical fan (if you had one) in a daisy-chain arrangement. In this way the front panel and all the fan frame lights are controlled by a single mobo ARGB header, and power for the lights is obtained from a SATA power output from the PSU. None of these cables is involved in fan motor power and control. That will be a separate cable from that fan to plug into a mobo fan header.
Click to expand...
I wanted to ask on that note another final question or two potentially before finally testing out the lightning (and potentially whether or not I may need to replace the included fan). I have an EVGA BQ 650W semi-modular PSU. And I think I noticed that the board doesn't have any ports for SATA power connecters I think. How would I connect that cable to power the lighting? Also, when you mentioned two different versions of ARGB headers, did you refer to the cable with two ends (female one that read VDG and the 3 pin female end?)
 
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Paperdoc

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That PSU has three ports on it labelled "SATA", and the specs say it comes with two cables to plug into those - one has 4 SATA power output connectors, the other has three. You got thuis figured out, I think.

Yes, when I said a cable with "two different versions of ARGB mobo headers, and you use ....", I was referring to that cable in your photos with two connectors on it - one with three evenly-spaced holes and labels "VGD" (for some Gigabyte mobos), and the other with what looks like 4 holes but hole #3 blocked off, used by more mobo makers.
 
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RenTheReaper

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Paperdoc said:
That PSU has three ports on it labelled "SATA", and the specs say it comes with two cables to plug into those - one has 4 SATA power output connectors, the other has three. You got thuis figured out, I think.

Yes, when I said a cable with "two different versions of ARGB mobo headers, and you use ....", I was referring to that cable in your photos with two connectors on it - one with three evenly-spaced holes and labels "VGD" (for some Gigabyte mobos), and the other with what looks like 4 holes but hole #3 blocked off, used by more mobo makers.
Click to expand...

[SOLVED] - Where do i plug the vdg cable on this motherboard

I have a b365 pro4 and my case came with 3x120mm rgb fans and i can't figure out where to plug this vdg cable. View: https://imgur.com/a/HmXzWyT https://download.asrock.com/Manual/B365%20Pro4.pdf
forums.tomshardware.com forums.tomshardware.com

Judging by this other thread with a similar situation, what would you recommend me to do? Would I use the one not labeled VDG? And would it be on the A_RGB_LED1 port that is #6 on the motherboard diagram? (Or would my motherboard perhaps be damaged by using this case?)
 
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