Question New to PC building. Fan/pump question

[Boo-yea04]

Hello all,
So I just built my first PC. To be honest, I am very new to all of this and my knowledge here is very limited. Learning as I go and getting a lot of help from some awesome people. I have a Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master, 2x Samsung 970 Evo plus nvme SSD ( 2 tb and a 1 TB), Ryzen 7 5800X3D, Galahad 360 SL edition Aio, SL 120 infinity fans (x10), 6900xt red devil ultimate, trident z royal ram (32gb), EVGA supernova 1000 g6, and o11d Evo case.
I have my AIO pump plugged into CPU_Fan on the motherboard as I don’t have anything else to plug in there and I’ve read that the pc doesn’t like it when nothing is plugged into this header. My fans won’t plug into that header. They only have one plug with the fan power and RGB in a single plug. The fans are all connected to the Uni hub, along with the AIO RGB. I’m concerned about heat when setting up my pc for the first time. I know the pump will be going but none of the fans will. Not until I download L-Connect. But first I will need to download, install, and update windows. Will heat be a problem while I do this? My plan is to get the fans going before downloading all the drivers but I’m not sure if this the right thing to do either. Do I need updated drivers before downloading and setting up L-Connect? I also read that the pump needs to run at 100% all the time. Am I able to do this with CPU_fan? I’ve read that this runs based off cpu temp and if the pump doesn’t run at a constant speed, it can shorten its life? I know this is a long post with a lot of questions but if you are able to help, please explain like you are speaking to a simpleton because when it comes to pc building, I am. Thank you for your time.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

what exact outputs does your AIO cooler offer?

there should be either a hub or splitter for fans, single output for pump + extra cable for fans, or a combination for both.

 

[Boo-yea04]

what exact outputs does your AIO cooler offer?

there should be either a hub or splitter, for fans, single output for pump + extra cable for fans, or a combination for both.

Hopefully im answering the question you asked. From my AIO pump, there are two cables. One power and one RGB. The power cable is plugged into the CPU_FAN header on my motherboard. The RGB plug is going to the Uni hub. I am not using the fans that came with my AIO, I am using Lian Li Uni SL120-infinity fans. My fans are then connected together in groups of three. There is only one connector coming from the fan that plugs into the SL-Uni hub. The regular SL fans have two plugs(power and RGB), but the infinity SL 120 fans do not. They have a single plug that combines power and RGB. It’s a wide, skinny connector. All 10 fans are connected to the Uni hub. The Uni hub is then connected to my motherboard via USB header.
In the AIO kit, there is an option to power the pump directly with SATA power, but I’ve read that is not the best method and that it should be plugged into the motherboard. With the fans that I have and as far as I know, I can only plug them into the hub that came with the fans.

 

[Paperdoc]

You will have no problems, so go ahead. You appear to have made connections according to the instructions. What will happen on first start-up is that with no other signals coming to the components, they will go into default full-speed mode so that you get max possible cooling and NO problems. Once the software is installed and running later, it will take control and slow things done to what is needed for automatic cooling control.

FYI, I can explain the pump connection and operation. The design of the new 4-pin PWM fan type includes some backwards compatibility features with the older 3-pin fan type. One result of that is this: if you plug an older 3-pin fan type into a 4-pin header that is using the newer PWM Mode of control signals, it will always run full speed. The PUMP you have is wired just like a 3-pin fan. As you have found, you CAN plug that into a 4-pin CPU_FAN header. With this connected there, the pump WILL run full speed all the time as designed. HOWEVER, there is one setting you should adjust in BIOS Setup. See your mobo manual p. 43. At that screen, select the CPU_FAN header to adjust. At upper right the 4th item down is CPU Fan Control Mode, and the default setting is "Auto". In this Mode the mobo at every start up will test what is connected by trying to use PWM Mode to change its speed. If that does not work (and it will not for your pump), the mobo will change to using the older DC Mode and then it CAN and WILL slow down the pump speed. You do NOT want that! So, change this option to PWM Mode to force it to stay that way. When done, use the Esc key back to Main Menu (p. 41), then F10 to get to the Exit Menu (p. 61). There choose the Save & Exit Setup item to save your new setting and reboot.

There is an important second function of the CPU_FAN header. All fan headers monitor the speed signal sent back from its fan for possible FAILURE (no speed signal) and will pop up an alarm on screen. The CPU_FAN header usually does much more. IF it gets no speed signal it may shut down your entire system pretty quickly without ever waiting for the temperature sensors to show high temps. This is to prevent overheating damage to your valuable CPU chip. It may not allow you to boot with no speed signal there. So by connecting your PUMP to this header, you will automatically monitor this item for failure. On an AIO system, failure of the PUMP is much more serious that failure of one or two rad fans, so this is the RIGHT way to make connections.

A further note on fan configuration in BIOS Setup. You have a fan HUB for both fan motor and fan lighting control, and among its connections is a cable from one of its input ports to a mobo fan header. It's actually part of Item "R", a two-headed cable that connects to both a fan header and an ARGB lighting header. The FAN connector should go to a mobo SYS_FAN header to pick up its control signal for case cooling. Then back in the fan configuration screen of BIOS Setup (p. 43 again), select that header and look at the 2nd item at upper right, "Fan Control Use Temperature Input". Ensure that is set to the main general motherboard sensor, and not the CPU temperature sensor. Again, go though the Exit menu to save the setting.

 

[Boo-yea04]

You will have no problems, so go ahead. You appear to have made connections according to the instructions. What will happen on first start-up is that with no other signals coming to the components, they will go into default full-speed mode so that you get max possible cooling and NO problems. Once the software is installed and running later, it will take control and slow things done to what is needed for automatic cooling control.

FYI, I can explain the pump connection and operation. The design of the new 4-pin PWM fan type includes some backwards compatibility features with the older 3-pin fan type. One result of that is this: if you plug an older 3-pin fan type into a 4-pin header that is using the newer PWM Mode of control signals, it will always run full speed. The PUMP you have is wired just like a 3-pin fan. As you have found, you CAN plug that into a 4-pin CPU_FAN header. With this connected there, the pump WILL run full speed all the time as designed. HOWEVER, there is one setting you should adjust in BIOS Setup. See your mobo manual p. 43. At that screen, select the CPU_FAN header to adjust. At upper right the 4th item down is CPU Fan Control Mode, and the default setting is "Auto". In this Mode the mobo at every start up will test what is connected by trying to use PWM Mode to change its speed. If that does not work (and it will not for your pump), the mobo will change to using the older DC Mode and then it CAN and WILL slow down the pump speed. You do NOT want that! So, change this option to PWM Mode to force it to stay that way. When done, use the Esc key back to Main Menu (p. 41), then F10 to get to the Exit Menu (p. 61). There choose the Save & Exit Setup item to save your new setting and reboot.

There is an important second function of the CPU_FAN header. All fan headers monitor the speed signal sent back from its fan for possible FAILURE (no speed signal) and will pop up an alarm on screen. The CPU_FAN header usually does much more. IF it gets no speed signal it may shut down your entire system pretty quickly without ever waiting for the temperature sensors to show high temps. This is to prevent overheating damage to your valuable CPU chip. It may not allow you to boot with no speed signal there. So by connecting your PUMP to this header, you will automatically monitor this item for failure. On an AIO system, failure of the PUMP is much more serious that failure of one or two rad fans, so this is the RIGHT way to make connections.

A further note on fan configuration in BIOS Setup. You have a fan HUB for both fan motor and fan lighting control, and among its connections is a cable from one of its input ports to a mobo fan header. It's actually part of Item "R", a two-headed cable that connects to both a fan header and an ARGB lighting header. The FAN connector should go to a mobo SYS_FAN header to pick up its control signal for case cooling. Then back in the fan configuration screen of BIOS Setup (p. 43 again), select that header and look at the 2nd item at upper right, "Fan Control Use Temperature Input". Ensure that is set to the main general motherboard sensor, and not the CPU temperature sensor. Again, go though the Exit menu to save the setting.

First thing, thank you for your reply. I have the hub connected to the mobo via a usb from the hub to a usb header on the mobo. I only have the usb connecting the hub to the mobo. Should I not do this? I do see the cable you are talking about with one end connecting to the hub and then two cables coming off of it; one for RGB and the other for power. The power cable has a 4 pin plastic connector head but only 2 wires going into the connector. This cable came with my 3-fan set. Do I have to plug both the usb and this cable in? My instructions don’t say anything, just shows a picture. And, someone else on another message board said to just plug in the usb. Guess that’s why I’m confused about this right now. My mobo also only has 2 RGB headers. Using one for gpu and another for the case RGB. Will I need to scrap the RGB for one of those to plug in the fan RGB?

 

[Paperdoc]

You already have the PUMP unit plugged into the CPU_FAN header, I believe. That is fine. But I did make an error above concerning the cable from the HUB to a mobo fan header. That should go to CPU_OPT since it will be dealing with fans on the rad associated with CPU cooling.

Besides the fans and their lighting cables, the Hub box should have THREE cables coming out of one end. One of these (instructions item F) goes to a SATA power output from the PSU to get ALL power for fan motors and lights. One goes to a mobo USB2 header. A third is Item R, the 2-headed cable that goes to TWO mobo headers. The smaller of these is a 4-pin standard fan connector to go to the mobo CPU_OPT header. NOTE, as above, not to the SYS_FAN header. In fact that may only have TWO wires going to two holes on one end. The one on the end is the PWM signal from the mobo to the Controller box, and the one next to that returns to the header the speed of one of the fans plugged into the Hub - that's all of the fan motor the connections needed for this system. This is NOT a power feed to the Hub, it is only those two signals.

The wider connector on this cable is to go to a mobo ARGB header. You say you already have both of those headers in use for other items. But the AIO kit included an ARGB Splitter - item Q - for just this situation. You unplug one of your items, like the cable to the case lights, and plug the ARGB Splitter into that header. Then use its TWO output connectors to plug in your case lights and the connection to the Hub.

When you do it this way, power for all the AIO fan motors and lights is drawn directly from the PSU. A PWM speed control signal for the fan motors is taken from the CPU_OPT header and one fan's speed is sent back there. The CPU_OPT header's fan control is based on the temperature sensor inside the CPU chip, although the L-Connect software MAY take control of the rad fans itself. Control signals from one mobo ARGB header are fed in through that two-headed input cable. The L-Connect software utility from Lian Li communicates its information to the Hub via the USB2 cable. Within that software you will find an option to have the software control the lights on the rad fans, OR let your mobo control those lights (using the software utility that came with your mobo) so that they are synchronized with your case lights.