no rgb header, but what about led?

[simen.jorissen]

my motherboard doesn't have rgb headers, but can it run LED fans?

motherboard: https://www.cnet.com/products/gigabyte-ga-h110m-s2h-gsm-1-0-motherboard-micro-atx-lga1151-socket-h110/specs/

 

[Eximo]

LED fans simply require power, so yes. Don't even technically need the motherboard for that.

If you want RBG, buy an RGB fan controller. That would plug into an available USB header and should have software to let you control the fans.

 

[simen.jorissen]

If you want RBG, buy an RGB fan controller. That would plug into an available USB header and should have software to let you control the fans.

i can't seem to find any rgb controllers with usb cables, only 4-pin power connectors, can you send me a link?
can it even work? how does the usb header connect to the fans?
and can't it get it's power from the regular power connectors, the ones that power the fans to turn arround?

 

[Eximo]

The USB connection is for the RGB controller. The fans would then plug into the controller. Power for the controller is likely to be separate, likely a SATA connection or possibly large 4-pin.

Not sure what you mean at the end there. Power is always going to come from the power supply. The concept of a fan controller, or even an RGB capable motherboard, is to send that power in deliberate ways to alter the fan speed and the voltage applied to each color of LED to achieve the desired color. Quite a few ways to do it, but it really comes down to how much you have to spend and what you want the end result to be.

I have no specific recommendation on which controller, it would depend a lot on the fans you want and the type of behavior. If you want software control look at products compatible with something like Aura Sync. Though there are a few major brands out there producing high end controllers with bundled software (NZXT would be a good example). The idea behind them is that the fans, motherboard, GPU, CPU cooler, etc are all on the same standard so they can all be controlled with a single piece of software.

If you just want an RGB controller module there are many out there that use a physical remote, and many that come with included fans. Just google RGB fan controller.

 

[simen.jorissen]

if i don't buy a controller, will they light up?
i don't really care about fancy rgb animations, if it's just a plain color, it's good for me

 

[Eximo]

With no control RGB fans might not light up at all. Or they would just have all the LEDs on (White). Basically a communication signal needs to be sent to the controller chip inside the fan to tell it what to do.

If you want a plain color you should just go and buy regular LED fans in the color you want.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181065&Description=corsair%20sp%20led&cm_re=corsair_sp_led-_-35-181-065-_-Product

Terrible pictures they took. They look a lot better in person. But you can get fans like those from pretty much every fan supplier.

A super cheap RGB fan kit with controller:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAE867ES4838&Description=rgb%20fan%20controller&cm_re=rgb_fan_controller-_-9SIAE867ES4838-_-Product

Probably a little better, this may only have preset modes though, not anything like color sliders:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103244&Description=rgb%20fan%20controller&cm_re=rgb_fan_controller-_-35-103-244-_-Product

Here is the full addressable RGB fans, but technically you still need a compatible motherboard, but it offers the same independent operation as the cheaper models. Kind of nice, you could transplant this into a newer computer and take advantage of Aura Sync or one of the other RGB motherboard standards:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAG958D55822&Description=rgb%20fan%20controller&cm_re=rgb_fan_controller-_-35-103-276-_-Product

 

[simen.jorissen]

Alright, my case comes with led fans installed, is that a problem?

 

[Eximo]

No, you can just take them out.

 

[simen.jorissen]

No, you can just take them out

And why exactly would I want to do that?
Can't k just keep them, or will that not work?

 

[Eximo]

Only if you have room for them. There are a limited number of motherboard fan headers, you can always get splitters and run two fans off each. Or buy a fan controller, which is what most of these RGB kits are.

Once you have RGB fans, having LED fans in there at the same time doesn't make a lot of sense. Might as well get more LED fans then. Most people go all or nothing with RGB.

 

[simen.jorissen]

I have a single header, but 3 fans, what can I do, I heard you talking about plugging them directly in to the PSU, how does that work?
Or Am I just screwed to buy a controller?

 

[Eximo]

Splitters are a thing, just a single connector that splits out into two fan headers. I don't recommend more than two though, each header have power limits and they often aren't well documented. So a pair of powerful fans or several normal ones could potentially burn one out over time if not immediately.

Non-PWM fans and even some PWM fans can simply be run off of 12V. This means no control they will spin at whatever speed they were designed to do. Typically these would be fans with the large 4-pin connectors on them rather than the small 3-pin or 4-pin headers found on the motherboards. You can purchase or make adapters for standard case fans to run directly off the power supply.

If doing so I would suggest getting fans with a moderate RPM so they aren't too loud. An alternative is to run them off of 7V. Which is when you use 12V as the positive and 5V as the negative, resulting in 7V. This will spin fans around half speed. Most fans will also run off of 5V, but they will spin quite slow.

There are certainly cheap resistive fan controllers out there. All they have is potentiometers (variable resistors) to limit the voltage to the fan. They are quite wasteful as the excess power is bled off as heat, but you can get four fan models for less then twenty dollars typically.