Question Phanteks Enthoo Pro front panel leads

[grn0]

I am building a system using the case given in the title. There are a couple of front panel leads that I have not seen before. One was labelled USB 3,2 but did not have the normal 8x2 socket. I managed to get an adapter that accepts this lead and it can now be plugged into the "normal" USB socket. However, I have another lead that I have never seen before; it comes from the front panel with a normal SATA socket that could plug into a SATA drive. However, the case manual and the label on the lead says "To PSU" but where on the PSU. Certainly I have have never seen a SATA socket on a PSU. Yes, there is a SATA portion of the PSU but the sockets on these are all rectangular with varying number of pins (3x2, 4x2, 6x2 etc). In fact I have a couple of the SATA PSU sockets powering my DVD drives and my SATA drives. The sockets on these leads are female just like the odd front panel lead I have.

Does anybody have any clue as to where I should connect it. The front panel has on/off switch, reset switch, audio sockets and USB sockets. The only thing that is new from earlier cases is a USB C socket, and an RGB button (presumably to alter the LED s in fans). None of these appear to have any connection with this odd lead and all the case manual says is a pictures of the lead with a ** directing you to a footnote that (I believe) is the lead part number (PH_ES614PTG).
I'm hoping somebody out there can help, otherwise I'm just going to ignore it.

Many thanks,

George

 

[Eximo]

There is a new Type-C standard connector for motherboards. Likely what you are describing. Hasn't quite gotten universal adoption by motherboard manufacturers.

You should need one SATA power connector for the fan hub on the back of the motherboard tray. This should be a normal connector like your drives take. If you have no SATA cables available, then you will need to add one to your power supply, or get a power supply with sufficient connectors, or use a SATA splitter (not recommended, these are often low quality).

Alternatively, you could plug as many of the case fans as possible into your motherboard instead.

On my Enthoo Pro M I ended up using all 7 fan headers on the hub.

 

[grn0]

There is a new Type-C standard connector for motherboards. Likely what you are describing. Hasn't quite gotten universal adoption by motherboard manufacturers.

You should need one SATA power connector for the fan hub on the back of the motherboard tray. This should be a normal connector like your drives take. If you have no SATA cables available, then you will need to add one to your power supply, or get a power supply with sufficient connectors, or use a SATA splitter (not recommended, these are often low quality).

Alternatively, you could plug as many of the case fans as possible into your motherboard instead.

On my Enthoo Pro M I ended up using all 7 fan headers on the hub.

Hi Eximo,

Thanks for the reply and I'm hoping the adapter if got will enable the USB socket. Not really bothered if it doesn't as I don't use USB very much.

I should hasten to add - my motherboard is quite old (it is an ASUS X99 deluxe). I haven't looked but I'm pretty sure there is no SATA connection on the motherboard but I will check. I do have quite a few drives - 9 in all, 2 DVD drives, 1 3.5" 1TB drive and 6 SSD drives (excluding the M2 SSD slot on the mothered (populated). Unfortunately, the motherboard only has 8 SSD slots. I am presuming this is what you are referring to.

If so, then there is no problem as I think there are only 3 SSDs that I have connected that I actually need (one is the system boot disk). I had planned to check the extra SSDs to see what they held and transfer any needed data to a "permanent" disk, wipe the SSD clean . I'd like to keep as man empty SSD's on the system but guess the power slot needed for the front panel lead reduces this by one.

Again thanks for your help. I was totally thrown by the "To PSU" label resulting in much headscratching. I was even looking and newer upto dat PSUs to see if there was a SATA socket on it. Although I have no idea what function this lead provides.

I appreciate the response,

George

 

[Eximo]

I should hasten to add - my motherboard is quite old (it is an ASUS X99 deluxe). I haven't looked but I'm pretty sure there is no SATA connection on the motherboard but I will check. I do have quite a few drives - 9 in all, 2 DVD drives, 1 3.5" 1TB drive and 6 SSD drives (excluding the M2 SSD slot on the mothered (populated). Unfortunately, the motherboard only has 8 SSD slots. I am presuming this is what you are referring to.

If so, then there is no problem as I think there are only 3 SSDs that I have connected that I actually need (one is the system boot disk). I had planned to check the extra SSDs to see what they held and transfer any needed data to a "permanent" disk, wipe the SSD clean . I'd like to keep as man empty SSD's on the system but guess the power slot needed for the front panel lead reduces this by one.

Again thanks for your help. I was totally thrown by the "To PSU" label resulting in much headscratching. I was even looking and newer upto dat PSUs to see if there was a SATA socket on it. Although I have no idea what function this lead provides.

I appreciate the response,

George

The fan hub of the chassis needs a SATA power plug, this is so you can control all the fans at once from a single motherboard header if you want. A single fan header can't power 7 fans, so it pulls power from the PSU instead, relying only on the commanded PWM signal from the motherboard to set the fan speed.

"To PSU" labels on modular PSU cables are meant to indicate which end of the cable goes to the PSU and which end goes to your components. The PSU ends come in a variety of configurations. If that label is on the power cable coming from the front panel, they are only indicating that you should plug a cable into from the PSU (Though I can't imagine what else you could plug it into)

 

[grn0]

The fan hub of the chassis needs a SATA power plug, this is so you can control all the fans at once from a single motherboard header if you want. A single fan header can't power 7 fans, so it pulls power from the PSU instead, relying only on the commanded PWM signal from the motherboard to set the fan speed.

"To PSU" labels on modular PSU cables are meant to indicate which end of the cable goes to the PSU and which end goes to your components. The PSU ends come in a variety of configurations. If that label is on the power cable coming from the front panel, they are only indicating that you should plug a cable into from the PSU (Though I can't imagine what else you could plug it into)

Hi again Eximo.

I really appreciate your prompt replies. However I think you are misunderstanding me. The front panel lead I am talking about has a SATA power connection on it, not a SATA data connection (which connects to the SATA data sockets on the back of the motherboard as you said). There is only one end of the lead that has a connector on it, the other end is simply part of the front panel.

The lead I am talking about comes from the front panel and terminates in a female SATA data socket, just like the cables that come from the PSU with a number of female SATA sockets to provide the power connection for SSD or hard drives. This does not suggest that it has anything to do with fans and in my experience fan speed management is handled automatically by the motherboard.

The lead may be to control fans with LEDs in them to vary the pattern and colour (there is an RGB button on the case) but, fail to understand what a SATA connector has to do with controlling LED lights.

Thanks again,

George

 

[Eximo]

I am also referring to a SATA power connector.

Not fan control, or RGB, but fan hub power. Plugging that cable in is completely passive.

The fan hub would need another connection to a motherboard fan header for the RPM signal, then up to 7 fans plug into the hub.

Just to be clear, the female SATA cables should come from the PSU. Male connectors are what you find on drives. That is a safety feature to avoid exposed power pins when not plugged in (though they made it doubly safe by enshrouding the socket pins as well). But if you look at a drive without the plug in, you can easily touch the pins, but there is no power, so safe.

If you have a male SATA connector coming off the front I/O, probably just a pass through so you don't lose a SATA power connector. But I don't recall that on my slightly older Enthoo case.