So I just got my case in and it has 2 140mm fans one in front and one in back. I want to replace the one in front as it does not have LED and i like the shiny colors but not sure what fans to get as ive read some you need a fan controller and all, was wondering if i should just order the HALO rings from Phanteks and get a second 140mm fan for the front and a 200mm fan for the top or just replace all the fans with something else entirely and if i need to get anything extra to control fan speeds. the Mobo i have is the MSI gaming Plus 370Z.
Phantex enthoo pro case fans
- Thread starter tsartwig
- Start date
You do not need a fan controller because any common fan you might buy can be controlled by the fan headers on your mobo. But you do need to pay attention to some fine details of the fan lighting systems.
There have been three types of lighted fans sold recently. The first to come out were called LED Fans. In them there are some LED's of a single colour built into the fan frame and electrically connected in parallel with the fan motor. So there is only one cable from the fan to supply power to both fan motor and LED's. Whenever the motor is running, the LED's also should light up with only one continuous colour.
Then came the plain RGB Fans. These have TWO cables - one is for power and control of the fan motor, and usually ends in a female fan connector about 3/8" wide with four holes. It plugs into a mobo SYS_FAN header. The other is for power and control of the lighting units in the fan frame and ends in a wider female connector again with four holes in a straight line. This plugs into a mobo RGB header - see your mobo manual on p. 38. This type of lighting system can produce many colours that can change over time, but at any one time the entire set of lights is all the same colour. Control of the colours is done by a software tool supplied with your mobo. In this case with an MSI mobo, the control system is called Mystic Light. To power and control several of these fans from one RGB header on the mobo, you need an RGB Splitter.
The most recent type is called Addressable RGB or ADDR RGB or ARGB, (and NOT just plain RGB) fans. These also have TWO cables - one for power and control of the fan motor usually ending in a female fan connector about 3/8" wide with four holes. It plugs into a mobo SYS_FAN connector, same as above. The other is for power and control of the lighting units in the fan frame and ends in a wider female connector but this one has only THREE holes in a straight line. similar to the 4-hole one but with one hole plugged. This system requires a different type of mobo header.
OP, your mobo has the plain RGB header with 4 pins, so you must buy fans with plain RGB lighting units in them, and NOT the ADDR RGB lighting. Regarding the fan MOTOR connections and design, I recommend getting 4-pin fans (that is, the PWM type), although your mobo can actually be configured for either fan type.
I should point out that you could, as you suggest, buy those Phanteks Halo devices. They really are just frames you can attach to an existing fan that provide the plain RGB type (4-pin) of lighting device you add to the fan. However, they come with a connector type that does not fit onto the common RGB headers on mobos so you either have to do some custom re-wiring or find connector adapters. It may be simpler to replace the fans with ones that already are built with plain RGB lighting systems in them. And as I said, I suggest you make them 4-pin PWM type fans.
There have been three types of lighted fans sold recently. The first to come out were called LED Fans. In them there are some LED's of a single colour built into the fan frame and electrically connected in parallel with the fan motor. So there is only one cable from the fan to supply power to both fan motor and LED's. Whenever the motor is running, the LED's also should light up with only one continuous colour.
Then came the plain RGB Fans. These have TWO cables - one is for power and control of the fan motor, and usually ends in a female fan connector about 3/8" wide with four holes. It plugs into a mobo SYS_FAN header. The other is for power and control of the lighting units in the fan frame and ends in a wider female connector again with four holes in a straight line. This plugs into a mobo RGB header - see your mobo manual on p. 38. This type of lighting system can produce many colours that can change over time, but at any one time the entire set of lights is all the same colour. Control of the colours is done by a software tool supplied with your mobo. In this case with an MSI mobo, the control system is called Mystic Light. To power and control several of these fans from one RGB header on the mobo, you need an RGB Splitter.
The most recent type is called Addressable RGB or ADDR RGB or ARGB, (and NOT just plain RGB) fans. These also have TWO cables - one for power and control of the fan motor usually ending in a female fan connector about 3/8" wide with four holes. It plugs into a mobo SYS_FAN connector, same as above. The other is for power and control of the lighting units in the fan frame and ends in a wider female connector but this one has only THREE holes in a straight line. similar to the 4-hole one but with one hole plugged. This system requires a different type of mobo header.
OP, your mobo has the plain RGB header with 4 pins, so you must buy fans with plain RGB lighting units in them, and NOT the ADDR RGB lighting. Regarding the fan MOTOR connections and design, I recommend getting 4-pin fans (that is, the PWM type), although your mobo can actually be configured for either fan type.
I should point out that you could, as you suggest, buy those Phanteks Halo devices. They really are just frames you can attach to an existing fan that provide the plain RGB type (4-pin) of lighting device you add to the fan. However, they come with a connector type that does not fit onto the common RGB headers on mobos so you either have to do some custom re-wiring or find connector adapters. It may be simpler to replace the fans with ones that already are built with plain RGB lighting systems in them. And as I said, I suggest you make them 4-pin PWM type fans.
Thank you so much for this. I think the simpler way of just getting new fans is what i will do. Glad i dont need any addaptors or connectors as they confuse me. I am fairly new still to building a pc. Last one i built had the led fans already to go. So again thank you very much!
You're welcome, and thanks for Best Solution. If you need any hints on where to plug in what and how to configure mobo header settings. post back here with the fan maker and model numbers, and the maker and model of your mobo.
In the Cooler Master line they sell BOTH types of RGB-equipped fans; that is, plain RGB (which you need) and ARGB (which you cannot use with your mobo's RGB header). So pay attention to the details.
Among Cooler Master fans the top line is the MasterFan Pro series which are all PWM-type fan motors and come in RGB and ARGB models, and in models optimized for Air Pressure (suited to heatsinks and radiators), Air Flow (best for unimpeded air flow for cases) and the compromise Air Balance. Some of the plain RGB type models are available in three-packs that include a Cooler Master RGB Controller box.
Next are the Cooler Master MasterFan series (note no "Pro"), again all 4-pin PWM-type fans, and again available in plain RGB and ARGB versions. There do not seem to be different models for different air flow scenarios, and there are no three-packs and no bundle with the RGB Controller. However, IF you want that RGB Controller (see below), it can be purchased separately.
Between those two fan types, the "Pro" models' specs show they run at slower max speeds, delivering less air flow at less max backpressure and lower noise output compared to the non-"Pro". The "Pro" models are about $3.50 more expensive each. A note on these spec comparisons: although the non-Pro models generate more noise at max speed, when you use the mobo's automatic speed control systems on the SYS_FAN headers they will just reduce the speed to whatever it takes (in terms of air flow) to achieve the temperature target at the mobo sensor. So the non-Pro fans would NOT run at max speed most of the time, and hence would not generate that higher noise level. But they ARE capable of much more cooling if your system needs that due to high workload. So I'd suggest the non-Pro models are better for cooling performance, and are slightly cheaper. Specifically, you would want the MasterFan MF140R RGB and MasterFan MF120R RGB models.
Connecting three (or four?) such fans to the single mobo RGB header of your mobo can be done with one or two RGB Splitters, which Cooler Master (among others) sells). See this, for example
https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Splitter-Compatibility-Radiators/dp/B0719QY63M/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Cooler+Master+RGB+Splitter&qid=1547755589&s=Electronics&sr=1-1
One of those gets you three RGB fans, but to do four fans you would need two of those and "stack" them by plugging the second of them into an output of the first. They cost about $20 apiece. With that system you would control all the fans' RGB lighting using the mobo header and the MSI Mystic Light utility.
Another option is to buy the Cooler Master RGB Controller, this
https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Controller-Connecting-Customization/dp/B071JY88NX/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=Cooler+Master+RGB+Controller&qid=1547755150&s=Electronics&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1
That costs about $40 and completely replaces the use of your mobo's RGB header. With this unit you get four cables to connect four devices to its four output ports (you actually can buy Splitters and connect more than one device to each port) plus a cable to connect this box to a mobo USB2 port, and a last cable to connect it to a SATA power output from the PSU. Then you download and install the Cooler Master software utility to do all the control of the RGB displays in your fans; it communicates with this box via that USB2 connection. So this way you do NOT use any of the MSI mobo's RGB control systems, and you may get different lighting effects. I'd suggest looking at the two maker's websites to see if they show demos of the lighting effects their software tools can do.
All of that is focused on power and control of the RGB lighting units contained in those fans. Each of those fans has TWO separate connection cables. One is for the RGB lighting, the other is the fan motor's 4-pin connection to a mobo SYS_FAN header. Your mobo has four of those in addition to the ones for CPU cooling, so power and control of 4 case fans is easy. All of these fans are of the 4-pin PWM type, so you should check in BIOS Setup that each SYS_FAN header you use is set to PWM Mode.
Among Cooler Master fans the top line is the MasterFan Pro series which are all PWM-type fan motors and come in RGB and ARGB models, and in models optimized for Air Pressure (suited to heatsinks and radiators), Air Flow (best for unimpeded air flow for cases) and the compromise Air Balance. Some of the plain RGB type models are available in three-packs that include a Cooler Master RGB Controller box.
Next are the Cooler Master MasterFan series (note no "Pro"), again all 4-pin PWM-type fans, and again available in plain RGB and ARGB versions. There do not seem to be different models for different air flow scenarios, and there are no three-packs and no bundle with the RGB Controller. However, IF you want that RGB Controller (see below), it can be purchased separately.
Between those two fan types, the "Pro" models' specs show they run at slower max speeds, delivering less air flow at less max backpressure and lower noise output compared to the non-"Pro". The "Pro" models are about $3.50 more expensive each. A note on these spec comparisons: although the non-Pro models generate more noise at max speed, when you use the mobo's automatic speed control systems on the SYS_FAN headers they will just reduce the speed to whatever it takes (in terms of air flow) to achieve the temperature target at the mobo sensor. So the non-Pro fans would NOT run at max speed most of the time, and hence would not generate that higher noise level. But they ARE capable of much more cooling if your system needs that due to high workload. So I'd suggest the non-Pro models are better for cooling performance, and are slightly cheaper. Specifically, you would want the MasterFan MF140R RGB and MasterFan MF120R RGB models.
Connecting three (or four?) such fans to the single mobo RGB header of your mobo can be done with one or two RGB Splitters, which Cooler Master (among others) sells). See this, for example
https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Splitter-Compatibility-Radiators/dp/B0719QY63M/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Cooler+Master+RGB+Splitter&qid=1547755589&s=Electronics&sr=1-1
One of those gets you three RGB fans, but to do four fans you would need two of those and "stack" them by plugging the second of them into an output of the first. They cost about $20 apiece. With that system you would control all the fans' RGB lighting using the mobo header and the MSI Mystic Light utility.
Another option is to buy the Cooler Master RGB Controller, this
https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Controller-Connecting-Customization/dp/B071JY88NX/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=Cooler+Master+RGB+Controller&qid=1547755150&s=Electronics&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1
That costs about $40 and completely replaces the use of your mobo's RGB header. With this unit you get four cables to connect four devices to its four output ports (you actually can buy Splitters and connect more than one device to each port) plus a cable to connect this box to a mobo USB2 port, and a last cable to connect it to a SATA power output from the PSU. Then you download and install the Cooler Master software utility to do all the control of the RGB displays in your fans; it communicates with this box via that USB2 connection. So this way you do NOT use any of the MSI mobo's RGB control systems, and you may get different lighting effects. I'd suggest looking at the two maker's websites to see if they show demos of the lighting effects their software tools can do.
All of that is focused on power and control of the RGB lighting units contained in those fans. Each of those fans has TWO separate connection cables. One is for the RGB lighting, the other is the fan motor's 4-pin connection to a mobo SYS_FAN header. Your mobo has four of those in addition to the ones for CPU cooling, so power and control of 4 case fans is easy. All of these fans are of the 4-pin PWM type, so you should check in BIOS Setup that each SYS_FAN header you use is set to PWM Mode.
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