[SOLVED] RGB headache with 3-pin and 4-pin products ?

[darkking791]

Hello guys and happy new year.

Even though i consider myself an pc enthusiast im not that knowledgble about RGB, i didnt ever used many rgb products in the past and the few which i had with rgb lights i didnt try to control them before(or i just disable them).


But the last year after some pc upgrades i have 3 products with rgb in the case right now and i just ordered another one which it have rgb on it , at first i thought i could control all of them with the aura software and my motherboard but after some research i discovered that one of them is 4-pin and the other two are 3-pin, but my motherboard only has
2 x 4-pin rgb headers.

So i connected the 4pin product deepcool rgb 200 ex led strip with my motherboard and i can control it with the aura software together with the rgb lights of the prime x470 pro motherboard just fine.

Furthermore recently i bought the RX 6700xt nitro which unfortunately have a 3pin header and from what i learned i cant connect it to my motherboard,(and i dont think that exist any 3pin header to 4pin header cable)

Finally my last rgb product is the BitFenix Alchemy 3.0 A-RGB GPU Bracket which from what i see in the specifications have a 3pin header too.
So my main question is can i connect the BitFenix Alchemy 3.0 A-RGB GPU Bracket with the Rx 6700 XT Nitro+ and contr them with the trixx software.

Basically I want to have my 4 RGB products connected as pairs at least

Motherboard + led strips controlled by aura software = 1 pair

Rx 6700 XT + 3pin bitfenix RGB bracket controlled by trix software = 2nd pair

Can be done?

One more thing from what i found the bitfenix bracket can be connected to
1) Connect to control board on BitFenix cases 2)Daisy chain with BitFenix ARGB accessories 3) Connect to ARGB LED connector on motherboard or control board on BitFenix cases with 3 pin
ARGB LED connector

Thanks in the advance for any help

ps I found the Deepcool RGB Convertor - Convert 3-pin (+5V)ARGB Fans to 4-pin (+12V) RGB Capable Motherboard is it possible the solution? can it connect all the rgb products together in my case? if yes i will need any extra cable?.

 

[kerberos_20]

with that convertor you should be able to hook up 4pin RGB from mainboard into 3pin A-RGB on led strips/fans
but it supports only MSI, ASUS and Gigabyte mainboards

 

[darkking791]

with that convertor you should be able to hook up 4pin RGB from mainboard into 3pin A-RGB on led strips/fans
but it supports only MSI, ASUS and Gigabyte mainboards

My3 pin are

1. 6700xt nitro+
2. bitfenix rgb bracket

And

My 4 pin are

1. Asus x470 prime pro
2. deepcool rgb strip

I have ordered the converter and also i ordered the only 3pin female to 3pin female cable i could find in my country the
Silverstone ARGB splitter Cable SST-CPL03 30 cm Black (yes its 1-4 Splitter) but i couldnt find any other cable , it should work though.

i think i have everything now.

 

[Paperdoc]

Just want to help you understand that Deepcool RGB Converter. As you have realized, the 4-pin plain RGB system is not the same as the 3-pin ARGB system. The ARGB system is much more complex and capable of doing more things, like having many colours along a lighting strip for a rainbow effect, and even having that pattern move along the strip. The simpler 4-pin system can generate all the brightness and colour shades of the 3-pin one, BUT at any one moment the entire light strip is ONE colour - no moving patterns or rainbows. What it comes down to, then, is that you CAN arrange to have a complex 3-pin ARGB light strip duplicate the simpler patterns of a 4-pin plain RGB system by using a "translator" that can convert the instructions of that simpler system (AND the VOLTAGE change required) into signals the advanced ARGB system can use safely. BUT since the 4-pin system cannot create instructions for the complex displays an ARGB system can do, the result is that the ARGB lights fed these converted signals can only do the simpler types of displays that the 4-pin system does. A small side note: the 3-pin lights fed such converted signals may NOT match exactly the colour shades the 4-pin lights are generating.

So YES, that Deepcool Converter CAN connect to your mobo's 4-pin header and do the conversion, and you CAN feed the resulting signals to your 3-pin light units safely (assuming the the 3-pin units you have use the common (4-1) ARGB connector - that is, it looks like it had 4 holes, but the third hole in the pattern is blocked off). REMEMBER on the 4-pin side of things that you MUST mate up the marked +12 VDC power supply line at EVERY connection point, whereas on the 3-pin side the connectors allow connecting in only one way.

Regarding the alternative - feeding all your 4-pin lights as a separate group, with power and control signals from a separate ARGB Controller to the Bitfenix bracket and some fans - that is possible IF you have such a Controller. I do not see that the Bitfenix bracket includes that. So without that, your Bitfenix bracket and your 3-pin FANS may have to be connected to the Converted 4-pin signals.

Now the web page for that video card indicates that the LIGHTS in it MAY be synchronized with an external ARGB signal. OFTEN that means that you actually have TWO choices for how the lights in that card are controlled. ONE way is via the Trixx software, using capabilities on the video card to control its own lights only, with no link to other devices. The other, activated by a setting in that software tool, disables the on-card control and turns over control to a signal from an external ARGB signal source that you can connect to the card somehow - no details shown on the web page. It also seems likely that the video card does NOT have a way to send out from itself any ARGB control signal that Trixx can generate to another device like the Bitfenix bracket. So you may well be able to do fancy light displays on the video card using its ability with Trixx, BUT not be able to export those 3-pin ARGB signals to your bracket or fans.

 

[darkking791]

Just want to help you understand that Deepcool RGB Converter. As you have realized, the 4-pin plain RGB system is not the same as the 3-pin ARGB system. The ARGB system is much more complex and capable of doing more things, like having many colours along a lighting strip for a rainbow effect, and even having that pattern move along the strip. The simpler 4-pin system can generate all the brightness and colour shades of the 3-pin one, BUT at any one moment the entire light strip is ONE colour - no moving patterns or rainbows. What it comes down to, then, is that you CAN arrange to have a complex 3-pin ARGB light strip duplicate the simpler patterns of a 4-pin plain RGB system by using a "translator" that can convert the instructions of that simpler system (AND the VOLTAGE change required) into signals the advanced ARGB system can use safely. BUT since the 4-pin system cannot create instructions for the complex displays an ARGB system can do, the result is that the ARGB lights fed these converted signals can only do the simpler types of displays that the 4-pin system does. A small side note: the 3-pin lights fed such converted signals may NOT match exactly the colour shades the 4-pin lights are generating.

So YES, that Deepcool Converter CAN connect to your mobo's 4-pin header and do the conversion, and you CAN feed the resulting signals to your 3-pin light units safely (assuming the the 3-pin units you have use the common (4-1) ARGB connector - that is, it looks like it had 4 holes, but the third hole in the pattern is blocked off). REMEMBER on the 4-pin side of things that you MUST mate up the marked +12 VDC power supply line at EVERY connection point, whereas on the 3-pin side the connectors allow connecting in only one way.

Regarding the alternative - feeding all your 4-pin lights as a separate group, with power and control signals from a separate ARGB Controller to the Bitfenix bracket and some fans - that is possible IF you have such a Controller. I do not see that the Bitfenix bracket includes that. So without that, your Bitfenix bracket and your 3-pin FANS may have to be connected to the Converted 4-pin signals.

Now the web page for that video card indicates that the LIGHTS in it MAY be synchronized with an external ARGB signal. OFTEN that means that you actually have TWO choices for how the lights in that card are controlled. ONE way is via the Trixx software, using capabilities on the video card to control its own lights only, with no link to other devices. The other, activated by a setting in that software tool, disables the on-card control and turns over control to a signal from an external ARGB signal source that you can connect to the card somehow - no details shown on the web page. It also seems likely that the video card does NOT have a way to send out from itself any ARGB control signal that Trixx can generate to another device like the Bitfenix bracket. So you may well be able to do fancy light displays on the video card using its ability with Trixx, BUT not be able to export those 3-pin ARGB signals to your bracket or fans.

THank you very much for your detailed reply first i thought that the 4pin was the superior one (more pins =better logic lol). In the end my bitfenix order was cancelled because it was out of stock so i ordered the DEEPCOOL GH-01 A-RGB ADJUSTABLE COLORFUL INTERNAL GRAPHICS CARD HOLDER i think it 3 pin too so im ok.
Tldr from what i understood
So 3pin = rgb with better lights (more chromatic options) - 5v
4pin = rgb with simpler single lights (older tech with not many variations)-12V
And with my DEEPCOOl converter im gonna make all my lights 4pin like rgb and control them from my motherboard aura software.

Ps i dont mind to have simpler rgb either way i dont like too many variations i just want all the lights to be the same and change color at the same time.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Hello guys and happy new year.

Even though i consider myself an pc enthusiast im not that knowledgble about RGB, i didnt ever used many rgb products in the past and the few which i had with rgb lights i didnt try to control them before(or i just disable them).


But the last year after some pc upgrades i have 3 products with rgb in the case right now and i just ordered another one which it have rgb on it , at first i thought i could control all of them with the aura software and my motherboard but after some research i discovered that one of them is 4-pin and the other two are 3-pin, but my motherboard only has
2 x 4-pin rgb headers.

So i connected the 4pin product deepcool rgb 200 ex led strip with my motherboard and i can control it with the aura software together with the rgb lights of the prime x470 pro motherboard just fine.

Furthermore recently i bought the RX 6700xt nitro which unfortunately have a 3pin header and from what i learned i cant connect it to my motherboard,(and i dont think that exist any 3pin header to 4pin header cable)

Finally my last rgb product is the BitFenix Alchemy 3.0 A-RGB GPU Bracket which from what i see in the specifications have a 3pin header too.
So my main question is can i connect the BitFenix Alchemy 3.0 A-RGB GPU Bracket with the Rx 6700 XT Nitro+ and contr them with the trixx software.

Basically I want to have my 4 RGB products connected as pairs at least

Motherboard + led strips controlled by aura software = 1 pair

Rx 6700 XT + 3pin bitfenix RGB bracket controlled by trix software = 2nd pair

Can be done?

One more thing from what i found the bitfenix bracket can be connected to
1) Connect to control board on BitFenix cases 2)Daisy chain with BitFenix ARGB accessories 3) Connect to ARGB LED connector on motherboard or control board on BitFenix cases with 3 pin
ARGB LED connector

Thanks in the advance for any help

ps I found the Deepcool RGB Convertor - Convert 3-pin (+5V)ARGB Fans to 4-pin (+12V) RGB Capable Motherboard is it possible the solution? can it connect all the rgb products together in my case? if yes i will need any extra cable?.

Three pin headers are ARGB that run at 12V (power, ground, signal)
Four pin are RGB that run at 5V (red power, blue power, green power, ground)

ARGB means each LED can have a different color at the same time. Ie: led1 is blue. Led2 is purple led3 is orange.

RGB means the entire strip is the same color at once.

Spec wise they are completely incompatible. But double check your motherboard. I'm almost certain there's a 3 pin header AND a 4 pin header.

 

[darkking791]

Three pin headers are ARGB that run at 12V (power, ground, signal)
Four pin are RGB that run at 5V (red power, blue power, green power, ground)

ARGB means each LED can have a different color at the same time. Ie: led1 is blue. Led2 is purple led3 is orange.

RGB means the entire strip is the same color at once.

Spec wise they are completely incompatible. But double check your motherboard. I'm almost certain there's a 3 pin header AND a 4 pin header.

I think 4pin = 12v and 3pin = 5v

 

[Paperdoc]

You are right: digitalgriffin got the voltages reversed. Plus a small technical detail. In that system the one fixed element of the wiring and power supply is a single +12 VDC power line, There are three separate GROUND lines, one for each string of LED colours (Red, Green, Blue) along the light strip. Apparently the Controller varies the resistance of each "Ground" line to true Ground of the circuit to control the current (and hence brightness) of each colour to achieve the mix of millions of colours.

The 4-pin 12 V plain RGB system can do LOADS of colours and brightness levels and change them over short or long time periods. But the entire strip of lights is one colour at any moment.

 

[digitalgriffin]

I think 4pin = 12v and 3pin = 5v

You are quite correct. I was working off memory at 3AM. But given the nature of TTL/CMOS circuits on each ARGB LED chip, that makes sense.

 

[digitalgriffin]

You are right: digitalgriffin got the voltages reversed. Plus a small technical detail. In that system the one fixed element of the wiring and power supply is a single +12 VDC power line, There are three separate GROUND lines, one for each string of LED colours (Red, Green, Blue) along the light strip. Apparently the Controller varies the resistance of each "Ground" line to true Ground of the circuit to control the current (and hence brightness) of each colour to achieve the mix of millions of colours.

The 4-pin 12 V plain RGB system can do LOADS of colours and brightness levels and change them over short or long time periods. But the entire strip of lights is one colour at any moment.

It's entirely possible that each is a ground. But I'm almost 100% certain RGB strip LEDs are PWM based, not variable resistance. LEDs are driven by current and are wired in parallel. This means current is variable based on the length of the strip and the consumption of each LED. If it's variable resistance the LEDs should get theoretically brighter if you cut the strip in half (as the current would double down each LED), which is NOT the case.

I've wrote dimmer routines for strips before on Arduino and RaspPi. They use PWM.

 

[Paperdoc]

What digitalgriffin says about the method of control being PWM makes more sense than resistance. But the interesting thing is that the PWM method must be applied individually to each colour's "ground" line, and not to the common +12 VDC supply line. That's the only way to vary the intensity of each colour separately.

 

[Paperdoc]

OP, thanks for Best Solution.