Where to connect my AIO pump?

[dredt0w]

So I have just gotten my first AIO cooler (be quiet 280 silent loop), but as I don't currently have my Y-cable yet, I connected the two radiator fans to sysfan1 and sysfan2, so where do I put my 3 pin pump? Can I just connect this to a 4 pin sysfan?

 

[raisonjohn]

What's your motherboard and what are the other fans that you need to connect?

As for your initial description, yes, that would work. Connecting the 3-pin pump on a 4-pin PWM fan header will result in the pump at full speed 24/7, which you want on a non-variable speed pump. If that 4-pin header is a DC header (which some motherboards have), it will vary its voltage at the 2nd pin to increase/decrease pump speed, which is not ideal for an AIO pump.

The two radiator fans can be connected to two separate headers (ideally, the CPU_FAN and CPU_OPT, so that speed will be based on temps of CPU). If your motherboard doesn't have a CPU_OPT, it is ideal if you get the Y-cable PWM splitter so both fans will run off on one header (CPU_FAN) and will spin identically.

 

[dredt0w]

What's your motherboard and what are the other fans that you need to connect?

As for your initial description, yes, that would work. Connecting the 3-pin pump on a 4-pin PWM fan header will result in the pump at full speed 24/7, which you want on a non-variable speed pump. If that 4-pin header is a DC header (which some motherboards have), it will vary its voltage at the 2nd pin to increase/decrease pump speed, which is not ideal for an AIO pump.

The two radiator fans can be connected to two separate headers (ideally, the CPU_FAN and CPU_OPT, so that speed will be based on temps of CPU). If your motherboard doesn't have a CPU_OPT, it is ideal if you get the Y-cable PWM splitter so both fans will run off on one header (CPU_FAN) and will spin identically.

Hi raisonjohn

Sorry for forgetting to mention which mobo I have. It's a MSI X99a SLI Krait Edition. It doesn't have CPU_OPT, but CPUFAN1-2 and SYSFAN1-3

I currently have the two radiator fans connected to CPUFAN1 & 2, and my back-fan connected to SYSFAN1. So I was wondering if I could have my 3 pin pump connected to the 4 pin SYSFAN2?

My ideal solution, is when I get my Y-cable, I will connect both the radiator fans to CPUFAN1 and the pump connected to CPUFAN2.

How will this work?

 

[raisonjohn]

Yes, that would be how I would connect the AIO cooler as well.

According to your manual (page 1-28), your MSI X99A SLI Krait Ed. motherboard's two CPUFAN headers (i.e., CPUFAN1 and CPUFAN2) are both PWM headers that provides constant +12VDC on the 2nd pin. This is ideal for your two radiator fans, which are both PWM 4-pin fans, as well as your AIO pump, which is a DC 3-pin non-variable pump. Your other three SYSFAN headers (i.e., SYSFAN1, SYSFAN2, and SYSFAN3) are all 4-pin DC headers, providing variable voltage at the 2nd pin (and the 4th pin as "dummy pin" or no electronic connection).

Reason why you want the 3-pin DC pump to be plugged on a PWM header is for the pump to run at full, constant non-variable speed (supplying constant +12V DC), which is recommended for most AIO non-variable speed pumps for constant liquid flow. Plugging a 3-pin fan or pump on any PWM header will result in full speed 24/7 (no speed control).

If you connect the 3-pin DC pump to any of the SYSFAN header (which are 4-pin DC headers), make sure that you set such fan header in the MSI BIOS as "full speed".