Watercooler power connection

[zellron]

Hello everyone! Please help, I'll try to keep this short. My mobo Asus Z97i PLUS has three fan connectors:

• one cpu_fan 4-pin connector
• two fan_chassis 4-pin connectors specifically mentioned in the manual to be both DC or PWM

relevant instruction manual page

 

I bought a Fractal Design Kelvin T12 watercooler that has:

• two PWM fans, both with 4-pin cables
• one DC pump with a 3-pin cable

Manual says that the pump MUST have a steady 12V voltage, otherwise there's a risk of damage. I initially connected the pump to a cpu_fan and have been told that it's a big mistake. How do I connect it properly? Please help, I'm a total dumbass when it comes to this stuff.

[W-L]

6 minutes ago, zellron said:

-SNIP-

You can connect it to the CPU header just be sure that it's configure to be constant 12V or in PWM mode which will always feed 12V to the pump regardless. It will also provide an RPM signal to the header and provide a warning if your system's pump fails or stops for whatever reasons. 

[zellron]

@W-L: thank you for your kind reply! Sadly there doesn't seem to be an option in my mobo's BIOS settings to set any specific voltage to a fan. The closest thing I could do to what you advised was to manually set up a DC mode and set it to 100% fan speed regardless of temps, so I hope it does exactly that.

 

I can't hear that darn pump working at all, but CPU temp is at 32 Celsius, so...

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, zellron said:

@W-L: thank you for your kind reply! Sadly there doesn't seem to be an option in my mobo's BIOS settings to set any specific voltage to a fan. The closest thing I could do to what you advised was to manually set up a DC mode and set it to 100% fan speed regardless of temps, so I hope it does exactly that.

 

I can't hear that darn pump working at all, but CPU temp is at 32 Celsius, so...

Go into advanced mode of the BIOS by hitting F7 when loaded into the BIOS, the setup should be fine if you have it set constantly at full speed. 

[For Science!]

You did the right thing don't know if the Kelvin has any fan headers for the pump or whether you must use your chassis fan heaxers. I would recommend plugging it I to the pump where possible.

[zellron]

@W-L: I tried what you suggested, but sadly even in advanced settings I can only choose between DC/PWM modes and set the percentage of fan speed depending on different temp levels. So I can only trust that it's 12V since most(all?) cpu fan headers provide 12V as far as I know. Fractal customer support guy said that the voltage as low as 9V is fine too though.

 

@For Science!: watercooler itself doesn't have any fan headers, both fans are connected directly to motherboard. Fans are not the problem, pump is - according to the manual using pump at too low voltage will result in a fiery explosion. I hope to avoid that.