Motherboards with Three...... *sigh* RGB headers

[TVwazhere]

(I really hate myself right now for having to ask this question because I'm not the world's biggest fan of RGB. If done tastefully they look good though....)

 

So I'm doing research for a planned build, and one of the things I want to do is a Full custom waterloop. EK now offers RGB Pumps, GPU AND CPU blocks which is great, but what would be even better would be to control the lighting of each individually. [Example, On the 4th of July, The CPU could be blue, the GPU red and the Pump/Res White] which is where three RGB headers comes into play. Using a 3 way cable slitter would simply mean all 3 parts would get the same RGB signal. *Edit*  These are the only planned RGB components right now, I will not be using any RGB fans. Perhaps a ARGB LED strip, but thats it. 

 

Many boards have 2, and some have 2 RGB and 2 ARGB headers now. This planned build will possibly use an R7/R9 TBA CPU which means the selection of motherboards could be narrowed, but I wanted to know if such a motherboard already exists that I was not aware of. I've also looked at stand alone controllers but cant seem to find anything that's not specific to a company with proprietary connections or only uses ARGB. (Thermaltake, NZXT, ASUS, etc.) So if I found one of those, that could solve the issue too.

 

Another option would be to try and convert one of the RGB headers from a block into a USB mobo header or one of the ARGB headers so they could be controlled by Aura. I found one guide on how to get ARGB fans to work with Asus Aura using an Arduino, but I'm not sure if it actually connects to a 3 pin ARGB header, a USB 2.0 header or something else (Plus im not exactly great with coding)

 

[Jtalk4456]

Breaking news! @TVwazhere is an RGB addict XD

[paddy-stone]

7 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

(

SNIP!

Think getting Thermaltake RGB fans and controllers COULD be the soution here, each would have their own controller that doesn't need to have RGB headers on the mobo IIRC, so that solves that problem.

[TVwazhere]

Just now, paddy-stone said:

Think getting Thermaltake RGB fans and controllers COULD be the soution here, each would have their own controller that doesn't need to have RGB headers on the mobo IIRC, so that solves that problem.

Forgot to mention. I wont be using RGB fans at all, so the only RGB products I have are the EK blocks and maybe an ARGB LED strip somewhere. 

 

Im all about that Noctua NF-A12x25 life  

[Bananasplit_00]

Why EK blocks tho, go watercool heatkillers for the extra few degrees

[paddy-stone]

Just now, TVwazhere said:

Forgot to mention. I wont be using RGB fans at all, so the only RGB products I have are the EK blocks and maybe an ARGB LED strip somewhere. 

 

Im all about that Noctua NF-A12x25 life  

Ahh, yeah that IS a problem then... I didn't read thorough the post thoroughly, so that could be my fault there.

I think your solution WILL possibly be easier if it was fans though, as I'm pretty sure the thermaltake ones for example, are easy to do what you want. I seem to remember Paul from Paul's hardware showing something similar on the top of the line thermaltake fans with addressable RGB fans, in the software.

Is it worth a shot looking at the fans to see if they'll perform similarly to the Noctuas?

[TVwazhere]

21 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Is it worth a shot looking at the fans to see if they'll perform similarly to the Noctuas?

https://www.thermaltake.com/Cooler/Case_Fan_/Riing/C_00003016/Riing_Plus_12_RGB_Radiator_Fan_TT_Premium_Edition_3_Fan_Pack_/Design.htm

https://noctua.at/en/nf-a12x25-pwm/specification

 

The NFxA12x25 either has better performance across the board at the same dBA or the same performance at a lower dBA. Considering I'm going to have at least 6 fans (dual rads), that difference adds up. Plus they're 5V ARGB

 

The non TT versions are closer to the NF-A12x25 performance which is better than I expected, but it's still a lower life expectation by nearly 4x. 

 

However, the TT controller might be a potential solution because TT has their own Res/Pump combo. This is assuming that has the option to ne controlled by Asus Aura though

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0784BGN6Q/ref=psdc_3015422011_t4_B079FYL6LM

[paddy-stone]

57 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

https://www.thermaltake.com/Cooler/Case_Fan_/Riing/C_00003016/Riing_Plus_12_RGB_Radiator_Fan_TT_Premium_Edition_3_Fan_Pack_/Design.htm

https://noctua.at/en/nf-a12x25-pwm/specification

 

The NFxA12x25 either has better performance across the board at the same dBA or the same performance at a lower dBA. Considering I'm going to have at least 6 fans (dual rads), that difference adds up. Plus they're 5V ARGB

 

The non TT versions are closer to the NF-A12x25 performance which is better than I expected, but it's still a lower life expectation by nearly 4x. 

 

However, the TT controller might be a potential solution because TT has their own Res/Pump combo. This is assuming that has the option to ne controlled by Asus Aura though

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0784BGN6Q/ref=psdc_3015422011_t4_B079FYL6LM

Yeah, I can't work it out from those figures TBH, just not in the mood, lol - I'll take your word for it. Don't get me wrong, I love Noctua fans, but I have been very surprised by some fans over the last few years and hardly ever use my Noctua fans in builds any more. Either because of the colours of the Noctua puts me off, or I want RGB or whatever.

For the last few builds I have done and re-done I have used Corsairs ML120/ML140 fans for the case or rad fans mostly, and sometimes those Inwinn fans as I liked the connection layouts and RGB glow of them.

I am currently using the ML120s on my main PC build for the 240 rad, and they work very well, my 1700 at 3.9Ghz idles at around 30C or so, and they are on low settings and very quiet... it maxes out at about 60C when doing stress tests, and regular usage high loads usually hits around 50-55C or so max IIRC... still pretty quiet.

 

I currently have around 6 or so 140mm Noctuas not in use, and at least a couple 120mm somewhere IIRC... plus I have some in my old air 540 case I think, that doesn't get used either ATM.

[TVwazhere]

4 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Yeah, I can't work it out from those figures TBH, just not in the mood, lol - I'll take your word for it. Don't get me wrong, I love Noctua fans, but I have been very surprised by some fans over the last few years and hardly ever use my Noctua fans in builds any more. Either because of the colours of the Noctua puts me off, or I want RGB or whatever.

For the last few builds I have done and re-done I have used Corsairs ML120/ML140 fans for the case or rad fans mostly, and sometimes those Inwinn fans as I liked the connection layouts and RGB glow of them.

I am currently using the ML120s on my main PC build for the 240 rad, and they work very well, my 1700 at 3.9Ghz idles at around 30C or so, and they are on low settings and very quiet... it maxes out at about 60C when doing stress tests, and regular usage high loads usually hits around 50-55C or so max IIRC... still pretty quiet.

 

I currently have around 6 or so 140mm Noctuas not in use, and at least a couple 120mm somewhere IIRC... plus I have some in my old air 540 case I think, that doesn't get used either ATM.

The ML's are great I wont lie especially for RAD fans. Those were a strong contender for a while, but Noctua is supposedly going to release all black versions of the a12x25, which is what I'm holding out on. 

[Dissitesuxba11s]

1 minute ago, TVwazhere said:

which is what I'm holding out on.

Speaking of holding out, since you will be getting an R9/R7, new motherboards (X570?) might come out with the CPUs that might have the number of RGB headers that you want. This is just my speculation since with the new CPUs boosting to 4.5-5GHz (allegedly), they would need beefier VRMs to support the power requirement.

[TVwazhere]

5 minutes ago, Dissitesuxba11s said:

Speaking of holding out, since you will be getting an R9/R7, new motherboards (X570?) might come out with the CPUs that might have the number of RGB headers that you want. This is just my speculation since with the new CPUs boosting to 4.5-5GHz (allegedly), they would need beefier VRMs to support the power requirement.

For sure but I just wanted to see if it had been done in the past. I have a gut feeling if it does happen it's gonna be a $400+ motherboard that has that many headers  

 

I'm also going to be looking into using monoblocks if I can for the VRM's. Those are of course more hit-or-miss in terms of motherboard compatibility, so we will see...

[TVwazhere]

2 hours ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

Why EK blocks tho, go watercool heatkillers for the extra few degrees

I dont think they make a 1080ti FTW3 block, just founders editions

[Dissitesuxba11s]

12 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

For sure but I just wanted to see if it had been done in the past. I have a gut feeling if it does happen it's gonna be a $400+ motherboard that has that many headers  

 

I'm also going to be looking into using monoblocks if I can for the VRM's. Those are of course more hit-or-miss in terms of motherboard compatibility, so we will see...

I'm actually in a similar situation where I want to power 3 RGB fans through the motherboard but unfortunately my ASUS Crosshair Hero VI only has two.

 

Browsed through some higher end boards like the ASUS X399 Zenith Extreme and the MSI Z390 Meg Godlike, even they don't have 3 four pin RGB headers.

[TVwazhere]

1 minute ago, Dissitesuxba11s said:

Browsed through some higher end boards like the ASUS X399 Zenith Extreme and the MSI Z390 Meg Godlike, even they don't have 3 four pin RGB headers.

#FirstWorldProblems

 

I wont die if this doesnt have a sound resolution, but I imagined main watercooling parts being the RGB products would be unique rather than all RGB fans. Hell I was debating on NOT using RGB ram too.

[Bananasplit_00]

51 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

I dont think they make a 1080ti FTW3 block, just founders editions

They make a FTW 1080 block, I'm sure they make a 1080ti FTW 3 too

[TVwazhere]

10 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

They make a FTW 1080 block, I'm sure they make a 1080ti FTW 3 too

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

http://shop.watercool.de/epages/WatercooleK.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/WatercooleK/Categories/Wasserkühler/GPU_Kuehler/"Geforce GTX 10xx"

Spoiler

 

[Bananasplit_00]

7 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

http://shop.watercool.de/epages/WatercooleK.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/WatercooleK/Categories/Wasserkühler/GPU_Kuehler/"Geforce GTX 10xx"

  Hide contents

 

 

yah i took a look and it seems they didnt bother with custom blocks for the 1080TI sadly. the 1080 got a lot of love tho.

[wONKEyeYEs]

16 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

RGB Pumps, GPU AND CPU block

 

16 hours ago, Jtalk4456 said:

Breaking news! @TVwazhere is an RGB addict XD

Yeah, I heard it was all the rage so