Can I use fan splitters on the Commander Pro?

[Aaralli]

I want to add fans to my Corsair Crystal Series 680X case, on the two radiators I have. That would bring the total up to 12 fans. Can I put any sort of fan splitters on my Corsair iCue Commander Pro so that all of them can be run with the iCue software? Since there are 6 fan headers and 12 fans, I would only need to split each one with one other fan... and I actually own a few Noctua NA-SYC1 fan splitters already.

[Pikatchu]

It should work, the Noctua fan splitter is a 4pin to 4pin.

[Aaralli]

15 minutes ago, Pikatchu said:

It should work, the Noctua fan splitter is a 4pin to 4pin.

I figured the fans might work with a few splitters, but can the Commander Pro handle the energy requirement of 12 fans?

[Aaralli]

@Corsair George @Corsair Joseph @Corsair Nick I don't know who exactly is the person to ask about this but I think Nick has commented on a Corsair related question of mine in the past...

[Pikatchu]

1 minute ago, Aaralli said:

I figured the fans might work with a few splitters, but can the Commander Pro handle the energy requirement of 12 fans?

50% of 12 fans, and 100% of 12 fans is very different. So, IDK.

I run 3 fans off of one Motherboard fan header, which is a stupid idea, but it works.

My handled up till 70% speed for all 3.

 

Every channel for the hub should delivery the same maximum voltage to the fans.

If you can run 2 fans to 100% in channel, I dont see why you cant run 12 at 100%.

[LogicalDrm]

16 hours ago, Aaralli said:

I figured the fans might work with a few splitters, but can the Commander Pro handle the energy requirement of 12 fans?

Its SATA powered and you won't exceed SATA amps with just fans. Each header on Commander Pro probably delivers atleast 1A. Just remember that using splitters with Commander Pro is like using splitters on any other header. It only sees one fan from the splitter.

[Aaralli]

On 2/28/2020 at 4:38 AM, LogicalDrm said:

Its SATA powered and you won't exceed SATA amps with just fans. Each header on Commander Pro probably delivers atleast 1A. Just remember that using splitters with Commander Pro is like using splitters on any other header. It only sees one fan from the splitter.

That makes perfect sense, thanks. I've read before that most mobo fan headers can handle 3 normal fans with 1A, so I should PROBABLY be good with 2 fans on each header. As for the seeing only 1 fan, I'll be fine, I think. I'm going to have the three in the front and 1 rear exhaust fan specifically tuned to my GPU temps, while the top and bottom fans will beset to my CPU temps. When I get the custom watercooling loop all set up for both CPU and GPU, I'll have have all the fans set to one sensor, probably... Is there one in most pumps?

[LogicalDrm]

2 minutes ago, Aaralli said:

Is there one in most pumps?

Some motherboards have special water pump header which is 3A as actual pumps, not the basic AIO ones, can demand more amps than basic headers can deliver.

[Aaralli]

3 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

Some motherboards have special water pump header which is 3A as actual pumps, not the basic AIO ones, can demand more amps than basic headers can deliver.

Since this build has a pretty much unlimited budget, I'll be buying as good a motherboard I can buy, I was thinking the MSI X570 Creation. I'm sure that would have a 3A header.

[LogicalDrm]

1 minute ago, Aaralli said:

Since this build has a pretty much unlimited budget, I'll be buying as good a motherboard I can buy, I was thinking the MSI X570 Creation. I'm sure that would have a 3A header.

The specs indicate that to be the case:

Quote

• 1x 24-pin ATX main power connector
• 2x 8-pin ATX 12V power connectors
• 6x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
• 2x M.2 slots (M-Key)
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port
• 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports)
• 2x USB 2.0 connectors (supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports)
• 1x 4-pin CPU fan connector
• 1x 4-pin Water Pump connector
• 7x 4-pin system fan connectors
• 1x Front panel audio connector
• 2x System panel connectors
• 1x Chassis Intrusion connector
• 1x TPM module connector
• 2x 2-pin Thermal Sensors connectors
• 1x 4-pin RGB LED connector
• 2x 3-pin RAINBOW LED connectors
• 1x 3-pin CORSAIR LED connector

But I've learned in past that if available, always check manual for minor details like that. Though in this case, there's nothing special said about that header. So assuming its just another 1A is probably correct. I think Asus is the one with high-power fan headers and 3A pump headers on their boards.

[Corsair Nick]

On 2/27/2020 at 11:38 AM, Aaralli said:

I want to add fans to my Corsair Crystal Series 680X case, on the two radiators I have. That would bring the total up to 12 fans. Can I put any sort of fan splitters on my Corsair iCue Commander Pro so that all of them can be run with the iCue software? Since there are 6 fan headers and 12 fans, I would only need to split each one with one other fan... and I actually own a few Noctua NA-SYC1 fan splitters already.

The main question I have is, which fans are you planning to use in your build?  The Commander Pro will handle 1A per port, up to 4.5A combined for all 6-ports.  My recommendation is using a second Commander Pro since it will be guaranteed to work.  You can always try splitting the ports if the amperage draw for the fans is within the spec I listed, but results may vary.

[Aaralli]

On 3/3/2020 at 3:57 PM, Corsair Nick said:

The main question I have is, which fans are you planning to use in your build?  The Commander Pro will handle 1A per port, up to 4.5A combined for all 6-ports.  My recommendation is using a second Commander Pro since it will be guaranteed to work.  You can always try splitting the ports if the amperage draw for the fans is within the spec I listed, but results may vary.

I have 3 120mm QL fans, and 9 140mm QL fans. I was hoping to connect all of them to my Commander Pro. This will all be in the Corsair Crystal 680X.

[Cavalry Canuck]

On 3/5/2020 at 4:24 AM, Aaralli said:

I have 3 120mm QL fans, and 9 140mm QL fans. I was hoping to connect all of them to my Commander Pro. This will all be in the Corsair Crystal 680X.

Something I didn’t see mentioned in this thread;

 

Several users on the Corsair forums have reported issues using 3 or 4 way fan splitters with the Commander Pro. I haven’t read anything about issues with 2 way splitters. I have a pair of 2 way splitters in my system, one feeding a pair of HD-140s, and the other a pair of ML-120s. Both work flawlessly.

 

Your Commander Pro doesn’t have enough ports to limit yourself to a single 2 way splitter per port, even if you were within the Amp limitations (you would be as far as I can tell). 

 

If you don’t need the fans to all run at the same RPM/be controlled by ICUE software, why not connect one to a mobo header? Save yourself the cost (and case space) of buying a second commander pro?

[Corsair Nick]

On 3/5/2020 at 2:24 AM, Aaralli said:

I have 3 120mm QL fans, and 9 140mm QL fans. I was hoping to connect all of them to my Commander Pro. This will all be in the Corsair Crystal 680X.

You're still under the 4.5A threshold, so try it out.  As long as you have no Lighting Strips in the case, the Commander Pro will be able to control all 12 fans.  You just need to split them (6) per channel.

[Aaralli]

On 3/8/2020 at 7:19 PM, Cavalry Canuck said:

Something I didn’t see mentioned in this thread;

 

Several users on the Corsair forums have reported issues using 3 or 4 way fan splitters with the Commander Pro. I haven’t read anything about issues with 2 way splitters. I have a pair of 2 way splitters in my system, one feeding a pair of HD-140s, and the other a pair of ML-120s. Both work flawlessly.

 

Your Commander Pro doesn’t have enough ports to limit yourself to a single 2 way splitter per port, even if you were within the Amp limitations (you would be as far as I can tell). 

 

If you don’t need the fans to all run at the same RPM/be controlled by ICUE software, why not connect one to a mobo header? Save yourself the cost (and case space) of buying a second commander pro?

For one, it's a matter of cable management ease. Since um using a dual chamber case, the 680x, a lot can be hidden behind the motherboard including hopefully every fan cable. Second, even though I wouldn't mind having to use BIOS to control fan speeds, it's a much easier task to just open up iCUE and change the settings. Plus, as far as I've seen, no BIOS has the option to set gans speed to gpu temperature, and I want to do that.

[Cavalry Canuck]

2 hours ago, Aaralli said:

For one, it's a matter of cable management ease. Since um using a dual chamber case, the 680x, a lot can be hidden behind the motherboard including hopefully every fan cable. Second, even though I wouldn't mind having to use BIOS to control fan speeds, it's a much easier task to just open up iCUE and change the settings. Plus, as far as I've seen, no BIOS has the option to set gans speed to gpu temperature, and I want to do that.

So if 8 fans are dictated by GPU temp, and one by say, the CPU temp, that isn’t good enough for you, is it?

 

Cable management isn’t the issue with the Corsair Commander Pro. It’s the chance of there being poor/no fan functionality if you go with a three or four-way splitter from one of the fan headers. I personally wouldn’t risk that.

 

If cable management isn’t a concern, what about a separate, powered fan splitter? Just plug it into one of the Commander Pro’s ports.

[Aaralli]

On 3/10/2020 at 4:16 AM, Cavalry Canuck said:

So if 8 fans are dictated by GPU temp, and one by say, the CPU temp, that isn’t good enough for you, is it?

 

Cable management isn’t the issue with the Corsair Commander Pro. It’s the chance of there being poor/no fan functionality if you go with a three or four-way splitter from one of the fan headers. I personally wouldn’t risk that.

 

If cable management isn’t a concern, what about a separate, powered fan splitter? Just plug it into one of the Commander Pro’s ports.

A powered fan splitter is actually a pretty decent idea, although I never mentioned a three or four way splitter in each port for the commander Pro. As Nick said, the Commander Pro supports up to 4.5 Amps total in all six of the fan headers. If the average motherboard fan header can output a max of 1 amp, and you can run 3 fans (most fans, not all) at full speed on that, then it's logical to think that the average fan needs 0.3-0.33 Amps to run, and 12 fans×.33 Amps = about 4 Amps... if my idea doesn't work though a fan splitter would be fine. It would just be nice to utilize each header so I have more control. I may have mentioned this before, but I'm water cooling with 2 radiators, and with the loop order I'm planning, one radiator will directly handle the cpu and the other will directly handle the gpu heat. In that case, being able to directly control the fan speed according to the temps of either component would be ideal.

[Cavalry Canuck]

8 hours ago, Aaralli said:

A powered fan splitter is actually a pretty decent idea, although I never mentioned a three or four way splitter in each port for the commander Pro. As Nick said, the Commander Pro supports up to 4.5 Amps total in all six of the fan headers. If the average motherboard fan header can output a max of 1 amp, and you can run 3 fans (most fans, not all) at full speed on that, then it's logical to think that the average fan needs 0.3-0.33 Amps to run, and 12 fans×.33 Amps = about 4 Amps... if my idea doesn't work though a fan splitter would be fine. It would just be nice to utilize each header so I have more control. I may have mentioned this before, but I'm water cooling with 2 radiators, and with the loop order I'm planning, one radiator will directly handle the cpu and the other will directly handle the gpu heat. In that case, being able to directly control the fan speed according to the temps of either component would be ideal.

You might not have mentioned it, but I wanted to point out the potential problem with it anyway in case you considered the idea.

 

All fans I’ve ever owned (admittedly, not many) have had the amperage draw printed on them somewhere. All were between .2 and .3.

 

Is it a single loop, or two separate loops?

[Aaralli]

4 hours ago, Cavalry Canuck said:

You might not have mentioned it, but I wanted to point out the potential problem with it anyway in case you considered the idea.

 

All fans I’ve ever owned (admittedly, not many) have had the amperage draw printed on them somewhere. All were between .2 and .3.

 

Is it a single loop, or two separate loops?

At this point I'm planning a single loop.

[Aaralli]

4 hours ago, Cavalry Canuck said:

You might not have mentioned it, but I wanted to point out the potential problem with it anyway in case you considered the idea.

 

All fans I’ve ever owned (admittedly, not many) have had the amperage draw printed on them somewhere. All were between .2 and .3.

 

Is it a single loop, or two separate loops?

configuration-zfn4xt-en.pdf The only difference here is that the front radiator will actually be a 280mm on the bottom.

 

[Cavalry Canuck]

10 hours ago, Aaralli said:

At this point I'm planning a single loop.

Well, I don't mean to rain on your parade, but loop order is pretty well irrelevant. The nature of water-cooling dictates that your coolant will be significantly closer to ambient temperature than component temperature.

 

Ie. if your room temp is 20c, your coolant will end up in the 28-40c range. This boils (haha) down to temperature deltas, & the amount of radiator capacity utilised in your loop. The closer your coolant is to ambient temp, the more time in a heat exchanger it needs to get to ambient temp. At 100% thermal efficiency, these variables are easy to calculate with high school level maths. But with the plethora of different fans involved, rad thickness, etc. it becomes a huge mess. In short, radiators are big, so temperature deltas would be low. Expect a degree or two dropped per radiator. 

 

Like your radiators, your water cooling blocks will result in a degree or two gain to the coolant per block. But because they are hotter & smaller, they end up resulting in the equal (but opposite, thanks Newton) change to coolant temp. Totally blowing the maths here, but a radiator of 14,400 square millimeters will shed the same thermal energy with an 8c delta to ambient temp as a 1,225 square mm cpu block with a 48c delta between the cpu core and the coolant.

 

So, cranking your fans on the radiator BETWEEN your CPU and your GPU will be FUCKING useless. You will net an extra 1c loss on your coolant. This is a 12.5% gain when you compare your deltas to ambient. But when you flip that to your coolant blocks, that extra 2.0449% in temp change wont result in a lick of measurable difference at your CPU/GPU dyes.

 

The end result is you will have one set of fans making a shitload of noise (read: Banshee-witch), while your other fans are at idle, or close to it. This is not an ideal setup. You get all the noise, and not all the performance.

 

What you want to do is configure your loop. Thankfully it isn't hard, just time consuming. First, crank those fans up to 100%, and OC your setup as you see fit. As you OC, benchmark your system to ensure it is putting out all the heat it could possibly put out. If your setup is like mine and the CPU (& RAM/Mosfets if you have those WCed) is the bottleneck, get that up to it's peak first. Then OC your GPU(s) until shit crashes. If your GPU(s) is(are) the bottleneck, get a better GPU. 1080Tis are cheap right now and will become moreso once RTX 30xx releases,

 

Once you know what the stable temp is at max OC under Max load and Max fan speed, everything is down from there. You know at 100% fan speed your coolant will not go over a certain temperature for a given ambient room temp. You know this to be your safe max, so you set ALL your fan curves from there. So long as your coolant doesn't exceed this temp, regardless of ambient temp, your system will perform at the peak you clocked it too. Yes your coolant will gain a degree or two between the CPU and GPU, but that will have a neglible difference on the cooling of the downstream component. What matters is having the total rad/fan capacity to dissipate the heat generated by all components within the water-cooled loop. The only exception to this is the pump. The cooler your pump, the longer it will last. So when possible, stick some/all of your radiator capacity before your pump.

 

 

 

If you have two separate loops, totally different ball game.

[Maticks]

do yourself a favour and only run one fan per channel.

So i bought two commander pro's one for my server and one for my gaming machine.

I pulled my 6 fans into the 6 slots for my gaming machine have had no issues.

 

On my server i decided to connect 3x140mm fans to a split out cable and ran the fans at 900RPM constantly.

the following day the channel was dead on the commander pro with plastic smell.

 

had the unit DOA'd the second one i decided to run just two fans on one channel, about 48 hours later it was now dead.

I got another one and ran only single fans per channel.

 

It is clear they have just enough power to drive one fan per slot, they spent as little money as possible on the hardware.

Which is a shame its a good product and its a very high price for something very touchy.

[Maticks]

EK Loop Connect looks interesting for the same price. has a few extra features as well.

https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-loop-connect

[Dachi]

Hello all, first post here.

I currently have 6 fans and my pump/res running through the Commander pro which means I had to use a splitter for 2 of my fans in slot 6. I went out and bought the 4 pin Noctua NA-SYC1 4-pin Y-Cables but although I can control the RGB just fine as though they were one fan I cannot control the fan speed. Do you guys have any idea why or how to fix this?

[Corsair Nick]

Welcome to the forums.  As mentioned above, we can't guarantee that splitters will work properly with the Commander Pro, but what I would suggest is trying to connect the splitter to a PWM port on the motherboard and verify everything is in working order.  Also, which port do you have the pump/res combo plugged into?  Is it a Corsair model, if so which one?