Kraken Z63 Reconfigure

[ubuntu-guru]

After a bit of use; the Kraken Z63 fans that come with the watercooler aren't what I'd call "performance" fans. You can barely feel any airflow even from the back of the video card even on a higher setting, and I like a continuous flow of air in my case that is complete from front to back since I've got some high-powered fans as exhaust.

 

I ordered two noctua A14 3000rpm fans, which require 0,55A (noise doesn't bother me. Been used to it for years). Just to be extra sure, I contacted MSI and confirmed that each 4-pin header on the mobo takes a max of 1A. So these two fans on one header push it over the recommended.

The way the NZXT Z63 works is that there is a splitter going from the pump, which has you plug both fans into that splitter, then the final female end, goes into one header on the mobo, either to the PUMP or CPU header.

 

Would this be achievable, if I bought some cheap fan hub that is powered by SATA, plug the two fans into the hub, and then the cable from the hub into the PUMP/CPU header. Would the software still be able to control the fans as it does now, seeing how yes it would only be reading 1 fan's RPMs, since they're both the same fan, shouldn't really matter should it?

This is the hub I was thinking of: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077YHLDSP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Didn't need to be some super-duper hub with RGB support since I don't really care about that. My mobo, gpu, and water cooler have enough RGB for me.

[Stahlmann]

Yes, this will work. The SATA connection will supply plenty of power for all fans. I used to run all my system fans off a cheap 10$ SATA fan splitter before switching to my commander pro.

 

You'll just be limited to setting 1 PWM value that will be set for all fans. If you set 50% PWM to the connector going to the fan hub, all fans will use the 50% PWM signal. You won't be able to control each individual fan.

[ubuntu-guru]

17 minutes ago, Stahlmann98 said:

You'll just be limited to setting 1 PWM value that will be set for all fans. If you set 50% PWM to the connector going to the fan hub, all fans will use the 50% PWM signal. You won't be able to control each individual fan.

Yeah, I figured it would apply a global power limit based on the RPMs reported by whatever I plug into FAN1 on the hub, which isn't an issue since both fans are exactly the same. Really only planned on using this hub for the water-cooler. The other fans are PWM'd by the mobo and through the MSI software with fan curves, so isn't really an issue.

 

I just wanted to make sure the watercooling software could still read the RPMs properly from the fan hub and still be able to throttle the fans up/down depending on that one fan reporting.

 

Thanks for the confirmation.

[Stahlmann]

1 minute ago, oort said:

I just wanted to make sure the watercooling software could still read the RPMs properly from the fan hub and still be able to throttle the fans up/down depending on that one fan reporting.

Normally the fan hub will report the RPM signal of the 1st fan.

[ubuntu-guru]

1 minute ago, Stahlmann98 said:

Normally the fan hub will report the RPM signal of the 1st fan.

Awesome. Thanks again.