What do I need for Corsair RGB lighting?

[MallCopGamer43]

I'm planning on doing all Corsair RGB for my pc. The plan in to have 3 intake fans on the front, 2 fans on top with a radiator (probably exhaust), and one on the back, for a total of 6 fans. Would the Corsair Commander Pro be enough, or would I also need anything else, or would something else be better?

[LTT_fanboy]

6 minutes ago, MallCopGamer43 said:

I'm planning on doing all Corsair RGB for my pc. The plan in to have 3 intake fans on the front, 2 fans on top with a radiator (probably exhaust), and one on the back, for a total of 6 fans. Would the Corsair Commander Pro be enough, or would I also need anything else, or would something else be better?

well obviously RGB fans is a must Corsair like you said , RGB RAM , RGB cooler fans / cpu cooler , RGB wires , RGB light strips (prob not corsair tho lol) , RGB case is a must , RGB lights in room or on desk (again prob not corsair) and i think ur all corsair RGB setup is done lol

[minibois]

2 minutes ago, MallCopGamer43 said:

I'm planning on doing all Corsair RGB for my pc. The plan in to have 3 intake fans on the front, 2 fans on top with a radiator (probably exhaust), and one on the back, for a total of 6 fans. Would the Corsair Commander Pro be enough, or would I also need anything else, or would something else be better?

With Corsair fans there are two cables:

- PWM cable: which decides how fast the fan spins

- RGB cable: which decides the RGB effect(s)/color(s)

 

The Commander Pro has six (6) PWM headers, so you can connect the six (6) fans to it, to make them spin + change their speeds in Corsair's iCUE.

For the RGB part, the Commander Pro has a connector so you can connect an RGB LED Fan Hub to it. Such a RGB LED Fan Hub can be used to connect six (6) fans to that hub for the RGB and that hub can be connected to the Commander Pro for the RGB, like so:

 

Depending on which 3-pack of fans you get, they might already come with a RGB Fan Led HUB and Node Pro, or they might come with a Node Core.

Both these devices only do RGB control and not the PWM control.

If you wanted to use the Node Core/Node Pro, you would need to connect the fans' PWM cable to your motherboard instead, which you motherboard must have enough headers of course.

 

A Node Core setup:

Spoiler

http://i.imgur.com/Xx60jRAl.png

Node Pro setup:

Spoiler

Note that both of these diagrams do not account for the PWM headers.

 

To better answer your question, can you answer these questions please:

1. What fans will you be buying? (LL, SP, HD, etc.)

2. 'How' will you buy the fans? (2-pack 140mm or 3-pack 120mm?)

3. Do you care for controlling the fan's speed through a program on Windows, or are you fine setting the fan curve in your BIOS?

4. What motherboard and case are you getting? (that might be important for  the amount of USB headers).

 

Source for the images: https://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=173880

[MallCopGamer43]

7 minutes ago, minibois said:

With Corsair fans there are two cables:

- PWM cable: which decides how fast the fan spins

- RGB cable: which decides the RGB effect(s)/color(s)

 

The Commander Pro has six (6) PWM headers, so you can connect the six (6) fans to it, to make them spin + change their speeds in Corsair's iCUE.

For the RGB part, the Commander Pro has a connector so you can connect an RGB LED Fan Hub to it. Such a RGB LED Fan Hub can be used to connect six (6) fans to that hub for the RGB and that hub can be connected to the Commander Pro for the RGB, like so:

 

Depending on which 3-pack of fans you get, they might already come with a RGB Fan Led HUB and Node Pro, or they might come with a Node Core.

Both these devices only do RGB control and not the PWM control.

If you wanted to use the Node Core/Node Pro, you would need to connect the fans' PWM cable to your motherboard instead, which you motherboard must have enough headers of course.

 

A Node Core setup:

  Reveal hidden contents

http://i.imgur.com/Xx60jRAl.png

Node Pro setup:

  Reveal hidden contents

Note that both of these diagrams do not account for the PWM headers.

 

To better answer your question, can you answer these questions please:

1. What fans will you be buying? (LL, SP, HD, etc.)

2. 'How' will you buy the fans? (2-pack 140mm or 3-pack 120mm?)

3. Do you care for controlling the fan's speed through a program on Windows, or are you fine setting the fan curve in your BIOS?

4. What motherboard and case are you getting? (that might be important for  the amount of USB headers).

 

Source for the images: https://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=173880

1. For the fans it's between the iCUE QL120 or the LL120

2. The two 3 packs of 120mm.

3. I'll probably use a program through Windows to control the fan speed.

4. I have an MSI Z390 Gaming Edge AC and my case is a Cooler Master MasterBox NR600. The case and motherboard are still pretty new and don't plan on switching those out any time soon.

[MallCopGamer43]

17 minutes ago, LTT_fanboy said:

well obviously RGB fans is a must Corsair like you said , RGB RAM , RGB cooler fans / cpu cooler , RGB wires , RGB light strips (prob not corsair tho lol) , RGB case is a must , RGB lights in room or on desk (again prob not corsair) and i think ur all corsair RGB setup is done lol

Lol, that the plan at some point. I'm a whore for RGB so eventually i'll just be a room of RGB.

[LTT_fanboy]

Just now, MallCopGamer43 said:

Lol, that the plan at some point. I'm a whore for RGB so eventually i'll just be a room of RGB.

lel same

[LTT_fanboy]

no on my current setup tho lol

[minibois]

2 minutes ago, MallCopGamer43 said:

1. For the fans it's between the iCUE QL120 or the LL120

2. The two 3 packs of 120mm.

3. I'll probably use a program through Windows to control the fan speed.

4. I have an MSI Z390 Gaming Edge AC and my case is a Cooler Master MasterBox NR600. The case and motherboard are still pretty new and don't plan on switching those out any time soon.

Are you getting a 3-pack of QL120 and a 3-pack of LL120 or two 3-packs of one or the other?

That matters, because you can't use multiple different fan types on one hub and they come with a different type of hub.

 

If it's six (6) of one or the others you can use the Commander Pro + RGB Fan LED Hub setup as mentioned before:

19 minutes ago, minibois said:

You get a RGB Fan LED Hub with a 3-pack of LL120 fans, but not with a 3-pack of QL120 fans. The QL120 comes with the Node Core.

 

In short, 6 LL120 fans = the picture I posted above

6 QL120 fans:

 

If you get 3 QL120 and 3 LL120, you have a mix of these, with the three QL120 fans connected to the Node Core and the LL120 fans connected to the RGB Fan LED Hub (or vice versa) and then all fans to the Commander Pro.

[MallCopGamer43]

49 minutes ago, minibois said:

Are you getting a 3-pack of QL120 and a 3-pack of LL120 or two 3-packs of one or the other?

That matters, because you can't use multiple different fan types on one hub and they come with a different type of hub.

 

If it's six (6) of one or the others you can use the Commander Pro + RGB Fan LED Hub setup as mentioned before:

You get a RGB Fan LED Hub with a 3-pack of LL120 fans, but not with a 3-pack of QL120 fans. The QL120 comes with the Node Core.

 

In short, 6 LL120 fans = the picture I posted above

6 QL120 fans:

 

If you get 3 QL120 and 3 LL120, you have a mix of these, with the three QL120 fans connected to the Node Core and the LL120 fans connected to the RGB Fan LED Hub (or vice versa) and then all fans to the Commander Pro.

Is one easier to set up and program or does it not matter?

[minibois]

20 minutes ago, MallCopGamer43 said:

Is one easier to set up and program or does it not matter?

The RGB LED Fan Hub (which you only get with the LL120) would be easier to setup IMO, because you just use iCUE on one device; the Commander Pro, instead of the Commander Pro and Node Core. Plus, the Node Core requires its own USB header, which the hub does not.

[thrasher_565]

3 hours ago, minibois said:

The RGB LED Fan Hub (which you only get with the LL120) would be easier to setup IMO, because you just use iCUE on one device; the Commander Pro, instead of the Commander Pro and Node Core. Plus, the Node Core requires its own USB header, which the hub does not.

the core only supports fans and no strips up to 6 fans only per core controller. the non core has a hub to hook 6 fans 4pin up to just like the core but you can hook up 12 with 2 hubs or strip witch is 3 pin to 1 of the 2 ports on the commander or node pro.  the hub connects to the commander / node with 3 pin.

 

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by thrasher_565

[tdkid]

looking at the product page for the commander pro, you dont need an LED controller to control the RGB of the fans

[thrasher_565]

4 hours ago, tdkid said:

looking at the product page for the commander pro, you dont need an LED controller to control the RGB of the fans

each 3 pack of fans come with a hub and a manual controller that you can hook up to your reset button or push it manual but your left with w/e prebuilt in it.

there will be one for hd fans sp fans and ll fans and probably the ml fans.

 

 

the commander pro has 2 led ports... its an lightning node pro built in. only thing the lightning node pro dose different is the size and the usb connector is detachable to maybe make it external with out making it look janky.  

Edited March 18, 2021 by thrasher_565

[tdkid]

3 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

each 3 pack of fans come with a hub and a manual controller that you can hook up to your reset button or push it manual but your left with w/e prebuilt in it.

there will be one for hd fans sp fans and ll fans and probably the ml fans.

 

 

the commander pro has 2 led ports... its an lightning node pro built in. only thing the lightning node pro dose different is the size and the usb connector is detachable to maybe make it external with out making it look janky.  

take a look at the commander pro product page for yourself. iCUE Commander PRO Smart RGB Lighting and Fan Speed Controller (corsair.com)