H100 & aftermarket fans, assitance with proper connections

[CJack]

I'm a new forum member and this is first post so hello to all.


I'm looking for a little assistance/help with setting up my new Corsair H100. What I'm trying to do is have my H100 setup in a push pull configuration using 4 x Noctua NF-F12 120 x 25mm PWM fans. I'm curious about the fan connections and the cooler block/pump connections.

From what I can tell I can not hookup these fans to the cooling block/pump part of the H100 and have things work correctly. I instead need to hook up the fans to a 3rd party fan controller or hook up the fans to the motherboard headers.

So to the Questions:

1) With not using the H100 for fan control I do not need to connect the one lead from the cooling block/pump to the CPU header on the motherboard, the pump will get power from the molex connection, correct?

2) Without using the H100 for fan control the button on the cooling block/pump is moot and nothing needs to be touched for the pump to work properly, meaning the pump is not speed controlled by this button?

3) I read below (post #16) http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=106623

"I am running 4 of the Cougar 120mm PWM fans w/ my H-100 in push-pull. They are all powered by a splitter cable that takes power directly from the PSU (via a molex) and sends the rpm signal to a PWM controlled CPU FAN header, which sends the PWM speed control signal back to the fans via the splitter."

Can someone spend a little time clarifying this some more with regards to the wiring of this configuration OR with information to a pre-made splitter that works?

Thanks for reading
Jack

[G50EED]

First, in general, people have posted here claiming that some after market fans do work with the H100's controller. The only way to know for sure is to try it out and see for yourself.

1) No, you do not need to connect the H100 pump to your motherboard but something needs to be plugged into your CPU_FAN header else your BIOS will likely complain. I have SP120s plugged into CPU_FAN but I still have my H100 plugged into a different motherboard fan header so I can monitor the pump's speed if I ever think I've got a problem.

2) Correct. That button controls the Corsair stock fans only, not the H100 pump.

3) Can't assist with this one. It sounds like the poster has managed to power his/her fans from their PSU while simultaneously controlling their speed via their motherboard's fan controller. That's certainly an ideal configuration but I don't know how to accomplish that. Most motherboard headers will handle only 1A draw maximum on their CPU_FAN headers.

Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

[CJack]

While reading online some more about fan controls I found a pre-made adapter cable that will work as described in that post I quoted. Not sure if I'm allowed to post a link to it though.

I have two CPU FAN headers on the motherboard, CPU_FAN & CPU_OPT. I'll hook up the H100 to CPU_FAN and the above adapter with the radiator fans to CPU_OPT.

Also to expand a little on the BIOS seeing the H100 pump speed, it sounds like I could setup a trigger in the Asus Fan software that was included with the motherboard, to watch CPU_FAN. Any ideas on the minimum pump speed I should setup for low side trigger?

Thanks for the assistance.

[G50EED]

Honestly I think the "standard" setting would be fine (I'm speaking of the BIOS setting; I don't have AI Suite installed).

[Jpump]

The pump always runs at full speed, and that's around 2,000RPM, if I recall correctly. I don't think you can adjust the pump speed. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong. If you connect any fan other than the stock fans to the H100, they'll run at full speed. Some people have also had problems with aftermarket fans not starting correctly when connected to the H100. Connect your fans to a controller, or just power them with a molex connector or an open fan header on your motherboard.