Can I connect the QL and SP fans to the included RGB core of the case?

Just bought a Corsair 220T with the three included case fans SP RGB Pro. I then got two single QL140 RGBs for my Cryorig 280mm AIO. I've never done anything RGB before so I don't wanna fry these expensive LEDs. Please help.

Ryzen 5 3600.

AsRock B550M Pro4.

Crucial Ballistix 3600mhz RAM 2x 16GB.

1080Ti FE with Kraken mod hooked up to a Corsair H80i V2. Using Corsair SP120s in push pull, the silent editions.

SanDisk 1TB SSD.

Corsair RM650W 80 Plus Gold.

You won't fry anything with QL + SP-Pro, but it does get complicated with the mixed lighting. The 220T comes with a Lighting Node Core as the lighting controller. Unlike the Commander Core, you can lie to it and force a particular configuration.

The program generally works by applying fan units of LEDs across the controller. A SP-Pro has 8 LEDs, so if I tell the Lighting Setup tab I have "SP-Pro x 3" it will generate 24 LEDs in a 8-8-8 pattern. The per fan count matters for effects that jump from one fan to the next (visor, pong, etc). It does not matter for static colors.

The complication is the QL is 34 LEDs and is treated like a double sided LL fan (16), with effects duplicated simultaneously on both sides of the fan. There are multiple ways to cover the entire LED length mathematically, but only one with make at least some of the fans respect their native structure.

"QL fans x 3" will use 1 QL worth of lighting to cover the front 3 SP-Pro (base 8) with a remainder 8, and then the 2 QL fans. If the SP-Pro are first (ports 1-2-3), this is likely to skew the QL lighting by a base of 8 (the remainder from above). If you put the QL in 1-2 and SP-Pro in 3-4-5, then the remainder is effectively discarded at the end of the line creating a fractional pause instead of a shift. Be aware that in either set-up, the lighting is going to whip through the base 8 SP-Pros and be slower on the double 16 QL.

Thanks for the very useful reply. I'm glad I can just use the core for them both, despite some minor lighting issues that it may create. I have it setup as 2 QLs at front so 1 2, then the SPs as 3 4 and 5.

I take it I must instruct iCue.

1. What would I need to choose there, for the most coherent sequence?

2. Link is less resource intensive than iCue, lets my processor sleep in idle unlike iCue. But I can't find a version of Link that handles lights. Could you point me to a download for it please?

1) I can't say for sure because I don't have any base 8 fans to test. Static colors will always work. Stationary "1 fan patterns" like rainbow wave, spiral rainbow, rain, likely work. Regardless, you can set anything and it has no physical effect on the fans. Just appearance. Don't forget -- you can designate the two groups of fans to do separate things. You can make the SP-Pro do something subtle like a color shift while allowing the QL to do a dynamic pattern between the two of them. Use CTRL + Left click drag to select or de-select groups of LEDs.

2) You can't use Link for any of this. Most things in your build came long after Link development ended. There is no support for either fan type. They are working on this. You also have "hardware lighting" options. This is what the fans do when CUE is not running. That can be set to do quite a few thing and then you won't need CUE active. It does not offer the same level of meticulous control as the software, but it will keep the lights on.

You won't fry anything with QL + SP-Pro, but it does get complicated with the mixed lighting. The 220T comes with a Lighting Node Core as the lighting controller. Unlike the Commander Core, you can lie to it and force a particular configuration.

 

The program generally works by applying fan units of LEDs across the controller. A SP-Pro has 8 LEDs, so if I tell the Lighting Setup tab I have "SP-Pro x 3" it will generate 24 LEDs in a 8-8-8 pattern. The per fan count matters for effects that jump from one fan to the next (visor, pong, etc). It does not matter for static colors.

 

The complication is the QL is 34 LEDs and is treated like a double sided LL fan (16), with effects duplicated simultaneously on both sides of the fan. There are multiple ways to cover the entire LED length mathematically, but only one with make at least some of the fans respect their native structure.

 

"QL fans x 3" will use 1 QL worth of lighting to cover the front 3 SP-Pro (base 8) with a remainder 8, and then the 2 QL fans. If the SP-Pro are first (ports 1-2-3), this is likely to skew the QL lighting by a base of 8 (the remainder from above). If you put the QL in 1-2 and SP-Pro in 3-4-5, then the remainder is effectively discarded at the end of the line creating a fractional pause instead of a shift. Be aware that in either set-up, the lighting is going to whip through the base 8 SP-Pros and be slower on the double 16 QL.

And

3. Do you know why the fans don't remember what they were set to, if I close and exit iCue? I was under the impression that these fans would save the setting, even if closed. Hardware backed, or something.

1) I can't say for sure because I don't have any base 8 fans to test. Static colors will always work. Stationary "1 fan patterns" like rainbow wave, spiral rainbow, rain, likely work. Regardless, you can set anything and it has no physical effect on the fans. Just appearance. Don't forget -- you can designate the two groups of fans to do separate things. You can make the SP-Pro do something subtle like a color shift while allowing the QL to do a dynamic pattern between the two of them. Use CTRL + Left click drag to select or de-select groups of LEDs.

 

2) You can't use Link for any of this. Most things in your build came long after Link development ended. There is no support for either fan type. They are working on this. You also have "hardware lighting" options. This is what the fans do when CUE is not running. That can be set to do quite a few thing and then you won't need CUE active. It does not offer the same level of meticulous control as the software, but it will keep the lights on.

Ah thanks that's what I was after cheers

1) I can't say for sure because I don't have any base 8 fans to test. Static colors will always work. Stationary "1 fan patterns" like rainbow wave, spiral rainbow, rain, likely work. Regardless, you can set anything and it has no physical effect on the fans. Just appearance. Don't forget -- you can designate the two groups of fans to do separate things. You can make the SP-Pro do something subtle like a color shift while allowing the QL to do a dynamic pattern between the two of them. Use CTRL + Left click drag to select or de-select groups of LEDs.

 

2) You can't use Link for any of this. Most things in your build came long after Link development ended. There is no support for either fan type. They are working on this. You also have "hardware lighting" options. This is what the fans do when CUE is not running. That can be set to do quite a few thing and then you won't need CUE active. It does not offer the same level of meticulous control as the software, but it will keep the lights on.

Unfortunately, it reverts to a fixed sequence when closing and exiting iCue. Even if I set a specific effect in Hardware lighting tab.

Worse still, these QL140s are making a very annoying rattling sound. I'm in the UK and thought is it better to contact Amazon or Corsair directly. I got them off Amazon. Is this noise expected? They are mounted as intakes on a 280mm radiator.

What fixed sequence? Can you describe it? “Spiral rainbow” is listed for some fan types as a hardware lighting choice, but it doesn’t really exist. It will do Rainbow wave instead. What’s confusing is the “previews” that show on the fan while in the CUE Hardware Lighting are not the actual hardware effects as you will see them. You get to see the software version of it. Thus Spiral shows properly, but doesn’t exist. That also affects speed. It will show you software adjusted speeds. In actual hardware mode all effects have a fixed speed of ‘X LEDs per second’ and that means visor (or whatever) will race through a 4 led ML and take 4 times as long for a LL/QL.

No, QL fans should not rattle. They are some of the quietest fans and I have 9 on radiators. You may want to try running them off the radiator in your hand. That will make any unbalanced wobble very easy to feel. If necessary, swapping through Amazon will be faster.

What fixed sequence? Can you describe it? “Spiral rainbow” is listed for some fan types as a hardware lighting choice, but it doesn’t really exist. It will do Rainbow wave instead. What’s confusing is the “previews” that show on the fan while in the CUE Hardware Lighting are not the actual hardware effects as you will see them. You get to see the software version of it. Thus Spiral shows properly, but doesn’t exist. That also affects speed. It will show you software adjusted speeds. In actual hardware mode all effects have a fixed speed of ‘X LEDs per second’ and that means visor (or whatever) will race through a 4 led ML and take 4 times as long for a LL/QL.

 

No, QL fans should not rattle. They are some of the quietest fans and I have 9 on radiators. You may want to try running them off the radiator in your hand. That will make any unbalanced wobble very easy to feel. If necessary, swapping through Amazon will be faster.

Sorry I meant to reply sooner but I got busy.

Interesting information, thanks. So when I select rainbow wave, it defaults to some other effect that isn't listed, when I exit iCue. The effect works quite well, in that it isn't disjointed or slow on the QLs and faster on the SPs. It starts with the first QL fan art the front of the case (280mm rad), then the second QL also at the front, then the two exhaust SPs on a 240mm rad, and then the final SP (set to intake, filtered), and then back to the QLs at the front. It's a colour that goes through all these fans in that order, and cycles all the colours of the spectrum, in order. So it's a multicolour affair, per cycle. It isn't like the colour shift effect, from iCue's list.

The rattling is mostly gone, but I hear it randomly appear when I least expect it. I have some LLs on its way but honestly, the cooling in getting with this case and with this setup, I'm happy to tolerate the occasional rattle from the fans. It is most apparent at the very low RPMs.

What happens if you select visor, color wave, or even a static color for Hardware Lighting? Does it comply? Or still do the rainbow channel thing?

Color shift sticks. Static colour sticks. A couple others do, too. But not the one I want, which is rainbow wave. LOL. When you choose an incompatible effect, it defaults to the multicolour cycle effect that I described before.

A few other mentioned no issues with this. I lied to my controller and told it I had 3 ML-Elite instead of ML-Pro. There are separate choices for Rainbow Wave and Rainbow Channel. Only the QL appear not to get Rainbow channel as a hardware lighting choice, likely because rainbow wave turns into rainbow channel in HW mode. However, I'll again repeat that the previews shown on the physical fans in the case when selecting a hardware lighting choice are not the actual effect you will see. That is the software version of the effect. The hardware version is often different as it is applied to fans with different LED counts. I have to think you are seeing the difference between "rainbow wave" as a software effect (doing circles per fan) and what it does in HW mode. I've referred this issue before as guaranteed to produce confusion, but it remains.

If you are curious about the mixed fan aspect, you can try disconnecting the LL from the Commander Core, then power up. Perhaps it will do the normal ML type rainbow wave that has a swirl or circular element to it.

A few other mentioned no issues with this. I lied to my controller and told it I had 3 ML-Elite instead of ML-Pro. There are separate choices for Rainbow Wave and Rainbow Channel. Only the QL appear not to get Rainbow channel as a hardware lighting choice, likely because rainbow wave turns into rainbow channel in HW mode. However, I'll again repeat that the previews shown on the physical fans in the case when selecting a hardware lighting choice are not the actual effect you will see. That is the software version of the effect. The hardware version is often different as it is applied to fans with different LED counts. I have to think you are seeing the difference between "rainbow wave" as a software effect (doing circles per fan) and what it does in HW mode. I've referred this issue before as guaranteed to produce confusion, but it remains.

 

If you are curious about the mixed fan aspect, you can try disconnecting the LL from the Commander Core, then power up. Perhaps it will do the normal ML type rainbow wave that has a swirl or circular element to it.

Thanks for all the support, mate. You're absolutely right that what the previews show are not what you actually get when closing iCue. It's a shame, since they fans can obviously show us the effect just fine, but can't remember them without iCue. I've resorted to a static white (my case and a few components are white) when I close iCue. The rainbow wave is really my chosen effect but fails on closing the app. Other effects do stick, but I'm not sold on them.

https://imgur.com/a/zQbRV2Z