JonWilson Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Looking at the manuals and various unboxing vids and posts all over the internet I think I know what wires it has and their uses, but for piece of mind I just want a little clarification. The first connector, with a sata and a 3 pin :- From what I can tell, the sata is a power connector and is used to power the unit as a whole, it powers the circuitry and provides the base power for the pump and the fans. The 3 pin is a single wire (maybe more wires?) and is used as a "sensor/feed back" link to the mobo "CPU fan" header... its only use is to tell the mobo that a working fan is connected, it might even send speed feed back (I'm fairly sure it doesn't) but from what I can tell that's not important. The Fan Y cables are fairly self explanatory. The USB header plug, used to send/receive feedback and instructions for the led's, fans, and pump. Now my questions... As I'm using linux the "link" software won't work so I have no control over any part of the cooler so it will work in a "default" mode... (1) Does the pump spin at full speed by default? (2) Instead of connecting the 3pin to the mobo, can I connect a replacement 4 pin fan to the mobo so the mobo can control its speed as normal? (My second fan will by default run via a power connector at full speed all the time (or maybe off a MB header for some additional control), noise is not an issue; the idea is it will cool the cpu using the always on fan and only under high load/temp will the mobo cause the, second, PWM fan to kick in) (3a) Does the 3pin send any info to the cooler? (eg if its not connected does the cooler think its not plugged in so fails to turn on the pump) (3b) If it does tell the cooler its connected, would plugging it into one of the other MB headers resolve the issue? (eg a standard header, or even the mobo's "CPU fan2/CPU opt" header) (4) I'm a bit leary of water cooling (but when I get round to upgrading my MB/CPU everything I've read says the stock cooler probably wont hack it (based on lower spec "K" cpu's), I'm getting a 4790K hence looking at the 100i) and noticed a couple of posts where the pipes had leaked, would using a couple of mini hose clamps (screw clamps/clips, maybe even cable ties, not overly tight) be more likely to improve or worsen the problem? (I guess this could go both ways, it either makes the seal nice and snug and less likely to pull off/leak or it distorts the hose or if the internal (from the block) spike is plastic/flexible it could break/be compressed (distorted) breaking the seal.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G50EED Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Since you won't be using the link software you can forget about the USB cable entirely (I never used it and I'm on Windows). You can connect the fans to your motherboard and control them that way (consult your motherboard's manual). That's what I have done and the cooler works beautifully. The 1-wire tach lead you can connect to another motherboard fan header. Or you can disregard it entirely if you connect the fans to the motherboard. The only reason you would want to connect it is that it does send RPM information which you can then monitor to be certain the pump is working properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonWilson Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 Thanks for the reply G50EED. Interesting that the single wire is a feedback line of the pumps rpm. Very useful to know that I can run this without anything bar the power connected, and use the standard headers direct to fans as its a much simpler setup with less wires and things likely to go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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