Help With New Hydro X Water Loop

[blazergt]

Hello,

I am still putting this build together and had a couple questions on layout before I buy the final parts and start. This is my first water loop and my first RGB designed computer and here is what I have so far - the attached is my wiring diagram.

 

Lian 011D XL case

top and bottom radiators

Radicult side mount Distro Plate

CPU and GPU Water Block

Hardline 14mm tubing

 

1. Is the Motherboard the best place to plug in my D5 pump or does that go into the commander pro?

 

2. I know I can daisy chain the CPU and GPU water blocks but does that plug into the RGB hub or the USB ports on the commander pro?

 

3. Is it possible to use an rgb splitter on that 7th fan so that I can take out the second RGB hub and use some lighting strips instead? If not, is it possible to fit the lighting strips into this setup with a splitter?

 

4. Is there any way to wire the Radicult distro LEDs so that iQUE can control them?

 

Thanks for the help!

[c-attack]

1) Connect the pump to the Commander Pro, port #6 if you want to use the CUE pump presets. You definitely don't have to use those, but it is far more advantageous to have direct control over the pump from CUE without needing to dive into the BIOS. Especially true when you first get the build going and fiddle with the pump a lot.

 

2) Daisy chain connects back to a RGB channel on the Commander Pro. They will show up in CUE as separate device and each LED is still individually controllable. The USB ports on the Commander Pro are pass through ports to the MB and are not exclusive or directly used by the iCUE system. The RGB Hub is for fan lighting power. Strips and blocks get their 5v lighting power directly from the device.

 

3) Yes, there are some 3rd party adapters that will let you pair two fans on a single port on the RGB hub (or Core). However, that will "twin" the two fans and each is a copy of the other. You need that second RGB channel for the GPU/CPU/XD5 chain, so if you want strips too, you likely need a second controller. The obvious thing to do is get the Corsair strip kit that includes a Lighting Node Pro. That is 2 more RGB channels with one for the strips and the other for the Distro plate.

 

4) Distro plate can run from CUE if it is 5v. Like before, you need a 3rd party adapter like this to connect it to a RGB channel directly. Software set-up will depend on how many LEDs are on that thing.

[blazergt]

Okay wow that makes more sense now, thank you! How about this, I stick with that original diagram and run the pump to port 6 because it’s already open. Then I get a lighting node pro kit to connect a lighting strip to channel 1 (which means I can use that for my distribution plate and forget about the leds there) and then daisy chain the cpu and gpu block together and put them on channel two. This is a whole lot of rgb lol.

[c-attack]

The other thing of note is your diagram shows a pair of RGB Lighting Hubs powering the QL fans. That's fine and that is the proper way to connect them to an RGB Channel on a Commander Pro or Lighting Node Pro. However, unless you already have a pair of them, you will be lacking. The QL fans come with a Lighting Node Core. It looks like that RGB Hub, but is slightly larger because it has the RGB controller and power circuitry in one box instead of the paired hub/controller like the Pro devices. The key difference is the Core devices are standalone and connect to the system via USB -- not an RGB channel. They then appear in CUE as separate device.

 

This does not change the lighting options, but if the QL fans are on the Core devices found in the QL multipacks, then that frees up two RGB channels on the Commander for the pump/CPU/GPU chain and the distro plate. Still one short for separate RGB strips and thus you still might need a Lighting Node Pro from the strip kit. That also will take your USB 2.0 count to 4. Commander Pro has two passthrough ports, but some boards only have 1 leaving your 1 short. A lot of people need a USB hub to handle all the 2.0 connections.

[blazergt]

Yes I was planning on buying this three pack of fans and didn’t even realize that it came with the lighting node. You are making this way easier for me, thank you. I’m going to re do the wiring diagram based on all of this and post it for one last check before I start wiring this stuff in. I should have the rest of my parts next week. Thank you!

[blazergt]

Hello and Happy New Year! Here is my updated diagram. You suggested using two lighting node cores because they come with the fan packs but I already have the below kit from Newegg which comes with the commander pro and RGB hub. Then I will get the lighting node core with a three pack this week. I bought the kit after I decided to switch to the distro plate so I will just sell that.

 

https://www.newegg.com/corsair-cx-9070005-ww-custom-cooling-kit/p/N82E16835181200?Item=N82E16835181200

 

Thanks for all the help! Unless you have any other suggestions I will be buying the remaining parts this week.