Is Commander Core fine, or will I need another Commander Pro?

[wilgerdoom]

Hell dear friends. As Ive stated my question in the title, I have 7x QL120 fans + 2x Lightning node core, Capellix 360mm + Commander Core. I also have arctic 10x fan hub. Ive had another post about this and wev solved the issue about powering the case fans thanks to new fan hub. Ill plug 7x case fans into arctics fan hub, then ill plug fan hub's 4 pin pwm cable to commander core and ill control the speeds from there (hopefully). When it comes to lighting up my case fans, I dunno how/what to do.

 

Looks like I will have to connect 6x of my case fans into one of my lightning node core and last fan into the other lightning node core or to commander core, I dunno which is the best option. The other question in my mind is, can I connect my lightning node cores signal cable (which is usb 2.0 probly) to commander core? if I cant, ill probably have to connect my lightning node cores into my motherboards usb 2.0 ports. if it comes to this, I dont wanna plug extra cables to my motherboard just to control my fans lightning. Is there any other solution that I can connect my lightning node cores to my commander core, or is it must to get commander pro for this.

 

Sorry for wall of text, I appreciate any kind of help.

[c-attack]

I am not sure you need the PWM hub for 7 fans, unless you really mean 7QL + 3 ML-Elite on the radiator. You should be able to get by using one 2-way PWM splitter to pair off two of the QL fans.

 

The more complicated issue is the RGB lighting. The max ports on the Commander Core or any other Corsair hub is 6. This leaves you having to choose between splitting the fans across two lighting controllers (6+1, 4+3, etc) or using a 3rd party RGB splitter for 2 of the QL. If you split them into 2 lighting controllers, then they will act like two separate groups. That may not be an issue for static or single fan effects, but moving effects or synchronizing the two groups is a challenge. If you use the 2 fan RGB splitter, then those two fans become copies of each other, not adding a 7th fan in sequence.

 

The Commander Core does not have any USB 2 passthrough ports like the Commander Pro. All Corsair devices that communicate with the software need a USB 2 connections. That is how the data is passed back and forth. There are USB splitter and powered USB hubs to handle multiple connections and most users are going to run out of MB USB ports quickly.

[c-attack]

If you do mean 10 fans in total (7QL, 3 ML-Elite) which I am now assuming looking at your other post, then you do need the PWM hub. You can mix the fans anyway you want between the PWM hub and Commander Core. All of those on the PWM hub will run the same speed, but Commander uses RPM control instead of PWM % so different fans with different max speeds should still run the same speed. Most likely you will have the 3 ML-Elite on the Com Core, but you also can put QL there too if they need to run a different fan profile than the rest on the PWM hub.

 

The 7th QL complicates the lighting as well. With 10 there are definitely two groups. 6 QL can go on its Lighting Node Core. That's one group. You still can use the RGB splitter to pair the 7th if needed. Then the 3 ML-E go on the Com Core RGB ports. That's group #2. You can throw the 7th QL on the Com Core with the 3 ML-Elite, but it will use the QL's LED count as the base. This will get it to light up and not matter for basic non-fan to fan effects, but it makes it hard to learn how things work and adds difficulty to the programming. This is better for those who are already experienced in programming CUE. My recommendation would be for the RGB splitter to keep the QL as 1 set and the ML-Elite as the other.

[wilgerdoom]

If you do mean 10 fans in total (7QL, 3 ML-Elite) which I am now assuming looking at your other post, then you do need the PWM hub. You can mix the fans anyway you want between the PWM hub and Commander Core. All of those on the PWM hub will run the same speed, but Commander uses RPM control instead of PWM % so different fans with different max speeds should still run the same speed. Most likely you will have the 3 ML-Elite on the Com Core, but you also can put QL there too if they need to run a different fan profile than the rest on the PWM hub.

 

The 7th QL complicates the lighting as well. With 10 there are definitely two groups. 6 QL can go on its Lighting Node Core. That's one group. You still can use the RGB splitter to pair the 7th if needed. Then the 3 ML-E go on the Com Core RGB ports. That's group #2. You can throw the 7th QL on the Com Core with the 3 ML-Elite, but it will use the QL's LED count as the base. This will get it to light up and not matter for basic non-fan to fan effects, but it makes it hard to learn how things work and adds difficulty to the programming. This is better for those who are already experienced in programming CUE. My recommendation would be for the RGB splitter to keep the QL as 1 set and the ML-Elite as the other.

 

7 QL + 3x ML for cpu cooler yea. Thanks a lot for your response.

[wilgerdoom]

If you do mean 10 fans in total (7QL, 3 ML-Elite) which I am now assuming looking at your other post, then you do need the PWM hub. You can mix the fans anyway you want between the PWM hub and Commander Core. All of those on the PWM hub will run the same speed, but Commander uses RPM control instead of PWM % so different fans with different max speeds should still run the same speed. Most likely you will have the 3 ML-Elite on the Com Core, but you also can put QL there too if they need to run a different fan profile than the rest on the PWM hub.

 

The 7th QL complicates the lighting as well. With 10 there are definitely two groups. 6 QL can go on its Lighting Node Core. That's one group. You still can use the RGB splitter to pair the 7th if needed. Then the 3 ML-E go on the Com Core RGB ports. That's group #2. You can throw the 7th QL on the Com Core with the 3 ML-Elite, but it will use the QL's LED count as the base. This will get it to light up and not matter for basic non-fan to fan effects, but it makes it hard to learn how things work and adds difficulty to the programming. This is better for those who are already experienced in programming CUE. My recommendation would be for the RGB splitter to keep the QL as 1 set and the ML-Elite as the other.

 

Last question is, ill connect 7x fans into the arctics fan hub and ill connect fan hubs 4 pin signal cable to commander core. Will commander core recognize fan hubs signal connector and let me control them via icue or will I have to connect it to MB and control them thru MB which is disaster.

[c-attack]

Sorry... missed this.

 

The Commander Pro will see the hub as a single PWM fan. All fans on the hub will mimic the "control fan" which is plugged into port 1 on the PWM hub (or designated with a triangle, red mark, etc.). It would work from a MB header as well, but no reason to do that. The point is to get a large number of fans into CUE controls without resorting to multiple Commander Pro devices. I use one every day and unless you need something else from the second Commander or have a need for independent control for 12 fans, this is better.