Commander Core XT and SP120

[CCallahan]

I have a Crystal x570 case which has case rgb lights that are supposed to be configured in icue as a basic SP120 fan.

I had a Commander Pro with RGB hub that only had the case lighting plugged into it and configured as an SP120. This was working fine, until the Commander Pro decided it did not want to show up as a device in the home screen of icue. I tried everything I could think of to get it working, but no luck.

Due to the unavailability of a replacement Commander Pro, I installed a Core XT instead. Everything transferred over fine, except the case lighting. Currently, I have an RGB hub plugged into the 3-pin RGB port on the Core XT. Icue does not give me the option to configure as a regular SP120 fan.

How can I get the case lighting to work again using the Core XT? Will the case lighting work coming off the motherboard using Aura sync if the XT doesn't work?

[c-attack]

Yeah, you're stuck here.  The SP-RGB from the x570 and older cases were the original Corsair RGB 5v fan and different from everything that came after.  The Commander XT is both PWM speed control only and independent RGB ports.  The SP-RGB can't do either and will not work on that controller at all, even in some crazy workaround capacity.  

 

You can do speed control from your motherboard (most likely) as nearly all MBs have dual purpose DC/PWM fan headers.  However, the RGB lighting is not going to connect back into the motherboard without some type of adapter to change the Corsair style connector into a MB style connector.  Even then, I can't guarantee it will work with those older SP-RGB.  I think it would need to be specifically designed for that fan type only, and there probably aren't any of those around anymore since the SP-RGB is long out of production.  

 

So you can connect the SP-RGB to the MB for speed control and then re-connect the old thumb controller to a Lighting Node Pro for RGB.  However, the most desirable solution is probably to replace those three SP-RGB with anything else.  I don't know what other fans are in the case, but either a like matching RGB or a three pack of SP-Elite RGB is a relatively inexpensive option.  

[CCallahan]

Thanks for the response.

My suspicion was there isn't anyway to do it without the Commander Pro. I'd buy another one, but back-ordered. Do you know if these are still in production?

The Commander Pro was being recognized by icue but the device would never show up as a device in the home screen so the fans couldn't be configured. I tried resetting the Pro multiple times, deleting out of device manager, etc. and nothing worked.

Once Corsair releases the new dual chamber cases, I may just upgrade the case. Not sure if it will be Corsair, but I'd at least like to wait for them for comparison.

 

Edited February 19 by CCallahan

[c-attack]

Corsair rarely says when a product has officially been discontinued, but I suspect the Commander Pro is nearly there.  Supply has been limited for the past year and the Commander XT was meant as a version 2.  There were some differences between them and one or the other may be better for some users, but the arrival of the CUE Link hub as the next generation of controller likely marks a shift in how future gear will connect to CUE.  I don't think we'll see too many more.  I grabbed an extra about 8 months ago as it still is the preferred option for custom water cooling.