MorninWood

Alright, so the general consensus is any but the Noctua ones will work best for my situation. I'll review the other 3 and make a decision soon. Now I just got to make another thread in the PSU forum, but other than that I should be good to go on this build. Thanks so much to the both of you! Really helped me plan this build out and I am very appreciative! Good luck on your own builds and stay safe! :laughing:

Ok got it. I'll be checking out your's and Baio's suggestions for fan splitters. Ill try to go for better quality brand name ones while not breaking the bank either. Yea I was also thinking of the side rad option, but since I only have a 240mm, that "9th" fan will also have to be mounted to the side too. So I guess whichever position for the rad looks less out of place will be the deciding factor as long as the temps are within 1-2 degrees difference. Here are some splitters I was looking at. Any thoughts? https://www.amazon.ca/Rosewill-Splitter-Duplicator-Converter-Adapter/dp/B01N0XQ7XC/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=pwm+fan+splitter&qid=1587265425&sr=8-9 https://www.amazon.ca/noctua-NA-SYC1-red-NA-SYC1-chromax-red-y-cables/dp/B07655N56S/ref=sr_1_17?keywords=pwm+fan+splitter&qid=1587265425&sr=8-17 https://www.newegg.ca/p/N82E16812987008?Description=pwm%20fan%20splitter&cm_re=pwm_fan_splitter-_-12-987-008-_-Product https://www.newegg.ca/p/N82E16812162026?Description=pwm%20fan%20splitter&cm_re=pwm_fan_splitter-_-12-162-026-_-Product As for the white braided cables for the psu, I'm still confused after looking at the PSU cable chart and the product page for both the rm850x and rm750x. Any answers here or should I make another thread in the power supply forum?

Yea that's the same video I watched. As you can tell from the graph I have attached, top rad (exh) + 3 side (int) + 3 bottom (int) yields best temps in terms of both cpu and gpu, albeit with slightly higher decibel levels which shouldn't be that audible to the human ear. The other setups show only good temps in either CPU or GPU, not both. And I agree on the topic of ambient temp, but that's really hard to measure and depends on your room imo. Also, yea I'm really happy I decided to build when the ql's came out because that bracket on the exhaust (intake?) side of the ll's is pretty ugly lol. Great! I'll check out those products and see if they have any in stock here in Canada. I totally agree about the dust management on the case. Although I haven't built in it just yet, those air flow openings look like they will accumulate a lot of dust over time. It makes matters worse that my room has a carpeted floor and is naturally warm lol. And yea, the setup I plan to be using will also be positive air pressure so hopefully that helps with dust. I'll wait for c-attack's reply regarding the cables and if he doesn't have an answer I'll start a new thread elsewhere to keep this one cooling related. Anyhow, thanks again for your info and help! Greatly appreciated! :laughing:

Ok I see. Yea sorry I forgot to mention I will be setting the fans for optimal temps and airflow, and according to a video I watched from hardwarecanucks, the best configuration would be bottom and side fans as intake while the top rad + 9th fan are exhaust which is what I'll be doing. So ill split 2 side fans and leave the top with its own CP connection like you suggested. Thank you for digging deeper into this matter. Yes, I agree that for such a miniscule problem I'd probably better off just going with the original plan of 2 LNC's instead of stressing myself out and changing the build to accomodate "one" link effect. Should've mentioned this before but I haven't bought the corsair hardware for the build yet. Once I am set in stone as to what approach I want to take (which by now is probably going to be the original plan of 2 LNC), then I will purchase everything at once. Nevertheless, I will probably add one or two rgb fan hubs to the purchase just in case I ever want to change anything in the future. Ok I see. I was just confused because earlier you mentioned that the fans would start with the rainbow effect on system boot and then only default to the hardware saved profile when iCue started up. Alright, understood. I will reorder the fans as needed, which shouldn't be too often as I plan to choose only a few rgb effects I like and stick to those long term. Right so sticking to the original + some revisions plan. -9 ql120 fans. 2 on rad (exh), 1 top (exh), 3 side (int), 3 bottom (int) -3 bottom, 3 side, 1 top, all connected to CP pwm headers -splitting 2 side fans to leave single slot for top fan -2 rad connected to pump connectors -rgb strips connected to ch1 of CP -3 side and 3 bottom connected to LNC 1 --> CP usb header 1 -2 rad and 1 top connected to LNC 2 --> CP usb header 2 And that should be everything. Anything missing? I've started browsing the corsair products webpage (canada) for my hardware and I couldn't find the double pwm fan splitter after searching up "fan splitter" in the search bar. Do you guys carry that or would I have to look elsewhere like amazon? And what is the splitter actually called? I saw on one of the diagrams in Zotty's FAQ there was a "Y splitter"? And there are a few products not in stock such as the rm850x and rm750x for that matter. Also the type 4 gen 4 individually sleeved cables in white also caught my eye but those are also out of stock unfortunately. However, I'm not exactly sure this is the set (t4g4) I am looking for. Is the t4g3 more suitable for me? I'm also not sure what white cables (braided or not braided?) come with the rm850x and rm750x. Hard to tell from the product page pictures, but I think the bigger cables are braided and the smaller (sata, etc.) are not. So would I just need to purchase a select few to get the better braided quality? Specifically, I would like to have all cables braided in a cool white colour but I'm not sure if they all come braided stock. Probably no restock estimation due to covid-19 right? I guess I'll have to play the waiting game for now as I'm not too keen on branching out to multiple different retailers to purchase everything. But hopefully everything is back soon, super excited to be upgrading from my 3 year old dust collector. :laughing:

Haha yea sorry for the long post. I just wanted to make sure I had everything I knew typed out in the post to make it easier for people to understand and help with my situation. So thank you so much for the long reply! :) So lets say I decide to go with the 2nd LNC. The way I understand it is the pwm cables on the ql120 fans stay connected to the pump's pwm connectors which will still be controlled under the aio tab in iCue. The only difference being the fan's rgb cables which will be connected to the 2nd LNC alongside the "9th" fan. That LNC will be connected to either the 2nd USB 2.0 header on CP or a header on the mobo. I'm a bit confused about this part. Since the "9th" fan is a case fan, wouldn't that mean that all those case fans would run at the same speed? So why would the "9th" fan need its own CP pwm slot and own control curve if it's aligned with the control curve of the rest of the case fans? Unless, when you say "the O11 sets up as a triple with the 3x120", you mean that the "9th" fan should follow the 2 rad fan's curve regardless if it is used as a case fan while the other two are used as rad fans? If that is the case, would I simply set the "9th" fan's curve to match the 2 rad fan's curve? Yep, totally agreed here. Avoiding rgb splitter and going to add the 2nd LNC. Hmm, that is quite a complication since I plan to use mostly lighting link effects. Also a bit confused here as well. By your explanation, do you mean that every time my pc boots, iCue will load each LNC in a different order every time? Or do you mean that different lighting link patterns will cause the pre-defined order to change? Or do you mean both will happen? Anyhow, to combat the 2 LNC order problem, here is what I've thought out. Scrap the 2nd (top fans) LNC and replace it with a RGB fan hub + LNP. Would that work since it's a different RGB controller? (I'm replacing the 2nd LNC instead of the 1st with the hub + LNP since LNP restricts to 1 LED channel if 6x ql120 fans are connected to the hub, so in the future in case I want to use that 2nd LED channel, I have the option to) Ok I understand. I'll just route all USB to 2.0 headers depending on space, looks, cable management, etc. I thought hardware playback meant that hardware lighting profiles will be stored on the device so that the profiles would still work without the iCue software running? I also have one more question. I know that when hooking up fans to the LNC's, I should order then sequentially (1-6 since lighting link effects will start with port 1?). So when I'm setting up the fan's in the case, does it matter which fan is "1" as long as it's sequential? Again, thank you so much for all your help! I know my build is long and complicated.:laughing: I really appreciate it especially during these difficult times. :biggrin:

Thanks for the quick reply man! Judging by your and c-attack's suggestions I'll probably avoid the rgb splitter and use a 2nd LNC connected to the CP. Really appreciate the help!

Hello, I'm planning to build a new system to upgrade from my 3-year old rig and I want to know if I understand everything correctly. And what better time to do that than now when everyone is stuck at home. I have read Zotty's FAQ but I'm not sure if I understand everything correctly. Case: Lian Li pc-o11 dynamic white CPU: i7-9700k AIO: corsair h100i platinum se (switching out both white ll120 for white ql120's in push configuration) Mobo: gigabyte z390 aorus ultra GPU: gigabyte rtx 2060 super gaming oc white Ram: corsair 32gb (4x8) vengeance rgb pro 3200mhz cl16 PSU: corsair rm850x Fans: 9x corsair ql120 white (including 2 on aio. planning to only use 6 as case fans with 1 leftover since im buying 3 triple packs) Hubs: 1x Commander Pro, 3x Lighting Node Core (only using 1 LNC for planned build) LED: 4x corsair rgb led strips After looking over the FAQ and watching some Corsair How-To videos, this is my overall understanding of the RGB hardware setup: I Will be using 6 ql120 fans as case fans in the o11 dynamic. 3 on the bottom and 3 on the side/front area beside mobo The rgb control for the 6 fans will be plugged into the 6 rgb channels in one LNC for rgb control in iCue The pwm control for the 6 fans will be plugged into the 6 pwm headers on CP for fan speed control in iCue The LNC will be plugged into one of the USB headers on the CP The 4 rgb strips will be daisy chained together with one end connected to one of the LED channels in CP for rgb control On the CP, the sata cable will be connected to the PSU and the USB cable will be connected to a USB 2.0 header on mobo. The last 2 ql120 fans will be mounted onto the H100i radiator in a push configuration with the pwm and rgb cables connected to the pump's pwm and rgb connectors respectively. The pump power cable will be connected to the PSU via sata, the pump control cable will be connected to the cpu_fan header on mobo, and the pump rgb cable will be connected to a USB 2.0 header on mobo. (This setup will allow me to control pump speed, pump head rgb, fan speed, and fan rgb correct?) The 240mm radiator will be mounted to the top of the case and shifted to the back so that it's directly above mobo. Also, I mentioned above that since I'm using 8x ql120 fans total in the case and on aio, I have 1 fan left over. So lets say I want to add this leftover to the 6x case fans already in the case, making it 7x case fans. I would have to use fan splitters, correct? As I'm less knowledgable about the more advanced build's I read about in Zotty's FAQ, here is what I came up with theoretically. Since the 6x pwm headers on the CP are already filled up, I would need to use a pwm fan splitter to join 2 of the fans into 1 pwm header (this would only be the case if I wanted to control all 7x fan speeds in iCue correct?). Then I have 2 choices: Use a fan rgb splitter to join 2 of the fan's rgb cables into 1 rgb channel in the LNC, or add another LNC to the build and connect the 7th fan's rgb connector into that and then add that LNC to the other USB header on the CP (what would be the difference between these two approaches?) Finally, since the rad is 240mm and situated at the back end of the top of the case, I can mount the 7th fan onto the top of the case at the front end. I'm hoping I got everything right but please let me know if there are any mistakes, better routing options, etc. After the past few weeks of research into this project there are still things I do not understand. So as for questions, please bear with me as I have quite a few. Since the 7th fan will need a pwm splitter, will both the 6th and 7th fan show up in iCue as a single "6th" fan? And when setting the speed for that "6th" fan, will that apply to both fans? Meaning, since I'm using the splitter, I lose the ability to customize the 7th fan's speed individually since it will be linked to the same speed as the 6th? Since the the 7th fan has 2 options when connecting its rgb cable, if I went with the first one and used a fan rgb splitter, would that result in a similar situation as the question above but in terms of rgb lighting? (so both fans will only show the same LED effects at all times?). If I went with the second option and hooked up the fan to a 2nd LNC, and that to the CP, would that 7th fan get normal RGB options such as iCue's synced lighting link effects?) Since the 2 fans on the radiator are connected to the pump's pwm and rgb connectors, does that mean I will be controlling the fan speed's and rgb effects under the aio tab in iCue separate from the hardware hooked up to the CP? If I plug the 2 radiator fans' rgb cable to the theoretical 2nd LNC (the one with the single 7th case fan) instead of having it connected to the pump rgb connectors, would that make a difference in rgb lighting capability or any other difference at all? Since the 6 case fans and theoretical 7th case fan are connected to LNC's, which are connected to the USB header on CP, would that mean that those 7 fans will show up under LNC tabs in iCue? The way I see it is that since LNC's are connected to CP through USB, the CP acts as a passthrough to the motherboard, and what iCue recognizes in the software is actually the LED channels on the LNC. Based on this theory that means the only thing showing up under the CP tab in iCue would be the 4x LED strips and the 6x pwm fan speeds correct? I've seen some youtube video's where people plug the pump USB cable into one of the USB 2.0 headers on the CP instead of directly plugging it into a USB 2.0 header on the mobo. Does this make any difference other than saving an extra USB 2.0 header on my mobo? Would it make a difference in iCue such that the pump head rgb will instead by controlled by the CP? I believe there are 2 USB 3.1 headers on my mobo so I'm curious if it would make a difference if I plugged the CP and pump USB cable into the USB 3.1 headers instead of the USB 2.0 headers? (I feel like I'm badly misunderstanding this part and both headers work in entirely different ways) Lastly, do ql120 fans have hardware playback? Also, how do I make those diagrams I see in Zotty's FAQ so that next time I can save some time and just post a picture of my diagram instead if I have more questions? Please let me know if I'm missing anything, etc. and thank you so much for your time. I know this is a difficult time for everyone so any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading and stay safe!:biggrin: *IS THIS POST IN THE RIGHT THREAD?*