Commander Pro connection to mobo options

I have a DellienWare Aurora R9 that I am modding to liquid cool my graphics cards. I purchased the Commander Pro, along with a laundry list of other Corsair parts, to achieve the cooling and custom bling I am looking for. I am currently in the tear down and design phase and trying to figure out how to electrically connect the 9 pin internal USB cable that came with the Commander Pro to the OEM mobo...which as far as I can tell...does not have a 9 pin USB header on it.

I've been researching various cables and options and what seemed like the best option was an adapter cable I purchased on Amazon. Said cable being a 9 pin USB header to male USB cable. Basically an adapter cable with the 9 pin male connector on one end that my mobo lacks, and a standard USB plug on the other end that will plug into one of the many available external USB ports.

I received the cable today and the package states, "NOTE: Only the 5 pin row is connected.". This is something I had not considered and am not sure if it will work. The cable wasn't expensive, so no biggie if it is not a good idea or will not work. I will be connecting the Commander Pro to it. And connecting (all Corsair) 3 LL120 fans w/Lighting Node Pro, 2x's Hydro X water blocks, and XD5 pump/ reservoir combo to it.

Basically asking, will this work or is there a better way to connect the Commander Pro w/ all the Corsair fans and lighting to my mobo that lacks a 9 pin USB header. I do have one available PCIe x4 port available and was searching for a card to put here that had a 9 pin USB header. But gave up when I saw the cable I mentioned above. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

The CoPro uses all 9 pins. Now, on this connector, each row is for a single USB port (there are two ports on a single connector). With the CoPro, one of those ports is for the micro controller (fan speed control, LED control) and the other is for the USB hub. IIRC, the 4-pin row is for the MCU and the 5-pin control is for the USB hub.

So ... you could make it work as long as you don't need the USB ports on the CoPro. If you do, you'll need another one of those adapters.

Thanks for the input DevBiker. Guessing it's obvious that I don't know much about internal USB connections and appreciate the input. I really want a clean look with my build and have decided to not use the cable. I searched and searched for a pcie x4 card with a usb 9 pin connector but didn't find any. Decided to go with a mini pcie x4 to usb 3.0 card with a 19 pin connector. Then an adapter cable with a male 9pin usb male to 19pin usb female to connect the CoPro to my mobo.

Will update this post and make a post about my build in another section of the forum in the hopefully near future. Thanks again for the input. So far impressed with Corsair's quality and customer support:cool:

If I can ask a somewhat related question to your thread, Moto, without fully hijacking it...

It sounds like the CoPro needs a USB 2.0 internal header specifically. So it won't work with 3.0+ right? And once you do plug it into the board, when people talk about daisy chaining commanders, are they saying that only one needs to be plugged into the board and then you can use a cable to go from the board-wired CoPro's USB hub port(s) into the the second CoPro? And that would expand your total amp restrictrion right, so from 6 QL120s to 12QL120's?

If I can ask a somewhat related question to your thread, Moto, without fully hijacking it...

 

It sounds like the CoPro needs a USB 2.0 internal header specifically. So it won't work with 3.0+ right? And once you do plug it into the board, when people talk about daisy chaining commanders, are they saying that only one needs to be plugged into the board and then you can use a cable to go from the board-wired CoPro's USB hub port(s) into the the second CoPro? And that would expand your total amp restrictrion right, so from 6 QL120s to 12QL120's?

That is correct - on CoPro connected to the USB header of another CoPro.

But a single CoPro can already do 12 QL120s - 6 on each channel. It's the Lighting Node Pro (NoPro) that has the limitation.

I see, I was misreading that section about QL fans. Ok so I think I understand everything I need and what to do here. I'm going to order 3 3packs of QL120s which will give me 3 fan hubs. I'm going to also order a Commander pro. 6 fans will plug into one hub and 3 into the other, both of which will plug into the Commander Pro. On the Asus Z390 strix-e I'm going to connect the Commander pro to one of the USB 2.0 headers (it has two.) The commander pro can power all 9 fans but if I wanted all 9 to be individually addressable for fan speed control, I'll need either a separate PWM hub or splitter. The board should have 4 fan headers which I may be able to just utilize alone for something like the radiator set of 3, especially with a splitter.

I hope that sounds correct, haha.

If I can ask a somewhat related question to your thread, Moto, without fully hijacking it...

 

It sounds like the CoPro needs a USB 2.0 internal header specifically. So it won't work with 3.0+ right? And once you do plug it into the board, when people talk about daisy chaining commanders, are they saying that only one needs to be plugged into the board and then you can use a cable to go from the board-wired CoPro's USB hub port(s) into the the second CoPro? And that would expand your total amp restrictrion right, so from 6 QL120s to 12QL120's?

It's all good brother, I appreciate you questions/ insight. They are things I haven't thought of. Still waiting for them to arrive in the mail, but I will be using an adapter cable that has a male 9pin connector on one end to plug into the CoPro. And a 19 pin female connector on the other to plug into a pcie x4 mini usb 3.0 adapter card. I'm assuming it'll work but figured usb 2.0 is backward compatible with 2.0.

My Aurora R9 case is very limited on space. I will be cutting it in places and have to mount the XD5 pump on the outside. Still playing around with mounting locations in a 3d model I threw together in Fusion360. But only plan to add the 3 LL120 fans I purchased for the radiator. 2 for the 240mm radiator and the extra one will add some push or pull air flow somewhere....so I don't plan to add another CoPro or fans. Maybe some led strips though.

Well I'm battin 1000. I ordered a mini pcie usb card not realizing how small it was thinking by the picture it would fit a pcie x4 slot. Whoops :D . So I'm going back to the external usb A cable option. I found the pin out for the cable and can fab one no problem, but found this super sweet looking one with chokes on it.

https://www.moddiy.com/products/USB-9%252dPin-Internal-Motherboard-Male-Header-to-Dual-USB-Type%252dA-Adaptor.html

I think it's shipping from China, so who knows how long it will take to get. So I'm probably fab a temporary one in the mean time.