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roger.alms Feb 27, 2020 @ 9:33am
PWM hub installation
I haven't built a new system since the 1990's and am learning at lot. I have the MSI X50-A motherboard installed in a Phanteks ENTHOO PRO case and am getting ready to connect the power cables etc. My question is about connecting the fans to a PWM hub in the ENTHOO PRO case. Below is the instruction from the manual and I want to ensure I am understanding it correctly. My understanding is that I connect the CPU cooling fan directly to the 4 pin motherboard CPU fan connector on the right side of the picture and then connect the other case fans to the hub connectors labeled Fan 1 through Fan 6. The hub connector then gets power from a SATA power connector run from the power supply. And control is set to PWM in the BIOS and controlled through the motherboard BIOS.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2008661113

Am I understanding everything correctly? Just paranoid about messing this up.

Thanks.
Last edited by roger.alms; Feb 27, 2020 @ 9:33am
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Raoul Feb 27, 2020 @ 9:44am 
The hub connects to the 4 pin CPU_FAN header on your motherboard and you connect all fans to the hub including the cpu cooling fan that you mention which confused me a little.
Last edited by Raoul; Feb 27, 2020 @ 9:49am
#1
roger.alms Feb 27, 2020 @ 9:47am 
Originally posted by Raoul:
The CPU cooling fan connects to any of the hub headers fan1-fan6 and the hub connector shown on the right goes to the motherboard 4 pin CPU_FAN header(has to be 4 pin pwm header)
Thanks so much! After re-reading the instructions about 5 times, I just came to that conclusion. That the connector on the right goes directly to the motherboard connection that controls the CPU fan and all the case fans connect to the hub. I believe it best to connect the CPU fan to Fan 1.
That makes sense now.
Thanks again.
#2
Raoul Feb 27, 2020 @ 9:55am 
Originally posted by roger.alms:
Originally posted by Raoul:
The CPU cooling fan connects to any of the hub headers fan1-fan6 and the hub connector shown on the right goes to the motherboard 4 pin CPU_FAN header(has to be 4 pin pwm header)
Thanks so much! After re-reading the instructions about 5 times, I just came to that conclusion. That the connector on the right goes directly to the motherboard connection that controls the CPU fan and all the case fans connect to the hub. I believe it best to connect the CPU fan to Fan 1.
That makes sense now.
Thanks again.

No probs:) Not going to matter which fan goes where on the hub itself they will all run according to PWM configuration in BIOS as a result you might want all connected fans to be the same model/speed so they behave the same and don't forget to connect the sata power to it.
Want to add it might not be the best to put ALL fans on this hub if you have enough headers on your motherboard anyway you may want the option to customise different fans to work at different speeds like an intake fan that ramps up a bit higher to help GPU cooling etc.
Last edited by Raoul; Feb 27, 2020 @ 10:01am
#3
roger.alms Feb 27, 2020 @ 11:19am 
Originally posted by Raoul:
No probs:) Not going to matter which fan goes where on the hub itself they will all run according to PWM configuration in BIOS as a result you might want all connected fans to be the same model/speed so they behave the same and don't forget to connect the sata power to it.
Want to add it might not be the best to put ALL fans on this hub if you have enough headers on your motherboard anyway you may want the option to customise different fans to work at different speeds like an intake fan that ramps up a bit higher to help GPU cooling etc.

Yes, that's a good suggestion. I am using all Phantek fans as they are supposed to run quiet, except of course the CPU fan which came with the Ryzen 5 3600 CPU. I decided that the benchmarks were not that much better for the Ryzen 7 3700x and am putting the money into the graphics card instead. I installed an additional 200mm fan at the top of the Phantek case and it has room for an additional 140 mm or 2 120 mm fans on the bottom for when I upgrade to more powerful components in a few years. Thanks again.
#4
Spec_Ops_Ape Feb 27, 2020 @ 2:24pm 
The fan hub can connect to any PWM fan header. Connect the CPU fan to the CPU fan header so it has its own rpm curve and connect the hub to CPU optional or any other header.
#5
_I_ Feb 27, 2020 @ 2:28pm 
a good pwm hub will use the mobo header pwm signal to all its fan headers
and molex/sata power connector to power the fans
and one of the fans will report the speed/rpm back to the mobo

if the fan controller does not have 4pin connectors to all of its fan headers, its not pwm but voltage control
Last edited by _I_; Feb 27, 2020 @ 2:30pm
#6
Bad 💀 Motha Feb 28, 2020 @ 1:58pm 
Never connect a hub or splitter to cpu_fan header. Only connect the actual cpu fan to here.
#7
roger.alms Feb 28, 2020 @ 2:27pm 
Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:
Never connect a hub or splitter to cpu_fan header. Only connect the actual cpu fan to here.

Thanks Bad Motha, referring to the diagram at the top of the post, I now understand that the connection on the right goes to the motherboard connector which would normally be connected directly to the CPU fan. Then I will connect the CPU fan itself to Fan1, attach the SATA power to the left connector on the diagram and other case fans go to Fan2, 3, 4, etc.

Thanks to everyone who responded, we can all probably enhance our understanding.

Less than a week until I order the graphics card, can't wait.
#8
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Date Posted: Feb 27, 2020 @ 9:33am
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