RGB Madness

[Kagthul]

or something like that.

So im doing a re-build primarily intended as a vanity rebuild project (my current rig does not need to be replaced, but i wanted more bling, and Phanteks released a new case i really wanted to use, soo..... ).

RGB-ify all the things.

One thing im not too up on, though, is what works with what.

The motherboard i ended up with was the ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-i mITX; its got some on-board LEDs and a single RGB header, or so it says.

I'd LIKE to get as much of my stuff as i can synced to each other, and of course ASUS has their Aura Sync setup...

But what does this work with? Its frustratingly difficult to find out if something is AURA compatible or not....

And i noticed that most RGB/LED stuff is 4-pins...

But the RGB header on the motherboard is only 3? Is that even going to work with anything? (Primarily fans; i know the CPU block on the H80i v2 wont sync; im just going to set that to respond to CPU temp)

Bleh.

Ive tried wading through some forums but im just not coming up with anything concrete, particularly in regards to if the RGB header will even work with anything, and thought id throw this out there to see if anyone with more experience in this area is around.

[potis]

Edit: Scrap that.

Here :https://www.asus.com/campaign/aura/us/Sync.html

Scroll all the way down.

The controllers at the bot kinda answer your question either way

[Kagthul]

They are all 4-pin, though, and for whatever reason, the RGB header on the motherboard is 3-pin.

If you look at the second picture:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-036-_-Product

you can clearly see the RGB header (the white header next to the 20+4 pin) only has 3 pins.

Thus my confusion.

Especially since other ASUS boards seem to have 4 pin RGB headers (or one of each?!).

Madness i tell you. Madness.

Thanks for trying to help though.

[teamkiller]

They are all 4-pin, though, and for whatever reason, the RGB header on the motherboard is 3-pin.

If you look at the second picture:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-036-_-Product

you can clearly see the RGB header (the white header next to the 20+4 pin) only has 3 pins.

Thus my confusion.

Especially since other ASUS boards seem to have 4 pin RGB headers (or one of each?!).

Madness i tell you. Madness.

Thanks for trying to help though.

If you watch the video paul's hardware posted about the new corsair H500 case, he ran into this problem with that motherboard. That plug is a digital addressing port for RGB, i believe he found an adapter to convert this to the 4 pin connector you need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi4bqU0y6fM&t=451s

I believe he lists it in the video. I hope this helps.

[Kagthul]

If you watch the video paul's hardware posted about the new corsair H500 case, he ran into this problem with that motherboard. That plug is a digital addressing port for RGB, i believe he found an adapter to convert this to the 4 pin connector you need.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi4bqU0y6fM&t=451s

I believe he lists it in the video. I hope this helps.

Hmm, will watch, thanks.

Hope this is something that is a simple solution. Why in the eff couldn't this just be a 4-pin plug? (Though even looking at their higher end boards with two headers, one of them is this three pin and one is a four pin. WTFM8).

[Netherspark]

Hmm, will watch, thanks.

Hope this is something that is a simple solution. Why in the eff couldn't this just be a 4-pin plug? (Though even looking at their higher end boards with two headers, one of them is this three pin and one is a four pin. WTFM8).

The 3-pin addressable header is new tech that's superior to normal RGB strips. The problem is they're just not backwards compatible, so most existing stuff won't work.

With the smaller boards they can only fit one header, and I guess ASUS just want to move things forwards a little to soon.

[Kagthul]

The 3-pin addressable header is new tech that's superior to normal RGB strips. The problem is they're just not backwards compatible, so most existing stuff won't work.

With the smaller boards they can only fit one header, and I guess ASUS just want to move things forwards a little to soon.

Ah, thanks for the info. That will be... annoying. I wasnt worried about strips, just 3 fans. Hmm.

- - - Updated - - -

FWIW, the final parts showed up today. I was expecting the build to take a day or two (and to be fair, until i get the RGB fan situation handled, its not “complete”), but it went together surprisingly easily. Up and running if not 100% finished.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EF3Mk414dw8ZksJS2

Progress Pics.

- - - Updated - - -

Phase one complete:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EF3Mk414dw8ZksJS2

(i think that's the same link since it is a link the album, but hey).

Still to come:

removal of some cabling that wasn't needed.

Addition of RGB fans (120mm SP on the bottom of the rad that will cast "down", 120 AF in the bottom chamber blowing air in across the top of the rad, and a 140mm AF outflow to the right of the MB)... provided i can find a controller situation that will work with AURA Sync, otherwise might go single-color for now.

Neatening up of the fan cabling (currently just zipped to the AIO tubing because i knew id be replacing it).

Stress testing!

Later pics show the Evolv Shift next to the rig it is replacing, the Enthoo Evolv ITX, from several angles.

Dual Shock 4 for scale.