Formula VI Case fans

[Denoppo]

Looks like the new Formula VI mobo will have 3 chassis fans headers and 3 opt fan headers, if I am reading the Chinese Manual correctly (pictures). I have never built a computer before so I have a couple of questions-
What is the maximum voltage per chassis fan header? My Noctua NF-A14 PWM case fans are .13 A and I want to place three of those on 1 chassis fan header for a total of .39A. Is this doable?
Also I have another set of same three fans (total .39A) for a different chassis fan header. Is this also doable w/o sending too much amps thru each case fan header?
What are the Opt fan headers for? Is this they can be controlled from an external source or by some other means such as Fan Expert II

Dave

[Chino]

Welcome to the ROG forums, Dave.

The maximum output per fan header is 1A. You can control the fans via BIOS or using the Fan Xpert II utility.

[Denoppo]

Thanks Chino-
I am very nervous on building my first PC. Thanks for the info. I am looking at Asus's "GJ" videos now while waiting for the Formula to be posted at Newegg and then - my wallet will proceed to fall apart. The biggest thing I see in perusing this Forum is the ominous How to Uninstall AI Suite. This makes me even more nervous as if I will get frustrated and then Uninstall it.

[Chino]

Denoppo wrote:
Thanks Chino-
I am very nervous on building my first PC. Thanks for the info. I am looking at Asus's "GJ" videos now while waiting for the Formula to be posted at Newegg and then - my wallet will proceed to fall apart. The biggest thing I see in perusing this Forum is the ominous How to Uninstall AI Suite. This makes me even more nervous as if I will get frustrated and then Uninstall it.

AI Suite has some pretty eye candy. I am not a fan of it though.

[Abula]

If you are not confortable with running 3 fans on a single motherboard 4pin header, then there are alternatives as long as you use PWM fans, like Akasa Flexa FP5 PWM 5-Way Splitter - Smart Fan Cable (AK-CBFA03-45), that will allow you to connect 5 fans to a single 4pin header, and its safe as it only uses from that header the pwm signal and rpm rerporting, the power is grabed from the 4pin molex straight from your PSU.

[rismROG]

" biggest thing I see in perusing this Forum is the ominous How to Uninstall AI Suite. This makes me even more nervous as if I will get frustrated and then Uninstall it."

Well you also need to appreciate that people typically dont post to the forum to say how great things are.... i.e. your getting a very one sided picture. Im using AI Suite no problem and Im sure literally 1000s of others are as well. So dont sweat it.

Just remember to put the IO panel in BEFORE you put the mother board in and she'll be right. 😉

[kkn]

hehe, well IF you use other monitor programs then AI suite, they can crash whit each others and be buggy and give wrong readings.
best to do is only and always to use one monitor program.

[Denoppo]

Abula - that Akasa wiring harness looks intriguing. The comments from the reviewers sound good. I couldn't tell whether or not if the reviewers Chassis fans were 3 or 4 pins. Can you tell whether or not that if I plug my top 3 fans (all PWM) and along with the CPU fan (PWM) into the CPU fan header that all would be controlled "in unison"? What I mean is that I would want my 3 top fans to speed up or slow down as required by the CPU fan header. Keep in mind what I have may work as each of my Noctua fans come with a Y splitter so that I can keep adding fans. They also come with an LNA to make them 1200 instead of 1500 RPM.
kkn- I will only want to use the AI Suite. Is the Fan Expert incorporated into the AI Suite III or is Fan Expert II a stand a lone program separate and not part of the Suite, IOW possible conflicts?

[Abula]

Denoppo wrote:
Abula - that Akasa wiring harness looks intriguing.

There are other options, and even to control more fans with a single 4pin pwm connector, like Swiftech 8 Way PWM Splitter. This seems pretty nice as its 8, i can see it being usefull for someone using mulitple 480 rads with pull push, etc.

Denoppo wrote:
The comments from the reviewers sound good. I couldn't tell whether or not if the reviewers Chassis fans were 3 or 4 pins. Can you tell whether or not that if I plug my top 3 fans (all PWM) and along with the CPU fan (PWM) into the CPU fan header that all would be controlled "in unison"? What I mean is that I would want my 3 top fans to speed up or slow down as required by the CPU fan header.

I have been using those Akasa extension on my builds, three for more than two years so they are safe. It has multiple ends:

1) the 4pin that connects to the CPU motherboard header, this is the one that grabs the original signal from the motherboard.
2) a 4pin molex (old PSU connectors), this is what gives power to all 5 fans (in your case 3 fans).
3) 5x 4pin pwm connectors. One has the 4 cables (power, ground, rpm and pwm), the other 4 are missing the rpm signal, this is because you can only report 1 of all the fans connected, all others will be like mirrors (if the fans are the same). The fan that has all 4 wires is clearly marked so in you case you use it on one of your 3x fans you have, else you wont see rpms on your software display or even on bios display.

I have not tested with 3pin fans, i dont think it will work though, remember the rpms/speed is manage thought the pwm signal not variance of the voltage. So remember to use 4pin pwm fans only, not 3pins, even if fanxpert2 can control via voltage it will not work with this as the power is not drawn from the motherboard but from the 4pin molex.

Denoppo wrote:
Keep in mind what I have may work as each of my Noctua fans come with a Y splitter so that I can keep adding fans. They also come with an LNA to make them 1200 instead of 1500 RPM.

You probably can use those Y addapters, but i wouldnt, its just overloading each line more, not the motherboard but the akaska splitter. You can use 2 Akasa splitters if you like, as you have two 4pin headers (CPU_FAN and CPU_OPT) this will allow you to control 10 pwm fans, all will be mirrors, meaning that if the cpu_fan is telling the fans to go to 1000rpm, all will go to 1000rpm, this is not so you can control them individually but you will control one that will mirror all others that are connected to the akasa splitter.


If you were to want to control 3pin fans with PWM signal (4pin fan style), then look into Sunbeamtech PL-RS-6 Rheosmart 6 Fan Controller, it suppose to be able to control 3pin fans with PWM signal from the mobo, or if you want take control manually of the fan with the button/knob. Here a couple of videos for you to see how it works, (this one i have no direct experience)

Sunbeamtech Rheosmart 6 PWM Fan Controller BIOS Setting Tutorial
Product Showcase SUNBEAMTECH Rheosmart 6 Fan Controller (PL-RS-6)

[Denoppo]

Sorry Abula, I forgot to mention that all my fans are 4 pin. So I believe I can make use of the signal from the mobo to control my 3 chassis (4 pin fans) and according to Chino I wouldn't be overloading a chassis header when I plug my 3 fans into a chassis header. I mis-stated earlier that I would plug my 3 fans AND the CPU fans together-not!!! as that would surly overload the 1amp max or CPU header. Sorry for my confusion as I am only thinking while writing and adapting. If this doesn't work I will order the Akasa solution and thanks for that link.
On another note - can (2) 8 GB Corsair memory sticks be placed into A2 and B2 instead of A1 and B1? I ask because my CPU cooler may be bumping into the first DIMM slot.
Dave