RGB fans killed my $1000 motherboard. Dream build failed.

[OGSnow]

Hi.

I have been putting a dream build together since october last year. 6950X, 2080Ti Hall of Fame, the works.
Was super excited, did tons of research cuz it was to be my first time building it myself. You already know
How that worked out by the title but, please, hear me out cuz this depressed me so much i've cried a couple times.

Okay, so, the research, i did tons of it. Like i said. I'm a paranoid person by nature so some tiny details can tick me off
and i don't know what to do with it. Some times its so silly people outright won't respond. Same with the case of the RGB
Luckily i have heard of mobos being killed by RGB fans, i read some cases out there. So i asked around. Got 2 or 3 replies.
Basically it is "perfectly fine" and that fans draw very little energy. By far not enough to killed a board. Specially a high-end board.
Which makes sense yet somehow still happened to some people. I was confused. Didn't know what to trust. And the more
parts i was buying and it was arriving the more excited and anxious i got of firing it up and see all of its glory. So i decided to
Shove my paranoia aside and "just do it". I'll summarize cuz its very long. Fans would spin but not light up, sometimes
would not spin at all. Sometimes half of them would spin. Got them to spin and light up and all went down hill from there.
Only some fans were responding to settings change on software. Then a few more started responding out of nowhere.
Then software started spitting out fan and controller error rapidfire style, then, lights out. Entirely. Like, literally.
The entire system, on desktop with only 1 program opened, freshly installed windows went immediately and totally dark.
Like flipping a light switch. My heart skipped several beats. I just stare at it speechless for a few seconds. Foolishly pressed the power button
on case thinking it was going to magically turn on after that. Naturally it didn't. I did the troubleshooting after i calmed down a bit.
The board is dead. It would normally light up even when not technically on like pressing the power button or start on the board and show
its glorious rgb lighting. Now its just all gone... You see, not only was this a long-coming, dream project, it was also majorly expensive around 7k.
Needless to say, i'm short on cash at the moment. And the board is a Rampage V Edition 10 #RiP that costed me $1000 and the person i bought it from
(sealed) only covers manufacturer defects and stuff like that (warranties aren't good in my country maybe that's why high-end parts don't sell well here). Not something done by the buyer. I installed 8 rgb fans, they kill the board, therefore, to him, i killed the board. So i'm left with nothing.
Idk what to do right now. All excitement was drained out of me. Feel depressed. Like it was my fault not trusting my instinct that 8 rgb fans
would kill the board like it did with other people out there. "just do it" just killed it. Or maybe building it myself was a bad idea. Tho where i live
finding someone that actually knows their stuff and not only pretend they do, is rare. And that's it, i guess. Waited months
and months for this failure. People say building a PC is easy. In all honesty, i might continue the build, MIGHT, after some time to clear my head. but even IF that were to happen what am supposed to do right after i spend another $1000 on a new board? Just re-plug everything so the fans can get a double-kill score? I don't think so. Try doing it myself again? I certainly don't trust my myself after this. Scour the entire country for someone actually knowledgeable about tech and modern pc parts and pay them to do it for me? Pff. I have more luck betting that my board will resurrect itself than that i'd find such a person.

Thank you for hearing my rant. Whether you felt sorry for me or laughed at me due to the massive failure that i am. I know, its pathetic. But it is what it is.
Have a good day, cuz i'm certainly not having one.

[1mluer]

You should of used a Fan Splitter / Hub that was powered. It would take one signal from the Mobo and would of been predominantly powered via the sata or molex power adapter on the splitter. you can then plug in just the fans you wanted different curves on. Generally when you use a splitter/hub the fans are controlled in unison and not separable.

This is usually fine because case fans really don't have to be super reactive to CPU temps etc. Just the associated cooling devices for those components like and AIO or CPU fan would be set on a reactive fan curve.

You could of offloaded the the power draw to the splitter/hub that has additional power associated with it.

[OGSnow]

1mluer wrote:
You should of used a Fan Splitter / Hub that was powered. It would take one signal from the Mobo and would of been predominantly powered via the sata or molex power adapter on the splitter. you can then plug in just the fans you wanted different curves on. Generally when you use a splitter/hub the fans are controlled in unison and not separable.

This is usually fine because case fans really don't have to be super reactive to CPU temps etc. Just the associated cooling devices for those components like and AIO or CPU fan would be set on a reactive fan curve.

You could of offloaded the the power draw to the splitter/hub that has additional power associated with it.

Hub was used. 2 in fact. they came with the pack of fans i bought. Each one had one hub that supported up to 5 fans, so 2 of those hubs, 10 total for 8 fans.

https://www.thermaltake.com/Case_Fan/Case_Fan_/Riing/C_00003057/Riing_Plus_14_RGB_Radiator_Fan_TT_Pr...

Board was still killed.

[1mluer]

Ahh I was thinking you went with fan splitter cables coming off your motherboard instead. I have the Riing Plus Premium Fans too. The only issue I kept coming up with was constant nagging controller error when there wasn't one. I have 2 hubs and 6 fans connected.

I haven't heard of failing hubs taking out a mobo before.. hmmm

[OGSnow]

1mluer wrote:
Ahh I was thinking you went with fan splitter cables coming off your motherboard instead. I have the Riing Plus Premium Fans too. The only issue I kept coming up with was constant nagging controller error when there wasn't one. I have 2 hubs and 6 fans connected.

I haven't heard of failing hubs taking out a mobo before.. hmmm

Wait wait. Hold on a second. You too had those annoying controller error TT software spits out? Altho in my case, i'm inclined to believe there was an actual error. Cuz only some of the fans were responding to the settings i was making and while all the fans were light up and spinning not all was being detect by the software and while that was happening, amongst the errors the software kept throwing at me, the entire system went lights out. Mobo won't even light up anymore as it used to just with the psu switch on. I too haven't heard of hubs taking out mobos i read of multiple rgb fans and cpu coolers like MasterAir were they'd kill the mobo.

[1mluer]

Ya but those coolers were probably direct connected to cpu fan header etc.. That is what I thought happened here. Yes I have the ports turned off for the controller ports I wasn't using and still got intermittent controller number 1 and 2 errors. Was a major pain becuase it would drop you to desktop during game play.

Thermaltake is completely removed from any product support whatsoever. I just replaced them with Corsair LL fans and commander pro. no more issues or problems. I have to say those riing plus premium fans are the best looking RGB on the market. Too bad the company behind them sucks.

Not that I need much support but I hope ASUS is better than Thermaltake in responding 🙂 Thermaltake won't even answer an email or return a call after they ask you to leave a number.

[OGSnow]

1mluer wrote:
Ya but those coolers were probably direct connected to cpu fan header etc.. That is what I thought happened here. Yes I have the ports turned off for the controller ports I wasn't using and still got intermittent controller number 1 and 2 errors. Was a major pain becuase it would drop you to desktop during game play. Thermaltake is completely removed from any product support whatsoever. I just replaced them with Corsair LL fans and commander pro. no more issues or problems. I have to say those riing plus premium fans are the best looking RGB on the market. Too bad the company behind them sucks.

Not that I need much support but I hope ASUS is better than Thermaltake in responding 🙂 Thermaltake won't even answer an email or return a call after they ask you to leave a number.

Mine were connected to the usb 2.0 port. Both hubs. Used the bridge cable as per instructed in the manual. I had sent an email to thermaltake a few months ago asking about a confusing statement in the spec of a case, they never returned the email. If i had known their support is this lacking i might've chosen a fan pack and case from another manufacturer. Regardless, thanks for sharing your experience with these coolers. May prove useful as i am thinking on continuing the build once the rest of the shock of my dead mobo wears off.

[TimeLion724]

Yeah, LED lights will generate more heat, especially on those hot summer days.

[Silent_Scone]

Hard to say what happened here, but sounds like the fans might well be a red herring in this case. Sounds like something has shorted.

Also, please keep profanity off the forum.

[OGSnow]

Silent Scone@ASUS wrote:
Hard to say what happened here, but sounds like the fans might well be a red herring in this case. Sounds like something has shorted.

Also, please keep profanity off the forum.

Sorry bout that was a bit emotional when i wrote it.

But yeah all signs i saw pointed towards the fans as culprit and mobo as victim. Tho others say the psu could be at fault but i honestly doubt it.