PWM controlled modern watercooling

[macforth]

I'm in the planning stages, and giving some thought to the control of radiator fans and pumps.
I have a Maximus V Extreme and note it has 8 fan outlets on the motherboard..two being CPU, and
all of which have PWM output.
My reading also leads me to believe that people speak highly of the Fan Expert II which comes with
this motherboard.

What I would like to do, is use some of these outlets to control both pumps and fans. Clearly, however,
the power for these devices must origonate from some other source other than the motherboard, but I
can see no obstacle to using the signal pair to enable the bios to set up these peripheral devices.

So I am looking for some device.......that will accept a PWM signal in...and distribute them out to
sets of fans and pumps, along with the necessary power. Both pumps and fans will be PWM.

[zanzabar]

the cpu socket can power a normal pump (like a ddc, and the ddc supports pwm on some models.) for the rest you your fans you can load 3 fans per header and asus boards support fan control with pwm or DC so there is no need for pwm fans over dc if you find dc ones that you want or are cheaper.

edit- your board only dose 1A per fan header, even on the cpu. do not plug a pump into it.

[earthwormjim]

the cpu socket can power a normal pump (like a ddc, and the ddc supports pwm on some models.) for the rest you your fans you can load 3 fans per header and asus boards support fan control with pwm or DC so there is no need for pwm fans over dc if you find dc ones that you want or are cheaper.

The CPU fan header only supports 1A. You can only power a 10W DDC pump with this. No 10W DDC pumps support PWM from the factory. The only pump that supports PWM out of the box is the MCP35x and that is an 18W pump.

You really shouldn't power any pump from the motherboard anyway, even using PWM on an MCP35x, power is derived from a molex connector and not the motherboard.


Macforth, you can daisy chain 2 fans off of each PWM fan header and the signal will still be strong enough to drive them. Power is derived solely from the motherboard. You could possibly do more off of each fan header, but I do not know the power handling capabilities of the non CPU fan headers.

You do not want to use the same PWM signal for your fans and pumps. A quiet setting for your fans might cause your pump to never start.

[andressergio]

exactly mates

my pump is a MCP35X and i power by PSU molex and PWM to header of CPU, wich is the only that can controll it

[macforth]

Earthwormjim.....I note your advice and agree.........the CPU header has a specification of 1 amp. The specifications in the accompanied manual are silent as to the max of all other fan sockets.
In relation to fan and pumps being on separate controls...I fully agree..........however within Fan Expert II, each "fan" outlet can be set up in the bios. Thus the one whose pwm signal is used for the pump or pumps, can be set such that the pumps are alway pumping at a safe minimum.
The V Extreme also has 3 points for temp input, which I may take advantage of as well.

andressergio...your advice re your setup I think maybe the way I will go.

[andressergio]

Earthwormjim.....I note your advice and agree.........the CPU header has a specification of 1 amp. The specifications in the accompanied manual are silent as to the max of all other fan sockets.
In relation to fan and pumps being on separate controls...I fully agree..........however within Fan Expert II, each "fan" outlet can be set up in the bios. Thus the one whose pwm signal is used for the pump or pumps, can be set such that the pumps are alway pumping at a safe minimum.
The V Extreme also has 3 points for temp input, which I may take advantage of as well.

andressergio...your advice re your setup I think maybe the way I will go.

yeah

this is it

i flexed the PWM cable and up it till the CPU fan header behind the mobo

http://i.imgur.com/oPduy.jpg

[zanzabar]

The CPU fan header only supports 1A. You can only power a 10W DDC pump with this. No 10W DDC pumps support PWM from the factory. The only pump that supports PWM out of the box is the MCP35x and that is an 18W pump.

You really shouldn't power any pump from the motherboard anyway, even using PWM on an MCP35x, power is derived from a molex connector and not the motherboard.


Macforth, you can daisy chain 2 fans off of each PWM fan header and the signal will still be strong enough to drive them. Power is derived solely from the motherboard. You could possibly do more off of each fan header, but I do not know the power handling capabilities of the non CPU fan headers.

You do not want to use the same PWM signal for your fans and pumps. A quiet setting for your fans might cause your pump to never start.


you are right, i was thinking that the pwm asus boards did 2A on the fans, i am sure that atleast one did but his dose not.

edit- my m4a89tdpro supports 2A (just checked the manual), i dont see why a newer board that is a ROG dose not support this.

[earthwormjim]

Earthwormjim.....I note your advice and agree.........the CPU header has a specification of 1 amp. The specifications in the accompanied manual are silent as to the max of all other fan sockets.
In relation to fan and pumps being on separate controls...I fully agree..........however within Fan Expert II, each "fan" outlet can be set up in the bios. Thus the one whose pwm signal is used for the pump or pumps, can be set such that the pumps are alway pumping at a safe minimum.
The V Extreme also has 3 points for temp input, which I may take advantage of as well.

andressergio...your advice re your setup I think maybe the way I will go.

That's what I meant, use separate fan headers for your PWM signals for the fans and pump.

[jomama22]

You can buy splitters that use molex for the power and the PWM headers as signal only. That way, you can daisy chain as many as you would like to the mb header withouy worrying about power draw. I hook up 5 fans to each header on my extreme x79 this way with no problems. Nice to control all of your rad fans at once without messing with fan controllers. Saves some money too.

[meanmoe]

PWM from motherboard and power from PSU... use something like these or roll your own. This is the same idea behind the swiffy pwm pump.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=25413
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=30648
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=33363
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=34305
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=34306

There are many others. Newegg also has a cheap one that not sleeved and can be easily modified.

[macforth]

Great advice..thanks guys