Aquacomputer & RGB...complete RGB noob needs advice... :0)

P.C.Zen

Junior Member

Montag, 24. Januar 2022, 02:24

21

Zitat von »Speedy-VI«

Sounds like you have a plan. I don't know anything about the Cooler Master Halo fans but they look decent. I still don't know what they mean by "Gen2 LEDs". Maybe they upgraded to a brighter LED. Static Pressure is not great at 1.6mm H20 but sometimes you have to trade performance for bling. I am guilty of installing Corsair QL120 fans on my Fractal AIO radiator, and they have even worse static pressure than the Halo, or just about anything else. They have been described as a circular LED strip that also blows a little air. If you want higher static pressure AND RGB, I think the best options out there in 120mm are the Artic P12 PWM ARGB (1.85mm H20, 12 LEDs) or the Corsair ML120 Pro RGB series (1.78mm H2O, but only 4 LEDs) or the ML 120 RGB Elite series (2.90mm H2O, 8 LEDs). If you are willing to forgo RGB or use Phanteks Halos Lux RGB fan frames, then Artic P12-PWM PST (1.85mm H20) or BioniX P120 (2.75mm H2O) or Phantek PF-120T30 (3.30mm H2O), or good ol' Noctua Chromax NF-A12x25 (2.34mm H2O). This assumes you can believe the manufacturer's specs. Noctua's performance is proven, and the Artic P1x series and the Phanteks are getting good reviews. I don't trust Corsair specs at all, for static pressure or anything else.

I could not find how many LEDs are in a MF Halo fan anywhere in Cooler Master's product pages or spec sheet. Just make sure that you don't exceed 90 LEDs on any one Splitty12 Active output and 200 LEDs for the entire Splitty12 Active. The Cooler Master website says they provide little latching clips to hold the stupid ARGB connectors together. It's good to see manufacturers addressing this issue. It would be better if they selected a better connector but I guess it's too late for that. I have no idea who chose this connector, for 12VDC analog RGB and ARGB (with one pin missing), but it was a terrible decision. Probably driven by price. Good luck!

Not sure re. "Gen2 LED" I thought it probably meant ARGB rather than RGB. Just a buzz-wordy way of saying it...?...although, maybe it does refer to the type of LED?

Re. the fans, the static pressure is actually a little worse...?...I've bought the 140mm version? Their static pressure is 1.17...?...but I've bought an external radiator for my build (an Alphacool SuperNova) and the Cooler Masters are just for the case, to cool the motherboard. I'm going to try and use voltage control (rather than PWM?) to set them to run at their absolute slowest, so as to run them as quietly as possible...

...if I select voltage control and reduce the voltage to zero I can actually stop the fans (or at least it seemed to work with the 140mm fans, the 120's I've tried it on since didn't stop).

I'm putting Nanoxia Deep Silence 140mm PWM fans on the external radiator (static pressure of 1.18 ). I'm going to take the ones that were going to be in the case and either use them for a push-pull configuration on the SuperNova, or put them into a different build...it depends on whether it helps to have push-pull or if it's going to put me past the point of diminished returns re. the extra noise.

These are the silent fans I use (they're made by a company that builds custom quiet PC cases)...

Nanoxia Deep Silence
1400 RPM (PWM)
76.5 cfm 16.2 dB(A) 4.72 cfm per dB(A)
1.18 mm h20

For pressure fans I always use Akasa Viper R's (although, if you can find them it's probably worth noting that while they're advertised as 140mm fans, they're actually 145mm, which can potentially be problematic. They're also awkward to fit, because they're a round fan with have a 120mm fan mounting configuration. I generally lash them to my builds with zip ties if there's no alternative. In my current build (because it's so compact (Lian-li O11 Air Mini)) I have to have them slightly offset in the case floor to get them to fit.)

Akasa Viper R
109.55 cfm at 21.7 dB(A)
(5.04 cfm per dB(A))
2.91 mm h20

I generally don't deviate from those two fans depending on the build.

Having said that, I'm getting more and more into RGB, so I'll take a look at the ARGB fans you listed, in case the Nanoxia's aren't powerful enough for the radiator? X0)

But definitely not going to be using the Phanteks Halos'; not after seeing one next to the Masterfan Halo...I picked up one of each on eBay to experiment with, and the Masterfan Halo just blows the Phanteks Halos out of the water...the Masterfans look so good, I've given up my silent fans, at least for basic case ventilation.

Also, not sure you can trust anyone's specs when it comes to fans? GamersNexus have just received an industrial fan tester; the same one/type that the fan manufacturers use, and they're going to be testing various fans to check the veracity of their claims. It should be interesting.

And yes, I do have a bit of a plan...? I was going to install hard tubing with green LED illumination and illuminate the res in green and use the Phanteks Halos to illuminate the (green coloured) Nanoxia's in green, and then have the rest of the case (including RGB strips bordering/framing the fans) set to rainbow (which I really like).

Now that I'm swapping out the fans, I'm going to stick with the basic idea, and (try to) configure the LED's in the MF Halo hubs to illuminate the fan blades in green and leave the outer rings set to rainbow.

I found a product sheet for the MF140 Halo but it's not too detailed?
https://coolermaster.egnyte.com/dl/GMAo3wn6EY

It says they have 24 LED's in two rings. Amazon's description says it's 12 LED's per ring, but they also have LED's in the hub, so...I don't know what the configuration really is? I guess I'll have to use the FarbWerk360 to figure that out?

And yes, the connector is pretty terrible; I'm lucky enough that the one working ARGB connector I have on my board is actually a really snug fit and actually stays put really well. It kind of makes up for the other ARGB header being DOA.

I ordered some of the EK cable straps, because they look so handy, and like they can prevent a lot of headaches; thanks for the link...and thanks for the great advice and information, it's very appreciated. I wish there was less cheesy, more earnest looking thumbs-up emoticon that I could post here but unfortunately not.

Dieser Beitrag wurde bereits 6 mal editiert, zuletzt von »P.C.Zen« (24. Januar 2022, 12:14)

Remayz

Senior Member

Beiträge: 708

Montag, 24. Januar 2022, 11:32

22

I guess they did like corsair with their "capellix" LEDs, trying to launch another trend by giving as little information as possible on what it means :p

The EK RGB straps are really helpful. It's really a crap connector that RGB thing, but they manage to keep them together..
I can't wait for the new maglev vardars with theeir beefy connectors to get rid of all that crap! lol

P.C.Zen

Junior Member

Beiträge: 41

Montag, 24. Januar 2022, 12:25

23

Zitat von »Remayz«

I guess they did like corsair with their "capellix" LEDs, trying to launch another trend by giving as little information as possible on what it means :p

The EK RGB straps are really helpful. It's really a crap connector that RGB thing, but they manage to keep them together..
I can't wait for the new maglev vardars with theeir beefy connectors to get rid of all that crap! lol

This is the first time I've actually looked at RGB fans at all, because I have my go-to fans for pressure and silence, so I've not heard of "capellix"?

For fun I ran "Capellix definition" through Google and looked for "Capellix" on Wikipedia but all Wikipedia gave me was the "Corsair Gaming" page and it doesn't even have one instance of the term "Capellix" on the page. :rolleyes:

It sounds like it's just a made up proprietary term. Not sure what the origin is but I found this definition of "Capella" that seems to fit:

Capella: "a star of the first magnitude in Auriga"

Auriga: "a constellation between Perseus and Gemini"

Although "Capella" is probably just the name of the guy who discovered the star...?...so, who knows.

Also, yeah, I picked some of those EK straps up; trying to remove as many frustrating points of failure from my RGB setup as possible.

Speedy-VI

Senior Member

Beiträge: 779

Montag, 24. Januar 2022, 19:01

24

Yeah I think "Capellix" is just a marketing term. I don't have any Corsair products with Capellix LEDs so I don't know how they compare to Corsair's "regular" LEDs. Corsair has really gone down hill in the last few years. There are very long threads on their forum full of people complaining about nasty, dentist drill type noise coming out of the CoolIt pumps they are using on their top tier AIO coolers. Then there is the whole fiasco created by Corsair suddenly dropping support for a bunch of products when they released iCue 4.x. Lots of people updated only to find that their Corsair products are not longer supported. Some also updated firmware in their devices to make them compatible with iCue 4.x, then found out that some of their other devices will only work with iCue 3.x, but they can't go back because they updated firmware on some devices to make them compatible with iCue 4.x. Its a total mess. There is another long thread full of complaints about their new Elite Capellix LCD screen not working. That thread is 8 pages long and counting.

I did use a bunch of Corsair QL series fans in my latest Ryzen build. I went for bling over performance, but I don't control them with iCue (which I refuse to install). My temps are OK but I think I am going to buy a 3-pack of the new Phanteks PH-F120T30 fans and try them out. Multiple reviews say these things are the best high static pressure fans out there, even out-performing the Noctua NF-A12x25. Like the Noctua's, the Phanteks PH-F120T30 use Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCR) to stiffen the fan blades and frame. HERE is a Youtube review that really convinced me to seriously consider getting a 3-pack of these and slapping them on my Fractal AIO radiator. No RGB, but at last count my rig has 723 LEDs in it so maybe I can afford to live without QL120s on my radiator.

I am not familiar with the Nanoxia Deep Silence or the Akasa Viper R but will check them out. The Cooler Master fan spec does say 2 rings and 24 LEDs. I guess that is the total count? If you connect one of these fans to a Farbwerk360, you will be able to figure out how many LEDs are in the fan in Aquasuite (AQS). When you add an RGB item you have to tell AQS how many LEDs there are. You can just keep adding them one by one until while you watch them light up. When nothing more lights up, you are at the total. This is how I figured out how many LEDs are in my Fractal Celsius Plus AIO pump.

As for the EK straps, I discovered them right after I had placed an order for other stuff from Performance PCs (PPCs). I don't want to pay for shipping just for these straps so I will wait until I need to order more stuff. I can get them on Amazon from Titan Rig but they want $12 for a 5-pack which costs $5.49 at PPCs and $5.99 on Titan Rig's website. Plus they are not Amazon Prime so I would have to pay for shipping if I buy them on Amazon. I don't have an immediate need for them but definitely will toss a 5-pack into my parts pile.

P.C.Zen

Junior Member

Beiträge: 41

Montag, 24. Januar 2022, 22:55

25

Yeah, no idea re. Capellix, I'm so new to RGB I'd not even heard of it.

Also had no idea Corsair were in so much trouble with their software; although I've had problems with iCue and I barely need it to do anything. I just ended up uninstalling it.

I've got a pretty old (at this point) Corsair AIO, cooling my CPU. It works well, and can't be heard above the fans in my case, but it's one of their older ones; it's discontinued now.

Thanks for the info. re. Corsair; I'll definitely know to check the reviews (and probably avoid them completely) if I'm in the market for an AIO again.

Those Phanteks look pretty fantastic. It's a shame they don't do a 140mm version, I'd like to compare them to the Vipers. :0)

But yeah, I use pretty obscure fans; basically because I've been prioritising performance over more or less everything else. People don't seem to like Vipers because they're bright yellow; probably why you've never heard of them; because influencers and tech reviewers tend to just ignore them?

As for Nanoxia, again, tech reviewers, influencers, don't seem to even know they exist. Also, I think Noctua has almost total, monopolistic, mind-share when it comes to the quiet fan market; but there are alternatives out there.

No idea, re. the number of LED's in the Masterfans; I'm just waiting until I can put my next order in with Aquatuning.co.uk to pick up a Farbwerk360 to get them set up with. If it's 12 LED's in each ring, then they're not accounting for the LED's in the fan hub, of which it looks like there are about 8 in total.

I put in an order for the EK straps direct from EK...Aquatuning.co.uk doesn't stock them, and it sounds like I had the same experience with the EK straps on Amazon.co.uk as you did on Amazon.com...?...it was about GBP10 for a pack of 6 and when I got into checkout they weren't configured for free shipping. I did place an order (for two packs) anyway, but then cancelled it after looking at prices and shipping at EK.

Dieser Beitrag wurde bereits 3 mal editiert, zuletzt von »P.C.Zen« (24. Januar 2022, 22:58)

Zitat von »Speedy-VI«

Zitat von »Remayz«

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