Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 RGB connection question

[Spike]

So I went with an RGB setup... I know I know, but its mostly done. Turns out, I have zero idea what to do with all of these friggen 4 (or more) pin LED wires. I have the cooler master H500p case along with the CM ML120R water cooling setup. So between the case and water cooler, I have 5 RGB 4 pin cables to figure out, 2 from the case, 2 from the radiator, and 1 from the block. Both the case and the AIO cooler came with RGB controller devices, but I assume I don't need them if I just go straight to the motherboard? Looking at the pic below, there are two headers for color fans as far as I can tell. I also have 2 three to one merges for the RGB cables.

So, can I just use those two merge cables and plug into the two circled headers and completely ignore the nonsense that is the crazy controller wiring? And then all the lighting would be controlled through the motherboard software?



Thanks for the help. I'm out of my element with these... I may be getting old?

 

[KentState]

You can use the splitters if all your devices are 4-pin. If the devices are 3-pin, individually addressable, then you will have problems.

 

[Spike]

You can use the splitters if all your devices are 4-pin. If the devices are 3-pin, individually addressable, then you will have problems.

All the RGB connections have a 4 pin connector, though some only have 3 pins actually sticking out with one in the middle missing.

What is the difference between addressable and not? I just want the motherboard software to control the fans vs any other controller as it would make wiring so much easier.

Thanks for the help.

 

[KentState]

The number of pins "sticking out" is important.

The 4-pin will output 12V and each channel controls a color (RBG) . The entire strip can only display a single color at a time so the LED's are non-addressable.

The 3-pin is only 5V and each individual LED is controlled. Each LED can be a different color or individual addressable.

Mixing the strips can damage components or the motherboard if you are not using the right ones.

 

[Spike]

Ok, so I think I'm starting to get it. What I have is 5 total RGB cables. The two coming from the 200mm case fans are 4 pin, and there is a 3 to one 4 pin adapter included. The 3 other cables coming from the water cooler, one from the block and one each from the 2 fans, are 3 pin and include their own 3 to one 3 pin adapter.

What you are saying is that the 3 pin are addressable but the 4 pin are not and will be only a single color at any time?

The cooler came with a controller (pictured below) that appears to take 3 pin in and then has a 4 pin out to the motherboard. What are my options for hooking and syncing all of this up? Can I hook up the case fans via the 4 pin 3 to 1 adapter directly into the motherboard 4 pin RGB header and then do the same via this controller to the other RGB out? Or should I use the 3 pin 3 to one adapter and hook that to the motherboard?

I'd like to coordinate the lighting between the fans, cooler, motherboard itself, and the GPU via gigabytes software

Thanks a ton for all the help!

 

[KentState]

You can only hook 3-pin to 3-pin. So if your MB has 3-pin headers then you can work with it, otherwise you are stuck with that controller. A 4-pin will push 12 volts of power which is more than the devices can take.

 

[e_heroi]

for gigabyte motherboards you will have to use an adapter cable from the 3pin VDG pins to a 3 (4-1)pin that addressable rgb cables use if you want to use addressable RGB to be controlled by rgb fusion. also there are some switches that decide what voltage you want to use. default = 5v

 

[Spike]

for gigabyte motherboards you will have to use an adapter cable from the 3pin VDG pins to a 3 (4-1)pin that addressable rgb cables use if you want to use addressable RGB to be controlled by rgb fusion. also there are some switches that decide what voltage you want to use. default = 5v

So I finally have it all hooked up and so far the RGB thing is not working the way I wanted. I was able to use the CM controller that came with the cooler to route everything through it. The general hookup is:
Controller 4 pin connection to a splitter then to the case fans.
Controller 3 pin to a splitter then to the water block and radiator fans.
Controller to motherboard via a 3 pin gigabyte labeled cable to the motherboard.

After turning it on everything lights up more or less, but nothing is controllable through the software except the motherboard itself. The front fans blink through their colors and the water cooler fans/block and graphics card are all doing their own thing with solid blue.

I have not played with the physical controller yet, but I'm thinking I might try to bypass the controller completely and hook up two sets of fans to headers directly. The cooler fans/block could go to one of the 3 pin headers and the front fans could go to the 4 pin... I think anyway. Otherwise I'm not sure how to coordinate the lights?

Any thoughts on the GPU itself? Can that be coordinated with the software as well or do I need to go through the nvidia drivers?

Thanks!

 

[e_heroi]

my friend you are mixing a lot of matters in one post. in order to get some help i would suggest you that you start by giving info on the various products that you are trying to install and take it step by step otherwise we are talking blind here

 

[Spike]

my friend you are mixing a lot of matters in one post. in order to get some help i would suggest you that you start by giving info on the various products that you are trying to install and take it step by step otherwise we are talking blind here

If you read from the start I actually laid it out fairly specifically. But, in recap, I have these RGB/ARGB parts I'm looking to control:

Dual 200mm RGB fans in Cooler master H500p mesh case
Dual 120mm ARGB fans and ARGB water block in cooler master ML120R
RGB Motherboard lights on gigabyte Aurorus
GPU (A?)RGB on 2070

I have the case fans and cooler running through the cooler master controller that came with the AIO water system and which is pictured above. However, this appears to not be working the way I wanted to. I'm looking to now either:
1) fully enable to controller, as in hook it up via the USB connection and see if I can run everything from a cooler master app
2) Bypass the controller and hook everything up via the motherboard, assuming I can.

Thoughts?