Noob build questions...

[Caveman]

1) New case has large fans with 2 or 3 power connectors. I assume the multiple connectors are just there for flexibility to plug in any one of the multiple connector types and not 2 or 3 at the same time, yes?

2) Should I use the Mobo's CPU fan connectors for power or just route them directly to the PSU? It's a Noctua NH-14 so I'm concerned the Mobo will be too loaded power-wise with 2 huge fans and the additional EMI from running power lines on the board for "fans", etc... But then I probably lose the ability to control them based on temperature, etc... Hook directly to PSU or use the onboard power connections? What do I do?

3) My Asus Z-87 Pro has onboard sound and video... If I put in dedicated cards for both those functions, how do I turn off the MoBo functions and use dedicated cards instead? Is that something I adjust in the bios?

 

[BOOGY_DOG]

1. I believe what you're describing is just a power pass-through, but it's hard to say without seeing images. It might just let you chain on another power device to run through the same line your fan is using. You only need one power source to your fan.

2. Use your mobo fan connectors when possible. Especially for your CPU fan. Your mobo is designed to handle everything it has on it, case fans use extremely little power in the grand scheme of things. If you hook them directly to your PSU, they will run at 100% all the time which will be unnecessarily noisy and could cause the fans to fail faster.

3. I don't know about this specific mobo, but in all my experience I've never had to disable anything from the BIOS. It should recognize what you have installed, especially the video card. I can go into all the mobo bios setting through my video card, no need to disable the onboard video. For sound I imagine it will be the same (I don't use a sound card), but it should be the OS controlling which sound device is in use.

For example, when I use my front headphone jack on my PC, I don't need to disable the HDMI out audio. You might just need to set your sound card as the default device.

Think about if you really want a sound card though. Are you just trying to baby your mobo? IMO that's not a great reason, cheap sound cards are crap and there's no detriment I know of from using your mobo.

 

[Caveman]

Thanks for your input!

 

[LTC8K6]

I think you will want to disable the onboard sound in BIOS if using a sound card.

Just a point of clarification, the Z-87 Pro board has no onboard video.

The GPU is built into the Intel CPU, and varies depending on which CPU you buy, including some CPUs that don't have a GPU at all.

 

[LTC8K6]

The board has the Realtek ALC1150 sound chip, which is supposed to be pretty good.

 

[Caveman]

ANOTHER QUESTION:
EVGA instructions for the GTX 970 FTW+ say to install the single card in the PCI-E primary slot...

The slot nearest the CPU is "1" and it's primary but it's nearly running into the Noctua NH-14 CPU Heatsink....

I want to put it in the 2nd slot to give it some thermal breathing room.

Does it matter what PCI-E 16X slot is used?

On the previous questions... Yea, spoke wrong... It's the 4770K with the 4660 Integrated graphics...

Long story on the sound card... Really more a way to test it against the MoBo sound etc... Note necessarily to use full time...

Thanks all for help!!!