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z390 Formula - best header for EK D5 Pump.

Nebula93
Level 7
I am stumped on which header to use for the pwm cable for my D5 pump. I've read online to use the CPU_FAN header but also read NOT to use that header.

I want to be able to control flow rate and get a reading on the temp of the liquid in my loop.

Which header is recommended for this on the z390 Formula board?

Any feedback is appreciated.
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2 REPLIES 2

drop4205
Level 12
I am plugged into one of the fan headers on mine as i am pwm pump.
Maximus XI Formula, I9-9900k, Phantex Evolove X, Seasonic Titanium 850W, Custom loop PE360+SE360 Rad, G.Skill Trident Z F4-3200C14 32g, Nvidia Reference RTX 2080 TI, Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1Tb, Windows 11

X-TAC
Level 8
Likely not the CPU fan or OPT headers. "CPU Fan" is a standard recommendation across multiple cooling types since you will get a boot error if there is no signal detected on CPU fan. The problem with doing this with a standalone D5 or DDC pump is you will be tied to CPU temperature. You definitely do not need/want your pump to react to CPU temperature and you get set the BIOS to ignore the empty header. On the Formula you also have an AIO or W_Pump header that can do the same thing, except of course it also is tied only to CPU temperature on most recent chipset series. Someone told me they finally corrected this on the Z390 boards, but I can't confirm. If you have other control options for W_Pump besides CPU temp, I would use that. The ideal control variable is going to be you water in/out or T-sensor 10K thermistor connector on the lower right part of the motherboard. That can go to any sensor you are using in your loop and give you a pump change based on coolant temperature. You don't really need fine, granular pump tuning and fixed speed works fine for most people. However, it really complex, large, or multi-GPU loops, you may need the extra pressure to get things around but that is a bit noisy for quiet work. If it is a miss on the AIO/W_Pump header, your best bet is any CHA or HAMP header that is convenient.