How to control PWM/Voltage on all Fan headers using ASUS P8-Z77V Pro Fan Xpert 2

From the past several days I have been thinking about upgrading my computer with the brand new Asus P8Z77-V Pro motherboard. However before that I would like to gain knowledge about the functionality of Fan Xpert 2 and Fan headers available on the motherboard. The Case fan Corsair550D has 3x 3-pin and heatsink (Noctua NH-D14) has 2x 3-pin fans. Now is it possible for me to control the single or each of the fan headers individually by using the Asus P8Z77-V Pro Fan Xpert 2? Can it be achieved using the voltage control for each fan? I have seen this kind of functionality in the Z77 Sabertooth motherboard where you can choose either the PWM or voltage for all headers at once. After that it is possible to tune the each header individually by using that profile. Do you think that the Fan Xpert 2 software on both motherboards are somewhat same and provides the same kind of functionality?

I have heard that nowadays most new Asus motherboards use some kind of different technology to run or control the chassis fan headers than what we they do with CPU fan headers. In some motherboards you will get fan select option for the CPU fan header. By this it would be possible for you to automatically controlled Fan either in DC or PWM. AS far as I know that those pins are actually a +5vdc. I think that either PWM and DC fans can be controlled automatically by using the Q-Fan or you can make some small adjustments through FanXpert. But you cannot select the Fan for Fan headers. The Q-Fan controls all the Chassis Fan together.

All the motherboard which I have seen were worked well with all 3-pin (voltage control) or all 4-pin (PWM control) fans. If you are going to mix two, you will definitely need each fan be individually identified as 3-pin or 4-pin. I don’t think that so far any motherboard manufacturer has implemented this. Don’t care about it much. Just get 4-pin fans for the system. I have heard that -pin fans can reliably run quieter than 3-pin fans which are similarly rated because they have wider operating range. Also you can try Attaching CPU fan cable to CPU_FAN and make All of these settings in the BIOS / UEFI –

• CPU Q-Fan Control" = enabled
• CPU fan low limit = 200/300RPM - Standard" 600RPM "
• CPU fan = silent profiles

The same settings are for "Chassis Fan" possible. The problem can be solved only where you put a 4 pin PWM fan to this connector. The can be controlled. The whining, the fan is not connected (if you put a 3 pin to a different port), you can disable in the BIOS and in Windows.

I think that it is possible for you control 3pin fan speed individually by the use of all chassis fan headers. Make sure to connect CPU and CPU Opt fan header together. By using these 2 only you can control the 4pin fan via PWM. If you look into the BIOS, you will see only one switch for Chassis Q-Fan control. It can automatically control 3wire fans which are connected on the chassis fan headers. On the other hand the Fan Xpert 2 is a very recent release and you can make few adjustments using it. The main thing is it officially shipped with the Asus Z77 boards but some says that it works will some older boards also. As far as I know that only Sabertooth boards have the best fan control.

If the fan controls, you must enable the feature from bios to handle by Fan Xpert (I think in the section "Power" is a sub-section called "hardware monitor" there amending Q-fan option). Its disadvantage is its inability to independently regulate the fans, just the ability to handle the processor and a group of 3 fan apart, where these 3 will be regulated as a group. In the BIOS there is the same as in the Asus Fan Xpert but just based on the BIOS.