A nine-fan plan runs out of board headers during assembly, not before, which is the worst moment to discover it. The hub is sold separately from the fan packs. Adding it to the same order avoids a half-built machine waiting on one component.
A parts list rarely flags a header shortage, because header count is not a spec anyone puts on a fan pack or a case listing - it only shows up once the build is halfway assembled and the ninth fan cable is sitting there with nowhere obvious to plug in. Ordering an ASH-S1 alongside the fans, rather than discovering the gap mid-build, is the difference between a smooth assembly and a half-finished machine waiting on a part that should have arrived with everything else.
Order the ASH-S1 in the same purchase as a nine-fan plan rather than after, since board headers typically run out well before nine fans are connected and the hub is not bundled with any fan pack. At R349 it adds nine PWM ports and nine 5V addressable ports from one SATA-powered unit, avoiding a build that sits half-wired waiting on a separately ordered part.
A typical motherboard, even a reasonably well-specced one, carries somewhere between three and six fan headers depending on the model - a number that gets buried in a spec sheet most buyers never read closely. A nine-fan plan, which is common in cases built around strong front-to-back or bottom-to-top airflow, simply outnumbers that from the start. The problem does not surface while choosing fans or a case, because neither of those listings mentions header count at all. It surfaces the moment the case is on the bench, the fans are mounted, and the cables are in hand with nowhere left to plug three or four of them in.
That timing is what makes it painful rather than merely inconvenient. Discovering a shortage on paper, before ordering, costs nothing - a quick count against the board's spec sheet and the problem is solved with one extra line item. Discovering it during assembly means either leaving fans disconnected, improvising with cheap splitters bought in a hurry, or stopping the build entirely to order a hub and wait for it to arrive, with the case sitting open on the bench in the meantime.
It is worth being explicit about this because it is easy to assume otherwise: the ASH-S1 is sold on its own, at R349, and is not packaged with any AsiaHorse fan set or any case. Buying nine fans does not bring a hub along with them, however logical that pairing might seem. That means the hub has to be added deliberately to an order, the same way a case or a power supply would be, rather than arriving as an accessory.
For a nine-fan plan specifically, this is not a marginal add-on - it is close to a structural requirement, since few boards carry anywhere near nine headers and splitters alone become unwieldy well before that count. Treating the hub as part of the core parts list, alongside the case and the fans themselves, is the more accurate way to plan the order rather than treating it as an optional extra to consider later.
Ordering the hub at the same time as the fans is only half the job - it also needs a SATA power connection from the supply, and a mounting position on a steel panel inside the case, both of which are easier to plan with the fans and cabling still fresh in mind rather than revisited separately later. Its magnetic mount means no screws are needed, which helps, but the position still has to give clearance for both banks of ports and the SATA lead reaching it.
Nine ports on each bank - PWM for fan speed, 5V addressable for lighting - covers a genuinely large build with room left over if the plan changes later, whether that means an extra fan down the line or a lit cable cover added during a refresh. Build out the fan side of a nine-fan order from Evetech's case fan range in the same purchase as the hub itself, and if the plan is really closer to five or six fans than nine, the NZXT fan controller is worth weighing as a smaller-scale alternative.
Because header count is easy to overlook on a parts list and only becomes obvious when the cables are in your hands.
Usually fewer than a nine-fan build needs, which is precisely the gap a hub with nine ports per bank fills.
No. It is a separate product at R349, so it has to be added deliberately rather than arriving with the fans.
For a couple of fans it can, though nine fans across splitters becomes untidy and tests the header's current limit.
It needs a SATA connection and a mounting position, both of which are worth planning alongside the fan layout.
Spare ports cover that, which is part of the argument for buying the hub at the start rather than mid-build.
Yes, through separate banks of nine, so one unit covers both sides of a fan-heavy build.
Planning a nine-fan build from the ground up? Add Evetech's case fan range to the same order as your hub so assembly does not stall on a missing part.
Because header count is easy to overlook on a parts list and only becomes obvious when the cables are in your hands.
Usually fewer than a nine-fan build needs, which is precisely the gap a hub with nine ports per bank fills.
No. It is a separate product at R349, so it has to be added deliberately rather than arriving with the fans.
For a couple of fans it can, though nine fans across splitters becomes untidy and tests the header's current limit.
It needs a SATA connection and a mounting position, both of which are worth planning alongside the fan layout.
Spare ports cover that, which is part of the argument for buying the hub at the start rather than mid-build.
Yes, through separate banks of nine, so one unit covers both sides of a fan-heavy build.
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