Are My 4-Pin Motherboard Headers PWM?

[ip0wnn00bs]

Hello, I am seeking a quick answer to anyone who knows about my motherboard. I found that there are 4 total 4-pin fan headers on my motherboard which is a Gigabyte z77x UD3H. I'm not sure if the non-CPU fan headers are PWM or not. I read that some boards have 4 pin headers even though they aren't PWM so I really need to know before I set my PC up with all PWM fans.

The publisher website and this article: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5793/intel-z77-motherboard-review-with-ivy-bridge-asrock-asus-gigabyte-and-msi/7 does not specify.

 

[photonboy]

AFAIK all 4-pin fan headers support PWM, and may or may not also support voltage control fans (i.e. 3-pin fans).

The fans must also be of VARIABLE design such as 600RPM to 1800RPM range if you want to be able to vary fan speed.

Conversely, 3-pin headers can only support 3-pin fans properly.

 

[ip0wnn00bs]

AFAIK all 4-pin fan headers support PWM, and may or may not also support voltage control fans (i.e. 3-pin fans).

The fans must also be of VARIABLE design such as 600RPM to 1800RPM range if you want to be able to vary fan speed.

Conversely, 3-pin headers can only support 3-pin fans properly.

Thanks for replying!

So as shown from my mobo manual here:

Does it mean that 3 out of 4 of my fan headers are PWM compatible? With FAN4 being incompatible? What does the "Reserve" and "GND" part mean by the way?

Another thing I wanted to add that I just thought of as well is if the headers are able to support fan splitting without making my PC not able to POST?

 

[misteriosly]

GND stands for ground. Reserve means it is not being used.
Sense output from fan – outputs a signal that pulses twice for each rotation of the fan as a pulse train, with the signal frequency proportional to the fan speed, aka fan RPM.
Sysfan 1 is voltage controlled. 2/3 are PWM controlled. And prolly 4 is always @ max.
Basically If "speed control" is mentioned for pin 2, that particular fan header is voltage controlled.
If it's mentioned for pin 4, it's a PWM signal.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1507050/warning-gigabyte-isn-t-offering-any-fan-control-anymore-z87-z97/80
You can go around the web to see responces on similar cases.

 

[ip0wnn00bs]

GND stands for ground. Reserve means it is not being used.
Sense output from fan – outputs a signal that pulses twice for each rotation of the fan as a pulse train, with the signal frequency proportional to the fan speed, aka fan RPM.
Sysfan 1 is voltage controlled. 2/3 are PWM controlled. And prolly 4 is always @ max.
Basically If "speed control" is mentioned for pin 2, that particular fan header is voltage controlled.
If it's mentioned for pin 4, it's a PWM signal.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1507050/warning-gigabyte-isn-t-offering-any-fan-control-anymore-z87-z97/80
You can go around the web to see responces on similar cases.

Oh thanks for the info!
So with this setup:

The x2 noctua on the radiator are exhaust.
The x2 cougar are intake up front.
The side panel cougar is intake as well.
The 140mm is exhaust.

I will probably have to change my 140mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608044 to header #4 if it's at max with a low noise adapter if it really is max speed. The side panel fan will have to be plugged in to header #1 if that is voltage controlled since it doesn't come with a LNA. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553006

 

[ip0wnn00bs]

Hello, just an update. I cleaned everything out and did as described above. All of the fans work great and my PC does too luckily! XD

So, a few questions I have about my noctua fan:
1. The Sys_fan4 header causes any fan to run at max which is 4000rpm according to hwmonitor. Is there any way to change this? I looked at SpeedFan and in my BIOS and found nothing.
2. I attached an LNA to the 140mm noctua fan (which is running at 4000rpm) and it still runs at 4000rpm. Should I just take the LNA off then? Why does it not reduce the RPM? I also attached an extension to the LNA because the fan can't reach the header without the extension.

Thanks in advance.

 

[misteriosly]

Hello, just an update. I cleaned everything out and did as described above. All of the fans work great and my PC does too luckily! XD

So, a few questions I have about my noctua fan:
1. The Sys_fan4 header causes any fan to run at max which is 4000rpm according to hwmonitor. Is there any way to change this? I looked at SpeedFan and in my BIOS and found nothing.
2. I attached an LNA to the 140mm noctua fan (which is running at 4000rpm) and it still runs at 4000rpm. Should I just take the LNA off then? Why does it not reduce the RPM? I also attached an extension to the LNA because the fan can't reach the header without the extension.

Thanks in advance.

LNA is lowering the RPM of the fan, thus making it less noisy, but 4k RPM ?
Haven't saw 4k RPM noctua so far, is it 40mm or 60mm type or ?
Prolly the header says a random number, nothing more.
As long as it is quiet and it doesn't bugs you, everything is fine.
And if you don't have airflow problems using it with LNA is better, it will increase fans life.

 

[ip0wnn00bs]

Hello, just an update. I cleaned everything out and did as described above. All of the fans work great and my PC does too luckily! XD

So, a few questions I have about my noctua fan:
1. The Sys_fan4 header causes any fan to run at max which is 4000rpm according to hwmonitor. Is there any way to change this? I looked at SpeedFan and in my BIOS and found nothing.
2. I attached an LNA to the 140mm noctua fan (which is running at 4000rpm) and it still runs at 4000rpm. Should I just take the LNA off then? Why does it not reduce the RPM? I also attached an extension to the LNA because the fan can't reach the header without the extension.

Thanks in advance.

LNA is lowering the RPM of the fan, thus making it less noisy, but 4k RPM ?
Haven't saw 4k RPM noctua so far, is it 40mm or 60mm type or ?
Prolly the header says a random number, nothing more.
As long as it is quiet and it doesn't bugs you, everything is fine.
And if you don't have airflow problems using it with LNA is better, it will increase fans life.

It's a 140mm fan. The reading may be off in SpeedFan and HWmonitor but the fan speed is audible nonetheless. I'm not even sure the LNA adapter is working with it as I noticed no difference in fan speed when putting it onto the extension cable which is also attached to the fan.

 

[misteriosly]

What kind of fan ? Noctua or ? Got a model ?

 

[ip0wnn00bs]

Yeah, I forgot to link it. Here it is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608044&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-

I also tied together my extra PC cables and some fan wires with string so they wouldn't get in the way. The previous zip ties had to be cut so I could work on my PC and I didn't have any lying around. Is normal string OK for tying computer cables together?