Can I plug a dell 5 pin fan connector into a normal 4 pin cpu fan connection?

[medicmann]

I recently bought a Optiplex 790, and switched out the motherboard, and realized that dell uses a propritary 5 pin design. My new motherboard has a 4 pin connection. Can I plug it into that port on the motherboard or not.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... You need to determine what wires do what before just plugging in the connector. A four wire fan has...
12Vdc-Common-TACH-PWM
You can see/count the wires comming directly out of the FAN... I suspect it is really just a 3-wire fan... but you need to make sure. Your MB manual/PDF will have a wire diagram for your MB fan connectors.

A Wiki search for Computer fans stated this,
"Dell proprietary This connector is an expansion of a simple 3-pin female IC connector by adding two tabs to the middle of the connector on one side and a lock-tab on the other side. The size and spacing of the pin sockets is identical to a standard 3-pin female IC connector and 3-pin Molex connector. Some models have the wiring of the white wire (speed sensor) in the middle, whereas the standard 3-pin Molex connector requires the white wire as pin #3, thus compatibility issues may exist."

It is really easy to remove wires/pins from a connector and re-position them... push the wire to the front of the connector, then push the Pin tang in ( on the side of the Pin ), as you pull the wire/pin from the connector.

 

[medicmann]

Mine has a yellow wire that controls speed I think. How can it be only three pins if there is a PWM connection?

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... If it's only three wires you will only get one speed and Tach/Speed of the fan for software monitoring... and will work just fine with your MB that way. You must have a 4-wire Fan to have PWM/Speed control.