[SOLVED] Case fans - combination of 3 and 4 pin on a hub + Placement

[trandaa]

Hello good people. I am starting my first PC build, and I've found many answers here about how to build it right (preparation is important, right?) But there are few questions I couldn't found an answer to.

First, question is about case fan control. My motherboard (Gigabyte GA-A320M-S2H V2) has only 2 Fan plugs (one for CPU, one System fan), so I decided to buy myself a hub of this kind
https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07D7RQTQX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I've got 3 Arctic F12 PWM Coolers from my friend, so I want to plug them in. I suppose the fan control will work fine with the hub, according what I found here. But my case (Cooler Master E500L) has one pre-built fan, which is a 3pin fan (Cooler Master Silent Fan 120). Do anyone know if I plug a 3pin fan to that hub, will it run with full speed or it'll run with the same RPM as the 4pin ones?

Second question is fan placement. I want to put 2 front intake, one back and one top exhaust. Since the Arctic has higher CFM (53 vs 44), I'll use them as intake fans. But for exhaust, which one should I put as top and which as back exhaust?

Thank you for your answers

Btw, my setup
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600
CPU Cooler: AMD Wraith Spire
MoBo: Gigabyte GA-A320M-S2H V2
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX580 Gaming 8G
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 1x8GB 2400
Storage: 240GB Kingston A400 SSD + 700GB Toshiba 2.5' 7200rpm HDD (from my old laptop)
PSU: Corsair CX550M
Case: Cooler Master E500L
Case Fans: 3x Arctic F12 PWM + 1x Cooler Master Silent Fan 120

 

[heavymetal2000]

Do you already have all these parts?

 

[trandaa]

Not yet. Tomorrow the CPU and GPU should arrive and the hub probably next week. The rest is already here

 

[Paperdoc]

It won't work, but there are alternatives that will. First, why not work?

That Hub is typical of these designs. It gets power for all its fans from a direct connection to a SATA power output from the PSU (and this one does NOT include a special connection cable for that, so you need to route a PSU SATA outout to the Hub) and then it picks up the PWM control signal from one mobo fan header. It then distributes that PWM singal to all its fans, and that means that it can control the speeds of ONLY 4-pin PWM fans. Any 3-pin fan plugged into this Hub will always run at full speed. To get all four of your fans under automatic speed control by the mobo header, you have three options.

1. Proceed as planned, BUT replace that pre-mounted 3-pin fan in the rear of your case with a 4-pin PWM fan type. That way all the fans CAN be controlled using that Hub. In doing things that way, here are a couple items to check and adjust. First, the Hub needs secure mounting because you do not want it moving around and possibly shorting out a contact on its board. It comes with double-sided tape for that, but just be sure it stays in place. Remember to place it so that it can be reached by a SATA power output connector from the PSU. Next, it comes with ONE of its output ports highlighted in orange and marked for the CPU cooler. Do NOT connect it that way. Any mobo fan header can only deal with a speed signal coming back to it from ONE fan, so the Hub will send back to its host SYS_FAN header the speed from the one fan plugged into its orange port - the other fans' speeds will be ignored completely, but this does NOT affect its ability to control their speeds. So just be sure to plug one of your case fans into that orange header. Plug the connection cable from the Hub into your mobo's only SYS_FAN header. When you start up, go into BIOS Setup (see manual p. 20). It says to push the "Del" key on start-up. I find the mobo may not notice that if you tap it at the wrong moment, so I hold down the "Del" key right after turning on until the opening screen of Setup shows up. Now see p. 25 and ensure that the SYS_FAN header is configured this way:
Fan Speed Control Normal
Fan Control Use Temperature Input to use the sensor on the mobo, not the one inside the CPU chip.
Fan Control Mode to PWM so that it DOES send out the PWM signal the Hub requires.
If you change any of these, remember to SAVE and EXIT to save those revised settings.

2. Do a similar thing, but get a very particular fan Hub instead of the one you linked to. Get the Phanteks PWM Hub. It is unique because it uses the PWM singal from the mobo and "converts" that to its own set of six 3-pin fan headers that use the older Voltage Control Mode, rather than the new PWM Mode. This is the only mode that can control the speed of 3-pin fans, and it also can control the newer 4-pin fans becasue they have a backwards compatibility feature in their design. Thus this Hub CAN control the speeds of any mix of 3- and 4-pin fans. The configuration setting for this are the same as above. One small detail: the output ports of this Hub are inside cutouts on the case, and they may not allow you to fit in the connectors from the 4-pin fans. However, the Hub comes with two small 2-for-1 splitters that you can plug into the Hub's ports, and then plug your 4-pin fans into the splitter outputs. They will fit that way and work.

3. Change to using only 3-pin Voltage Control Mode and NOT using a Hub. To do this you will need three simple SPLITTERS, not a Hub, and a slightly different fan header configuration. The limitation you must adhere to is that the single SYS_FAN header you have can supply up to 1.0A current to ALL of the fans connected to it. You will have three Arctic F12 PWM fans spec'd at 0.24A each, plus the fan supplied with the Cooler Master E500L case. No exact specs for that, but from the case website it appears to be their MasterFan MF120L non-LED fan, using 0.16A or less. So total current is 0.88A, acceptable for the header. (You say you believe the fan actually is their Silent Fan 120 SI1, with a current use of 0.07A, which is even less.) To make your connections, get three of these simple 2-output Splitters, or something similar.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812423161&Description=coboc fan splitter&cm_re=coboc_fan_splitter--12-423-161--Product

Those ones have 12" long output arms to reach around in your case. Plug two of them into the output arms of the third, making a "stack" of Splitters that convert one mobo header into four outputs for your fans. This arrangement puts all of your fans under control of the mobo SYS_FAN header and provides power for all of them solely from that header (no connection to the PSU), but within the limit of the header to do that job. Because control of all the fans is by the header only and one of those fans MUST have the older Voltage Control Mode to have its speed controlled, you must make a small change in the header's configuration in BIOS Setup. Just set its Fan Control Mode to Voltage instead of PWM, and remember to SAVE and EXIT.

 

[trandaa]

Thank you for the response, cleared quite lot of things, especially the BIOS Setup will surely save me few hours of headache.

To option 1:
I'll have some spare spacers from my case, so I'll try to screw it instead of sticking it somewhere. I'll trust a screw more than some adhesive.
Did I understand it right:
The CPU Cooler should be DIRECTLY connected to the MoBo CPU_FAN header
The hub should be connected to MoBo SYS_FAN header
One of the PWM Fans should be connected to the orange header on the hub.
The 3pin fan will run full-speed, 4pin will be controled

To option 2:
I've checked the Phantekt PWM Hub, it's quite expensive (in compare to buy one more PWM fan and keeping the hub). I am already a bit over my budget, so trying to not go too much over.

To option 3:
I am still a bit afraid to connect too many fans (even the current is acceptable). And in the future I want to put two 140mm fans (I'm quite fancy the Noctua NF-A14 PWM) to the front and put the F12 as exhaust to the back and top, so that would be too much for the mobo anyway (5 fans in total).
It's possible, there are different fans on different images, on some I've even seen the MasterFan Pro 120. I haven't unboxed yet, because I'm waiting for my CPU and GPU.

And should I put the Cooler Master fan as back exhaust or top exhaust (in case I let it just run full speed)?
Thank you

 

[Paperdoc]

If you do plan to add more fans in future, you most certainly will need a fan HUB that draws power for all its fans from the PSU directly and depends on having 4-pin PWM-type fans connected to it. As I said, any 3-pin fan connected to such a Hub will always run full speed. So you might go ahead with that Hub you liked to and just use the 3-pin fan that way for the time being. Later if you get to adding more fans, consider at that time also replacing that 3-pin unit with a 4-pin one.

Your understanding of connections using the Hub, three PWM fans and one 3-pin fan is correct. And yes, the CPU cooler is NOT part of that system; it is connected to the CPU_FAN header.

In that situation I'd be inclined to place the 3-pin fan at the rear becasue it MAY make a bit more noise running full speed, so put it where that noise will be less obvious.

 

[trandaa]

Okay, thank you very much for the explanation. I've marked your previous post as the answer

 

[Paperdoc]

Thanks for Best Answer, and enjoy your build!