[SOLVED] connecting cooling fans to motherboard

[Maro020202]

Hello, i'm planning to buy the case SilentiumPC Signum SG1 TG. it has two fans already installed but I don't know if it will be possible to connect them to my motherboard, MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max. The fans in this case are SilentiumPC Sigma HP 120mm i think. Apart from that I'm thinking about buying two more of these but I don't know how many I can connect if I can at all. It would be nice if someone could help me as I can't find any info on that and I am just a novice.

 

[Lutfij]

The fans that come with the case you've listed above are these;

Sigma HP 120 - SilentiumPC

www.silentiumpc.com

they come in PWM and no PWM variants. The non PWM variant is 3pin, so they should go onto any of your motherboard's SYS_FAN/CHA_FAN headers. As for your motherboard, the board you have has

• 4 x 4-pin system fan connectors

^ found off MSI's support site, here. Yu should be good to go with 4 fans.

 

[perrynick17]

it has 4 for case fans and 2 for water pump and CPU

 

[geofelt]

What will be your cpu and cooler?
What will be your graphics card?
How much case fan cooling you need will be determined by your answers.

Case fans can be powered three ways.

1. A molex connection(4 pins white end) is connected directly to the psu and always runs at full speed.
2. A three pin connection which is voltage controlled. Speed can be managed by the motheboard.
3. PWM(pulse width modulation) which has the 4 pins. It also connects to the motherboard.

Download and read, cover to cover your case and motherboard manuals.
You will find many answers, some of which you never thought of.

Almost certainly, the supplied fans can be connected either to the psu or to the motherboard.

The particular model includes a 120mm rear exhaust fan which you almost certainly should keep.
If your cooling airflow needs are modest, the single front 120mm intake may be all you need.

If you need maximum cooling, you could add 1 or 2 120mm fans to the front.

If you have more fans than you have fan headers on the motherboard, you will need to use a fan splitter that will handle two fans and use the same speed control on both.

Unless the fans are high rpm noisy versions, I prefer not to manage them at all.
If they run at 900 rpm, you will not hear them.
1200 rpm will have a steady drone which you may not want.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Some other things to consider...

Since your board has 4, 4 pin fan headers they can support PWM fans but you can also use them with DC control so if you only have 3 pin fans they will work too. The only thing is fans don't always start with low DC voltages so it may limit how slow you can set some fan speed.

Another thing is you can attach more than one fan to a header with a splitter. You can usually attach up to 4 fans to a header if they're low wattage/current draw (like .250A or less) so make sure you check fan current draw first. If you have no idea what you're doing just limit yourself to 2 fans per header to be safe.

One of the fan headers may be intended for a CPU fan/pump. It would be special as it may be monitored by BIOS and if no fan (RPM) is detected at POST it won't start the computer. It might also have an alarm associated with it so if RPM falls below a preset (usually something like 200RPM) it will alarm. As you can tell, it's usually best to reserve it for CPU cooler fans and/or pump and nothing else.