Cooler Master 932 - fan connection help needed

[brianz]

This is my first build, and I am having trouble figuring out how to connect the 932 HAF's four case fans to my Asus P6X58D Premium motherboard and/or power supply. The fans have 3-pin connectors as well as 4-pin molex adapters.

Three of the fans are 230mm x 30mm, with one also including the LED. The fourth fan is 140 mm x 25 mm.

Since the Asus board has only three chassis fan connectors, one fan has to go directly to the power supply.

1) Which fan should I connect directly to the power supply, bypassing the motherboard? The 230x30 with the LED, since it consumes the most power? Of course I'd give up fan control via the Asus utilities.

2) On the motherboard, two of the fan connections have three pins, while the other fan connection has four pins. The three-pin connections are for:

GND
+12V
Rotation

The four pin connection is for:

+5V
CHA FAN IN
CHA FAN PWR
GND

So, if I plug the front 230x30mm with LED into the power supply, that leaves me with two 230x30 fans and a 140x25 fan to connect to the motherboard, and I don't understand the difference between the three-pin and four-pin connections in terms of where to put the remaining fans.

Can anybody please help me out? I'm actually finding this to be the most vexing problem of the entire build... everything else is basically done.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[tecmo34]

I would hook up all four fans to your PSU. I won't hook up any of them to your motherboard. I've never seen the need to plug case fans into your motherboard, unless you are hooking up a fan controller and want to monitor temps.

The 3-pin motherboard fan connector is just to power the fan, with no controll over the fan. The 4-pin motherboard fan connector will allow you to control the fan speed through your BIOS and monitor your temps.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

You can gang two fans on a single connector using this

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g47/c251/s635/list/p1/Fan_Accessories-Fan_Cables-3_Pin_Y-Page1.html

Check that amperage rating of fans is less than header capability. Asus boards is typically 2 amps per header....most normal speed / pressure case fans run about 0.35 amps each....all the fans Cooler Master sells are under that value but I didn't find the case fans on their site. Even if you say double that, you're under 2 amps with 2 fans ganged together. Check your manual or CM TS.

I'd gang the two intakes (front and side) on one header and the others on their own. You can also do this with two fans in push - pull for your heat sink only you'll wanna use PWM fans and a special PWM splitter.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8418/cab-150/FrozenCPU_PMW_Y_Splitter_Cable.html

I do this routinely and there's no risk of blowing anything up as long as header is rated for more than the amperage you are going to supply with an adequate factor of safety. I suggest more than 1.35 amps on a 2 a header tho so as to leave a factor of safety of 1.5.

Alternately, let the MoBo control the intake fans and leave the exhaust on the molex connectors. This is one of the issues that makes me grind my teth when selcting cases....CM gives you the 3 pin connectors (Antec only via included adapters) .... however Antec puts variable speed knobs or 3 speed selector switches on all the case fans in the 1200....I wound up choosing the 1200 cause I could cut off the Molex connectors and solder on the 3 pin connectors after sleeving the wires which i was gonna do anyway.