[SOLVED] Fan hub/PWM/3 pin question - be quiet pure base 500dx

preciseman

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Mar 18, 2012
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Hi everyone.

Trying to get some clarification and see if I can get some help.

I'm looking to pick up the be quiet pure base 500dx which comes with 3x 140mm non-pwm fans.

https://www.amazon.com/quiet-pre-in...ld=1&keywords=pure+base&qid=1602276265&sr=8-3

I'm also looking to add an additional 3x 140mm fans. My question is, I want to have them all connected to this sata powered fan hub and have the mobo control the speed based on internal temps.

https://www.amazon.com/DEEPCOOL-FH-...ild=1&keywords=fan+hub&qid=1602276321&sr=8-14

My question:

Should the 3x 140mm's that I buy also be NON-PWM (3 pin)? In that case, I will have 6x 140mm 3 pin and in theory, if I plug those into the fan hub above and plug that into a motherboard header, the motherboard can adjust the speed based on internal temps right?

If I buy 3x 140mm's but they are PWM, won't the 3x 140mm that are INCLUDED with the case spin at full? I don't think the fan hub above can control both nonpwm and pwm on the same hub..only the pwm then will be regulated and the nonpwm will run at full blast.

Am I thinking it right? So basically sounds like 2 options.

  1. Buy 3x 140mm non-pwm fans of the same model and run all 6 in the sata powered fan hub and hook up to one mobo fan header to control voltage.
  2. Buy 3x 140mm pwm fans and 2 Y splitters. Connect the 3x 140mm pwm fans to one fan header, and the 3x 140mm non-pwm fans to another header. No need to buy the fan hub. In this case, can each individual fan header be modified to use PWM and voltage? Or do all fan headers have to be all voltage or all pwm on the motherboard.

Any help would be appreciated!
 
Solution
3 pin headers are voltage controlled. 4 pin headers are PWM. If your controller will allow you to independently set each of the fan headers for either voltage or PWM control it doesn't matter. On the other hand if the controller can only go one way or the other for all fans connected then you are going to need them all to be the same. The reason for this is that a 3 pin fan in PWM control mode will just run at full speed. A 4 pin fan running on voltage control could potentially damage the fan due to low voltage being fed to the internal controller. PWM control's 4th wire is a speed target signal that is frequency modulated. Voltage control turns the voltage supplied to the fan up and down.

dimtodim

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only what i can sat dont mess with 3 pin and 4 pin fans...if u do that u cant setup all fans on right way...4 pins fans if u try settings with DC that will kill fan faster...on funhub the best way is to have all fans same 3 or 4 pin...if u have various some fans will fork on full speed, base on settings if is pwm 3pin fans will work on 100% speed...
ARCTIC P12 PWM PST Value Pack
is the best pack but not rgb...
 
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jasonf2

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3 pin headers are voltage controlled. 4 pin headers are PWM. If your controller will allow you to independently set each of the fan headers for either voltage or PWM control it doesn't matter. On the other hand if the controller can only go one way or the other for all fans connected then you are going to need them all to be the same. The reason for this is that a 3 pin fan in PWM control mode will just run at full speed. A 4 pin fan running on voltage control could potentially damage the fan due to low voltage being fed to the internal controller. PWM control's 4th wire is a speed target signal that is frequency modulated. Voltage control turns the voltage supplied to the fan up and down.
 
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Turtle Rig

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Now a days a 3pin fan is a cardinal sin in a way. Im with the guru above on this one. Using DC you will cut the life short by how much no one knows. It all depends how much there spinning or if you turn off your computer at nights or keep it running 24/7. Also there are better fan hubs out there like what Corsair has to offer, just FYI.👽🎗🤷‍♀️✝👶💯