[SOLVED] How connect my 3 pin fans in this situation?

Jul 16, 2020
14
0
10
Hey everyone, my motherboard is the Gigabyte B450M DS3H.

The issue I am facing is that i have 5 fans. Sharkoon TG5 has four(3 frontal/1 back - 0,25A each) plus a CPU cooler. But the mobo only has two headers(One being the CPU and one being a hybrid SYS fan).

I do not want to hook the case fans up to my PSU as then they will be 100% full time.

Is there a better way, to control speed as well? I know there is a possibility of using fan splitters(like deepcool fh-4), but those 4 fans take exactly 1 amp and I heard 1 header can only support 1 amp. I'm not sure, but I believe isn't safe.

Any sugestions?

Thanks a lot.
 
Solution
You are right to pay attention to this. And I agree, using a Splitter to connect four 0.25A fans to a header limited to 1.0 A is treading on the limit. Because the fans all are 3-pin you can NOT use any normal HUB that gets fan power from the PSU. And that item you linked from aliexpress is a poor option. All it does is get power from the PSU and offer you a choice of a MANUAL switch setting on its little board (inside your case) to set the speeds of all the fans.

There is a good new solution for your situation. It is the Phanteks Universal Fan Controller...
Will this work in my situation?
1-SATA-para-8-Forma-Multi-Hub-Splitter-PC-Cooling-Fan-3-Pin-12-V-Adaptador.jpg


It's safe?
Looks fine. Why wouldn't it be safe?
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
You are right to pay attention to this. And I agree, using a Splitter to connect four 0.25A fans to a header limited to 1.0 A is treading on the limit. Because the fans all are 3-pin you can NOT use any normal HUB that gets fan power from the PSU. And that item you linked from aliexpress is a poor option. All it does is get power from the PSU and offer you a choice of a MANUAL switch setting on its little board (inside your case) to set the speeds of all the fans.

There is a good new solution for your situation. It is the Phanteks Universal Fan Controller

https://www.newegg.com/phanteks-ph-...troller-_-11-984-030-_-Product&quicklink=true

It can accept either a 3-pin (Voltage Control Mode) or a 4-pin (PWM Mode) set of control signals from a mobo header, and gets power for its fans from the PSU via a SATA power output connector. It has three 3-pin fans ports, but you CAN use Splitters to connect two fans to EACH of those ports. It also has 4-pin fan output ports. This Hub actually "converts" the input signal to what a 3-pin fan needs for control unlike other Hubs. So you can use this with your single SYS_FAN header to control all your fans. I really suggest that, when you set it up, you go into BIOS Setup (see your mobo manual p. 24) and select the SYS_FAN header. Check to see whether you have an option to select the Fan Control MODE for this header, and set it to PWM if you can to provide that signal to the Hub.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Allrjordan
Solution
Jul 16, 2020
14
0
10
You are right to pay attention to this. And I agree, using a Splitter to connect four 0.25A fans to a header limited to 1.0 A is treading on the limit. Because the fans all are 3-pin you can NOT use any normal HUB that gets fan power from the PSU. And that item you linked from aliexpress is a poor option. All it does is get power from the PSU and offer you a choice of a MANUAL switch setting on its little board (inside your case) to set the speeds of all the fans.

There is a good new solution for your situation. It is the Phanteks Universal Fan Controller

https://www.newegg.com/phanteks-ph-pwhub-02-black/p/N82E16811984030?Description=phanteks universal fan controller&cm_re=phanteks_universal fan controller--11-984-030--Product&quicklink=true

It can accept either a 3-pin (Voltage Control Mode) or a 4-pin (PWM Mode) set of control signals from a mobo header, and gets power for its fans from the PSU via a SATA power output connector. It has three 3-pin fans ports, but you CAN use Splitters to connect two fans to EACH of those ports. It also has 4-pin fan output ports. This Hub actually "converts" the input signal to what a 3-pin fan needs for control unlike other Hubs. So you can use this with your single SYS_FAN header to control all your fans. I really suggest that, when you set it up, you go into BIOS Setup (see your mobo manual p. 24) and select the SYS_FAN header. Check to see whether you have an option to select the Fan Control MODE for this header, and set it to PWM if you can to provide that signal to the Hub.
Thank you friend, you know a lot about it, amazing.
Unfortunately, i am from brazil, and this site doesn’t ship here.
I'm trying to find it on some other website.

EDIT: I found and bought the phanteks on AliExpress.
 
Last edited:
Jul 16, 2020
14
0
10
In the Phanteks's manual is recommended that fan 1 is always connected, but fan 1 is 4-pin, what do I do in this situation, do I connect my 3-pin fan or do not connect anything?
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
I believe your best option is to NOT connect anything to Port #1. That is the ONLY port on the Hub that can send its fan's speed signal back to the mobo, so this means that the SYS_FAN1 header will not get any fan speed signal, and that has two consequences. One is that it will always show you that SYS_FAN1 has no speed, and that's not a problem, except that you will never "see" the speed of any of your 3-pin fans. The other problem is that the header MAY generate warnings that your SYS_FAN1 has failed so you know you need to fix that. Well, that is not something you fix. But IF that happens, look in the configuration options for that header and see if you can Ignore the fan speed - that also should turn off the fan failure warning.

The mobo header does NOT need to know the speed of its "fan" (or the ones on the Hub) in order to do its speed control function, so this does not create a problem for speed control.

Doing this reminds me of a general rule when using Splitters or Headers. Every header has a secondary function to check for a fan speed signal and, if it gets none, warn you that the fan has failed. When you use a Slitter or Hub, at most one of the fans (in your case, maybe none) gets its speed signal checked, and the header has NO way to monitor all the other fans for failure. So YOU should check all your fans from time to time to be sure they are still working.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Allrjordan
Jul 16, 2020
14
0
10
I believe your best option is to NOT connect anything to Port #1. That is the ONLY port on the Hub that can send its fan's speed signal back to the mobo, so this means that the SYS_FAN1 header will not get any fan speed signal, and that has two consequences. One is that it will always show you that SYS_FAN1 has no speed, and that's not a problem, except that you will never "see" the speed of any of your 3-pin fans. The other problem is that the header MAY generate warnings that your SYS_FAN1 has failed so you know you need to fix that. Well, that is not something you fix. But IF that happens, look in the configuration options for that header and see if you can Ignore the fan speed - that also should turn off the fan failure warning.

The mobo header does NOT need to know the speed of its "fan" (or the ones on the Hub) in order to do its speed control function, so this does not create a problem for speed control.

Doing this reminds me of a general rule when using Splitters or Headers. Every header has a secondary function to check for a fan speed signal and, if it gets none, warn you that the fan has failed. When you use a Slitter or Hub, at most one of the fans (in your case, maybe none) gets its speed signal checked, and the header has NO way to monitor all the other fans for failure. So YOU should check all your fans from time to time to be sure they are still working.
Thank you very much for all your help, man.

now there is no way for me to get it wrong.

I sent you a private message
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Just remembered another hint for using that Hub from Phanteks. You can use 4-pin fan Splitters with both 3- and 4-pin fans. BUT on the Phanteks Hub, the hole in the side of the case for the 3-pin ports is probably too narrow to allow you to plug a 4-pin Splitter into the 3-pin header inside. So get ONLY 3-pin Splitters.