How many fans on a fan header that is rated at .5 amp

donfm

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Nov 14, 2004
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I have a problem with my case fans. I bought a Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 7 mobo and the sys_fan headers are rated at only .5 amp according to tech support. I wanted to use a splitter on two 3 pin fans that draw .18 amps each. Will .36 amps overload my fan header?
 
Solution
It all depends on the fans.

I am pretty sure you would be ok once the fans are running. Its the surge power they draw when they start to spin up from 0 rpm.

Some fans are not drawing mutch in terms of surge, and some are plain down right nasty when it comes to it.

And if the surge draw is high enough over the fan headers total AMP support there is a chance you can kill the fan header over time.
It all depends on the fans.

I am pretty sure you would be ok once the fans are running. Its the surge power they draw when they start to spin up from 0 rpm.

Some fans are not drawing mutch in terms of surge, and some are plain down right nasty when it comes to it.

And if the surge draw is high enough over the fan headers total AMP support there is a chance you can kill the fan header over time.
 
Solution

donfm

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Nov 14, 2004
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Thanks for responding. I am amazed that a so called GA-Z170X Gaming 7 "gaming" mobo from Gigabyte has fan headers that only put out .5 amp. I mean gamers are the ones that require the extra cooling more than anybody.

Are you aware if they make such a thing as an add on 3 pin fan header that can control the speed of multiple identical fans by voltage. This would be powered directly by the PSU not the motherboard and attached to the 3 pin sys_fan header on the mobo. The only thing I can find are multi channel fan speed controllers that you change the speed manually with knobs. I was looking for an auto control solution.