How to connect CPU cooler fans

[SteveSquared]

Hi all,

I rebuilt my system yesterday as I got a new motherboard.

Asus H81m-PLUS mobo
Corsair H100i GTX (With 2 Corsair sp120's instead of stock)
Intel Core i5-4690

I've connected the cooler fans to the cpu_fan header on my motherboard. However, they run at full rpm (1580 according to the bios) which is absolutely deafening to me.

My question is, as I use an NZXT Sentry 3 to control my case fans, could I connect the cpu cooler fans to one of its unused headers to limit the rpm to ~1000- 1200 rpm ?

Or would that damage my computer in any way ?

Thanks

 

[thehutti]

There are two types of fans, Voltage Controled ones (3pin) and PWM controled ones (4pins). The 3 pin connected fans need the mainboard to change the voltage to configure the speed of the fan. PWM ones will run on full power all the time, but the 4th pin will transfer the speed information to controll the fans. My guess is that your CPU-Fan header is set to PWM and your fans use Volage control. You can normally switch this in the bios

 

[thehutti]

By the way: The normal way to install the H100i GTX is to connect the fans to the pump itself and only plug the pump into the CPU-Fan header on the mainboard. But of course you could use any fan header on the mainboard or on extra fancontrollers as well.