Looking for the right fan adapter

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paranoidtie

paranoidtie

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Jan 22, 2014
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Hey everyone.

I'm having an issue connecting my fans to my motherboard...

Basically I have four fans that need powering. my heatsink fan and 3 case fans.

Two of the fans are 3 pin and the other two are 4 pin.

Unfortunately my motherboard only has two 4 pin ports, one labeled cpu fan and the other labeled system fan.

Can anyone suggest a splitter cable/adapted to use? Do they even exist?

This is my first pc build please forgive my lack of knowledge.

Thanks for reading.
 
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Solution
One of the great things about the Phanteks fan hub is that it takes 4-pin signal from the MoBo and outputs that to 3-pin fans by design. All of the advantages of using PWM control (low speed operation) , w/o any of the downsides (expense, PWM hum / clicking). Note that many times you can not depend upon the number of pins on the MoBo headers to tell you what the control scheme is.

As to yur question .... the answer is "it depends"

On Z87 MoBos, you'd have boards where all headers would be 4 pin, but only the CPU headers were PWM, all the CHA or SYS headers were 4 pin but only sent DCV (3-pin) signals.

On z97 boards, for the most part, all headers are 4 pin... on most they will auto-sense whether the fans are 3 or 4 pin and set use the appropriate signal. On others, you have to go into BIOS and seelct the control mode.
 
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Remember ... Phanteks Fan Hub is for 4 pin PWM control of 3 pin DCV fans not 4 pin PWM fans.

Use the Swiftech or ModMyToys PWM controllers for PWM (4-[in) fans.
Use the ModMyToys DCV controllers for DCV (3-pin) fans.

Cheapest option would be the ModMyTotd options... one for PWM fans on PWM header and one for DCV fans on DCV header.
 
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1. DCV = Direct Current Voltage

DCV = 3 pin fans
PWM = 4 pin fans

3 pin fan headers = DVC
4 pn fan headers = PWM only, DCV only or PWM / DCV ... have to check and MoBo manual will not be reliable source... just about all Z87 MoBo manuals I have read wrongly state the 4 pin CHA / SYS headers are PWM

2. No I would not recommend powering these things off the PSU

a) running the hub off the PSU for a DCV hub means all fans would spin at 100% speed and you would have no speed control

b) You **can** run a PWM fed hub (Phanteks for 3 pin fans / Swiftech for PWM) off the PSU but not the ones from ModMyToys

3. The Phanteks and Swiftech hubs **can** connect to the PSU but this is not necessary or recommended unless the total amperage draw from all fans exceeds 1.0 amps.

A standard 1250 rpm fan draws about 0.14 amps ... up to 6 would be more than fine
A standard 1600 rpm fan draws about 0.20 amps ... up to 4 would be more than fine

This is the correct 3 pin DCV hub ... connect the 2 fans to the outputs, connect input to DCV capable MoBo Header
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/14661/ele-987/3-Pin_Power_Distribution_PCB_3xWay_Block_MMT-PCB-3WAY.html?tl=c121s424b214

This is the correct 4 pin PWN hub ... connect the 2 fans to the outputs, connect input to MoBo PWM capable Header
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/23519/ele-1299/4-Pin_PWM_Power_Distribution_PCB_4x_Way_Block_MMT-PCB-4P-44P.html?tl=c121s424b214

Again, make sure to read the MoBo manual to confirm what kind of signal each MoBo header is capable of sending.
 
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Thanks for getting back to me jack

In the end I went with the phanteks fan hub for my two 3 pin dv's and and a akasa pwm splitter cable for the remaining 4 pin case fan and cpu fan

You say I don't need to connect the hub to the psu? I assumed it was mandatory. Well il check the power consumption of the two 3 pin fans.

One other thing that was bothering me was the hub stated that it had to be plugged into the cpu fan header. Is there any difference between the sys header and the cpu header? I was planning to run the pwm fans through the cpu header
 
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Again, w/o knowing the MoBo, answering is somewhat difficult. For many generations now, the CPU header has been PWM ... PWM on other headers arrived only w/ Z97 for the most part. Two ways to think about it:

a) forget about what they label it, and just consider which ones can do PWM and which ones do DCV

b) while the above always applies, think about how you want to control it. How will you provide control ? Does MoBo have only BIOS control or is there a Fan Control utility like Asus FanXpert ? If you want to use different control schemes for different fans, then you need different channels and curves to control them.

For example, I use 4 channels for speed control:

-CPU / CPU-OPT Header => Pump Nos. 1 and 2
-CHA_1 Header => Phanteks Hub No. 1 => (6) Phanteks PH-140SP 1250 rpm fans on 420mm radiator
-CHA_2 header => Phanteks Hub No. 2 => (4) Phanteks PH-140SP 1250 rpm fans on 2800mm radiator
-CHA_3 header => Phanteks Hub No. 3 => (6) Phanteks PH-140SP 1250 rpm Case fans


  • Each header is controlled using a different fan curve
    The pump control does not ever shut off
    All other fans shut off when system calls for < 350 rpm
    Ramp down times are longer for radiator fans. So when CPU load drops, and temp drops almost instantaneously, rad fans stay "at speed" for about 1 minute

So for example.. you could set up your CPU cooler fans to never shut off, to respond immediately to temps and ramp up quickly with a steep curve, you might want to have case fans shut off when system is idle (less noise) and to ramp up and down slower so that they aren't chasing their tails when CPU is under varying loads (which can cause whirring sound).



 
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My motherboard is a GA-h110m- s2h

I found some info on the fan headers and BIOS options in the online manual

https://postimg.org/image/t9r2iv1p9/

https://postimg.org/image/svpqj9hlp/

Unfortunately I am a bit of a noob and I don't feel like tampering with the temperature controls in the bios...

Would keeping the default setting be detrimental?


 
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I find Gigabyte manuals a bit cryptic but the second image is the relevant one. Select normal

The 1st image shows that the CPU fan is PWM

attachment.php


 
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Ah forgive me

I thought both fan headers where pwm...

Well it looks like il go with the mmt fan hub... I know I mentioned this before but would you suggest I buy a 4 pin to 3 pin cable with the hub or just a standard 3 pin cable (to plug into the 4 pin sys header)
 
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I have had extremely bad luck with splitter and adapter cables. Something about a machine made PCB that just produces a more consistently reliable product.

The "most inexpensive" solution also happens to be the "best solution", the most "reliable solution" and the "cleanest solution"

a) You are only buying what you need ... no need to handle (11) 3 pin fans or (8) PWM fans as in the Phanteks / Swiftech options so ya save money.
b) I can't tell ya how many times i have closed a case up and turned it on, only to find some fans not spinning because in "neatening things up" when pulling the wires thru a MoBo tray opening or grommet, the male connector pulled out of the female connector because the splitter caught on something @ the split .... maybe they catholic :).
c) You can make ya wiring much cleaner ... no joints in odd places where ya wind up in situation where ya can't tick things on cause the cable is thicker at the split or the splitter connectors wind up inconveniently placed.
d) I have 4 or 5 slitter cables that just never worked or I replaced them cause they left me with a fugly scenario and i couldn't stand "seeing" the disarray.

Then again, I'm pretty anal when it comes to aesthetics ... not quite at the point where every screw must be tightened so that every philllips head screw in the build looks must be rotated the same so that they all either look like an "X" or a "+ ".... but if there's anything that is not perfectly straight and at right angles, I will stop playing or working and fix it.

I'd tell ya I woll go check the parts bins, and send them to yu if I found them but already BTDT (been there, done that) with forum users in the past. They are around here somewhere, but no idea where. Wife must have put it in a 'safe [place' so safe that no one will ever find them.
 
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