Question About Motherboard Fans.

[julienruc]

Hi,

I have a ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming motherboard. It has in total x6 4-pin connectors for fans:
- 2 at the top (CPU FAN + CPU OPT)
- 2 at the middle-left (AIO Pump + CHA Fan 1)
- 2 at the bottom (Cha Fan 2 + Cha Fan 3)

For my build, I have x1 liquid cooler, x2 140mm RGB fans, x3 120mm non-RGB fans.

I have a few questions:
1. Does the connectivity matter in any way? I would like to use the full features that the motherboard offers to control both the RGB and non-RGB fans.
2. Does the pump need to be connected to the AIO Pump 4-pin or can it be connected elsewhere? Will this cause any issues?
3. In the event where I don't have enough 4-pin connectors (or for cable management purposes), can I connect 2 fans together using the molex and then connect it to the motherboard? Will the functionalities still work or will it display the data for only 1 of 2 fans?

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[RBuczynski]

Hello, dear fellow.
1. From what I remember - 2 pins (black and red) had to be for fan to work. It will work at max speed that is capable for 5V mode. Third cable gives you extra voltage and gives you opportunity to push fan to 7-12V mode (from what I remember). Fourth cable gives you chance to regulate speedof the fan on the fly. So if you would like to have control of the rgb or speed, I think you should connect them to 4-pins. Or to controller, that gives you chance to do so. However, connection to power supply could be just 3-pin (2-pin gives you only 5V power).
2.It will be best to connect it to that output. However, you might as well check other pins (and their voltage schemes to be sure that you don't screw anything), cause there might be something useful.
3. No, don't think so. Molex has +12V (yellow), +5V (red) and two ground (black ones). And you will need two 3-pin connectors (+, minus and rpm controller, which I don't know how to describe). Without 3rd pin you will only get them running without information about rpm.

However, some of this issues can be fixed with some kind of fan regulator mounted in 5,25' (less likely in 3.5') like Akasa All-In-One or something different and new one.