The four pin cable for my tower's front fan is too long to fit into my splitter

PineappleKnight

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Feb 2, 2016
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Hey, so recently I inquired on this forum about using a splitter to connect my front fan and my back fan using only one set of fan pins on my motherboard. The CPU fan is plugged into its proper set of pins, leaving both a three-pin back fan cable, and a four-pin front fan cable. However, there is only one other set of pins on the motherboard called "SYS Fan 1". Basically, I was told it would work fine, to plug the three-pin fan cable into the four-pin slot of the splitter, and to connect the four-pin fan cable into the three-pin slot of the splitter. I ended up buying the splitter, and it just arrived today. Problem is, while the the three-pin back cable fits just fine into the four-pin slot of the splitter, the four-pin front fan cable is just slightly to long to fit into *either* of the splitter's slots (they're both the same size).

Another strange part is that the four-pin front fan cable does not have the same sort of shape both the CPU fan cable and three-pin back fan cable do. It may be hard to explain through text, but they both have a slot that kinda lets them "slide" right into place into their corresponding pins. The front fan cable, however, does not, it's just mostly flat with a few small raised areas here and there. Yet, I'm certain it would still fit this way, the only problem is that it is slightly too long. I can provide pictures if necessary for further elaboration here if it's difficult for anyone to get what I'm saying here.

So, at this point, I'm not quite sure what to do. The only thing I can think to do at this point is to shave off one of the sides of the outer plastic casing of the splitter so I can give the four pin cable the little bit of extra space it needs to fit in place. Would this be unwise? If so, what should I do? I mean, the front fan is currently plugged directly into the power supply, but I've heard that this can potentially cause problems, and am strongly against leaving and finishing the build in this manner. There has to be a way to make this four-pin cable fit into the splitter.

Here are all the parts relevant to the situation:
Tower: Zalman Z1 ATX Mid Tower Case
Motherboard: MSI B250M PRO-VD Micro ATX LGA1151
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX
The splitter in question: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812162026&cm_re=pwm_splitter-_-12-162-026-_-Product&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-VigLink2-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=8167372&SID=j228xf1s0y000a1700053
 
Solution
Yes it would pain indeed. Well, if you are not afraid of possibility of loosing that fan, you can try your original idea of cutting the header down to make it fit. Just be careful enough to cut only plastic! If you do it well, it may work; and worst case scenario is that you will have to buy new fan.

PineappleKnight

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Feb 2, 2016
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Oh yeah, I should have specified this. Both the back fan, and the front fan came with the case. The only fan that didn't is the CPU fan of course, which came with my CPU.
 
So both fans are same, and one fits, and other don't? Then the fan is clearly faulty, because the splitter you linked is perfectly good 4-pin splitter and well mad fan header should fit without any problem.
If it was me, I would recall whole case.
 

PineappleKnight

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Feb 2, 2016
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Hmm, well maybe, I didn't actually think about that possibility. However, I'm not so sure this is definitely the case, as the four-pin fan connector looks... different, but not like mangled as though something malfunctioned during its creation, you know? It really just looks like it won't fit, because the inclusion of the fourth pin makes it slightly too long to fit. That's why the three-pin back fan cable fits without any problem. But, as you say, that splitter is designed to fit both three and four pin connectors, and is pretty highly rated as well, so the splitter shouldn't be at fault here. And yet it just seems like too highly amateur of a mistake for a larger, well-known company like Zalman to make like that. Plus, it would be a gargantuan pain in the ass to take everything out, return the case, and wait for a new one to arrive, so I really would hope this isn't the case. I just really don't know what to think.
 
Yes it would pain indeed. Well, if you are not afraid of possibility of loosing that fan, you can try your original idea of cutting the header down to make it fit. Just be careful enough to cut only plastic! If you do it well, it may work; and worst case scenario is that you will have to buy new fan.
 
Solution