whats name for power connetor for heatsink fan to mobo

[narhic_fd]

Whats the name of the power connector that goes from you cpu heatsink fan , to your mobo. I want to buy a better fan for my heatsink on my socket 754 and need to make sure the fan has the right connector so i can conect it to my mobo. If i can only find a fan that has a normal power connector like what most case fans have that go to your power supply can i buy a connector to connect it to.

 

[mpjesse]

There's two type of connectors. The 12V 3 pin and the 12V 4 pin Molex. Most 3rd party aftermarket fans use the 4 pin molex. They have pass through cables attached so you don't need any type of adapter and you won't lose a free molex.

If the new heastsink/fan doesn't have a 4 pin molex connector and uses the 3 pin, you can buy an adapter. Most HSF solutions will usually come with the adapter though.

So don't worry about it. Just buy the damned thing. It'll work with what u got.

-mpjesse

 

[linux_0]

mpjesse is right

here are some pix:

http://images.google.com/images?q=4pin+molex&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images

http://images.google.com/images?q=3pin+molex&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images

Both connectors are molex so don't let that confuse you.

There are 4pin to 3 pin adapters by the way.

If you motherboard doesn't have any free 3pin headers left buy fans with 4pin connectors or buy fans with 3pin and 4pin to 3 pin adapters.

good luck

 

[wicka]

I've also heard that some fans or other 3-pin devices are too powerful and can short out the board (because they try to draw too much voltage), so I would usually just go with 4-pin.

 

[linux_0]

A giant Zalman 120mm CPU cooling fan RARELY draws more than 0.5 Amps at 12VDC which is 6W.

http://zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=145&code=005

High quality motherboards can support at least 1.0Amps at 12VDC some support 2.0Amps at 12VDC which is 12W and 24W respectively which is more than enough.

On a high-quality high-end Tyan S2882 Dual Opteron motherboard for example 2 fan headers are rated for 3.0Amps which is 36Watts! The rest are rated for 2.0Amps which corresponds to 24Watts of power.

That is more than enough power.

On a really cheap motherboard I might be concerned.

The ASUS A8 series support up to a total of 2.22A @ 12VDC or 26W.

I checked the manuals for the S2882 and the A8 series, both are online @ tyan.com and www.asus.com respectively.

When you use the 4pin molex power connector you lose the ability to throttle the fans unless you have a separate speed controller.