Wiring/Case Help; Cooler Master Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP

[EnigmaticRunner]

I'm having some trouble with my wiring between my MoBo, a GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD, and the case; Yes, I did read the manual but I need some clarification on a few things:

(Check here for the whole compiled info: Asked earlier on a CM Forum, but there's a lack of members there so I'm asking here for more input and because it's more active: http://www.cmstorm.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2049

My main concerns are:

- whether or not it's alright to just connect all the fans through one molex power cable; do I connect this molex cable to SYS_FAN1 (I don't have any other pin ones besides this molex cable that matches SYS_FAN1's header)?
--> See 1-4 from the link; molex confusion, particularly the cable cluster with both a female and male connector.

- Neither my HDD nor my ODD are IDE devices (none of the pins connectors match anyways) so do I just do nothing with the band made of 3 IDE connectors that came with my MoBo or is it also used for other stuff? Edit: They're 40-pin connectors...So they are IDE/PATA or whatever?

- I don't have any screws that seem to properly lock in my GPU, but I just used the metal PCI locks that are built in to the case to secure my GPU; it seems to hold it tightly.

- (6. from link) Should I use the molex dual connector 6-pin power cable that came with my GPU (and connect the connectors to one molex cable back to the PSU) or use the molex cable that came with my PSU? The only difference I can tell between the two, other than the former splitting into 2 connectors, is that the latter PSU has metal meshing over the wires. Edit: Oops, I forgot to mention that the PSU ones specifically say PCI-Express, if that changes any significance, but it seems not that relevant?

 

[jsc]

I don't know how the fans are laid out, but one solution seems to be to plug the fan molexes together and plug them into the PC.

IDE cable - no IDE drives, you do not need the IDE cable.

Video card - The PSU cables labeled PCI Express are designed to power the video card. The little molex-PCIe Power adapters that came with the video card are intended for use only if the PSU doesn't have the PCIe power plugs.

 

[Paperdoc]

The cable that you believe is for all the case fans has both male and female 4-pin Molex connectors on it. This is a common design. Its intention is that you can plug the male one into one of the female connectors on wires from the PSU to get power, and then the extra loose female connector simply substitutes for the one you just used from the PSU. That way you don't "consume" a Molex power connector. If you don't need it, just leave it unconnected.

Now, I'm a little confused about your plan to connect this to a mobo pinout. Normally a "4-pin Molex" power connector on the end of fan leads will be male and VERY much larger than the male pinout for a SYS_FAN on the mobo. You would need an adapter to make such a connection. BUT more importantly, I am not confident the mobo port can supply enough power to fire up three case fans. What I've read around here is that many mobo ports can supply enough power to start up (that's the toughest part) two fans in parallel, but not more. That, however, is a generalization, and you'd need more detailed info on your fans and mobo specs to be sure.

Check the details of your PSU. Some have a set of leads coming out with a connector on the end that matches a mobo port labeled PWR_FAN. Usually is has three wires - red, black and yellow - just like a standard 3-pin fan. But its real function is simply to feed out a speed signal from the PSU's internal fan so the mobo can monitor it. For that purpose, only the black (ground) and yellow(speed pulse train) lines are necessary, so MAYBE that's what the line is from the PSU with only black and yellow. Look for a label on the wires on instructions about this in the PSU documentation.

 

[shovenose]

only the yedllow wire is needed for speed meausremnts. i know this because, a while nack, i bought two 80mm blu led thermaltakes, and they had a molex conector for power and a 3-pin plug that just had a yellow wire, and i could readthe fan speeds...so yeah...

 

[EnigmaticRunner]

The cable that you believe is for all the case fans has both male and female 4-pin Molex connectors on it. This is a common design. Its intention is that you can plug the male one into one of the female connectors on wires from the PSU to get power, and then the extra loose female connector simply substitutes for the one you just used from the PSU. That way you don't "consume" a Molex power connector. If you don't need it, just leave it unconnected.

Now, I'm a little confused about your plan to connect this to a mobo pinout. Normally a "4-pin Molex" power connector on the end of fan leads will be male and VERY much larger than the male pinout for a SYS_FAN on the mobo. You would need an adapter to make such a connection. BUT more importantly, I am not confident the mobo port can supply enough power to fire up three case fans. What I've read around here is that many mobo ports can supply enough power to start up (that's the toughest part) two fans in parallel, but not more. That, however, is a generalization, and you'd need more detailed info on your fans and mobo specs to be sure.

Check the details of your PSU. Some have a set of leads coming out with a connector on the end that matches a mobo port labeled PWR_FAN. Usually is has three wires - red, black and yellow - just like a standard 3-pin fan. But its real function is simply to feed out a speed signal from the PSU's internal fan so the mobo can monitor it. For that purpose, only the black (ground) and yellow(speed pulse train) lines are necessary, so MAYBE that's what the line is from the PSU with only black and yellow. Look for a label on the wires on instructions about this in the PSU documentation.

Eek, I wasn't clear about this part; when I said the 4-pin molex connector thing, I meant that that cable from the PSU (the 6-pin end) had 4 pin molex connectors throughout the cable until the very end where it had a much smaller 4-pin non-molex connector (which does fit into the SYS_FAN1). I think I also mixed up the gender denotion in the other forum (link above); so when I said male, I probably meant female (for the molex casing, I'm not sure about the pins themselves inside). Edit: I fixed the mistakes in the other forum thread so the genders should be correct now.

My PSU is the OCZ 550W Fatality (modular); there aren't any leads that match PWR_FAN. The built-in leads are a 20+4-pin main power, 8-pin CPU and a 4-pin CPU connector. The modular componenets are 2 SATA cables, a cable (6-pin into PSU) with 2 female molex connectors ending in a 4-pin connector, and a cable (6-pin into PSU) with 3 female molex connectors (it ends in a female molex connector). So I'm not sure what to do? There's 4 male connectors from my case (including the male and female pair).

 

[EnigmaticRunner]

I did some checking; the top fan connects through a brown header connector to the molex power adaptor/connector with the female and male heads. The back fan (above GPU) connects to a male (1 yellow and 1 black wires) molex connector and the front fan connects to a male (1 yellow and 1 black wires) molex connector. This leaves a male molex connector that's connected to the front ports, but I'm not sure what this one does really...

Can I even properly connect everything with the amount of fans (and the one port molex) that I have? (Since you said that it might not function properly if I have all 3 fans in one molex cable connection.) I read that you can just remove the brown header connector and just attach it to the MoBo. Is that all right?

Edit: Didn't notice before, the back fan connects (through a red/black wire) to the front fan: the red/back wires connect to a 2-pin connector, then the red/black wires moving out the connector meet with a white/green wire that go through another 2-pin connector before reaching the front fan. So there's that extra connection besides each fan connecting to a male (1 yellow and 1 black wires) molex connector.

 

[EnigmaticRunner]

Found a diagram showing the molex connectors of the PSU:

http://www.ocztechnology.com/res_old/manuals/psu/OCZ550FTY.pdf

The one at the bottom-right, that's the 4-pin thing I was talking about. Do you plug that into the MoBo in SYS_FAN1 or PWR_FAN, etc.?

 

[Paperdoc]

First thing: IMPORTANT! That line out of the PSU with several 4-pin Molex connectors on it, ending in one much smaller 4-pin connector is solely for POWER to DEVICES. NEVER plug this into your mobo! That small connector on the end is for providing power into a 3½" floppy drive you don't have. If you plug it into a mobo SYS_FAN port it will push the wrong voltages into that port and burn it out!

Connector gender is designated by the pins themselves, NOT the plastic shell. So ones with pins sticking out (even recessed in a shell) are male, and ones with hole to accept pins are female. For example, all the 4-pin Molex connectors on that line out of the PSU, AND the smaller end one for the floppy, are female - they have holes that fit over pins mounted in recessed connectors in IDE hard drives and case fans.

On 4-pin Molex lines, the color code is Yellow is +12 VDC, black (both centre lines) is Ground, and red is +5 VDC. Fans only use the +12 VDC and Ground (yellow and black), so that's the color of the lines from your fans.

The top fan has the connector-saver fittings on it so when you plug it into one PSU Molex output, you have another Molex output created to plug in something else, like another fan. Now, I have no idea why there are black and red lines running between front and rear fans. Are you sure? If that is correct, just MAYBE that is a line so that plugging in one of the fans also provides power to the other without plugging in the second fan's Molex. If that were the case, then you could plug just ONE (front or rear) of them into the extra female connector on the top fan's leads, and all 3 fans would end up powered off ONE 4-pin Molex.

There is still the matter of an unidentified Molex from the front panel somewhere. You'll need to trace that down if the case manual does not explain. Does your case have any special lights on the front?

Since you have no speed signal output lines coming out of the PSU, plan NOT to connect anything to the mobo's PWR_FAN pinout.

 

[EnigmaticRunner]

First thing: IMPORTANT! That line out of the PSU with several 4-pin Molex connectors on it, ending in one much smaller 4-pin connector is solely for POWER to DEVICES. NEVER plug this into your mobo! That small connector on the end is for providing power into a 3½" floppy drive you don't have. If you plug it into a mobo SYS_FAN port it will push the wrong voltages into that port and burn it out!

Connector gender is designated by the pins themselves, NOT the plastic shell. So ones with pins sticking out (even recessed in a shell) are male, and ones with hole to accept pins are female. For example, all the 4-pin Molex connectors on that line out of the PSU, AND the smaller end one for the floppy, are female - they have holes that fit over pins mounted in recessed connectors in IDE hard drives and case fans.

On 4-pin Molex lines, the color code is Yellow is +12 VDC, black (both centre lines) is Ground, and red is +5 VDC. Fans only use the +12 VDC and Ground (yellow and black), so that's the color of the lines from your fans.

The top fan has the connector-saver fittings on it so when you plug it into one PSU Molex output, you have another Molex output created to plug in something else, like another fan. Now, I have no idea why there are black and red lines running between front and rear fans. Are you sure? If that is correct, just MAYBE that is a line so that plugging in one of the fans also provides power to the other without plugging in the second fan's Molex. If that were the case, then you could plug just ONE (front or rear) of them into the extra female connector on the top fan's leads, and all 3 fans would end up powered off ONE 4-pin Molex.

There is still the matter of an unidentified Molex from the front panel somewhere. You'll need to trace that down if the case manual does not explain. Does your case have any special lights on the front?

Since you have no speed signal output lines coming out of the PSU, plan NOT to connect anything to the mobo's PWR_FAN pinout.

Uh oh...From some comments from asking around elsewhere, I tried connecting the floppy connector into the SYS_FAN and, having figured out for most part the molex connection between the fans and the front panel thing, I tried turning on the assembled computer. How badly do you think I've compromised the Mobo?

As for the unidentified molex, I'll just connect it to any of the molex power cables. I'm still not sure what it's for but there doesn't seem to be any lights at the front panel; here's a pic of the front: http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/lemonlime/cases/cm_scout/cm_scout_front2.jpg, the two things above the E-SATA port might be lights?

 

[EnigmaticRunner]

Update: So I was looking over video footage of my assembly (yes, I recorded it for insurance purposes); it turns out absolutely nothing powered on, not even the PSU or its fan, when I had the incorrect config from above with the floppy end in SYS_FAN1 so my parts may have had some sort of fail-safe ability. Anyways, after properly connecting everything, the system turned on, POSTed correctly, except one problem which I'll have to make another thread for (if you're interested, I might have a defective HDDl; it's an OEM 😗 ).

 

[Paperdoc]

Glad your system worked for the most part. Those 2 lights above the eSATA port are the common power-on indicator on the right, and the HDD activity light on the left. The power LED will be on when the machine is turned on; the HDD LED will light when the HDD is in use, so it flashes in random patterns. Both are powered by connections to a common Front Panel pinout connector on your mobo. This same connector is also where you connect the On / Off pushbutton, the Reset pushbutton, and the Speaker. These LED's are NOT connected to the Molex you speak of.

 

[EnigmaticRunner]

Best answer selected by EnigmaticRunner.