8 fans off 4 headers?

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cookybiscuit

cookybiscuit

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Aug 31, 2012
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My motherboard only has 4 headers, and I have 8 fans I want to run and enough splitters. It seems to handle 6 ok (3 headers, each with a splitter going to 2 fans), would adding another two to a currently unused header cause any trouble? I don't know if motherboard share the power for the headers or if they all use separate power sources and aren't affected by one another.

Thanks.
 
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Fans don't draw much power at all and the motherboard headers should all be internally terminated individually. I wouldn't run a D5 water pump off of them but a couple of fans should be okay.
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Pinhedd

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Aug 7, 2007
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Fans don't draw much power at all and the motherboard headers should all be internally terminated individually. I wouldn't run a D5 water pump off of them but a couple of fans should be okay.
 
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negativkarma

negativkarma

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Apr 17, 2013
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There's enough power going through a 3-pin header to do 2 fans - I wouldn't want to push it beyond that unless you have a powered splitter.

Alternatively, if you don't mind you case fans running at full tilt all the time, you can get a molex to 3-pin adaptor and run the fans directly from the PSU - plenty of power on a single molex to drive 4 fans.
 
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cookybiscuit

cookybiscuit

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Yea I think I'll limit it to two, don't have space for more fans anyway. I'd run them off the PSU but I wanted them to totally shut off when I'm idling.

Also, I'm running two 3 pin fans off a 4 pin header, a PWM to 3 pin converter cable thing coming from a header, then a fan speed reducer into that, then a Y splitter at the end of that plugged into the two fans. I know resistors are meant to get hot, the PWM to 3 pin feels pretty hot but isn't too bad, the fan speed reducer however hurts to touch, any issue or just ignore it? The casing around it says '125C'.

Also I know its a weird kind of daisy chain but the header I'm doing this off is the CPU2 port, which takes its information for what RPM to run at from the CPU1 port, which is why I have the long set of cables.
 
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negativkarma

negativkarma

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I don't see a huge issue with that, however I would probably suggest to look into an alternative if funds allow. A fan controller would save you a lot of headache, and allow you to control your fans to your heart's content.
 
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