Need a little information about fan splitters/adapters?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
G

Guest

Guest
I need help finding out about power consumption in fan splitters/adapters. I have read reviews about A 3 x 3 - pin adapters and someone said that only two fans were "fully" powered, the third one being far from "full" speed making it pointless. I later asked someone on reddit and they said that all fans should be powered the same as if there was 1 fan plugged in, because of the laws with parallel circuits.

I have two different opinions and both of them only has one answer which doesn't make them trustworthy information. I would like a clarification on the situation as people on toms hardware is probably going to be smarter than someone writing an amazon review. I will be thankful for any information. Also the reason for asking is that I plan on buying one for my computer.

The persons review

If interested here is the reddit post
 
Solution
A
As far as I am aware, the general rule of thumb for splitters is to never try to power more than two (2) fans from a given motherboard header. The motherboard header, in and of itself, can only supply "x" amount of current at its rated voltage (typicallly 12 volts DC). If you overload the circuit, either the fans will run at a reduced current (which is not good) or the stress could (does not mean it will) cause damage to the motherboard circuitry and other devices by dragging down the voltage level, which could cause problems either immediately or over time.

My personal opinion would be to get multiple 2-way "Y" splitters and run them from different motherboard headers if you have the need to drive more fans.

Other alternatives would...
Sort by date Sort by votes
A

animal

Distinguished
Jan 23, 2010
2,060
0
20,460
As far as I am aware, the general rule of thumb for splitters is to never try to power more than two (2) fans from a given motherboard header. The motherboard header, in and of itself, can only supply "x" amount of current at its rated voltage (typicallly 12 volts DC). If you overload the circuit, either the fans will run at a reduced current (which is not good) or the stress could (does not mean it will) cause damage to the motherboard circuitry and other devices by dragging down the voltage level, which could cause problems either immediately or over time.

My personal opinion would be to get multiple 2-way "Y" splitters and run them from different motherboard headers if you have the need to drive more fans.

Other alternatives would be to buy a fan controller which will allow multiple fans to be controlled by it (and it is powered directly from the PSU) or you can get adapters to connect the additional fans directly to the PSU (but they will always operate at full-speed).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom