Case fan help please

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Brian Archibald

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Mar 21, 2013
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I'm wanting to replace my front fan as it is going out and I'm not sure what to do. My rear exhaust fan is connected to the only 4 pin fan header on my board, the ASRock Extreme4 Z87, but I have like 3 or 4 others that are 3 pin along with some Molex adapters. I'm not sure how to use Molex adapters but I have one already hooked up that has a 3 pin adapter on it that would be convenient. So if anyone knows of how to use a molex adapter so I can use another 4 pin or knows of a quality 3 pin 140mm, that'll be fine either way.
 
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I'm using an NZXT Sentry Mix 2, and it's a pretty good product. It's compatible with 3 and 4-pin fans and is fairly robust with the amount of wattage it may handle.

Word from the wise, though, with hardware fan controllers. With no rhyme to reason, the fans themselves may make a weird buzz noise that, although not completely awful, is perceptible. One of my Enermax Magmas did this, while an Enermax Cluster fan had no issues. Very strange.

As for testing if the fan header on your motherboard can handle voltage, there are a couple ways to do this. One by looking...
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terry4536

terry4536

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Mar 28, 2010
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Another option is a PWM Y -adapter. You can control three PWM 4-pin fans from the same motherboard fan header. They also have ones that will control four or more fans, but they require a molex from your power supply.

3 way PWM Y adapter: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10350/cab-183/Akasa_PWM_Splitter_-_Smart_Fan_Cable_AK-CB002.html?tl=g47c251s1325

4 way PWM Y adapter: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/14982/cab-627/EK_4-Pin_PWM_4-Way_Splitter_Cable_-_Sleeved_Black_Black.html?tl=g47c251s636
 
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Calculatron

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Apr 3, 2013
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I'm using an NZXT Sentry Mix 2, and it's a pretty good product. It's compatible with 3 and 4-pin fans and is fairly robust with the amount of wattage it may handle.

Word from the wise, though, with hardware fan controllers. With no rhyme to reason, the fans themselves may make a weird buzz noise that, although not completely awful, is perceptible. One of my Enermax Magmas did this, while an Enermax Cluster fan had no issues. Very strange.

As for testing if the fan header on your motherboard can handle voltage, there are a couple ways to do this. One by looking in the BIOS and see if there is some sort of "cool n quiet" or "smart fan" feature - this should allow you set up parameters for your motherboard to automatically control the fans RPM, but only if they are attached to the motherboard. The second way is similar, but using a third-party program called Speedfan. Again, both of these methods will only worth with fans directly connected to the motherboard.

 
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