Wiring Second fan on my heatsink

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calza

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Mar 18, 2013
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Just picked up a hyper 212 evo which has rather nicely came with two fans.

One looks like a female 4 pin plug, the other a female 3 pin plug. That's rather confusing for a start ... is there not a universal standard for fans?

Obviously I know there is one fan power socket on my motherboard for the standard cooler, but the other fan I have will need power too. What's the protocol here since there are no spare power pins on my mother board?

I'm in the UK if you have any links of what I should buy :)

Cheers!
 
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calza

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Mar 18, 2013
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Oh I see, that sounds pretty simple.

So the adapter will have a 3 pin female and a 4 pin female on one side of the Y, then whichever is required on the other? (Is there a standard for this 3/4?)
 
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ahmeday2012

ahmeday2012

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Jan 25, 2014
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That is one option and you could also get 2x4 pins on one end since the 3 pin fan CAN also work on the 4 pin adapter.

Hope this helps you
 
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WyomingKnott

WyomingKnott

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Aug 29, 2006
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There isn't a single standard. It's pretty much down to 3 or 4 pins now. 3 pin fans have the speed controlled by the voltage across two of the wires and use the third to report how fast the fan is spinning. 4 pin fans have the speed controlled by "pulse width modulation" and also dedicate one wire to indicating fan speed. To make it more fun, a three-pin fan will work (but not be speed-controlled) when plugged into a 4-pin power socket.

And good old Widipedia to the rescue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PWM_fan#Fan_types
 
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calza

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Mar 18, 2013
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Ok so I checked and my motherboard is a 3 pin socket. Will this mean both fans can be speed-controlled then?

(for example with this ...http://www.scan.co.uk/products/sharkoon-3-pin-y-cable-(install-x2-fans-to-one-connector))
 
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