Where do I plug my case fans in?

xMRxVENGEANCEx · Jul 5, 2014

Hi. So I'm not on about the fans included when you buy the case, I know the go into the SYS FAN 4 pin slots on the motherboard. But I just bought some Coolermaster Sickleflow green LED fans to increase the airflow as well as giving my rig some style. The default connectors attached to the fans are the 3 pin fan connectors, which look like they do go into the SYS FAN slots, but they're not long enough to reach, and it seems intended to use the extra adapter cables the give you. They give you an adapter for the 3 pin connectors, and these adapters are like two "molex" adapters I think they're called. They're both have 4 pins, and both on the same end so the adapter has 2 heads, one is like molex, and the other is another sort of strange 4 pin. I found an adapter cable in my PSU box, and one end goes into the power supply, one end into what looks like a SYS fan slots, and in between what looks like molex slots. Would I use this to plug all my fans into? It would be like, using an adapter on adapter. I just don't want to be sorry and rather safe with this. but it's so confusing.

Guest · Jul 5, 2014

Not sure what comes with those fans, but it sounds like a Molex-3 pin adapter.

Molex is the big, thick, ugly plug with 4 large pins. Looks like this:

and there's a male-connector equivalent, which is probably the one supplied with the fans. They can be tricky, but they both connect together.

You need to find the Molex power cable that came in the box with your power supply, or, if using a non-modular PSU, just find it in the cluster of wires. Connect that adapter to any of the female-connections (As shown in the picture), then, attach your fans to the other wire coming out of 'said supplied adapter.

What this does is connect your fans to the power supply, meaning they run at full speed 24/7 with no control.

3-pin and 4-pin fans do both connect to the same header on the board as you said, the extra pin on a 4-pin fan allows you or the board to control the speed of that fan.
Honestly it's probably just best to buy some fan extensions, they look a whole lot nicer.

coastie65 · Jul 5, 2014

xMRxVENGEANCEx :

There are a number of fan headers on the motherboard. If the connector from the fan is 3 pin, you can connect it to a 4 pin header. You can also connect a 4 pin connector to a 3 pin header. The number of fan headers depends on the motherboard. Your CPU fan is a given as there is a 4 pin header labeled CPU. I have 5 fans counting the CPU and still have one open header on the motherboard. Rear fans are no problem as a rule because the header is pretty much right there on the Motherboard as is the CPU. Front fans are not an issue on the ASUS boards i have used as there is a handy header for that. The two top fans are problematic though. I have a second header by the CPU in case I am running dual CPU fans ( Push Pull configuration ) and have one of the top fans plugged into that. You shouldn't need a molex connector unless you just flat don't have enough headers on the motherboard.

xMRxVENGEANCEx · Jul 5, 2014

Okay thanks well it's fine for me if the run at full speed anyway, they're gonna be on the front of the case as intake, and will be nice for cooling the GPU and hard drive. As well as it looks great of course. They run at 2000RPM, which I shouldn't think would be that load. So my adapter that comes with the fan actually has a male and female molex, I can and should probably only use one of them right? And also, in detail, the cable that is in my PSU box which I'm almost 100% sure I should use when installing my fans, it has the 6 pin connector on one end, and so that I only have to use one cable, there are 3 FEMALE molex slots in the inbetween, just like the SATA ones that do that, and on the other end there's a small what looks like a 4-pin system fan connector. So I'm guessing the 6 pin obviously goes into the PSU, the fans connect to the female molex slots on the cable, and the 4 pin will go into a SYS FAN slot on the motherboard?

xMRxVENGEANCEx · Jul 5, 2014

coastie65 :

I infact only have 4 fan headers, and one of them is the CPU fan. So essentially, you can get one rear fan and two front fans with my mobo. But I'm just wondering if I should try and connect them to the sys fan headers or PSU. I know PSU is more popular a lot of the time, and you could plug up to 3 of your fans into one modular cable. As well as these fans have quite short cables when it comes to the core cable, and the 3 pin connector, almost as if they expect you to use the PSU instead of the mobo. Also, I don't know how good it'd look and healthy it'd be with those sys fan headers being right over my GPU, all wires dangling down and whatnot. Suppose I could feed the through the back though if they're long enough.

Guest · Jul 6, 2014

xMRxVENGEANCEx :

Okay thanks well it's fine for me if the run at full speed anyway, they're gonna be on the front of the case as intake, and will be nice for cooling the GPU and hard drive. As well as it looks great of course. They run at 2000RPM, which I shouldn't think would be that load. So my adapter that comes with the fan actually has a male and female molex, I can and should probably only use one of them right? And also, in detail, the cable that is in my PSU box which I'm almost 100% sure I should use when installing my fans, it has the 6 pin connector on one end, and so that I only have to use one cable, there are 3 FEMALE molex slots in the inbetween, just like the SATA ones that do that, and on the other end there's a small what looks like a 4-pin system fan connector. So I'm guessing the 6 pin obviously goes into the PSU, the fans connect to the female molex slots on the cable, and the 4 pin will go into a SYS FAN slot on the motherboard?

Yeah that'll mean your power supply is either fully or semi-modular. You plug the cable into the supply, and the adapter onto the cable and the fan on to the adapter.

That extra 4-pin on the end of the PSU Molex cable is probably a floppy connector, not a fan one. They do look similar.
Floppy connectors are mostly used these days to power soundcards.

xMRxVENGEANCEx · Jul 10, 2014

xMRxVENGEANCEx :

Yeah that'll mean your power supply is either fully or semi-modular. You plug the cable into the supply, and the adapter onto the cable and the fan on to the adapter.

That extra 4-pin on the end of the PSU Molex cable is probably a floppy connector, not a fan one. They do look similar.
Floppy connectors are mostly used these days to power soundcards.

So where do I actually plug in the extra 4-pin?

Guest · Jul 10, 2014

xMRxVENGEANCEx :

Yeah that'll mean your power supply is either fully or semi-modular. You plug the cable into the supply, and the adapter onto the cable and the fan on to the adapter.

That extra 4-pin on the end of the PSU Molex cable is probably a floppy connector, not a fan one. They do look similar.
Floppy connectors are mostly used these days to power soundcards.

So where do I actually plug in the extra 4-pin?

Nowhere, like I said it's a floppy power connector. I needed it because my soundcard (Xonar DX), requires it.
You can just leave it to dangle if it's not being used.

xMRxVENGEANCEx · Jul 11, 2014

xMRxVENGEANCEx :

So where do I actually plug in the extra 4-pin?

Nowhere, like I said it's a floppy power connector. I needed it because my soundcard (Xonar DX), requires it.
You can just leave it to dangle if it's not being used.

Oh okay, I'll just ziptie it

. Gonna be difficult to cable manage with all the extra fan connectors, especially with the female ones which aren't needed. So where shall I plug the molex cable in on my PSU? In the paraphrials and sata part right? And all I do is plug in the male plugs on the fan adapter to the female plugs on the molex PSU cable? I don't need the female ones on the fan adapter for anything, so I just leave it dangle as well?

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