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Need More Support for my System's Fans

Tags:
  • Motherboards
  • Power
  • Support
  • system
  • dock
  • fans
  • Fan
  • Systems
  • Corsair
  • help
Last response: in Systems
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July 31, 2014 6:54:09 PM

My Motherboard can only support 2 of Corsairs fans as they need to be powered through the motherboard and not directly through the psu (which my older fans did which is why I have come across this problem). I have a total of 5 Corsair fans, can anyone link me a solution whether it is a new motherboard or a internal dock for the fans that I've heard of but as I've said, I'm unsure how to solve this in the most efficient manor.
Thanks in Advance
Oliver.

More about : support system fans

a c 173 V Motherboard
July 31, 2014 6:57:03 PM

Just buy a fan controller for like $20. There are plenty of them NZXT makes some good ones.
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a b V Motherboard
July 31, 2014 7:49:01 PM

If you liked having your old fans powered directly from the PSU and running at full speed all the time, you can get that with your new fans. All you need is a few splitters that convert one 4-pin Molex power output into 2 (daisy-chain 3 to make 1 output into 4), then adapters for each fan that convert 4-pin Molex outputs into 3-pin fan male connectors. It does not matter whether your fans are 4-pin or 3-pin, you can still plug a 3-pin male supply connector into a fan's female connector (they only fit together one way so you can't mis-connect) and those fans will always run full speed.

Now, I still believe it is best to set up AT LEAST the CPU cooling fan(s) powered from the mobo CPU_FAN connector. This is where it IS important to use a 4-pin fan if the port is 4-pin, and 3-pin for 3-pin. This will give the mobo automatic control over that CPU cooling fan speed and allow it to monitor that fan for failure.

I'm not clear when you say you have only 2 mobo fan ports, whether you mean 2 in total, or 2 for case fans in addition to the CPU fan port. Anyway, you could connect one (maybe 2?) case fans to your mobo SYS_FAN port(s), and connect only the extra fans to the PSU via the adapters I mentioned above.
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August 1, 2014 8:03:50 AM

Paperdoc said:
If you liked having your old fans powered directly from the PSU and running at full speed all the time, you can get that with your new fans. All you need is a few splitters that convert one 4-pin Molex power output into 2 (daisy-chain 3 to make 1 output into 4), then adapters for each fan that convert 4-pin Molex outputs into 3-pin fan male connectors. It does not matter whether your fans are 4-pin or 3-pin, you can still plug a 3-pin male supply connector into a fan's female connector (they only fit together one way so you can't mis-connect) and those fans will always run full speed.

Now, I still believe it is best to set up AT LEAST the CPU cooling fan(s) powered from the mobo CPU_FAN connector. This is where it IS important to use a 4-pin fan if the port is 4-pin, and 3-pin for 3-pin. This will give the mobo automatic control over that CPU cooling fan speed and allow it to monitor that fan for failure.

I'm not clear when you say you have only 2 mobo fan ports, whether you mean 2 in total, or 2 for case fans in addition to the CPU fan port. Anyway, you could connect one (maybe 2?) case fans to your mobo SYS_FAN port(s), and connect only the extra fans to the PSU via the adapters I mentioned above.


I have the Corsair H100 Water Cooling for my System's CPU + Two Corsair Fans on either side of the case for ventalation however they are connected to the motherboard (the fans) and there aren't any more ports.
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a b V Motherboard
August 1, 2014 8:10:09 PM

OK, so you still have 3 case ventilation fans with no place to connect them. Follow my suggestion in the 1st paragraph above. Or, here's another way: a 3-pack of adapters:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Each plugs into a 4-pin Molex power output from your PSU and provides a 3-pin male fan connector (powers one fan) and a 4-pin female Molex connector to replace the one "used". Just chain all three one to another. You'll use up ONE 4-pin Molex output connector from the PSU and generate 3 fan power connectors, plus replace the original Molex that was "used". All the fans you connect this way will run at full speed all the time.
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August 6, 2014 11:56:20 AM

Paperdoc said:
OK, so you still have 3 case ventilation fans with no place to connect them. Follow my suggestion in the 1st paragraph above. Or, here's another way: a 3-pack of adapters:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Each plugs into a 4-pin Molex power output from your PSU and provides a 3-pin male fan connector (powers one fan) and a 4-pin female Molex connector to replace the one "used". Just chain all three one to another. You'll use up ONE 4-pin Molex output connector from the PSU and generate 3 fan power connectors, plus replace the original Molex that was "used". All the fans you connect this way will run at full speed all the time.


The port looks different: More like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Akasa-AK-CBFA04-15-Splitter-Cab...
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a b V Motherboard
August 6, 2014 1:22:27 PM

Now that's a different solution that can work, BUT you must pay attention to details.

First, that is a splitter that allows you to power two fans from one mobo port, and they will BOTH be under speed control by that port. This arrangement completely gets away from powering the fans directly from a PSU's 4-pin Molex with no speed control. It is common opinion that any mobo port CAN support up to 2 fans, but not more. (The reason for that limit is the heavy start-up current for a fan.) But here's the tricky detail part. That adapter is designed for 4-pin fans, so it should be used to power 4-pin fans from a 4-pin port. (And, by the way, it appears that it does one pojnt right that some do not - it does NOT have a Pin #3 on one of the output connectors; hence, of the two fans connected, only ONE of them sends its speed signal back to the mobo.) So, IF all your case fans are 4-pin AND IF both your mobo SYS_FAN ports a 4-pin, you can use two of these to connect four case fans to two ports. In fact, even if all your fans are 4-pin and one of your mobo ports is 3-pin, it will still work. That's the backward compatibility aspect of fans: a 4-pin fan plugged into a 3-pin port will work properly. The only problem arises the other way: a 3-pin fan on a 4-pin port won't have speed control, it will just run full speed.
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August 11, 2014 2:40:04 PM

Well you guys know my fans port is very small, like a finger nail in size, so which fan controller will support this port as I don't know the name of the port on the Corsair fans that ccame with my H105 Watercooling. (I messed up earlier but yes, it is the model h105, not h100.)
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a b V Motherboard
August 11, 2014 8:08:51 PM

Corsair's website says the fans supplied come with standard PWM fan connectors - those are also known as standard 4-pin fan connectors.
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