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Asus Z97M-PLUS Case Fan Connectors

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  • Fan
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August 7, 2014 11:33:07 PM

1) I am getting the Asus z97m-plus, my case has 2 pre-installed fan, and according to mobo spec, it has to case fan connectors, I am thinking about buying another case fan to install in case, so my question is there any way possible to work around that to connect the 3 case fan into the mobo, or its a dead end, have to look for another mobo with 3 case fan connectors.

2) Also I am going to be over-clocking, so is there really a need for a third fan, or 2/120mm would do the trick..thanks a bunch.

More about : asus z97m case fan connectors

a b Ĉ ASUS
a b V Motherboard
August 7, 2014 11:41:37 PM

You can just use a fan splitter like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

You haven't said what case you have, but having two intake fans in the front and one exhaust in the back would be a good idea. You may need to add more depending on how your temps run.
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August 7, 2014 11:45:25 PM

volcanoscout said:
You can just use a fan splitter like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

You haven't said what case you have, but having two intake fans in the front and one exhaust in the back would be a good idea. You may need to add more depending on how your temps run.


I am gonna be using the Corsair 200R, it has 1x120 rear, and 1x120 front, so you're suggesting 4 fans maybe, or 3??

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a b V Motherboard
August 7, 2014 11:46:01 PM

Generally, the more fans, the better. And you can buy Molex 4-pin to fan connector adapters that sip power directly from the PSU. In fact, nicer (and usually more expensive) fans typically come with these adapters.

However, fans will run at full speed (and be therefore noisy) when plugged in like that and you lose the automatic function of the motherboard to dial down the fan speed when the system is cool. In that case, you can get in-line resistors which lower the voltage being outputted to the fan to slow it down. Again, some high-end fans come with these too (like Noctua's).

The best thing to do is get a fan controller. They allow you to dynamically control and power numerous fans. They can come in flash touch screen HUDs or manual dials. Some people prefer the touch screens for looks, but some prefer dials for durability and simplicity, etc. The dial models are also cheaper. Here's a few cool looking ones:
http://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/144-sentry-3-fan-con...
http://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/78-sentry-lx-fan-con...
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August 8, 2014 12:29:29 AM

Gunmetal_61 said:
Generally, the more fans, the better. And you can buy Molex 4-pin to fan connector adapters that sip power directly from the PSU. In fact, nicer (and usually more expensive) fans typically come with these adapters.

However, fans will run at full speed (and be therefore noisy) when plugged in like that and you lose the automatic function of the motherboard to dial down the fan speed when the system is cool. In that case, you can get in-line resistors which lower the voltage being outputted to the fan to slow it down. Again, some high-end fans come with these too (like Noctua's).

The best thing to do is get a fan controller. They allow you to dynamically control and power numerous fans. They can come in flash touch screen HUDs or manual dials. Some people prefer the touch screens for looks, but some prefer dials for durability and simplicity, etc. The dial models are also cheaper. Here's a few cool looking ones:
http://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/144-sentry-3-fan-con...
http://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/78-sentry-lx-fan-con...


Thanks for the info, I will look into that..:) 

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Best solution

a b Ĉ ASUS
a b V Motherboard
August 8, 2014 5:31:15 AM

More fans aren't always better - sometimes when you go beyond four they can cause conflicting airflows which negates any additional benefits. If you go with four, put two in the front as intakes and one each in the rear and top/rear as exhaust. For three fans, the study I linked below recommends one intake in front, one intake in the side, and one exhaust in the rear. Personally, I've gotten better results sticking with the front-to-rear setups but you can play around with the placement to see which works better for you. I currently have three complete builds and settled on four fan/front-to-rear setups and they work nicely including for gaming, overclocking and benchmarking. Just remember that any intakes you add need filters - if the case doesn't come with one, you'll need add one. I don't believe the 200R comes with a side filter but Silverstone makes magnetic air filters that work well.

Fan controllers can work well, but read the technical and customer reviews closely. They add a lot of wires into your case and can make cable-management difficult. I've found it simpler and easier to run fans from the mobo either using the BIOS or mobo software to control their speeds. If you decide to go with one, let me know- I have a barely used Bitfenix Recon 2 I'll sell you:) 

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/02/10/the-big-coo...
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August 8, 2014 6:23:39 PM

volcanoscout said:
More fans aren't always better - sometimes when you go beyond four they can cause conflicting airflows which negates any additional benefits. If you go with four, put two in the front as intakes and one each in the rear and top/rear as exhaust. For three fans, the study I linked below recommends one intake in front, one intake in the side, and one exhaust in the rear. Personally, I've gotten better results sticking with the front-to-rear setups but you can play around with the placement to see which works better for you. I currently have three complete builds and settled on four fan/front-to-rear setups and they work nicely including for gaming, overclocking and benchmarking. Just remember that any intakes you add need filters - if the case doesn't come with one, you'll need add one. I don't believe the 200R comes with a side filter but Silverstone makes magnetic air filters that work well.

Fan controllers can work well, but read the technical and customer reviews closely. They add a lot of wires into your case and can make cable-management difficult. I've found it simpler and easier to run fans from the mobo either using the BIOS or mobo software to control their speeds. If you decide to go with one, let me know- I have a barely used Bitfenix Recon 2 I'll sell you:) 

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/02/10/the-big-coo...


Sounds great, thanks for this great info and this great article, I am taking your advise on to go 4 front to rear, not worrying about the side, and just go with the mobo fan control, thanks again.
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a b Ĉ ASUS
a b V Motherboard
August 8, 2014 6:32:33 PM

De nada. You can always add in a fan controller later if you just want to try one out - they are fun to play with. Really, the only time you need them is if the total power draw of the fans exceeds the mobo's header limits, and even then there are cheaper and simpler solutions.
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August 8, 2014 7:35:11 PM

volcanoscout said:
De nada. You can always add in a fan controller later if you just want to try one out - they are fun to play with. Really, the only time you need them is if the total power draw of the fans exceeds the mobo's header limits, and even then there are cheaper and simpler solutions.


Gotcha good to know, I'll look into it after I put everything together, thanks again.

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August 11, 2014 6:28:29 PM

volcanoscout said:
De nada. You can always add in a fan controller later if you just want to try one out - they are fun to play with. Really, the only time you need them is if the total power draw of the fans exceeds the mobo's header limits, and even then there are cheaper and simpler solutions.


Hi there, sorry to bug you, another question pupped up, hope you don't mind. On the mobo its a 4 pin fan connector, and the fan that I am installing is going to be a 4 pin header PWM, in this case would the fan speed be controlled by the mobo, also would it be in PWM mode??, thanks for any comments...

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a b Ĉ ASUS
a b V Motherboard
August 11, 2014 8:35:37 PM

Yes, it will be under mobo control and it SHOULD be PWM. Sometimes Asus has 4pin headers that are actually voltage controlled headers with a dummy pin. Not sure why this do this unless it's just a marketing thing.

In your UEFI/BIOS, if it's a PWM header, you should be able to change the mode. It should have Auto, and Advanced or something similar, with Advanced being voltage control and Auto being PWM. Practically speaking, the main difference is that a PWM fan under PWM control can idle at much lower RPMs than a regular fan. Regular fans usually can't have the lower limit set below 40%.

Another difference, which most people don't notice or care too much about, is it's ability to set the fans' RPMs much more precisely. Instead of setting a voltage level, then adjusting up and down based on tachometer feedback from the fan, if the fan has been optimized, the mobo will send exactly the number of PWM pulses that the fan needs to rotate at a certain speed.

As far as exercising control of the fan speeds goes, once the header is set to the correct mode, you can set the speeds and/or profiles in your BIOS or you can install software to do it. There are a number of different programs that will do it, like SpeedFan, but people don't seem to have much luck using that one with ASUS mobos. If you have AI Suite installed, you can use the Fan Xpert app to optimize your fans, set profiles or control them manually.
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August 11, 2014 9:18:30 PM

volcanoscout said:
Yes, it will be under mobo control and it SHOULD be PWM. Sometimes Asus has 4pin headers that are actually voltage controlled headers with a dummy pin. Not sure why this do this unless it's just a marketing thing.

In your UEFI/BIOS, if it's a PWM header, you should be able to change the mode. It should have Auto, and Advanced or something similar, with Advanced being voltage control and Auto being PWM. Practically speaking, the main difference is that a PWM fan under PWM control can idle at much lower RPMs than a regular fan. Regular fans usually can't have the lower limit set below 40%.

Another difference, which most people don't notice or care too much about, is it's ability to set the fans' RPMs much more precisely. Instead of setting a voltage level, then adjusting up and down based on tachometer feedback from the fan, if the fan has been optimized, the mobo will send exactly the number of PWM pulses that the fan needs to rotate at a certain speed.

As far as exercising control of the fan speeds goes, once the header is set to the correct mode, you can set the speeds and/or profiles in your BIOS or you can install software to do it. There are a number of different programs that will do it, like SpeedFan, but people don't seem to have much luck using that one with ASUS mobos. If you have AI Suite installed, you can use the Fan Xpert app to optimize your fans, set profiles or control them manually.


Well and very nicely explained, thank you, So do you recommend using the PWM, or control the fans thru the bios?

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a b Ĉ ASUS
a b V Motherboard
August 11, 2014 9:40:50 PM

It's not an either-or situation. You can control either type of fan (3 or 4 pin) through BIOS or through software. It's just a matter of how you want it set up. I prefer software because I can change the settings on the fly without having to reboot, but many people set their fans on a profile and never manually adjust them so they don't need the software.

Pretty much all of my case fans are Noctua and usually their PWM models are the same price as non-PWM, so the majority of my fans are PWM even though many of them are being controlled by voltage rather than PWM signal. They're not the cheapest fans, though. Or the prettiest, lol. Other brands charge a premium for PWM, so most people don't use them for case fans. The norm is 3pin non-PWM.

Some PWM fans have issues running off of a voltage control header - motor whine, clicks, don't like to start, etc. Noctuas are so well designed and built that they don't seem to have any of those issues. Mine don't, anyway.

In your situation, all options are open. You can run either type of fan, and control them through BIOS or software, whichever you prefer. Your only practical limit is your budget.
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August 12, 2014 10:09:21 PM

volcanoscout said:
It's not an either-or situation. You can control either type of fan (3 or 4 pin) through BIOS or through software. It's just a matter of how you want it set up. I prefer software because I can change the settings on the fly without having to reboot, but many people set their fans on a profile and never manually adjust them so they don't need the software.

Pretty much all of my case fans are Noctua and usually their PWM models are the same price as non-PWM, so the majority of my fans are PWM even though many of them are being controlled by voltage rather than PWM signal. They're not the cheapest fans, though. Or the prettiest, lol. Other brands charge a premium for PWM, so most people don't use them for case fans. The norm is 3pin non-PWM.

Some PWM fans have issues running off of a voltage control header - motor whine, clicks, don't like to start, etc. Noctuas are so well designed and built that they don't seem to have any of those issues. Mine don't, anyway.

In your situation, all options are open. You can run either type of fan, and control them through BIOS or software, whichever you prefer. Your only practical limit is your budget.


I was thinking to get the Noctua my self, I read great great reviews on them, ok cool, I'll give it a thought to see if I should go with Noctua and using either software or bios, as usual thanks for your expertise...:) 

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a b Ĉ ASUS
a b V Motherboard
August 13, 2014 5:03:43 AM

I'm no expert, just a tinkerer:)  I've been doing a lot of tinkering with computers of the last 20+ years, mostly with laptops, but have really gotten the gaming-build bug over the last year or so. I've tried out a lot of different brands and models of fans based on tech reviews to see how the reviews compare to reality - with the exception of a Cooler Master 212 EVO, all of the non-Noctua fans and coolers have since migrated to the computers owned by friends and family members or are sitting in my closet. In their defense (the fans and coolers), everyone I've given them to have been perfectly happy with them, but very few of them are gamers or enthusiasts.

The one exception has been my wife - she insists on keeping her computer in a closed cabinet (not ideal for temp control) and hates noise. I put some Corsair SP120s in her build, but we share an office and she noticed the noise difference between my PCs sitting in the open and hers enclosed in a cabinet, so now her's has Noctuas, also.
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August 13, 2014 11:02:26 AM

volcanoscout said:
I'm no expert, just a tinkerer:)  I've been doing a lot of tinkering with computers of the last 20+ years, mostly with laptops, but have really gotten the gaming-build bug over the last year or so. I've tried out a lot of different brands and models of fans based on tech reviews to see how the reviews compare to reality - with the exception of a Cooler Master 212 EVO, all of the non-Noctua fans and coolers have since migrated to the computers owned by friends and family members or are sitting in my closet. In their defense (the fans and coolers), everyone I've given them to have been perfectly happy with them, but very few of them are gamers or enthusiasts.

The one exception has been my wife - she insists on keeping her computer in a closed cabinet (not ideal for temp control) and hates noise. I put some Corsair SP120s in her build, but we share an office and she noticed the noise difference between my PCs sitting in the open and hers enclosed in a cabinet, so now her's has Noctuas, also.


lol, way to go on the Noctua for wife, awesome choice, speaking of gaming-build bug, it's really cool building a computer, it's like building your own toy machine lol, I feel very excited about it, :D , I love it my self...thanks for all your inputs, will keep you in touch, take care...
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