4-pin Fan To 3-pin Header On Motherboard?

Marundanation

Honorable
Sep 17, 2013
130
0
10,680
Hello,

I am interested in buying the CoolerMaster 120mm Jetflo Fan Cooler. But the problem is that the fan has a 4-pin connector but my motherboard only have 2 of 4-pin connectors and 4 of 3-pin connectors. I am planning to buy 5 of these but my motherboard only has 2 of 4-pin meaning it can only natively support 2 of these fan

Can I still use the other 3 fans which is a 4-pin into a 3-pin header on a motherboard? I do not mind running these at 100% because I am a headphone user.

Here is my motherboard info. Go to page TWO for the layout.
http://66.226.78.22/downloadsite/manual/qig/970%20Extreme4_multiQIG.pdf

As you can see, only two are 4-pins, the rest are 3-pins. Here is the cooler itself:
http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=10&id2=227&bid=9&sid=142668

Thank you.
 
Solution
Yes, they work the same, you just won't have pulse width modulation control which is what the fourth pin is for. Usually the motherboard will still control voltages to a 3 pin header.

Marundanation

Honorable
Sep 17, 2013
130
0
10,680
Thank you for the answers. But I heard that in "most" cases that a 4-pin to a 3-pin may not work and may damage the component according to the last post of this forum thread - http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1085745
Keep in mind this is a PWM fan. People say a PWM fan needs a PWM connector (aka 4-pin). So I am not so sure...

EDIT: I do like the fans to run at full speed regardless. My PC is already loud enough so anything louder I do not care anymore.