3 pin fan in 4 pin noctua low noise adapter

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chodamoyer

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Apr 25, 2014
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Does anyone know if I can plug a 3 pin fan (non noctua fan) into a 4 pin low noise adapter from noctua and then connect it to my motherboard. The 3 pin fan is currently plugged directly into the mootherboard and it works fine, it's just loud as heck , but my noctua fan is silent without the low noise adapter. So i'm considering using the low noise adapter on the 3 pin fan. is it safe/possible to use the 3 pin fan with the noctua low noise adapter? has anyone tried this?
 
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burdenbound

burdenbound

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Not sure what a low noise adapter is, but you can not control the speed of a 3 pin fan without connecting it to a fan controller which manages the voltage which allows it to control the speed.

Connecting a 3 pin fan to a 4 pin adapter does not give it the capability of a naturally 4 pin pulse width modulation (PWM) fan.
 
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chodamoyer

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Apr 25, 2014
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at the moment i have an x99 asus deluxe with it's 5 way optimization and I can control the fan speed of my 3 pin fans and 4 pin pwm fans with asus 5 way optimization software. I have a scyth ultrakaze 3 pin fan 120 mm x 38mm that is super loud. i'm considering adding the noctua low noise adapter to this fan and then connecting the low noise adapter to the motherboard. you guys seem to say it's possible but I won't be able to control the fan speed.

you might ask why I care if i can already control the fan speed. well one thing I cannot control is fan speed on boot up..it's 100 percent and super loud. once the computer loads windows the fans settle down to their preset speed and it's fairly quiet.

I'm guessing I can lower the noise on start up with the low noise adapter.

I haven't tried it yet b/c it may break something. i'll let you know if i ever get brave enough to try it though.
 
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hwc1954

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Jan 7, 2015
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I know this is old, but it never really got answered for future lurkers.

Yes, you can plug a 3-pin fan into a 4 pin low-noise adaptor or extension or splitter. No problem. You will get GROUND, +12 V, and a TACH wire (sometimes), just like plugging it into a 3-pin adaptor. 4-pin adaptors, splitters, and extensions can either be used with 4-pin fan connections/headers OR with 3-pin fan connection/headers. They are "backwards compatible" so to speak.
 
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