Molex to 3-pin fan connecters but they only have 2-pins?!?

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TheNewbBuilder

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Jul 29, 2015
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Hey people of the internet

I am new to computer builds and have come across a few snags (I have managed to sort out almost everyone except one very annoying thing THE FANS) My motherboard and CPU was taken from a dell XPS 8100 and only has 1 4-PIN fan header which is used for the CPU cooler. The only other header that can be used for fans is 1 3-Pin header. Now the issue I have is with my build, I brought a Phanteks Enthoo Luxe which has a PWM hub that connects the 3 pre-installed case fans together, this needs a 4-pin header in order to work (I tried to use a 3-pin header and the cable literally smoked and melted R.I.P) the only other way I can think of is to use a Molex to multi 3-pin fan connector however every Molex to 3-pin cable I have come across only has 2-pins (Red & Black or Yellow & Black)

I brought this-
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-4-pin-male-molex-to-3-x-male-3-pin-fan-adapter-a28nn
(You can see the "3-pins" only have 2pins)

the fans I am trying to use are 3-Pin. Is it ok to use a Molex to 3pin even though the cable from the Molex only has 2pins? and why is it that every Molex to 3-pin I come across only has 2Pins?

Computer Specs -

Intel I7 860 2.8Ghz
Intel DH57M01 Motherboard
8GB DDR 3 RAM
Corsair RM750 PSU
GeForce GTX 770 4GB OC Edition
2TB HDD
2 optical drive

Any help in this matter would be great, many thanks in advance.
 
Solution
Someone Somewhere
The third pin is only for telling the motherboard how fast the fan is spinning. Your power supply can't use this information, so there's no point including it in the cable because it would go nowhere.

The fourth pin on 4-pin fans is for the motherboard to tell the fan how fast to spin; without it connected it just spins at full speed.

It's perfectly fine.

I tried to use a 3-pin header and the cable literally smoked and melted R.I.P
Click to expand...
That's unusual... you may have a bad fan, or you may have put it on the wrong three pins.
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Someone Somewhere

Someone Somewhere

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Sep 23, 2012
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The third pin is only for telling the motherboard how fast the fan is spinning. Your power supply can't use this information, so there's no point including it in the cable because it would go nowhere.

The fourth pin on 4-pin fans is for the motherboard to tell the fan how fast to spin; without it connected it just spins at full speed.

It's perfectly fine.

I tried to use a 3-pin header and the cable literally smoked and melted R.I.P
Click to expand...
That's unusual... you may have a bad fan, or you may have put it on the wrong three pins.
 
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Solution
T

TheNewbBuilder

Reputable
Jul 29, 2015
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4,510


Thanks for the information its much appreciated, even the tech guy as the shop didn't know why there wasn't no third pin he actually said its a manufacturing defect :lol:

And regards to the PWM cable smoking I have all the fans working now some through the PSU and two through the motherboard, so it couldn't be a fan problem. I attempted to daisy chain the original 4pin PWM cable to another 4-Pin PWM extension cable in order to "extend" the length as I had to use a 3-pin header (the only one available for fans) on the motherboard instead of the 4-Pin that is actually requested by the manual (I read somewhere on one of these forms that is was ok to do) needless to say I wont be attempting to do that again :pfff:
 
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