4-Pin Peripheral power cable to Fan 3 and 4 pin power cable: Conversion questions

Bronze Knight

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Oct 27, 2015
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Hi I'm a little lost on figuring out some power cables and how/if its possible to convert some cables into a different kind.

[strike]SO I'm in the process of getting ready for Fallout 4 and I bought a GTX 960, but I want to contune using the GTX 460 I took out as a dedicated PhisX card but it takes 2 6 pin cables and my PSU only has two one of which is on the 960. Can I split or convert one of the other cables to have 3, 6 pin cables?[/strike] There are cables in the box to convert 2x 4 pins to a 6 pin, so I'm good on this.

My other question is about Delta QFR1212GHE-PWM which I have already bought. According to the specs page it has a 4-pin PWM cable but it is far smaller than the 4 pin peripheral plugs that come off my PSU. It's more like the slots for the CPU fan but my motherboard manual says that the CPU fan slots are all 1.0 amp, and the Delta fan I have is 2.70 amp so I can't plug it in there (right?). Can I convert the big 4 pin peripheral cables to the much smaller 4 pin PWM cable?


Specs are
Corsair TX650
ASUS M5A97 R2.0
AMD 6300 Black Edition
Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler
GTX 960 4GB
Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (getting another 16GB soon)
 
Solution
You have found precisely the right solution. That adapter draws power for all its fans directly from the PSU via one Molex 4-pin output, which CAN supply that much power (more than 8 amps max draw at 12 VDC for 3 fans), unlike a mobo fan port. The adapter's extra female connector is a "standard" 4-pin fan connector that MUST go to a 4-pin fan port of the mobo operating in PWM Mode (the default mode for a 4-pin fan port). That connector does 2 things: (a) feeds to the mobo (via port Pin #3) the speed signal from ONE of its fans for monitoring; and, (b) gets from the fan port Pin #4 the PWM signal that can be safely shared by all 3 fans on the adapter to control their speeds.

You can use less than 3 fans on this adapter, of course. Just...

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
You have found precisely the right solution. That adapter draws power for all its fans directly from the PSU via one Molex 4-pin output, which CAN supply that much power (more than 8 amps max draw at 12 VDC for 3 fans), unlike a mobo fan port. The adapter's extra female connector is a "standard" 4-pin fan connector that MUST go to a 4-pin fan port of the mobo operating in PWM Mode (the default mode for a 4-pin fan port). That connector does 2 things: (a) feeds to the mobo (via port Pin #3) the speed signal from ONE of its fans for monitoring; and, (b) gets from the fan port Pin #4 the PWM signal that can be safely shared by all 3 fans on the adapter to control their speeds.

You can use less than 3 fans on this adapter, of course. Just be sure that one of them is plugged into the adapter's male outlet with all 4 pins.

OP, I'm not clear how many of these fans you have, and where they are to be used. There are basically two fan cooling systems in a computer case, each controlled separately. The CPU_FAN port controls cooling of the CPU chip, based on the internal temperature of the CPU chip itself. Normally that requires one fan, although some systems use two either in parallel for a large liquid-cooling radiator, or in series in a push / pull fashion with fans on both sides of the CPU heatsink. Your Hyper 212 EVO unit can be used with either one fan or two (push / pull). However, I doubt it requires one or two of those Delta fans - one of the Hyper fans might well be enough, and two in push / pull fashion would give lots of CPU cooling. If you use two of those fans in a push/pull setup on the CPU heatsink, you have only one mobo CPU_FAN port to plug into. So you'd need a standard 4-pin fan splitter to connect those two to that single port, and that's OK if you're using that fan type which typically consumes about 0.3 amps per fan.

I suspect your plan is to use one or more of the high-power Delta fans for case ventilation. That job is controlled by the mobo's three CHA_FAN 4-pin ports, which base their control on temperature measured by a different sensor built into the mobo. In your case you'd only need to plug that special connector from that adapter into one of those CHA_FAN mobo ports for the two signals. That would work just fine. It even appears that those Delta fans are the same thickness as common case vent fans, so fitting them in should be no problem. IF you can, try for vibration-isolating fan mounting sleeves (usually rubber that go through the fan's mounting holes) - maybe they come with the fan or with your case.

Finally, a modest warning. Sometimes people stick their fingers into a running fan to stop it for a brief test. I note that users on the Newegg website say do NOT do this - the fan is turning MUCH faster than most with lots of power, and it will cut your finger!
 
Solution

Bronze Knight

Reputable
Oct 27, 2015
7
0
4,510
Yes the Delta is for case ventilation, it is replacing the exhaust fan on the back that came with my case (Apevia MX-PLEASURE-BK ATX Full Tower Case) all my case fans are showing their age having been running 24/7 for almost 7 years (new build same case).

And, if I understand you correctly the extra female 4 pin PWM goes to the "chan_fan 2" slot on the motherboard right next to the CPU fan plug so the fan can be controlled via BIOS/other fan control programs. I think I've got it!

Just need to sort out how many fans I'm replacing and think about doing some cable management.

Thankyou!
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Yes, that will do it. In fact, any of the CHA_FAN ports would be OK. Just make sure in BIOS Setup that the port you use is set to automatic control and PWM Mode. (You may not have any choice of the mode if the port can only do 4-pin (PWM) mode.)