Connect 3 pin Case fans to MB 4 pins or to a PWM Hub?

manolaren · May 19, 2016

Hi.
I have the Enthoo Phanteks Proo http://www.phanteks.com/enthoo-pro.html which comes with 2 x 3 pin fans (1x200 front, 1x140 rear). It also includes a PWM Hub http://s1272.photobucket.com/user/Joseph_Cosello/media/pwmhub_zpsf66b268a.jpg.html

I also have a Asus Z170-A https://www.asus.com/gr/Motherboards/Z170-A/specifications/ which has the following connectors 1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin) - 1 x CPU OPT Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin) -
4 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (4 x 4 -pin) - 1 x 5-pin EXT_FAN(Extension Fan) connector.

Which way is the best to connect the fans in order to control them either through Bios or Asus Fan Expert 3? Each one on a separate 4 pin on MB or through the PWM Hub?

If its via the Hub, how the connections must be made? Is there a problem when Hub has to control fans having different sizes and RPM?

Thank you very much.

CountMike · May 19, 2016

For best automatic fan speed control you should really have all PWM fans. 3 pin fans are controlled by voltage variation and if a controller (on MB or otherwise) can control it that way it doesn't matter which one you use.

manolaren · May 19, 2016

So you say its the same, either fans are on MB 4 pins or on Case PWM Hub, right?

One more question pls to see if i get it right.
I guess Bios cant detect min-max RPM of non PWM fans (can Bios detect it for PWM ones?). So it only changes the voltage applied to them, which means the RPM of the fan is changed by a % of its min-max RPM. I mean if a fan has 1000 RPM max and Bios lowers voltage to 50% then theoretically RPM must be down to around 500, but again without Bios known the current RPM . This means that if i connect the 2 different sized fans on the PWM Hub the Bios will lower the voltage by 50% for both, which means same voltage but different current RPM for each one. So in the end as many different fans i connect to the Hub, they all will get the same % of voltage and each one will have different RPM depending of its min-max RPM. Do i got it right?

CountMike · May 19, 2016

That PWM fab controller is in the case ? In that case it should have own controls separate from MB.
I don't know if you are familiar with PWM fans operation. PWM (4 pin) stands for Pulse With Modulation and controls fans by sending shorter or longer impulses of 12v to control fan's speed. 3 pin fans are controlled only by Voltage applied to them. In both cases one of wires (usually green one) sends current fan speed feedback to controller.

manolaren · May 19, 2016

Yes, the PWM Hub is on the case. I connected both 3 pin fans on it and then Hub's 4 pin cable to 4 pin Chase_Fan on MB.

Bios recognize them as a single fan and the speed shown is from the fan connected to the Fan1 slot of the PWM Hub.

Should i keep Bios settings of handling this as DC or change it to PWM because of the Hub??

CountMike · May 19, 2016

I would use CPU cooler fan(s) separate from the hub and let hub control case fans as it probably sees all the fans as only one but they probably have different maximum speeds.

manolaren · May 19, 2016

Thats what i m doing right now. Cpu is on Cpu_Fan and the 2 fans on the Hub and on Cha_Fan. I think i m going to leave it that way. Thanks!

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Connect 3 pin Case fans to MB 4 pins or to a PWM Hub?

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