Case Fan & Mobo Compatibility Questions

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xander3zero

Commendable
Feb 2, 2017
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Hello everyone, I just built my first PC a few weeks ago and have a questions regarding fans/mobo compatibility.

I have a MSI H110M Gaming motherboard inside a Corsair Carbide Spec-03 case.

Right now I have a cooler master PWM CPU fan plugged into the CPUFAN port on the mobo, which is 4-pin with speed control signal. The two case fans (3-pin) that were supplied with the case are plugged into 2 SYSFAN ports which have NC as the 4th pin.

My question comes from the fact that I potentially want to replace my case fans with some higher quality fans that will be a little quieter. I have been looking at Corsair ML120 fans which are 4-pin PWM fans. If I plug these fans into my SYSFAN ports on the mobo, will they not have variable speed and run at full speed? These fans have a max speed of 2400 rpm which I assume will be dreadfully noisy which I do not want.

Because my mobo SYSFAN headers do not have the 4th pin, should I just look for fixed speed fans that will have the right speed/noise that will suit my application?

If the 4-pin PWM fans will still be compatible with my SYSFAN ports, will the fan speed be fixed at full speed, or will it be variable? And if it will be variable, will I be able to control the speed/setting of the fans through BIOS?

Also, I am planning on running 3 or maybe even 4 fans in the future, will I be okay just using a 4-pin fan splitter like this one to run 2 fans off each SYSFAN port? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B46XKKQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I'm sure this questions has been asked before, and I tried to search for an applicable answer but I was struggling to find a clear answer on the subject. Please let me know if I need to supply any more background information, thanks everyone.
 
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You will not have a problem, and you do NOT need a third-party fan controller module to get the quiet operation you desire.

First, the two SYS_FAN headers on your mobo have four pins, but only operate in Voltage Control Mode just as older 3-pin fan headers do. Now, ALL of the new PWM design fans have a backwards compatibility feature in that design. If one of those is plugged into a 3-pin (or 4-pin) header using Voltage Control Mode, they STILL are under mobo speed control. A 4-pin fan, if used with a true PWM Mode control system, receives a fixed 12 VDC power supply and then modifies it using the PWM signal from Pin #4 to reduce the amount of current flowing through the motor windings. But plug it into a 3-pin header, and it gets no...
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Lutfij

Lutfij

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Oct 7, 2009
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Simple answer: pick up a PWM fan splitter like this or this and pick up PWM fans for your entire case...namely from Noctua's Industrial rage since they lack the horrible cream and brown coloring and replaces them with a monochrome scheme.

Mind sharing the rest of your system's specs?
 
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xander3zero

Commendable
Feb 2, 2017
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Thanks for the suggestions.

Heres my full build:

MSI H110M Gaming Mobo
Intel i5-6600K 6M Skylake @ 3.5 Ghz with Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler
EVGA Geforce GTX 1070 SC ACX 3.0
Crucial MX300 525 GB SSD
2x8 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2133 RAM
Corsair CX650M PSU (I am upgrading to a Seasonic Prime 650 Titanium due to noise with the low-end Corsair PSU)
Corsair Carbide Spec-03 Case
Lite-ON SATA DVD-ROM Drive
TP-Link T9E Wireless Adapter

At this point, my mobo is my real bottleneck of the system I think, but I am not too interested in overclocking or doing anything fancy with the BIOS.

I was planning on picking up a couple of these Corsair Fans: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G5I6MUW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
and using a splitter like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B46XKKQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Now I am potentially thinking of installing a 5.25" bay fan controller and running all my case fans off the controller as opposed to the mobo. My system really isnt generating too much heat and I'm not overclocking my cpu or gpu so the 2 case fans that came with the Spec-03 are probably sufficient, but I'm still considering upgrading to 3 or 4 fans.

I really hate a noisy computer (hence why I'm upgrading to the seasonic PSU) so if I set my system up with 3/4 fans to a controller, I'd probably take advantage of the setup and run them at low RPM's to minimize noise.

Keep the suggestions coming, this is my first build, and I'm loving learning about all this stuff. Having a lot of fun with this build.
 
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Paperdoc

Polypheme
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Oct 19, 2006
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You will not have a problem, and you do NOT need a third-party fan controller module to get the quiet operation you desire.

First, the two SYS_FAN headers on your mobo have four pins, but only operate in Voltage Control Mode just as older 3-pin fan headers do. Now, ALL of the new PWM design fans have a backwards compatibility feature in that design. If one of those is plugged into a 3-pin (or 4-pin) header using Voltage Control Mode, they STILL are under mobo speed control. A 4-pin fan, if used with a true PWM Mode control system, receives a fixed 12 VDC power supply and then modifies it using the PWM signal from Pin #4 to reduce the amount of current flowing through the motor windings. But plug it into a 3-pin header, and it gets no PWM signal to use, so it cannot modify its supplied power. HOWEVER, that power now is not a fixed 12 VDC supply; it is a varying voltage from 12 VDC max down to about 5 VDC, and that DOES control the fan's speed. So, whether you use 3- pin or 4-pin fans, they WILL be under mobo speed control.

The limit for using splitters to connect more fans to one mobo header is that each header normally can supply up to 1.0 amp total to all its fans. The Corsair ML120 Pro LED fans you spec are listed as using 0.3 amps each. So, using that splitter you linked to is quite all right - the total load of 2 fans is 0.6 amps per port, well within the 1.0 amp limit.

In default automatic control operation, each SYS_FAN header will control the speed of its fans to ensure that the temperature measured at a sensor on the mobo is on target. That means that it will reduce the fan speeds as long as the case internal temperature is where it should be, and only increase speeds if temperature rises. Don't forget, if the fans speed up and you hear more noise, it is specifically because the temperature has gone up and more cooling is needed. If you were to intervene (say, by changing to a manual fan controller and running the fans slow anD quiet), you could be running them so slowly that the temperature goes too high and you are allowing mobo components to overheat.
 
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