Tom's Hardware > Forum > Overclocking > Cooler and Heatsinks > Replacing 4 pin CPU cooler stock fan with 3 pin fan

Replacing 4 pin CPU cooler stock fan with 3 pin fan

Forum Overclocking : Cooler and Heatsinks - Replacing 4 pin CPU cooler stock fan with 3 pin fan

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quaduser   07-23-2008 at 10:54:48 PM


My Xigmatek S-1283 works great on my Q6600 but I find it a bit loud.. can I replace it with my Scythe S-Flex E fan? It's a bit slower but quieter.. but the latter also has only 3 pins and had a 3 - 4 pin convertor.

Can I use this? Will using a 3 pin fan as the 4 pin CPU fan do damage when the mobo tries to control the speed/ RPM of the fan?

Any other suggestions for a 120 mm fan to replace the stock Xigmatek fan? Noise level is most important but don't want to fry my chip either.. right now, I'm running 5 hours of Prime 95 at 44 C at stock voltage and freq (2.4 GHz).

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sportsfanboy   07-24-2008 at 03:48:02 AM
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I would plug it in as a case fan on a three pin header, than adjust the speed in the bios. Then set the cpu fan to ignore.

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kdublin   03-11-2009 at 03:39:59 PM
- 0 +

This is old but if I found it, others might, too.

You guys are dumb.

The four-pin header will be notched so that an older or cheaper (and most definitely compatible) 3-pin connector can only go on one way. There is no risk in hooking up the three pin fan to this four-pin header unless you cram it on there backwards or something.

The fourth pin- as anyone posting a technical reply to this question should know before telling someone how to set their cpu fan up like an idiot- is the blue CONTROL wire, for pulse-width modulation (pin 3>green is the SENSOR wire for RPMs).

Plug the 3-wire fan in and the motherboard should do the rest. You *MIGHT* have to go into BIOS and tell the system that the CPU fan is DC, not PWM.

BTW, the first thing you should do when getting a middle-of-the-road heatsink-fan combo is put a better fan on it, IMPO.

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