Case Fan / Cooling Connector Question

[pbedrosi]

Guys, I'm in the process of bulding my 2nd PC, the last one one OC'd celeron 300 (I know, 10 years ago).

The case I purchased is the NZXT Lexa Blackline and the case has the following fans installed;

- 120mm Rear Chassis
- 120mm front chassis
- 120mm side chassis
- 80mm top

All of the fans have a 2 leads (power, ground) going into a simple (somewhat large) power jumper cable. I'm assuming these just plug into the power supply leads. This has to mean that the fans are running full-blast when I turn the PC on.

My motherboard on the other hand has dedicated fan headers (Intal DX38BT)

- 4-pin processor fan
- 4-pin chassis fan
- 3-pin chasis fan
- 3-pin chassis fan
- 3-pin MCH chipset fan

Theses fan header connectors are much smaller. I'm assuming here that MB fan heders will control the fans in variable speed, which is what I would like to have. Based on available headers I may have to plug one of the fans directly to power supply with no control.

What are my choices?

- Can I buy header connectos are re-wire my current fans? (only 2 leads though).
- Buy all new fans with the proper connectors? if so should I match pin counts (3, 4).
- Can I use the MCH fan header to run my 80mm chassis fan?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

BYW, I'm not going to OC my sytem yet and I wil be using the stock Intel CPU fan (E8400).

 

[Andrius]

You can buy the 3pin connectors and fitting pins in any well stocked electronics store.

Since you don't have RPM signals on your fans it's going to be difficult for the board to regulate them. If it works anyway here's my thoughts:

I recommend you plug the side fan to the MCH header (blows air over motherboard).
Connect the front and top fans to the chassis connectors (voltage regulated).
The rear fan can run "full blast" (the case should block most of the noise).

 

[pbedrosi]

Thanks Andrius.

I'll follow your recommendations for the stock fans. Although I'm leaning towards replacing the fans somewhere down the road with the proper connectors for full MB control of fans.