Case fans

[ole4art]

I have just put this first total build together, almost, the case fans on the Antec 900-2 case have connectors that don't fit to the mother board fan pins? My 850 psu is being used with my graphic cards using the plug-ins there. I have read that I can cut the ends and put the three pin mb connectors on instead, three pins two wires? and use it that way? I have been trying to find the proper way to wire everything, not sure about piggy backing the graphic cards to free up a spot on the psu. anyway any help steering me along would be a help.

 

[IH8U]

I'd recommend picking up a few of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189119
$2

 

[wathman]

I'm pretty sure what you are referring to is the control wire, really you just need the two wires (red and black) to supply power and make the fan work, the 3rd wire allows the speed to be adjusted either automatically with software, or with a fan controller.

 

[ole4art]

I'd recommend picking up a few of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189119
$2

Thanks for the suggestion, but I would rather solder then clutter up the case with adapter connections.

 

[hunter315]

With an 850 watt PSU you should have a PCI-E connector for the graphics card which should leave the molex connectors free, you can stack as many case fans together onto a single molex connector as you want, their draw is minimal, but you should really use the PCI-E connector for the graphics card not the molex connectors because they tend to be on lower powered rails.

 

[jsc]

The fan connectors are designed to use molex connectors for power. That's what I used on my 900's. I set the little switches to LOW and left them alone.

You can wire adapters on them. If you do, watch the polarity. Or you can pick up a fan controller.

 

[ole4art]

I'm pretty sure what you are referring to is the control wire, really you just need the two wires (red and black) to supply power and make the fan work, the 3rd wire allows the speed to be adjusted either automatically with software, or with a fan controller.

I was able to get some burned out fans with the three pin mb connectors, I plan on cutting the 4 pin mol which only has two wires in the connectors and using the three pin mb connecters with solder an heat shrink. I am figuring the red wire is 12v pos. the black wire is ground. now on an evga x58 mb looking from the outside of the board the right pin is neg, the middle is 12v power and the third on the left is for speed control, I only have two wires so I would use the two pins on the right and leave the third empty, I plan on leaving the extra wire in the connector in case I replace the fans with three wire type.
now also there is a controller on the back of the 900two case but I can't find any info on how it is wired or how it works? I maybe lookin in the wrong areas but it seems with so many different configurations and power supply types it gets confusing at times, I have two gtx 285graphic cards that require 4 - 6 pin power connectors this really fills up the plug-ins on my blackwidow 850. If anyone can point me to a site that gets in to wire management where I can do some more research before I turn on this 3 grand machine I am buildin for the grandkids to use while they are here.lol

 

[ole4art]

With an 850 watt PSU you should have a PCI-E connector for the graphics card which should leave the molex connectors free, you can stack as many case fans together onto a single molex connector as you want, their draw is minimal, but you should really use the PCI-E connector for the graphics card not the molex connectors because they tend to be on lower powered rails.

I am using pci-e for one of the connections on one of the graphic cards, they require two 6 pin connections each and I have two in this thing, four total, if there is some way to Y these together or do each of these need to come from the psu?? I am running dual everything and finding places to plug things in is a weak spot in my manually operated knowledge database,lol
Just what I can get away with doing.lol

 

[buzznut]

So you should be able to daisy chain the antec tricools. Even if you have two molex connections, or three taken up by the video cards, you should have at least 1 more molex connector. You can throw them inline between the PSU and your optical drive if that is using a molex.
No, you are going to want power directly from the PSU to your video cards. They are the biggest power draw in your system and they need their own power. You can't "bridge" the power between the two because there won't be enough amps for both cards.

 

[ole4art]

Thanks for the replies. I have daisy chained the molex and put them in a 6 pin pci to a Y pair of molex two fans on each leg. Thought everything was goin too well, top 200mm fan isn't turning so need to pull that one and see what is wrong and put another one in. in the mean time waitin for that my wireless keyboard isn't bein seen so haven't been able to use that yet. so that will keep me busy.lol

So you should be able to daisy chain the antec tricools. Even if you have two molex connections, or three taken up by the video cards, you should have at least 1 more molex connector. You can throw them inline between the PSU and your optical drive if that is using a molex.
No, you are going to want power directly from the PSU to your video cards. They are the biggest power draw in your system and they need their own power. You can't "bridge" the power between the two because there won't be enough amps for both cards.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9116/cab-174/3_Pin_Female_Standard_Power_Connector_to_4_Pin_Female_Standard_Power_Connector.html?tl=g2

Same as new egg one but w/o the extra molex