Heatsink fan- 3pin vs 4pin problem

wowjunkie25

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Jun 22, 2011
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I Bought an http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131734&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_- mobo and it is not working with my new CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103933&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_- my CPU acts as if it is not getting any voltage...it does not get warm...I checked the voltage with a multimeter coming out of the PSU to the CPU connector and it measured a CORRECT 12volts...so I ordered a replacement CPU to see if it was the CPU...plugged in the new CPU same problem...so my last thought is this..

The Heatsink fan is a 3 pin for an old AMD athlon 64...it fita like a glove but the mobo has a 4 pin connector for the CPU can...if my board has a safety feature that will not give the CPU power if all 4 pins are not connected...because the board otherwise thinks there is not a HSF on it...anyone know if this is true with my MOBO...ASUS is not currently open so here i am going to the always helpful tomshardware forums :)

any answers are appreciated :) thank you! - David
 

compulsivebuilder

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Jun 10, 2011
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Can't comment on AMD, but on Intel you can definitely use a 3 wire fan on a 4 wire header and it will work fine - I'm doing that right now because I'm running a Noctua cooler with a three wire fan instead of the 4 wire Intel stock cooler.

I don't think that's your problem - I think you have a motherboard problem.