Daisy chaining molex

[TechNoob]

Hello,

Firstly; I have a Corsair 850HX PSU and an Antec 902v3 case.

Would it be suitable to daisy chain the 4 inbuilt case fans (3 x 120mm and 1 x 200mm) using 1 molex cable?

PSU details below...

Advice please... Many thanks!

 

[AdrianPerry]

I think you can do something like up to 8 fans per molex connection you should have no problems at all with just 4.

This vary's I believe depending if you are daisy chaining directly to the PSU or to a motherboard fan header. (Motherboard I seem to remember can only do up to 3) whereas directly to the PSU can handle much more.

 

[TeraMedia]

If your case documentation includes specs for the fans, you can figure out start-up current from that and then figure out how many you can power through a single 4-pin molex connector.

ASSUMPTION: All four fans use 12v power. You can determine this; if the connections are made to the yellow wire on the 4-pin molex, that's usually 12v. If any of the fans connect to the red wire on the 4-pin, that's usually 5v. Not many fans are 5v.

Each molex connector pin has a current limit before it will begin to overheat and melt the plastic. The peak (e.g. startup) current spec is higher than the continuous spec, but both are probably in the neighborhood of 11 amps depending on the quality of the connector (there are "standard" and high-current versions - see the recent Toms article about PSUs at http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-specifications-atx-reference,3061-11.html for details). 11 amps is going to be more than enough for your four fans under continuous operation, but the startup current might be a bit high depending on the behavior of your large fan and the design of your small fans. You need to check the fan specs to see.

(Edited to include URL and correct amperage per pin)

 

[farrengottu]

each pin is rated at 11amps so at 12v you have (which is what the fans use) you have 132w (plus or minus 5% since the 12v is rarely exactly 12v).
important note is that most psu manufacturers use 18gauge wire which is rated at 10 amps. so you can lower that wattage to 120w per CABLE. still with the +/-
ive never seen an 80mm fan use more than 15w so thats a safe number for calculations most are 7-12 though. 30w is around the average for 120mm fans. ive seen them up to 40w though.

dont run it too close to max allowed as its not worth risking the case fire.