How to connect Fans? NZXT PHANTOM

[xtwiinky]

I have an NZXT Phantom, a Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H mobo.

The fans on the case are 3 pin , and the ones on the motherboard are 4 pin (their both i think male, because there are no holes)
The ones on my power supply that look similar are 4 pin holes.
Do I conect them to my power supply, or mobo? Do I need a converter?

Thanks.

 

[jay_nar2012]

That might be a floppy drive power cable...
Floppy drive cable.

4 pin fan cable.

You can put a 3 pin connector in a 4 pin fan port but you get no speed control (always maxed out).

You can get 3 pin fan controllers

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Akasa-AK-FC-03-controller-5-25-drive/dp/B000NPA9W6/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url

 

[geofelt]

I think I would connect them to the motherboard. That is assuming that you have sufficient motherboard fan headers.

A 3 pin fan is made up of two power leads and a speed sensing lead. By connecting them to the motherboard, you will get speed information when using an app like speedfan.
Motherboard 4 pin headers are for pulse width modulation fans(PWM) That is what you get with the stock intel cpu cooler.
It allows the fan speed to be controlled by the motherboard using voltage pulses instead of reducing voltage.

A 3 pin fan lead can still be plugged into a 4 pin PWM header. It will simply run at full speed. Most motherboards will use a 4 pin header for the cpu fan, and have 3 pin headers for the rest. In this case, I suspect that Gigabyte may have a motherboard option to set the function of each header to 3 pin voltage control, or 4 pin pwm control. Very nice if that is so. Check you motherboard manual.

If you use the psu to attach the fans, you will get a constant speed and no speed sensing reporting.

 

[xtwiinky]

That might be a floppy drive power cable...
Floppy drive cable.
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/8732/tutorial4pinfddpowercon.jpg

4 pin fan cable.
http://cdn.overclock.net/9/94/94c41971_4pin_connector_002.jpeg

You can put a 3 pin connector in a 4 pin fan port but you get no speed control (always maxed out).

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/img/4pin.jpg

You can get 3 pin fan controllers

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Akasa-AK-FC-03-controller-5-25-drive/dp/B000NPA9W6/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url

But why is there a fan controller on the Phantom if you cant control the fans?

http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/reviews/cases/LEXS-001BK/nzxt_lexa_s_fan_connectors.jpg

thats how the cables look.

 

[jay_nar2012]

What do the fan connectors look like?

 

[xtwiinky]

What do the fan connectors look like?

http://benchmarkreviews.com/images [...] ectors.jpg
inside is 3 pins.

 

[jay_nar2012]

Your link messed up kinda...

 

[xtwiinky]

Your link messed up kinda...

see the above one,

 

[geofelt]

Usually, the way a fan controller works is that the psu plugs into it with a 4 pin molex connector.
(A large connector with 4 largish holes)
The fan controller then outputs to several fans using 3 pin leads.
Each output on the controller has a switch/rheostat that can reduce the voltage to the fan to slow it down.

The controller will then be mounted in one of the front panel bays for easy access.

 

[delluser1]

I have an NZXT Phantom, a Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H mobo.

The fans on the case are 3 pin , and the ones on the motherboard are 4 pin (their both i think male, because there are no holes)
The ones on my power supply that look similar are 4 pin holes.
Do I conect them to my power supply, or mobo? Do I need a converter?

Thanks.

Fan controller wiring in your case

3 pin fans to the 3 pin connectors
4 pin HDD power from the psu to the 4 pin connector for the fan controller

 

[jay_nar2012]

I don't know the rest of the setup but fan controllers get their power from the 4 pin molex connectors (the ones older dvd drives use) and connect to the board with a 3 pin board so that the board knows that there are fans connected.

Connect one of the fans to the connectors coming from the controller, see if it works.

 

[xtwiinky]

Best answer selected by xTwiinKY.

 

[xtwiinky]

Well i found out every fan cable plugs in to the ones in the picture, its just 2 of them are hidden on the cable management side of the case so you dont have to connect those fans. The cable with the 4 big holes powers all the fans, and the fans that are on the front and side need to be plugged in to the cables that run to the fan controller.


Thanks alot, for telling me to find the 4 big hole cable, i figured out the rest.