4 pin case fans

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

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Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
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Hi guys,

This seems to have passed me by. When did case fans move from 3 pin to 4 pin? All my fans are 3 pin but new boards like the Asus P67 Pro have mostly 4 pin connectors and therefore unless I have a 4 pin case fan the motherboard cannot control it, presumably?

With this in mind - anyone have any recommendations for decent 4 pin case fans? I want good performance but don't wish to be deafened, though I get the impression that these fans are now fully controlled by the motherboard and only run at full power when required?

Thanks!
 
3 pin fans should still plug into a 4 pin mobo header and still work. The mobo may still be able to control speed via dc regulation rather than pulse width modulation, depends on the mobo and bios. Failing that get a fan controller, it will probably as cheap as getting x replacement fans.
 
I might as well replace two of the fans and get full functionality though? They are only a few quid each.

Whats a good suggestion for fans?
 
4-Pin are PWM fans, 3-pin are DC fans. The difference is the way in which the speed is controlled.

3-pin are still much more popular and there's a massive range, popular PWM fans include the Akasa Apache and Viper series. The best 3-pin fans I've used are the Noctuas, but you do pay for them. I'd allocate a budget and go from there.
 
Unless im mistaken, that asus board can still control the speed relating to the temperatures. 4 pin fans will just give you a little more control over them.

If you've already got decent 3 pin fans, Stick with them.
 
Download the manual of the mobo and see if it categorically states that it won't speed control 3 pin fans. I would suggest it would have to say that it doesn't support speed control of 3 pins fans rather than making you assume it didn't, as since you can still attach 3 pin fans to the mobo, their support forums would be full of people complaining the manual didn't tell them if 3 pin fans don't allow speed control. Anyway, best option would be to get the mobo first, then get 4 pin fans later if your existing fans don't work as intended.
 
The thing that threw me is the board has 4 headers (2 3 pin 2 4 pin) yet all the screenshots of the UEFI BIOS and the control software show only monitoring output and speed settings for FAN1 and FAN2.

My IP35 Pro does a wonderful job of controlling 4 fans..
 
[TW]Fox;18199095 said:
The thing that threw me is the board has 4 headers (2 3 pin 2 4 pin) yet all the screenshots of the UEFI BIOS and the control software show only monitoring output and speed settings for FAN1 and FAN2.

My IP35 Pro does a wonderful job of controlling 4 fans..
Click to expand...

How do you control 4 fans with ip35Pro? Do you use uguru or some other software?
 
UnworthyBean said:
Unless im mistaken, that asus board can still control the speed relating to the temperatures. 4 pin fans will just give you a little more control over them.

If you've already got decent 3 pin fans, Stick with them.
Click to expand...
I emailed asus support about controlling 3 pin fans from the cpu header, they replied that speed control for 3 pin fans had been removed, 4 pin PWM only, board at the time was a p5q deluxe, my current p6t deluxe doesnt control 3 pin fans either.
 
alexhull24 said:
4-Pin are PWM fans, 3-pin are DC fans. The difference is the way in which the speed is controlled.

3-pin are still much more popular and there's a massive range, popular PWM fans include the Akasa Apache and Viper series. The best 3-pin fans I've used are the Noctuas, but you do pay for them. I'd allocate a budget and go from there.
Click to expand...

+1 for Apache and Viper.
 
I thought 3 pin fans are always suppose to run at their full rated rpm and only 4 pin fans come with pwm feature thus only they can be controlled by mobo or external software :confused:.
 
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