4 fans, 1 header

PGdude · 26 Oct 2009 at 13:54

Hiya guys. I'm going to be getting an Antec 300 and two Xilence Red Wing fans this week. My current motherboard, however, only has on PWM (CPU) Header, and one 3 pin fan header. The 3pin header is currently in use by my Tuniq Tower.

So my question is, will the two Xilence fans (which I know are 4pin PWM) and the two Antec Tricool (120mm/140mm) fans work well with this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-031-AK

That's enough, right? Or should I be going for something else. I just want them to work as the PC needs them.

k1llah3rtz · 26 Oct 2009 at 13:56

that adapter is for 4pin PWM fans.. but the pinouts are backward/forward compatible. 4 goes onto 3, 3 goes onto 4

PGdude · 26 Oct 2009 at 14:12

Thanks for clearing that up. Another question I have is, what connectors do the supplied Antec Tricool fans have? I've looked around and from pictures, I can see 4-pin Molex connectors. Is this it?

k1llah3rtz · 26 Oct 2009 at 14:58

from antec *3-pin and 4-pin power connectors provide convenient connections to your motherboard or power supply*

would imply that it comes with either a standard 3 or 4 pin header with a convertor

SMAndy · 26 Oct 2009 at 15:07

I have a Three Hundred. It comes with standard 3 pin fan connectors, a fan speed setting on the fan itself (a small wire with block on the end... simple 3 speed settings) and a molex adapter.

There's no point using PWM, as the tricool fans aren't PWM. Just stick them at a sound level you're comfortable with (the middle is about right... not too loud, but has good airflow) and it also frees up your PWM motherboard connections for fans that actually have a benefit in using PWM.

*edit* I actually bought 3 more fans to go in the other spaces, and have them connected to molex connectors too. the only PWM fan i have plugged in is on my CPU, but there i turned off PWM to keep it spinning at max speed... I don't really like PWM, might as well keep the temps down as far as they will go, all the time.

PGdude · 26 Oct 2009 at 18:24

Thanks for your input guys.
I'll be getting this splitter to use the 2 Xilence fans with.
I'll go Molex with the Tricool fans I guess, I have two Molex connectors on my PSU which I don't see will be getting any other use.

PhillyDee · 26 Oct 2009 at 20:21

I would check the maximum power drtaw on the motherboard headers too. It will probably handle 2 fans no problem, but 4 would be 'dodgy'.

PGdude · 27 Oct 2009 at 00:14

PhillyDee said:
I would check the maximum power drtaw on the motherboard headers too. It will probably handle 2 fans no problem, but 4 would be 'dodgy'.

The splitter cable has a molex input on it to add the extra power. It would be quite dodgy if that wasn't the case though.