Can someone explain to me please how 3 pin and 4 pin PWM fans work in conjunction with a fan control

TonyTurbo78 · 14 Sep 2014 at 14:06

Hi guys.

Currently putting together a little build project. Got the Corsair 780T pre-order, also got 4 SP120 PWM High Performance for push/pull config on a future purchase on the H105 when it comes back in Stock. Now the case already has two LED AF120s in the front which I'm guessing are hooked up to the fan controller on the front of the case. My question is, the 4 SP120 PWM high performance fans I have, I want to be able to control them via a Fan Controller which I'm planning on having in one of the drive bays. The fan controllers I've looked at though, seem to have 3 pin connectors for the various fan channels. I thought you can only control voltage and monitoring with 4 pin PWM fans??? Would I need a 4 pin to 3 pin adaptor so I can hook up the 4 fans on my rad to the Fan Controller?

thanks in advance

setter · 14 Sep 2014 at 14:15

Some fan controllers feature 4 pin plugs so you can use both types of fans. Akasa FC6 i have is like this. Or you can use adapters or cut the side of the 3 pin connector on the controller to allow a 4 pin fan to fit. Another alternative is to use a PWM splitter cable, this allows you to control upto 5 PWM fans from the cpu fan header, ive done this with various PWM fans. Power is provided via a molex connector on the splitter. The advantage of this is you can use bios fan profiles to control fan speeds.

TonyTurbo78 · 14 Sep 2014 at 15:12

ok cheers setter. Isn't that a little ball ache having to go in to the bios when fan speeds need to be upped though, mid gaming session? The reason I said about the controller, I thought that would be the easiest, and quickest way to alter speeds on the fly to control temps?

setter · 14 Sep 2014 at 15:22

No issue at all, on my asus board i just select the profile in bios i wish to run, silent, standard and turbo. Fan speeds ramp up/down automatically according to cpu temp. So for example, at idle on the turbo profile my 2350 rpm sp 120 cooler fans sit at 800 rpm, once in game they speed up automatically. Or i can use asus ai suite in windows to further fine tune the fan profiles.

TonyTurbo78 · 14 Sep 2014 at 15:38

I see. cheers man