****Corsair SP120, AF120 and AF140 fan review.****

stulid said:
I am lead to believe (from reading the above threads quickly) that your 4 pin chassis headers can voltage control 3pin fans.
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the 4 pin chassis headers on the motherboard?
Yeah they can control voltage for my AF140's, they ramp them up/down.

I think I need to get a splitter, so that one socket controls two of the CPU fans.

Thing is though...the chassis fans do go upon load, but should that be the same case for the CPU fans?
I mean are they both reading off the same thing?

Uncle Petey said:
Fan Xpert II works brilliantly imo. Sod the rest of AI suite though :p
Just install AI suite and get the latest Fan Xpert. You only need to install the elements you want (I only have FXII and Probe installed for example).

Anyway, whichever staff member told you that you need to use 4pin fans on a fan controller is talking balls.
Use any type you want. I do with a Lamptron FC6 which only has 3pin connectors.

Try Fan Xpert II again. If my bottom of the range Asus Z77V-LX can control 3pin fans...
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From the same page stulid linked:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1235016/asus-fanxpert-2-on-z77-motherboards/90

My exact experience.
Had to go through my registry, and in fact got so ****ed off that I re-installed win7 all together.

As for the fan controller - I think you and the member of staff are both right.
A fan controller can control any fan MANUALLY, but a fan controller, connected to a 3pin fan cannot be controlled on-the-fly in correspondence to the CPU temps.

If anything a fan controller will go based on case temps, and isn't really "made" for CPU temps, especially not a liquid cooler.

Correct me if I'm wrong though.
 
Ok, I get ya. I do it all manually since the bios based temp readings that auto adjustment uses are usually way off, hence manual fan controller and/or manual/fixed rpm via mobo for me :)

Have you tried Thermal Rader and the cpu 3pin fans in your Chassis headers? If it's like my board, you can only control 3pin via chassis headers and not the CPU header.
 
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I don't have the motherboard so I can only go by what I read, as above Uncle Petey also mentions that the 4 pin chassis headers can voltage control 3pin fans so it must work.
 
Uncle Petey said:
Fan Xpert II works brilliantly imo. Sod the rest of Anyway, whichever staff member told you that you need to use 4pin fans on a fan controller is talking balls.
Use any type you want. I do with a Lamptron FC6 which only has 3pin connectors.
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It really depends if your motherboard can handle voltage control on PWM headers. Some don't do both. Some don't even allow fan speed modulation on 3-pin headers.
 
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Uncle Petey said:
Ok, I get ya. I do it all manually since the bios based temp readings that auto adjustment uses are usually way off, hence manual fan controller and/or manual/fixed rpm via mobo for me :)

Have you tried Thermal Rader and the cpu 3pin fans in your Chassis headers? If it's like my board, you can only control 3pin via chassis headers and not the CPU header.
Click to expand...

stulid said:
I don't have the motherboard so I can only go by what I read, as above Uncle Petey also mentions that the 4 pin chassis headers can voltage control 3pin fans so it must work.
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I'll give it a whirl in just a bit - I'll unplug one of the Sp's and put it into the header fan, and go in the bios - for the heck of it I'll also record, and post a private video link.

By the way, thanks for the on-going support stulid, and thanks pete for the input so far.
 
OK - so I did some testing:
I am able, as Petey said control fan speeds vai the BIOS, whilst they are hooked up the the chas-header.

The problem I have is the following:
1. AF140 fans won't go lower than 40-50%, as they are chassis fans - which means on idle they run at 700RPM and whilst on load (but under 65c CPU temps) they run at 900RPM - after 65c CPU temps, they ramp up top 100% @ 1500RPM

2. SP120's here is the issue: When I connected these up on CPU_OPT and/or CPU header and/or CHAS_FAN - the bios would tell me my CPU temps were 85c, and more so the core temperature was coming up with an error. After I-re-plugged it into the antec one and booted up the PC - the antec software told me the liquid temp was well over 37c (which means that the 85c ios readings for cpu temps were correct)

What it seems like to me is that if the CPU fans are NOT connected into the Antec 920 cpu splitter, the antec 920 pump doesn't respond, and thus doesn't work.

Furthermore, when I try adjusting the CPU fan speeds and/or ramp's they don't work either.

EDIT:
Here are some pictures:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1344892/...antec-920-corsair-sp120-fans/10#post_18988821


EDIT 2!

UPDATE:
A good friend of mine, helped me figure it out.
I plugged the fans into the CHAS FAN headers, and kept the CPU FAN plugged into the antec (school boy error on my part)

So now the SP120's run at only 800RPM whilst on idle!
Now i have to figure out the AF140, to see if it works properly on the CPU OPT, if not, then I'll ahve to buy a 4pin PWM to 2x 3pin adapter for the SP120's
 
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So are these all 3 pin then no 4 pin versions?

Im guessing these also slip into the pump header bit on the H80 like the stock fans do and are able to be controlled via the corsair profiles? I might pick up 2x silent SP120's for my H80.
 
Rofflay said:
So are these all 3 pin then no 4 pin versions?

Im guessing these also slip into the pump header bit on the H80 like the stock fans do and are able to be controlled via the corsair profiles? I might pick up 2x silent SP120's for my H80.
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Nop - corsair don't have the 4 pin versions.

I actually contacted corsair about the query:

Me: "Is there anyway to make these fans a 4pin fan? In other words, would buying a 3pin to 4pin PWM adapter work in controlling these fans' speeds?"

CORSAIR: "No, you can't turn 3 pin fan in to 4 Pin. They're using a different technology in terms of how they adjust fan speed.

I have also been told that a fan controller will not work in controlling, automatically, their speeds, as again, they aren't 4pin PWM fans.

Some fan controller requires PWM fan, some 3 pin, and some can do both. If the requirement is PWM fan, then 3 Pin fan will only work at full speed.

Some motherboard headers can operate both PWM and 3 Pin. Please double check the motherboard's manual."

You however shouldn't have a problem controlling them through the H80 and/or motherbaord.
 
as you cannot buy AF120 in 4pin versions

would SP120 fans be ok if I used them all around my case

1 x front - intake
1 x bottom - intake
2 x sides - intake
2 x top - exhaust
 
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