Fan controller

Lufferov

Lufferov

Lufferov

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Joined
4 Jan 2015
Posts
27
Hi,
I'm a little confused, I've got two fans on my radiator for the NZXT Kraken water cooler. They are really noisy though with the bearings rattling, I've had two replacment fans sent from NZXT already and they both lasted a couple of months and now they are rattling too. So, I decided to buy some new fans and I got two Corsair ML120 fans.

I just discovered (though it's not mentioned anywhere on the product page) that these fans require 4 pin PWM control. But the fan power leads on my Kraken only have 3-pin... Soooo, what do I do?

Presumably I need the CAM software to be able to control the fans to keep the liquid in my loop temps under control? So should I cancel my order or is there a way around this?
 
Return the maglev fans if you do not have a way of controlling them with PWM. They require a constant 12V for the magnetic bearing to work otherwise they are just going to grind and fail.

I recommend FQ121WC fans as a cheap 3 pin fan that are great on radiators.
 
PWM fans don't play well with 3 pin fan control, I'd recommend cancelling them and getting some 3 pin fans if you don't want to setup fan control with software.

Which Kraken cooler do you have?
 
I have the Kraken x61, which I've now discovered uses 140mm fans. But the good news is it does have 4-pin PWM connections. So, I can use the Corsair ML series, just not the 120s I ordered. I'll need to get the ML140s instead!

Really should have done my research first! .. I could replace my two case fans with the ML120s, but they really are only 3-pin. So what options do I have if I want to use the ML fans in my case? What's the best/easiest way to get 4-pin connections and control them via software?
 
Ahh, I thought they might be 140mm, that's why I asked :p

What motherboard do you have? The best/easiest way to control PWM fans is with built-in control on your motherboard either in the BIOS or with your motherboard's software.

All you really need are 4-pin headers on the motherboard to connect and control via software though, I'd recommend the NZXT CAM software, it is actually quite good.
 
I know, is was a massive fail in the original Grid and they carried it onto the Grid+ like it didn't even matter...

You motherboard might have built in fan control options? Does it have any 4-pin headers?
 
Okay, time for an update....

The Kraken X61 does does do PWM, but only 1 of the connectors is 4-pin, the others are 3-pin. They say to connect one of the fans to the 4-pin and the other to the 3-pin. So I did that, and it does seem to be working. CAM is controlling both the fan speeds with PWM and everything in that regard is great.

BUT, there had to be a problem didn't there, nothing is ever simple!

In terms of my case, I checked it out and sys_fan 1, sys_fan 2 and sys_fan 3 all have 4-pin fan headers. There is a sys_fan 4 that's 3-pin too as well as the CPU_fan which I'm not using because the Kraken doesn't need it.

So I thought I was sorted, I have two intake fans on the front of the case and one fan on the back. So I figured I'd just use the sys_fan 1, sys_fan 2 & sys_fan 3 headers. Sounded logical and should work. The two 140mm radiator fans are on the top and controlled by the Kraken.

Having installed them, even though they are 4-pin, it seems they are being controlled by voltage because the LEDs get brighter and darker with the fan speed. I don't know how to control them with PWM? I'm using the Gigabyte System Information Viewer for fan control but it doesn't say anything about PWM or voltage. I've looked in the BIOS I can't see any settings in there relating to PWM either.

I'm using a Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 7 motherboard.

The fan controller does speed up and slow down the fans, but I'm guessing it's not good to run these ML fans at lower voltages?
 
On gigabyte MB only cpu fan is PWM so you need to connect your kraken to this header. Unfortunately. Even later z170 has only 1 pwm header (all other headers are 4 pin but voltage controlled)
 
4-pin headers are commonly used for 3-pin variable voltage control fans. 3-pin and 4-pin heads can be used with both 3-pin and 4-pin fan plugs. ;)
 
Still doesn't make any sense to put a 4-pin header on the motherboard if it's not PWM though. If a 4-pin fan can plug into a 3-pin header why would you make the connection 4-pin if it's just voltage control?
 
For future use?
It's commonly done.

Your motherboard manual should clearly show you if fan headers are PWM or variable voltage or fixed voltage.

Seems you are trying to blame others for not knowing what is standard in the industry.
 
It's a fairly shi**y industry standard then... I checked my motherboard manual, frankly it couldn't be more deliberately misleading if it tried. It seems like they want you to /think/ that it's PWM even though it's not. Even the BIOS makes reference to the fans being PWM when you set them to "Manual" control.

The motherboard manual states:
  • 1st System Fan Speed Control (SYS_FAN1 Connector)
Allows you to control the fan speed. This item is configurable only when 1st System Fan Speed Control
is set to Manual. Options are: 0.75 PWM value /oC ~ 2.50 PWM value /oC.
​

  • 2nd System Fan Speed Control (SYS_FAN2 Connector)
Allows you to control the fan speed. This item is configurable only when 2nd System Fan Speed Control
is set to Manual. Options are: 0.75 PWM value /oC ~ 2.50 PWM value /oC.
​

  • 3rd System Fan Speed Control (SYS_FAN3 Connector)
Allows you to control the fan speed. This item is configurable only when 3rd System Fan Speed Control
is set to Manual. Options are: 0.75 PWM value /oC ~ 2.50 PWM value /oC.
​

Seems like a blatant lie to me, there is no PWM! Far from me wanting to "blame others for not knowing what is standard in the industry"... I would just like to have honesty.
 
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Not sure what the question is any more but you can plug 3 pins in to 4 and 4 pins in to 3. You can control the 'speed' e.g. the level of power using either PWM or just via the direct voltage.

CAM does work with 3 pin fans and 4 pin, there is space to fit both. Some other motherboard headers have similar settings in the BIOS. The only watch out for the Grid V2+ is that it doesnt support all higher voltage fans, so you will find your corsairs may rev up periodically for no reason as CAM cannot hold the steady RPM on that voltage. You can tie these profiles to CPU or GPU temp, CPU being the common option.

So yea, if you literally want to control the speed of your fans then stop having a **** fit about PWM when it is not the only means of doing it.
 
Smffy said:
So yea, if you literally want to control the speed of your fans then stop having a **** fit about PWM when it is not the only means of doing it.
Click to expand...

That would be fine if I hadn't just spend over £80 on fans that DO require PWM control! The new Corsair ML fans use Magnetic Levitation and don't work properly at lower voltage.

EDIT: Of course if you'd read the thread before jumping in, you'd have known all that.
 
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Smffy said:
So yea, if you literally want to control the speed of your fans then stop having a **** fit about PWM when it is not the only means of doing it.
Click to expand...

It is a fair reason to be annoyed. The board has 4-pin headers that don't provide PWM control, I'd call that misleading considering it isn't something that is normal to put a lot of research into, it's more of a "Oh look, 4 4-pin headers" and even if research had been done the manual didn't help...

I'd be ****ed even if I had standard LED fans because unless they are running at 100% the LEDs are dimmed and don't look as good which basically means money down the drain.
 
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