Fan splitter cable or molex to fan adapter?

[Big Frank]

Hey guys

As per the title I don't know whether to get either a fan splitter cable or molex to fan header adapter.

My mobo only has 1 CPU fan header and 2 x cha_fan headers but my case has room for 5 system fans and I want to add more in gradually in the future.

I understand that if I use a molex to fan header adapter that the fans will run at full speed.

Apart from that are there any other things I should consider from either 2 of these options?

Is one of the options more beneficial than the other?

 

[LuckyBenski]

If you're using some form of fan curve/regulation, then it's worth splitting that out to all the fans. Whether it's PWM signal or DC voltage control, that can be sent to multiple fans (assuming they accept PWM if you're using that).

It probably comes down to cable management - whether you'd rather have an extra PSU cable in the main case area, or route more fan cables to the mobo.

 

[EsaT]

Depending on fans it would be usually safe to connect 2/3 fans to one motherboard header.
Anyway having say both intakes fans connected together makes always sense for controlling them together.
Though how much sense there's adding fans to every place depends on airflow design of case and what components your PC has.

If you want to set speed yourself another thing would be etting fan controller starting fro msay Lamptron FC6
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lamptron-fc6-5.25-bay-fan-controller-black-bb-002-lp.html
Assuming case has 5.25" bays instead of being fashion case.

And top level is Aquaero, which has user programmable fan controls with temperature based curves and runs on its own microprocessor.
With models starting from Aquaero 5 LT:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aqua-computer-aquaero-5-lt-usb-fan-controller-wc-011-aq.html

 

[Big Frank]

Thanks guys.

I think I'd prefer the fans didn't run full speed because it is overkill.

My case is a coolermaster Mastercase pro 6 so it has plenty of airflow and 2 x 5.25 inch bays which is the main reason I bought it.

The fans for me are purely for aesthetics the system is cool enough I just want nice and bright blue led fans.

 

[PaulCa]

Simply adding fans for the sake of it is so 1990s. They just add noise and inhale dust unnecessarily.

Instead you want temperature controlled fans these days which operate silently until there is a demand to move heat out of the case. Some smart placement helps too.

With 3 fan headers, assuming air cooling CPU and GPU, I would put a CPU fan + 1 intake + 1 exhaust on the CPU header. CPU fan outputs generally keep a minimum fan speed. So this will be your general and silent cooling. When the CPU starts to get hot these fans will spin up to keep the case and CPU cool.

Then I would add 1 intake + 1 exhaust fan controlled by the GPU temperature on a second header, to push the waste heat of the GPU through the case. The 3rd I would put a further intake only running when the GPU gets proper hot. These GPU controlled fans can actually be stopped while you are on the desktop and the GPU is cool. So it only makes the noise and inhales the dust it needs to.

 

[Todd Greene]

Dosnt molex make the fans run at 100% or something where as splitters allow you to set in bios

 

[Big Frank]

Dosnt molex make the fans run at 100% or something where as splitters allow you to set in bios

Yep that's what I said above. I'll just get splitter cables but I'll need to check the power usage of each fan to make sure they don't overload the fan header or its bye bye mobo.

 

[t31os]

Unless you're suggesting you'd replace the motherboard for some fan headers, i'm not sure what you're worried about, the fans aren't going to harm the motherboard(maybe niche cases where something is faulty), power flows from the motherboard to the fans, either there's enough juice to drive them or there isn't, i can't imagine underpowering them would do any damage to the motherboard at all.

 

[Big Frank]

I'm more worried about having multiple fans requiring more power than the header can supply damaging the mobo.

I'm not going to replace my mobo for one with extra fan headers that's way too labour intensive for the level of priority.

 

[LuckyBenski]

I'm more worried about having multiple fans requiring more power than the header can supply damaging the mobo.

I'm not going to replace my mobo for one with extra fan headers that's way too labour intensive for the level of priority.

Most fan headers supply 1A and pump headers often more. In my experience very few fans go over 0.3A so 3 fans per header usually works.

 

[Big Frank]

Yeah the AIO pump header will be getting used too by the looks of it.