PWM fan control

[Canary Wundaboy]

Hi All,

I bought a Corsair 5000D case to replace my ageing NZXT Phantom 410. In my old case all the fans were plugged into extenders that hooked up to a control board, that was controlled by a manual switch on the top panel. Slide the switch down and the fans spin slower, slide it up and they go full pelt.

With the new case, it comes with a PAWM board that needs power, and then connects to the motherboard. No bother, I've hooked it up to a SATA power connection and SYSFAN_1 on my motherboard (a Gigabyte Z97 Gaming 7).

The problem is, how do I now control the fan speed? They're all running full pelt and I can't figure out how to slow them down. I don't know whether I need Corsair software, I've tried the Gigabyte "System Information Viewer" and that doesn't seem to have sensed the presence of the fan control board. Also all my fans are 3 pin, but the control board male pins are 4-pin, if that means anything?

 

[Canary Wundaboy]

Ah, so my fans are all 3 pin ones, not 4. The connectors on the board are 4 pin, as is the connection from the board to my motherboard. The fans that came with the case were 4 pin ones. I’m guessing that I have DC fans. What implications does that have for fan control. I plus I be better off looking at someone like the commander pro unit to control these fans independently or do I need to replace all my fans?

 

[Canary Wundaboy]

Can you clarify which fans you're using? Are you using the fans that came with the case, or have you replaced them?

In either case, fan control can be done through the BIOS. Should have a few presets to determine how the fans ramp up with temperature, or you can set a custom fan curve (BIOS permitting). I suspect the fan board you mention is just a dumb splitter rather than something to provide additional channels, so all fans attached to it will be treated as a single fan on whatever motherboard header you use.

If you want to control the fans independently, then you'll need a proper fan controller.

The only thing now is whether you set up fan control in the BIOS as PWM control (if you're using 4 pin fans) or voltage control (if you're using 3 pin fans). But do make sure you select the correct one; PWM control on a 3 pin fan does nothing (no 4th wire to send the control signal) and voltage control on a 4 pin fan can make them sound rattly and grindy at lower speeds because the motor is designed to run at 12V all the times.

I have Corsair AF120 fans throughout, replaced the 2 4-pin ones that came with the case (boring black one) as the AF120s have red leds. They’re all 3-pin. I ended up buying a Corsair Controller Pro and just installed it this evening, works a treat!