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FAN PINS

Laftpig
By Laftpig
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I know this is a rudimentary question but the fans on my case are 3 pin and the motherboard are 4 pin. The 3 pin can be plugged in; is that ok, 3 pin to 4 pin?  This is my first attempt at a build. Thanks. 

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Yes - that's fine. The fourth pin is for PWM, which allows you to control the RPM of your fan.

 

A 4-pin fan is ideal because you can reduce the RPM to make it quieter*; however, it's not necessary and nothing will go wrong.

 

*without adjusting voltages, which doesn't work with all motherboard profiles

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1 minute ago, Imbellis said:

Yes - that's fine. The fourth pin is for PWM, which allows you to control the RPM of your fan.

 

A 4-pin fan is ideal because you can reduce the RPM to make it quieter; however, it's not necessary and nothing will go wrong.

Just to be clear, you can still control the RPM with 3 pins; voltage control. You have a lesser degree of control though and a smaller speed window to work with.

"We're all in this together, might as well be friends" Tom, Toonami.

 

mini eLiXiVy: my open source 65% mechanical PCB, a build log, PCB anatomy and discussing open source licenses: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1366493-elixivy-a-65-mechanical-keyboard-build-log-pcb-anatomy-and-how-i-open-sourced-this-project/

 

mini_cardboard: a 4% keyboard build log and how keyboards work: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1328547-mini_cardboard-a-4-keyboard-build-log-and-how-keyboards-work/

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Yes, plugging a 3pin fan in to the 4pin connector on the motherboard is fine. The fan connector will have small notches on it to line it up with the correct pins for the motherboard connector.
 

 

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4 minutes ago, Imbellis said:

Yes - that's fine. The fourth pin is for PWM, which allows you to control the RPM of your fan.

 

A 4-pin fan is ideal because you can reduce the RPM to make it quieter; however, it's not necessary and nothing will go wrong.

You can control the RPM on 3 pin fans too.

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Thank you everone for you quick and very informative responses. 

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Just now, Minibois said:

Just to be clear, you can still control the RPM with 3 pins; voltage control. You have a lesser degree of control though and a smaller speed window to work with. 

 

Just now, Enderman said:

You can control the RPM on 3 pin fans too.

Yes - you guys are correct, you can usually do it (Thanks for the response - it's always better to have discussion than not to).

I was assuming that he would like to avoid voltage controls because he's new to building.

 

However, some mobos have profiles that work with only PWM fans  - hence why I only mentioned that in my post (due to an unknown motherboard).

 

Fan Comparisons          F@H          PCPartPicker         Analysis of Market Trends (Coming soon? Never? Who knows!)

Designing a mITX case. Working on aluminum prototypes.

Open for intern / part-time. Good at maths, CAD and airflow stuff. Dabbled with Python.

Please fill out this form! It helps a ton! https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/841400-the-poll-to-end-all-polls-poll/

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Just now, Imbellis said:

 

Yes - you guys are correct, you can usually do it (Thanks for the response - it's always better to have discussion than not to).

I was assuming that he would like to avoid voltage controls because he's new to building.

 

However, some mobos have profiles that work with only PWM fans  - hence why I only mentioned that in my post (due to an unknown motherboard).

 

My motherboard has PWM and 3 pin fan control and they are both quite intuitive (as in I can just set an RPM for the fan when it's at 50 degrees C, 60 degrees C, etc.), 4 pin just allows for more granular control.

The standard curve is decent enough though.

"We're all in this together, might as well be friends" Tom, Toonami.

 

mini eLiXiVy: my open source 65% mechanical PCB, a build log, PCB anatomy and discussing open source licenses: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1366493-elixivy-a-65-mechanical-keyboard-build-log-pcb-anatomy-and-how-i-open-sourced-this-project/

 

mini_cardboard: a 4% keyboard build log and how keyboards work: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1328547-mini_cardboard-a-4-keyboard-build-log-and-how-keyboards-work/

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Imbellis I never like to assume anything, usually gets me into trouble. The motherboard is a MIS Z270 gaming M5. Seeing the case came with only 3 pin fans I’ll have to go with that. I’m working at this has we converse. I will research what you stated before I turn it on tomorrow. 

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17 hours ago, Laftpig said:

Imbellis I never like to assume anything, usually gets me into trouble. The motherboard is a MIS Z270 gaming M5. Seeing the case came with only 3 pin fans I’ll have to go with that. I’m working at this has we converse. I will research what you stated before I turn it on tomorrow. 

Check out your manual. It has all relevant information, like which headers can be controlled and does mobo detect pins or do you need to switch that yourself.

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Thanks LoGiCalDrm I have been researching that and still working on it. But I did have success with my first build. It turned on and all the fans work. ?  My power supply has an Eco switch that turns the fan off in the power unit when under light load. Trying to decide if I want to do that. Temp of CPU 36C, which seems in the ok range from what I read, no load. System temperature is about 10 degrees cooler. Thanks again for responding. 

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15 hours ago, Laftpig said:

Thanks LoGiCalDrm I have been researching that and still working on it. But I did have success with my first build. It turned on and all the fans work. ?  My power supply has an Eco switch that turns the fan off in the power unit when under light load. Trying to decide if I want to do that. Temp of CPU 36C, which seems in the ok range from what I read, no load. System temperature is about 10 degrees cooler. Thanks again for responding. 

You can download manual from mobos support page. I do it all the time when helping others.

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