4-Pin F-12s fail on AB350 Gaming 3?

[redsquirrel0249]

Just did my first boot up and test of a Ryzen 5 1600 build, everything went great.

 

Except these dumb fans.

 

I bought an econo-pack of 5 Arctic F-12 PWM PST case fans because they're cheap and have great airflow. They even have this weird syncing feature with the CPU fan. Ok, neat.

 

Plugged 'em in, and BAM. Nothing happened. Ok, I'll set fan curves. I go into BIOS and fiddle with the curves and even try maxing out, but the fans won't even spin up. They're not even reporting their RPMs to the motherboard.

 

So the fans are 12V 0.25A fans, 4-pin to 4-pin, what gives? I tried multiple configurations of cables, and even tried a fractal design GP-12 dynamic 3-pin fan, and it worked fine, but the Arctic fans wouldn't budge. I mean, I did get them from Platinum Micro through Walmart, so not the best supply chain...

 

So what's the deal? Did I get bad fans? Is my motherboard to blame? Am I just a noob at PWM curve-setting? Is there a way to simply test a fan's electrical capability in isolation? Any and all help appreciated.

 

(Attached is a graph of PWM fan speeds for the fans from Arctic's website to serve as an example of how they're supposed to function)

[WoodenMarker]

What do you mean by syncing feature?

How did you plug them in? Have you tried a single fan plugged into a fan header on the motherboard?

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker they have the capability to be daisy-chained to the CPU fan and mock the RPM signal sent to it, supposedly simplifying fan syncing (though it seems simpler to just manage each in BIOS). They plug in to the 4-pin fan headers on the mobo with a 4-pin PWM connection. And yes I have, I've tried every configuration known to man. I think.

[WoodenMarker]

12 hours ago, redsquirrel0249 said:

@WoodenMarker they have the capability to be daisy-chained to the CPU fan and mock the RPM signal sent to it, supposedly simplifying fan syncing (though it seems simpler to just manage each in BIOS). They plug in to the 4-pin fan headers on the mobo with a 4-pin PWM connection. And yes I have, I've tried every configuration known to man. I think.

Have you tried plugging only a 4pin header from one of the fans onto a 4pin fan header on the motherboard?

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker yes I have. Incidentally I've already sent them back for a full refund. I'll try a new box from someone else, because they seem to be the best PWM fans for the price. Do you have some? Can you run them each with independent speeds, even when they're daisy chained?

[WoodenMarker]

11 minutes ago, redsquirrel0249 said:

@WoodenMarker yes I have. Incidentally I've already sent them back for a full refund. I'll try a new box from someone else, because they seem to be the best PWM fans for the price. Do you have some? Can you run them each with independent speeds, even when they're daisy chained?

When they are daisy chained, you can only control them as a group and the rpm is read from one fan.

I don't have any with me but I've used the F12 PWM PST's before. They worked just fine for me.

If you would like some fan recommendations, let us know your specs, where you're using the fans, where you're shopping/located, and your budget.

[redsquirrel0249]

@WoodenMarker I understand how they work for the most part, they just didn't in my setup for some reason. Thanks for the continued input, though. I would like recommendations for the most cost effective fans for pushing through the front mesh of my case. The F12s seemed like good fits until they didn't work. I did plenty of research on PCPartPicker and hardware.info to find the right fans, but still have a couple questions that you seem to likely know the answers to:

 

1. Can you run the F12s like normal PWM fans? A custom fan curve is important to me, as a want to be able to optimize pressure and maximize effective cooling.

 

2. Is there any real benefit using PWM over 3-pin fans? You can control both, right? So what's the big deal? Is it that much more control, is it that much more precise, or is it just easier? Or is there no real difference? I have a couple GP-12 dynamic fans from Fractal that came with the case, but opted for a 5-pack bundle of the Arctic fans because I could get a full PWM setup.

 

I'm running:

Meshify C

Ryzen 5 1600 w/ Wraith Spire

Gigabyte AB350-Gaming 3 mobo

{no graphics card yet, planning on a next gen xx70 from nVidia. borrowed a 1080 from a friend to test the fans}

2x8GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4 RAM

Crucial MX500 500GB SSD

HGST (Hitachi) 3TB HDD

EVGA G1 650W PSU (mounted with the fan down)

 

I plan to run three 120mm fans in the front and one 120mm for exhaust on the rear mount next to the mobo I/O. From my understanding, fans on the top in my case don't facilitate proper airflow from front to back. However, I've considered remounting my PSU to provide a counterflow to the top fan, if I were to install one.

 

[WoodenMarker]

On 4/24/2018 at 5:31 PM, redsquirrel0249 said:

1. Can you run the F12s like normal PWM fans? A custom fan curve is important to me, as a want to be able to optimize pressure and maximize effective cooling.

2. Is there any real benefit using PWM over 3-pin fans? You can control both, right? So what's the big deal? Is it that much more control, is it that much more precise, or is it just easier? Or is there no real difference? I have a couple GP-12 dynamic fans from Fractal that came with the case, but opted for a 5-pack bundle of the Arctic fans because I could get a full PWM setup.

1. Not exactly sure what you mean. They're not any different from other pwm fans. 

2. Using pwm often allows for a wider range of control but often have clicking noises due to using pulses rather than a constant signal. How much this varies depends on the specific model. You should decide between 4pin pwm and 3pin dc depending on which is most convenient to control and the specific fan models available and their pros and cons as opposed to anything inherent to pwm or dc power.

GP-12's are better than Arctic F12's. 

Is there any reason for replacing the stock fans besides hearing about pwm?

 

Sorry for the late reply, this got buried under a pile of other tabs.