Noctua NF-A14 fans rising and falling in speed

[MarsupialPoptart]

Specs -

MSI Z170A Gaming M5

Intel i7 6700k

Corsair Vengeance 32GB 

Corsair 540 Case

 

just bought 5 NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM fans and a NH-D15 cpu cooler from noctua. My front fans on my Header2 are rising to 1700rpm or so then cutting to 1350rpm or so. They’re on a y splitter, but so are my two top fans on Header3. When plugged in individually to the header they work fine, when plugged into the splitter individually they work fine, I swapped the splitter and repeated all the test and same exact results. Fans just rising and falling. As soon as I unplug one the other works fine. I’m unsure of what to do next.

 

I don’t know much about voltage fans and PWM and all that. A side question related to my ignorance, I can’t get the proper working ones below 1300rpm without them cutting completely and it’s kinda loud. Did I make a huge mistake buying the 3000rpm industrial models?

[TrigrH]

36 minutes ago, MarsupialPoptart said:

Did I make a huge mistake buying the 3000rpm industrial models?

You might need a powered hub, the industrial models use a stronger motor and require more power to my knowledge. 

[alyen]

Noctua website says a minimum 800 RPM. That probably won't work for 2 fans on the same header if they require more power to run. I really can't tolerate any fans over 2000 RPM.

 

[Constantin]

Unable smart mode(can see it in the picture) then set a curve. 

Somewhere there there must be a setting PWM/DC, make sure it is on PWM

[Constantin]

1 hour ago, alyen said:

Noctua website says a minimum 800 RPM. That probably won't work for 2 fans on the same header if they require more power to run. I really can't tolerate any fans over 2000 RPM.

 

headers can manage up to 4 fans or some 3, but never less 

[CorruptedSanity]

1 hour ago, MarsupialPoptart said:

Snip

 

With your motherboard only the cpu fan header is a pwm header, the sysfan headers are all voltage mode even though they have 4 pins (the fourth is labeled, "nc," in the manual). 

 

Normally this isn't a problem, the mobo will just run a pwm fan with voltage control, usually at 100% unless you tell it otherwise.  Since the voltage doesn't increase with a splitter but amperage and wattage does, you could be reaching those limits, each fan is rated at .55 max amps and 6.6w each.

 

I know my gigabyte mitx mobo is rated at 2amp per header so I usually run 3 fans per header easily but maybe yours is only 1amp?  Sadly this information isn't made public by most manufacturers. 

 

A fan hub or different fans may be the best option. 

[Quadriplegic]

4 hours ago, Constantin said:

headers can manage up to 4 fans or some 3, but never less 

Orly? 
So you are saying you can connect 3 of these to normal motherboard header?
https://www.amazon.com/Delta-Electronics-PFB0912DHE-F00-92x92x38mm-Connector/dp/B0080IZGV2

[Constantin]

1 hour ago, Quadriplegic said:

Orly? 
So you are saying you can connect 3 of these to normal motherboard header?
https://www.amazon.com/Delta-Electronics-PFB0912DHE-F00-92x92x38mm-Connector/dp/B0080IZGV2

Where did you get this?

This is not a case fan, dimension 92 x 92 x 38mm, 8000RPM.

There is literal no case to fit this fan for airflow.

This fan is accompanied with a molex plus the 3 pin fan connector

Normal fans for cases, motherboard are able to handle 3 with a splitter

[Quadriplegic]

Just now, Constantin said:

Where did you get this?

This is not a case fan, dimension 92 x 92 x 38mm, 8000RPM.

There is literal no case to fit this fan for airflow.

This fan is accompanied with a molex plus the 3 pin fan connector

Normal fans for cases, motherboard are able to handle 3 with a splitter

My point was that not all fans are equal. Where did you get that motherboards can handle 3 fans with a splitter?

Basically, what @CorruptedSanity said. It is very likely his motherboard header can't manage 2 Industrial fans at high speeds.

[WoodenMarker]

11 hours ago, Constantin said:

Where did you get this?

This is not a case fan, dimension 92 x 92 x 38mm, 8000RPM.

There is literal no case to fit this fan for airflow.

This fan is accompanied with a molex plus the 3 pin fan connector

Normal fans for cases, motherboard are able to handle 3 with a splitter

It's a standard 92mm fan and fits in plenty of cases. 38mm thick fans are not as common nowadays compared to 25mm thick fans but that wasn't always the case.

3000rpm iPPC NF-A14's can draw up to 0.55A per fan which is more than the average case fan. The standard 1500rpm NF-A14's for example draw up to 0.13A which is considerably less. Most modern motherboard fan headers support up to 1A and the few headers that support more are usually limited to 1-2 headers on the board labelled for pumps that can require more power. 

16 hours ago, MarsupialPoptart said:

Did I make a huge mistake buying the 3000rpm industrial models?

Mistake? Probably. 3000rpm iPPC's are far from quiet and not very appropriate for most PC's.

There are cheaper and quieter fans that cool adequately including Noctua's normal line of fans which are also easier to power and iPPC's aren't really worth getting if you don't need the extra robust build. 

[Constantin]

1 hour ago, Quadriplegic said:

Where did you get that motherboards can handle 3 fans with a splitter?

Almost all top/high end boards can deliver 1~2A.

More than enough to handle 4 fans 

[Quadriplegic]

1 hour ago, Constantin said:

Almost all top/high end boards can deliver 1~2A.

More than enough to handle 4 fans 

1A header wouldn't be able to fully power 2 140mm Noctua Industrial fans. 

[LogicalDrm]

8 hours ago, Constantin said:

headers can manage up to 4 fans or some 3, but never less 

4 hours ago, Constantin said:

...

This fan is accompanied with a molex plus the 3 pin fan connector

Normal fans for cases, motherboard are able to handle 3 with a splitter

3 hours ago, Constantin said:

Almost all top/high end boards can deliver 1~2A.

More than enough to handle 4 fans 

 

Ok, you are wrong or misguided. Pick one.

 

All mobo's have their headers giving out 1A unless otherwise specified. So there can be 2A or 3A high power headers, mainly aimed for water cooling pumps.

 

Molex can output up to 10A, SATA 4.5A. Which is why they are used for powered hubs.

 

Fans can widthdraw 0.1-0.7A, depending on model.

 

So no, you can't always power 3 fans from single mobo header. There are actual situations where you can safely power just one fan. Like with iPPC fans from Noctua (0.55A to 0.67A per fan).

[alyen]

I noticed my ASRock motherboard can supply 1A when the header is set to fan and 2A if its set as a pump in BIOS.

[Mick Naughty]

Use a powered hub when using the 3k variants. 

 

Been throgh all this myself. You can actually run them quite low if you do instead of the 800 rpm. 

Kinda dumb to put them on a standard header and expect them to work as intended. Same issue I had but learned from it.