Help finding RGB fans with 4 pin connectors

[waterjug]

I'm searching on Amazon for RGB fans but they all have proprietary connectors, where can i find RGB fans under $50 that have a standard 4-pin RGB connector? 

[Bombastinator]

30 minutes ago, waterjug said:

I'm searching on Amazon for RGB fans but they all have proprietary connectors, where can i find RGB fans under $50 that have a standard 4-pin RGB connector? 

Heh. “Standard”. For RGB.  It’s so very much worse.  Most RGB fans have two whole cables.  One (which is a standard 4 pin pwm) is for just the fan part.  There’s another entire cable which has a proprietary connector for the RGB bit.  There are “lighted fans” which have just one standard 4 pin but they don’t change color.

[paddy-stone]

1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

Heh. “Standard”. For RGB.  It’s so very much worse.  Most RGB fans have two whole cables.  One (which is a standard 4 pin pwm) is for just the fan part.  There’s another entire cable which has a proprietary connector for the RGB bit.  There are “lighted fans” which have just one standard 4 pin but they don’t change color.

Yeah, exactly what I was going to say. It's a shame, but you kinda have to pick a proprietary one that you might want to have for a while as it's a fair amount of investment just for some lights on your fans... also doesn't reflect how good the fans are either. TBH I would probably skip the RGB fans altogether and get some decent fans that match whether you want quiet/high airflow etc, and get some RGB strips instead that plug straight into your mobo and can control via bios/software.

[paddy-stone]

Oh, just realised I actually have some... inwin polaris ones, they have a PWM cable + the rgb one that plugs into your mobo, LOL

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Win-Polaris-RGB-Twin-Pack/dp/B075W33DVF/

 

[waterjug]

7 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Heh. “Standard”. For RGB.  It’s so very much worse.  Most RGB fans have two whole cables.  One (which is a standard 4 pin pwm) is for just the fan part.  There’s another entire cable which has a proprietary connector for the RGB bit.  There are “lighted fans” which have just one standard 4 pin but they don’t change color.

The RGB coolermaster fans that came with my case have 2 connectors, one for power, and the other a standard 4-pin RGB connector. I'm looking for a similar kind.

[Bombastinator]

2 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Yeah, exactly what I was going to say. It's a shame, but you kinda have to pick a proprietary one that you might want to have for a while as it's a fair amount of investment just for some lights on your fans... also doesn't reflect how good the fans are either. TBH I would probably skip the RGB fans altogether and get some decent fans that match whether you want quiet/high airflow etc, and get some RGB strips instead that plug straight into your mobo and can control via bios/software.

There are also a few systems where the rgb and the fan are separated, which imho is much less stupid than integrating them.  You buy this ring plate that mounts to the fan or the fan to it possibly, depending.

[Bombastinator]

2 minutes ago, waterjug said:

The RGB coolermaster fans that came with my case have 2 connectors, one for power, and the other a standard 4-pin RGB connector. I'm looking for a similar kind.

cooler master likely only works with cooler master.  Maybe not even all coolermaster.  It’s a nightmare.  They’re possibly not even “standard” at all.
 

The only “standard”. I know of for RGB is the one designed for home lighting which all manufacturers could easily use but avoid like the plague because they want their “ecosystem” where you have to buy all the rest of their stuff.  They’re all the same four wires (except one which tired to do a 5 wire) but what they do is swap the cables around in this frantic attempt to avoid interoperability.  Recently there have been ones that abandon the mini molex that every other industry uses for the same thing and start making their own connectors.  Mini molex can be hand wired using a pin to unbind the connectors though so you could theoretically turn any proprietary fan into standard by cutting the connector off and adding a mini molex.

[waterjug]

51 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

Oh, just realised I actually have some... inwin polaris ones, they have a PWM cable + the rgb one that plugs into your mobo, LOL

 

I searched up inwin polaris and in the "similar items" section I found exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!