Fan Controller?

[Rhyn]

A friend of mine gave me about 6 case fans that are led and much quieter than my current fans so I'd like to integrate them if I could but the problem is they are all 4 pin fans and my motherboard only has 3 pin slots on it.  Is there a fan controller I could get to be able to hook them up and have some speed control? I was able to put them in but currently they're pinned at 100% speed and I don't really appreciate the constant noise that makes.  

[1982 Original]

13 hours ago, Rhyn said:

A friend of mine gave me about 6 case fans that are led and much quieter than my current fans so I'd like to integrate them if I could but the problem is they are all 4 pin fans and my motherboard only has 3 pin slots on it.  Is there a fan controller I could get to be able to hook them up and have some speed control? I was able to put them in but currently they're pinned at 100% speed and I don't really appreciate the constant noise that makes.  

One option is a "dummy" fan hub that runs off of SATA or Molex power.  It would run a 4 pin to the hub from the CPU header, then all connected fans run on the CPU fan curve, but get power from the SATA or Molex.  One example is the Deep Cool FH-10, $15 on Amazon.  But there are plenty others just like it.

[Rhyn]

On 1/30/2021 at 1:05 PM, 1982 Original said:

One option is a "dummy" fan hub that runs off of SATA or Molex power.  It would run a 4 pin to the hub from the CPU header, then all connected fans run on the CPU fan curve, but get power from the SATA or Molex.  One example is the Deep Cool FH-10, $15 on Amazon.  But there are plenty others just like it.

I didn't know I could do something like that dope thank you I'll probably grab a dummy hub then.  Thank you.

[LogicalDrm]

Whats your mobo? You can use 4pin/PWM fans in 3pin headers. You just don't have more accurate controls, but you don't really get those without motherboard that supports PWM. Or controller which would USB for controls.

[Rhyn]

On 2/1/2021 at 1:01 PM, LogicalDrm said:

Whats your mobo? You can use 4pin/PWM fans in 3pin headers. You just don't have more accurate controls, but you don't really get those without motherboard that supports PWM. Or controller which would USB for controls.

It's mad old but it's an asrock 970 Extreme3.  I did try and use them in the 3pin headers but the problem I ran into was they were running at full speed all the time and I couldn't turn them down so the noise was a major issue.  

[LogicalDrm]

2 minutes ago, Rhyn said:

It's mad old but it's an asrock 970 Extreme3.  I did try and use them in the 3pin headers but the problem I ran into was they were running at full speed all the time and I couldn't turn them down so the noise was a major issue.  

Have you tried using Speedfan or any other software controls? That era was just before BIOS fan controls became mainstream.

[Rhyn]

Just now, LogicalDrm said:

Have you tried using Speedfan or any other software controls? That era was just before BIOS fan controls became mainstream.

Yea I did try speedfan and it didn't work.  I know I wish it was a bit newer but there isn't really an upgrade path without buying a whole new platform and I'm not really about that.

[LogicalDrm]

9 minutes ago, Rhyn said:

Yea I did try speedfan and it didn't work.  I know I wish it was a bit newer but there isn't really an upgrade path without buying a whole new platform and I'm not really about that.

Yeah, if software doesn't work, you are left with only USB connected, knobs and plain old resistors. And there aren't any cheap-ish USB controlled ones these days since mobo is usually plenty.

[WakaDooda]

Did you try Fan Control?