Question about 4 PIN header.

[Pizdonskis]

Hello, everyone! I want to apologise off the start if I chose the wrong section to ask this question.

I have a Gigabyte B450M Gaming motherboard, it has 4pin rgb fan header (named "LED_CPU), I guess that's used to connect RGB fans lol, but correct if I'm wrong. Question is how do I connect my fans to the header? My fans have 3pin header and a GDV connector. I've been also looking for other fans to connect, but all of them come with 3pin header (3pin5V), but from my understanding i need a 4pin12V, but I can't seem to any information. I've looked at various splitters and they all come with 3pin headers, and the ones that come with 4pin headers, from my understanding wouldn't work either because I could not be able to connect it to the fan connector since they have 3pin connect. Please help, I'm desperate. Thanks!

[mariushm]

That LED_CPU is just for RGB, not for powering the fan.  You power a fan through any fan header, you can plug the 3 pin into a 4 pin fan header.

Ideally you plug into a fan header called CPU_FAN as sometimes those are "smarter" headers, which allow the bios to adjust the fan speed. There's others headers called PUMP_FAN or AIO_FAN , these are basic fan headers just designed to be capable of delivering more power because they're for the pump moving water through water cooler, and then there's SYS_FAN or CHA_FAN  short for chassis fan header, case fans, and these headers are typically more basic, without ability to control fan speed through software or bios, meant to be used by fans on the case, which run all the time at a basic speed.

 

 

Here's gigabyte b450m gaming  - you have CPU_FAN in bottom right corner, gray header, above the ram slots and to the right.

You have a SYS_FAN1 to the right of LED_CPU , and you have a SYS_FAN 2 in bottom left corner, above the sata ports.

Best for cpu cooler is the CPU_FAN header, plug the 3 pin connector so that the plug slides nicely into that "tongue", and you leave one pin outside the plug (in the picture above, that would be top pin)

 

[Pizdonskis]

Thanks! Another question, I'm planning on buying a rgb hub or controller, whatever it's called, will it work and will the fans work if i only connect sata cable to the hub from psu? What i understood is that it would work, but I could only change the rgb colors through the remote/hub physical buttons and not from motherboard (software), if I only connected sata cable to the rgb hub and nothing else (except each fan to the rgb hub). Is that true? Thanks!

[mariushm]

The sata cable is used only to give power to the rgb hub, it's not used to exchange information with the computer. Depending on remote control type, you may have to place the controller somewhere visible or where there's no metal to block the signal from the remote. 

If you use a fan controller / fan splitter / fan hub that connects only with a sata cable again, that sata cable is used only to give power to the controller and the fans, so your computer won't be able to determine fan speeds, or to adjust fan speeds.

 

If there's no DATA connection between motherboard and controller, you won't be able to control the colors through software.

Usually, RGB controllers that have software will connect to the computer through USB by using an internal usb cable that plugs into a usb 2 header on your motherboard. The software can then send commands through USB to the controller to set the lights.

 

The motherboard you have seems to only have the LED_CPU header ... and that one seems to be the [ RGB and 12v ] kind. There's addressable rgb, which is usually ground, data and 5v and there's also another version with rgb and 5v ... manual will tell you exactly what kind that LED_CPU is.

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