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3 pin fan header into 4 pin hub?

SillyFrog44
By SillyFrog44
in Cooling
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Go to solution Solved by CWALD,
Just now, SillyFrog44 said:

That sounds fine, do you happen to know what pin to leave out then? The 1st or the 4th one i鈥檓 assuming the 4th, but I just wanna double check 馃憤

It should be keyed so that it only fits one way. On the 4 pin header you will see a tab that is off center and on the 3pin plug there will be a spot to slide over it.

Posted

Hello, I recently bought some Arctic P12 120mm fans, and I've noticed that they have 3 pins, while my fan hub has 4 pins. The hub is the stock Corsair 5000D Airflow model.

Do I need to purchase a different hub, or should I be able to plug them in and be okay?

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The 4th pin is just a PWM pin for modifying the fan speed. I believe three pin is limited to modififying curve in bios to change voltages and therefor speed of fan? Moral of the story is your fans will probably have power, IDK if you can adjust speed. it is safe to plug them in and see if it works though.

My PC Specs: (expand to view)

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Main Gaming Machine

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K - OC to 5 GHz All Cores
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H115i RGB Pro XT (Front Mounted AIO)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600

Storage: Intel 665p 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD (x2)
Video Card: Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB GAMING Twin Edge OC

Power Supply: Corsair RM850 850W
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow
Case Fan 120mm: Noctua F12 PWM 54.97 CFM 120 mm (x1)
Case Fan 140mm: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm (x4)
Monitor Main: Asus VG278QR 27.0" 1920x1080 165 Hz
Monitor Vertical: Asus VA27EHE 27.0" 1920x1080 75 Hz

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That sounds fine, do you happen to know what pin to leave out then? The 1st or the 4th one i鈥檓 assuming the 4th, but I just wanna double check 馃憤

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Just now, SillyFrog44 said:

That sounds fine, do you happen to know what pin to leave out then? The 1st or the 4th one i鈥檓 assuming the 4th, but I just wanna double check 馃憤

It should be keyed so that it only fits one way. On the 4 pin header you will see a tab that is off center and on the 3pin plug there will be a spot to slide over it.

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3 minutes ago, SillyFrog44 said:

That sounds fine, do you happen to know what pin to leave out then? The 1st or the 4th one i鈥檓 assuming the 4th, but I just wanna double check 馃憤

It should only go in one way if it is anything like motherboards fan headers. If not, this picture should allow you to compare.

聽

FAQ-3-4-pin.jpg

My PC Specs: (expand to view)

聽

聽

Main Gaming Machine

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K - OC to 5 GHz All Cores
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H115i RGB Pro XT (Front Mounted AIO)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600

Storage: Intel 665p 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME SSD (x2)
Video Card: Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB GAMING Twin Edge OC

Power Supply: Corsair RM850 850W
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow
Case Fan 120mm: Noctua F12 PWM 54.97 CFM 120 mm (x1)
Case Fan 140mm: Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm (x4)
Monitor Main: Asus VG278QR 27.0" 1920x1080 165 Hz
Monitor Vertical: Asus VA27EHE 27.0" 1920x1080 75 Hz

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Posted
9 minutes ago, SillyFrog44 said:

That sounds fine, do you happen to know what pin to leave out then? The 1st or the 4th one i鈥檓 assuming the 4th, but I just wanna double check 馃憤

4-pin: ground, live, rpm signal, pwm signal

3-pin: ground, live, rpm signal

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4-pin fans are regulated through the pwm signal, 3-pin fans are regulated by adjusting the voltage in the live line. It's up to your controller whether it can do both pwm signal and voltage regulation. It may be limited to pwm signals, though, in which case the 3-pin fan will always run at full speed.

Most motherboard 4-pin headers, on the other hand, can switch between both methods, and often do so automatically.

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17 hours ago, TylerD321 said:

It should only go in one way if it is anything like motherboards fan headers. If not, this picture should allow you to compare.

聽

FAQ-3-4-pin.jpg

There are also some plugs that look like the 3-pin's slotted to but have 4.聽

I've been using computers since around 1978, started learning programming in 1980 on Apple IIs, started learning about hardware in 1990, ran a BBS from 1990-95, built my first Windows PC around 2000, taught myself malware removal starting in 2005 (also learned on Bleeping Computer), learned web dev starting in 2017, and I think I can fill a thimble with all that knowledge. 馃槈 I'm not an expert, which is why I keep investigating the answers that others give to try and improve my knowledge, so feel free to double-check the advice I give.

My phone's auto-correct is named Otto Rong.馃お馃槀

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