free server as friends gaming pc

[Aristotle-Alexander]

My problem lies in that server motherboards use a different standard of power connectors for fans and such.  I wanna use a volt meter to verify this 6 pin pcie connector, which wire is power and ground, then just solder the connections needed.  However the water pump for the liquid cooled gpu, I can't get it to spin.  I need to hotwire the water pump temporarily to bleed all the air out and push the water in...... it doesn't have a molex connector only a 4 pin for a motherboard.  which wires are ground, 12v, sense (fan speed return) and pwm, for spinning fans slower when idling.  So i strip the ground and power wire and clamp them in my 12 car battery charger, then plug the charger in and nothing, pump isn't spinning.  Does pump need 5v? does pump need pwm signal?  which would be stupid, we run pumps 100%, can't risk starving system of water, only fans can be throttled based on temp.  Can i ground the sens or the pwm wire?  do i give the pwm wire 12 volts?  why the heck doesn't the pump spin when i power it up??????????

 

Backstory:  friend of mine gave me a 2011v3 socket server for free, it's not in a 1u or 2u chassis, it's in like a regular pc sized case, 2 750watt psu and i got 4 sas hdd i wanna raid.  got a deal on a 1660v4 for 3.8ghz 8 core gaming capable processor and i got 8 matching sticks of 4gb ddr4.

problem is the gpu i have to game on, is my old 2070 that i put a waterblock on.  corsair really screwed up their waterblock, being known to leak, they're hella cheap, nothing carefully applied epoxy can't fix.  maybei should just fuck it and put an air cooled gpu in, realizing now that would fix a lotta problems haha.  

[RONOTHAN##]

4 minutes ago, Aristotle-Alexander said:

My problem lies in that server motherboards use a different standard of power connectors for fans and such

Depends on the board. Supermicro boards, for instance, will use standard 3/4 pin fan headers and the ATX power connectors, only really the front panel connectors are any different. What board specifically are you trying to use. 

 

7 minutes ago, Aristotle-Alexander said:

it doesn't have a molex connector only a 4 pin for a motherboard.

You can just buy Molex to 4 pin fan adapters, they're pretty cheap. No reason to do anything super sketchy for this. 

https://a.co/d/2KsSZmq

 

Most of the reasons I can think that your setup isn't working is more down to just user error, things like the charger being in backwards, the battery charger not giving 12V (IIRC most car battery chargers operate at 13-14V in order to power the battery, and the pump could have overvoltage protection in place as even the worst PSUs should only get to 12.6V on the 12V rail), the clamps not making good connection, etc. There's no reason the fan or PWM pin need to be connected, and the pump will operate at 12V not 5V. 

[Needfuldoer]

What model server? If it's from Dell or HP, there's probably an OEM part for powering standard GPUs in it.

[Aristotle-Alexander]

1 hour ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Depends on the board. Supermicro boards, for instance, will use standard 3/4 pin fan headers and the ATX power connectors, only really the front panel connectors are any different. What board specifically are you trying to use. 

 

You can just buy Molex to 4 pin fan adapters, they're pretty cheap. No reason to do anything super sketchy for this. 

https://a.co/d/2KsSZmq

 

Most of the reasons I can think that your setup isn't working is more down to just user error, things like the charger being in backwards, the battery charger not giving 12V (IIRC most car battery chargers operate at 13-14V in order to power the battery, and the pump could have overvoltage protection in place as even the worst PSUs should only get to 12.6V on the 12V rail), the clamps not making good connection, etc. There's no reason the fan or PWM pin need to be connected, and the pump will operate at 12V not 5V. 

the motherboard has the standard server fan connectors.  theyre six pin.  i dunno what the hell the name of this standard is, i've been searching for this since 2021.  There's no molex anywhere involved here.  well i guess one of the 3 fans on the radiator has a molex and a 3 pin fan connector, but the psu has a spare 6 pin that i could get 12v from or there's these 6pin fan headers on the motherboard.  

 

my real question is why doesn't the brand new water pump spin when i give it 12 volts?  which wires need what kind of power on a 4 pin to give the pump what it needs to operate?  cause the ground first wire and the 12v second wire aint working....

[Aristotle-Alexander]

1 hour ago, Needfuldoer said:

What model server? If it's from Dell or HP, there's probably an OEM part for powering standard GPUs in it.

it's an hp and yes there's extra pcie power wires in there, i hope theyre pinout is the same as for consumer desktops so i don't crosswire the input of my gpu.  probably should voltmeter test to confirm this beforehand but yolo.

[Needfuldoer]

30 minutes ago, Aristotle-Alexander said:

it's an hp

Again, what specific model is it?

 

30 minutes ago, Aristotle-Alexander said:

there's extra pcie power wires in there, i hope theyre pinout is the same as for consumer desktops

It's going to be either regular PCIe or 8-pin EPS12V, which you can adapt to regular PCIe power with a generic adapter.

 

[Blue4130]

1 hour ago, Aristotle-Alexander said:

the motherboard has the standard server fan connectors.  theyre six pin.

The connector might be standardized, but the pin out isn't. There is no "server standard" fan connection. If two servers use the same, it's not because of a published standardization.