Not enough fan headers on mobo

[Insane Walrus]

I recently got a new case, psu and graphics card, but with my old mobo, I only have enough fan headers for the cpu fan and one case fan. I have a couple more fans I'd like to use but I don't have the motherboard headers for it. What is the best way to get more fans hooked up, a direct psu power adapter or a fan splitter for the motherboard header?

[Hyydrah]

It really depends on what functionality you'd be satisfied with. If you don't mind having your fans spin at the same speed constantly, plug them in to the PSU directly. You may also want to consider using a Y-splitter which will allow both fans connected to it to run at the same speed.

[Lavi]

One thing I would warn about with motherboard headers is to attach at most two fans to one header as they aren't designed to power a lot.

 

If you're using PWM (4 pin) fans you can take a hybrid approach so they draw power from the PSU and the PWM signal from the motherboard. This lets you control them without issues.

 

If they are 3 pan and too loud you might want to invest in a fan controller. You only need to play with it once to get the right ballence of airflow and noise and then leave it alone.

[LogicalDrm]

With old mobo, I think you are safe with 2 fans per header. Same goes for most fan controllers. If you don't mind noise and have bit older psu with only molex, then connect straight to it. If it has fan connector and you want bit quieter fans, use rpm recucer between psu and fans. Cheap fan controllers do same thing, but might be messy and hard to get into right speeds.