Fan hubs, splitters, 3 pins and 4 pins??

[Below27]

Hey guys,

 

I am currently using a MOBO with two 4-pin fan slots. 

 

My case has four fans, two stock 3-pin fans and two 4-pin fans. I want to use pwm on all of the fans, what would be my best options? 

 

I understand that the 3-pin fans do not run on pwm but can be controlled via voltage regulation, and while I'm not sure if there are others on the market, i see that phanteks has one fan hub which has a 4-pin connector to the MOBO, then six 3-pin hubs, so i am pretty sure this fan hub will be able to effectively control and regulate the voltage (thus fan speeds) for my 3-pin fans. 

 

http://www.phanteks.com/PH-PWHUB.html

 

However in regards to the other two 4-pin fans, would I be able to use a y splitter and connect it to the remaining 4-pin slot? Would this allow the MOBO to control and regulate the fan speeds through pwm control? Or would I need to buy another pwm hub like the silverstone or deepcool? 

 

http://silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=526&area=en

 

http://www.deepcool.com/product/dcoolingaccessory/accessory/2013-12/48_663.shtml

 

I considered getting a 4-pin fan hub and connecting all four of my fans to it, but it seems that if that was the case the fan hub would only control the 4-pin fans and the 3-pin fans would run at full speed, or vice versa, depending on if it is controlling the speed using voltage control or pwm modulation signal? Please correct me if I am wrong? 

 

To summarise, I am looking for a way to control the speeds of all four of my fans. If there is something I am misunderstanding or something that will be able to do this please do let me know. The phanteks also seems a bit overkill to control two 3-pin fans so if there are any other suggestions for that it would be great. And lastly do you know if the y splitter for 4-pin to 4-pin will be able to control my two 4-pin fans via pwm modulation, or will a hub be required for this? 

 

Thanks for all your help, I do hope that there is some solution which can allow one product to control all four of my fans, otherwise hopefully one fan hub (4-pin to 3-pin) and one splitter (4-pin to 4-pin) will suffice. I really am hoping that I do not have to purchase two separate fan hubs. Thanks again! 

[W-L]

3 minutes ago, Below27 said:

-SNIP-

The Phanteks hub you have selected takes a PWM input and provide an equivalent 3 pin DC voltage control output to the fans. As for the two other options they are PWM hubs the silverstone one is externally power via the PSU allowing for a large number of fan connections as the motherboard only needs to provide the (4 pin) PWM signal for the control. 

[DailyProcrastinator]

3-pin fans can plug into 4 pin fan headers but you cannot enable PWM mode on 3 pin fans, they are DC regulated so you control them by voltage and not RPM. 4-pin fans are PWM and are controlled by RPM and because of this are traditionally quieter. 

 

If you buy a fan hub it means that all the fans connected to that hub will operate at the same RPM/voltage. For the ease of controlling your fans I would NOT plug in 4-pin and 3-pin fans into the same hub. If you do that and enable PWM mode all your 3-pin DC fans will spin at full speed. If you enable DC mode all your 4-pin fans will spin at full speed. So if you want to get fan hubs I would at least get a separate one for your 4-pin PWM fans and your 3-pin DC fans.

[Cyracus]

24 minutes ago, JM21 said:

If you enable DC mode all your 4-pin fans will spin at full speed.

um...pwm fans can be controlled by voltage like any other fan, pwm is just better because it allows finer adjustment over a wider range

[Below27]

Thanks for the replies,

 

I am sorry Cyracus, that was my mistake. But even so, since they are pwm fans, do you think there is any other solution that will allow me to still use their pwm functionality while at the same time controlling the fan speeds for the 3-pin fans?

 

JM21, yeah that was what I was thinking about, I was considering whether or not there are other options rather than purchasing two separate fan hubs, or if I do go ahead with two fan hubs, do you have a different one to recommend other than the phanteks one? That one seems a bit expensive, and it has 6 fan slots which I think are a bit overkill.

 

W-L, thank you for your reply, but yeah I kind of understand what the different fan hubs do, I am more interested in whether or not they, or any other fan hub will be able to control the speed through voltage regulation for the 3-pin fans, and still provide the PWM inputs for the 4-pin fans.

 

I have actually looked into the NZXT fan controllers, but it seems that it only works through voltage regulation so I think the pwm will not work? I am not too sure though

[W-L]

Just now, Below27 said:

-SNIP-

If you want a hub or controller to do both you will need a digital fan controller like the Corsair Commander, the only option I know of that have both DC voltage control and a pass through for PWM would be the fan controllers that come with the NZXT cases such as this one. As for the Grid controllers they run on DC voltage control, however any PWM fan is capable of DC voltage control, the RPM range will be more limited however in the lower limit. 

[DailyProcrastinator]

8 minutes ago, Cyracus said:

um...pwm fans can be controlled by voltage like any other fan, pwm is just better because it allows finer adjustment over a wider range

I know you control a 4-Pin PWM fan by voltage, but I assumed you could not together in a fan hub with other 3-pin DC fans. I could be wrong.

 

 

But my other point is why would you do that if you have 4-pin fan headers already? it's far less efficient and you usually you can't get them to go at lower RPM than if you just used PWM mode to begin with.

[Below27]

JM21, yeah thats what I meant, because I have only two 4-pin headers in the mobo, but 4 fans. With two of them PWM and two of them 3-pin, I was wondering what the best way to control them was. I was seeing if there is anything that I can just plug into one header to control all four fans, but if not, I was looking at the best solution for using one header to control two of the 3-pin fans, and the other header to control the other two 4-pin fans.

 

WL, yeah that is kind of exactly what I am looking for. It only comes with NZXT cases thoguh? As in I wont be able to purchase one from them?

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, Below27 said:

JM21, yeah thats what I meant, because I have only two 4-pin headers in the mobo, but 4 fans. With two of them PWM and two of them 3-pin, I was wondering what the best way to control them was. I was seeing if there is anything that I can just plug into one header to control all four fans, but if not, I was looking at the best solution for using one header to control two of the 3-pin fans, and the other header to control the other two 4-pin fans.

 

WL, yeah that is kind of exactly what I am looking for. It only comes with NZXT cases thoguh? As in I wont be able to purchase one from them?

No they do not sell it separately as a unit. If you only have 4 fans in your system you could easily configure your motherboard header itself to provide a PWM output for the 4 pin fans and DC voltage output for the 3 pin fans using regular fan splitters. 

[Cyracus]

17 minutes ago, Below27 said:

do you think there is any other solution that will allow me to still use their pwm functionality while at the same time controlling the fan speeds for the 3-pin fans?

several ways to go about it, either a splitter for the 3 pin fans or a hub https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=fan hub&bop=And&Order=BESTMATCH&PageSize=36   

 

13 minutes ago, JM21 said:

I know you control a 4-Pin PWM fan by voltage, but I assumed you could not together in a fan hub with other 3-pin DC fans. I could be wrong.

nah, you can do it no problem, and now you know 

[Below27]

Thanks Cyracus, I will look into doing it that way then, so the two 4-pin fans will be able to be controlled through pwm even if i use a y splitter? 

 

Thanks wl, that definitely sounds like something more cost efficient, but I have no idea how to configure the MOBO headers

[W-L]

1 minute ago, Below27 said:

Thanks Cyracus, I will look into doing it that way then, so the two 4-pin fans will be able to be controlled through pwm even if i use a y splitter? 

 

Thanks wl, that definitely sounds like something more cost efficient, but I have no idea how to configure the MOBO headers

What board do you have it should be all doable within the BIOS or using their own fan control software. 

[Below27]

I am currently using the Asus Z370i, I will look into whether or not I can do it, thanks man!

[W-L]

8 minutes ago, Below27 said:

I am currently using the Asus Z370i, I will look into whether or not I can do it, thanks man!

You can configure the control type within the BIOS and setup custom fan curves, Asus also has their AI suite software for control within the OS. 

[Below27]

Okay thanks! So I just use one 4-pin header with a y splitter (3-pins), and the other 4-pin header with another y splitter (4-pins). Attach two fans to each and then use the BIOS to set PWM for the 4-pins, and voltage regulation for the 3-pins?

[W-L]

17 minutes ago, Below27 said:

Okay thanks! So I just use one 4-pin header with a y splitter (3-pins), and the other 4-pin header with another y splitter (4-pins). Attach two fans to each and then use the BIOS to set PWM for the 4-pins, and voltage regulation for the 3-pins?

Yep that's correct. 

[LogicalDrm]

4 hours ago, Below27 said:

I am currently using the Asus Z370i, I will look into whether or not I can do it, thanks man!

Asus has probably best fan control options there are. They allow you to select control method and do individual curves per header. So using splitter for 3pin and PWM fans as their own units from single header per bunch is best option.

[Below27]

Thanks WL and LogicalDrm, 

 

I have decided to go with a 3-pin y splitter to control the two stock fans via MOBO. 

 

Originally I had intended to go with a 4-pin y splitter to do the same for the two pwm fans, but have just realised that I will run into issues as I need an extra 4-pin slot for the pwm pump. I am looking into getting the Deepcool pwm hub, but am worried I might run into power issues. Would one 4-pin header from the motherboard be able to sufficiently power the two fans (and pump/hub, if these two. Components draw power) ? Will the pump draw power from the hub, or just take the pwm signal? 

 

I will be going with two120mm  high static pressure pwm fans from phanteks. 

 

http://www.phanteks.com/PH-F120MP.html

 

http://www.deepcool.com/product/dcoolingaccessory/accessory/2013-12/48_663.shtml

[W-L]

15 minutes ago, Below27 said:

Thanks WL and LogicalDrm, 

 

I have decided to go with a 3-pin y splitter to control the two stock fans via MOBO. 

 

Originally I had intended to go with a 4-pin y splitter to do the same for the two pwm fans, but have just realised that I will run into issues as I need an extra 4-pin slot for the pwm pump. I am looking into getting the Deepcool pwm hub, but am worried I might run into power issues. Would one 4-pin header from the motherboard be able to sufficiently power the two fans (and pump/hub, if these two. Components draw power) ? Will the pump draw power from the hub, or just take the pwm signal? 

 

I will be going with two120mm  high static pressure pwm fans from phanteks. 

 

http://www.phanteks.com/PH-F120MP.html

 

http://www.deepcool.com/product/dcoolingaccessory/accessory/2013-12/48_663.shtml

I would check the power draw or current that the pump and fans all use, the header is only rated for 1amp so you want to keep it below that. 

 

A general rule of thumb is 3-4 fans per header but this ofcourse depends on the fan. 

[Below27]

Thanks man!