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| 3 Pin - 2 Pin Fan Connector |
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Archon
Member #4,195
January 2004
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I bought a Zalman GPU heatsink and fan to replace my stock one, but this fan has a 3-pin connector while the video card has only a small, 2-pin connector. I also bought a CPU heatsink and fan to replace the stock one (same brand), but the fan socket has 3 pins (for the new fan) while my stock one has 4... Is there an adaptor that can solve these problems? ====Update==== |
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Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
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Its too bad your board doesn't have any 4 pin fan ports. The third wire is for an rpm sensor, and the 4th pin is for a temperature sensor. With both hooked up a fancy motherboard can fully control the speed of the fan. My cpu fan generally runs down under 1000rpm. And I like it that way -- |
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Archon
Member #4,195
January 2004
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Thomas Fjellstrom said: Its too bad your board doesn't have any 4 pin fan ports. It's the motherboard that has the 4-pin fan port for the CPU. The new CPU fan has only three pins. However, there is an intermediary device for controlling the speed of the fan. It has a single knob which determines the speed of the CPU fan. There is no LCD indicator or anything on it. Quote: My cpu fan generally runs down under 1000rpm. And I like it that way Do/did you change the CPU fan speed when you are/were doing excessive computation, such as compiling your system? I've placed the fan speed device inside the system as there is no clean way of routing the cords out of the case. So now, I've left the speed of the CPU fan to the highest where it is inaudible. |
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Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
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Archon said: Do/did you change the CPU fan speed when you are/were doing excessive computation, such as compiling your system? My motherboard controls the speed based on the cpu temperature. Even under full load I rarely hear it. -- |
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Archon
Member #4,195
January 2004
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Thomas Fjellstrom said: Its too bad your board doesn't have any 4 pin fan ports. When you said this, did you mean for the GPU fan? Actually, to control the GPU fan, I would have to turn the computer off and reattach the GPU fan cord to the 12v connector. Currently, it is on the 5v connector (because it is quieter). If I change the voltage from 5v to 12v, would that be over twice as fast? |
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Arthur Kalliokoski
Second in Command
February 2005
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I added a case fan to a computer a few months ago, where the fan (from an old computer) only had two wires and the mobo had 3 pin plugs. I gave up and spliced it into the floppy drive power wires, 5 volts was too slow (and I worried about the amp draw even though the CMOS volt readings were still OK), 12 volts moved a decent amount of air. It was barely audible to me although I'm fairly hard of hearing. They all watch too much MSNBC... they get ideas. |
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Thomas Fjellstrom
Member #476
June 2000
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Arthur Kalliokoski said: I added a case fan to a computer a few months ago, where the fan (from an old computer) only had two wires and the mobo had 3 pin plugs. if they are mobo style plugs, the 2pin fans generally fit onto the 3 and 4 pin ports just fine... Not to mention all the fans I've bought came with adapters to fit on Molex connectors, and little resistor plugs to slow them down if needed. Archon said: When you said this, did you mean for the GPU fan? Whichever fan has 4 pins. Quote: If I change the voltage from 5v to 12v, would that be over twice as fast? I think that depends on the fan. -- |
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Johan Halmén
Member #1,550
September 2001
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Oh, I thought 3-pin was for a 3-phase motor. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Years of thorough research have revealed that what people find beautiful about the Mandelbrot set is not the set itself, but all the rest. |
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Ron Novy
Member #6,982
March 2006
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This spec should tell you all you need to know about the 4-pin fan connectors. Funny... I was reading this spec sheet and then saw the thread later on... Pin 1 - Ground Pin 2 - +12V Pin 3 - Tachometer (for 3 and 4 pin) Pin 4 - PWM control (for 4 pin fans) Actually all the connectors should be compatible with each other as long as you seat them correctly. The tachometer signal is optional and the motherboard may ignore it anyway. The fan with a 4 pin connector should function with no PWM control signal and if it doesn't you should just have to route it to a 5v supply... And running a 5v fan to a 12v supply will probably kill the fan, but running a 12v fan on a 5v supply will cause it to run slower and quieter (which is nice)... And just for the record... Don't anyone try and run a TEC off the fan connector on a MB... You use a 4 pin molex and if you want, a PWM control circuit to interface the CPU fan connector ---- |
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