I am very new to overclocking and modding so these questions may well fall into the stupid variety. I have a new case (Cooler Master HAF932) which has 4 large fans (front 230x30, Side 230x30, Top 230x30 and rear 140x25). The fan cabling all terminate with what appears to be 4 pin molex (male and by a 50mm cable from the male a female Molex). My current mobo is a gigabyte GA-MA790X-D54 rev 1.0. The mobo has the following fan connectors. Cpu 4 pin Pwr 3 pin NB 3 pin Sys 1 4 pin Sys 2 3 pin. I would like to use the Akasa AK-FC-03 (Akasa Fan controller pro) but all the fan plugs are 3pin. I have been told that if I do fit this controller, I wll not be able to get any fan information nor will I be able to control their speed - I would still get temprature readouts. Questions. 1) are there 3 to 4 pin and 4 to 3 pin adapters available - Which would I need and how many and where from? (assuming connecting to mobo) 2) If I go ahead and get the Akasa controller is there any way I can get full control of the 4 fans? 3) If the fan controller won't work with this setup does anyone know one that will. Thanks Halland
According to this review, all of the fans in the HAF932 are the 3-pin type, with 4-pin molex adapters attached. Your's differs in some way? Anyway, for the record, for any fans which are molex powered, you can indeed purchase molex to 3-pin adapters, and use them on any fan controller with 3-pin fan headers. Hovever, you will not be able to see the RPM information, as the "RPM Tach wire" will be missing. You will, however, be able to control and change the fan's speed, as a fan conroller is analogue and only needs to able increase/decrease the voltage on the +12v wire, it doesn't need the RPM Tach wire to actually operate, you just won't be able to tell how fast the fan is spinning. If your fans do indeed have 3-pin connectors, then you're fine, you can get an RPM readout, and change the speed of the fan with pretty much any fan controller.
Fazed, Thanks for the information, having checked the cables of the fans I noticed a connector about half way up, and yes they all have 3 pins, so I guess I'll just need 2x3 pin to 4 pin converters. Thanks again for the info. Halland
You've lost me If you want to use the Akasa fan controller, the fans will plug directly into it. No need to buy adapters. Or did I miss something??
Fazed, I am assuming that the fan controller will all be 3 pin cables, my motherboard has 2x 4pin fan sockets. So i would think that I'd need 2x3pin to 4 pin adapters for them. Halland
Pulse width modulation is just a different (arguably better, but there are pros and cons) way of slowing the fan down/controlling the speed.
As capnpedro explains, is just a slightly different implimentation of fan control (Digital as opposed to Analogue) Some very useful info on the different types of case fans and how they are powered can be found here and here.
