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Thread ID: 51106 2004-11-11 20:28:00 Question about case fan powering. Wilky (776) Press F1
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290752 2004-11-11 20:28:00 I'm building my new computer today, and I was just looking at the case (thermaltake tsunami dream) and I noticed that all the fans have 2 power connectors. One has 4 pins, and the other one has 4 holes. There is no matching male connector on the power supply (enermax noisetaker 600w,) there are only female connectors. Is the extra female connector on the fan just for adaptors/extension leads or something? Or would it serve another purpose? Also, one of the 120mm fans has a 3 pin female connector as well as a 4 pin and 4 hole one. Do I just need to use one or the other?
Anyway, this is the first computer I'm building, so help would be much appreciated. thanks.
Wilky (776)
290753 2004-11-11 20:45:00 Yup, the fans with the molex extensions, (4 pin power connections), are in case u want to "add or connect " other devices to it (an extension) .

You can either connect the plug end of the fan to one of the plugs coming from the power supply, so it spins/runs . BUT this way, you wont be able to monitor the fans speed etc, since its directly connected to the power supply, NOT to the motherboard's fan connection .

The 3 pins on the fans are for connecting to the mobo, in case u want to use some kind of monitoring program to see how fast the fans are going etc . (If you connect the 3 pin of the fan to the fan connection/s on the mobo, you could still use the 4 pin connections for something else / connecting a hdd, or cd/dvd to it . With the 120mm as above up to you whether u want some kind of program to monitor its speed etc, connect the 3 pin to the mobo's connection .

Usually mobos have 3 or even 4 fan connections . labelled CPU_FAN CHASSIS_FAN and POWER_FAN or similar . Just make sure you connect the CPU's fan to the right connection on the mobo, so it spins!

Or there will be probs .
Spacemannz (808)
290754 2004-11-11 20:51:00 Right, so I could daisy chain all my case fans together with no problems? (2x 120mm, 1x 92mm) Wilky (776)
290755 2004-11-11 20:58:00 Yup, if they have the right connections on the end of them . Cant see why not .

And if u dont want to monitor any of their speeds thru a program . (If you dont connect any of the fans to the mobo's fan connections) .

BUT it also depends on what else u have in the case, after u build the system .

A lot of fans can be quite noisy once theyre running, and depending on what else you're going to install (like hdds/cds/dvds) . And built in USB .

They (the fans) can use quite a bit of power . What will the system be running on? What motherboard?? AMD? P4?
Spacemannz (808)
290756 2004-11-11 21:08:00 Motherboard: MSI K8N Neo Platinum
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+
1024mb Geil DDR RAM (PC3200)
600w enermax psu
Geforce 6800GT gfx card
soundblaster audigy 2 zs soundcard
2x seagate barracuda 7200.7 200gb hard drives
floppy drive
cd writer/dvd reader
Wilky (776)
290757 2004-11-11 21:14:00 > They (the fans) can use quite a bit of power .

Really?

Typical fans only use about 4 or 5 watts each (120 mm) and as low as 2 watts (80 mm) .
godfather (25)
290758 2004-11-11 21:18:00 Thats a pretty good setup Wilky!

I take it those hdds are SATA? or IDE? And what operating system? As windows wont normally see all of 200gb unless u install windows onto one of them. (And also a Service pack). A program from seagate's site might fix it. Not too sure.

Not too sure what windows will see on the other. Depends which OS you install I guess.

I wouldnt put those 2 hdd's together (one under the other), they can get pretty hot after a while. if the case has something like 4-5 slots at the front of it, put one up top and the other 2 or 3 slots down.

The 2 hdds in this were close to each other (1 120GB SATA, and 1 80GB IDE), and the other day I found out, when a program I just got off the net, told me, this 120gb SATA was about 50 degrees! So, I put one of the hdds down 2 slots and put a fan at the front of the case, which took both down to about 32-35 degrees. A BIG difference in heat.

Happy building!
Spacemannz (808)
290759 2004-11-11 21:42:00 Yup, they are serial ATA and I'm putting XP Pro with SP2 on the machine. There are plenty of hard drive bays- enough to have them spaced out with spare bays both above and below them. There's also one of the 120mm fans which will be blowing air over the hard drives. It's quite a well designed case. Wilky (776)
290760 2004-11-11 22:00:00 lol yer ok

May have exaggerated a bit :D
Spacemannz (808)
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