Need PSU with this plug

[alucard13mmfmj]

So I was dedusting my whole family's computer (usually every 3-5 months). My mom's 340 watt PSU is failing. One of the two fans in the PSU unit has failed, so it is on borrowed time. I only noticed the PSU was in trouble cause when I was dedusting, the PSU was warm after being shut down for an hour+ at night. The computer is still useable, but I told my mom it is best to not turn it on until a new PSU is found. It is an Antec SP350 http://www.antec.com/specs/SP350_spe.html. I have a few spare new 430Watt Antec PSU, but it appears they are missing a connecter/wire.

I need a PSU that has:
http://i47.tinypic.com/2vsglj8.jpg
Two wires (black and blue)

http://i47.tinypic.com/4h8wpj.jpg
At the end of the two wires, there is a black plug. The black plug has 3 holes (appears middle hole is empty, hence two wires)

http://i48.tinypic.com/rlgcd0.jpg
The plug goes into this part of the motherboard (the brown thingy) which has 4 pins, but seems 3 hole plug works.

I need a PSU that has at least the same amount of 350 wattage that has that plug. Other plugs seems normal, 24pin, 4pin, 4 pin molars, and some sata.

It seems I am having a hard time finding it. I did look at the antec specs for the SP350and I THINK, correct me if I am wrong, it is a 3 pin fan sensor. Again, correct me if I am wrong, I'd like to learn the term for it. Most item descriptions on online stores and box descriptions at brick and mortar stores dont list this 3 pin fan sensor. I am not sure if it is because most PSU in stores these days does not have that plug or what. Maybe I should just take the whole PSU to Fry's or some other brick and mortar store to find out >.<.

My mom is getting cranky without her Korean drama >.>.

[theoneandonlymrk]

the four pin header on the motherboard is for the supply and regulation of power to the cpu's direct cooling fan, on its heatsink ,was your mums spinning as its got to be plugged in somewhere??(maybe direct to psu via molex (four pin big plug)),, plug the cpus fan into that anyway..

after that any psu will do and the psu does not need plugging into there,, id go for a corsair 500cx system builder psu as their good quality and effiecient for the money.

imho the cpu's fan wire is just cable tied up with the psu's wires and confusing you

[Aquinus]

That's only regulated or pwm 12v. You could fashion your own using a 4-pin molex and a voltage regulator if you intend to control the fan speed. Typically the motherboard or a fan speed controller provides the 3 and 4-pin fan connectors, not the PSU.

[alucard13mmfmj]

Originally Posted by theoneandonlymrk

the four pin header on the motherboard is for the supply and regulation of power to the cpu's direct cooling fan, on its heatsink ,was your mums spinning as its got to be plugged in somewhere??(maybe direct to psu via molex (four pin big plug)),, plug the cpus fan into that anyway..

after that any psu will do and the psu does not need plugging into there,, id go for a corsair 500cx system builder psu as their good quality and effiecient for the money.

imho the cpu's fan wire is just cable tied up with the psu's wires and confusing you

are u suggesting i should get an adaptor or something of that nature? like a 4 pin molex to a 3pin fan sensor adaptor?

[alucard13mmfmj]

Originally Posted by Aquinus

That's only regulated or pwm 12v. You could fashion your own using a 4-pin molex and a voltage regulator if you intend to control the fan speed. Typically the motherboard or a fan speed controller provides the 3 and 4-pin fan connectors, not the PSU.

i dont think i know how to do that ;p.. i know nothing about controlling fan speed.

motherboard doesnt have the 3 or 4 pin fan connectors. the wire/plug is from the PSU ;o

[eidairaman1]

that header should be to control the fan in the psu with relation to the motherboard temperature. Its a quiet fan scheme but todays PSUs adjust fan speeds on their own or run at a static setting.

if that machine is an ATX machine and has its own CPU fan, plug the CPU Fan into the CPU header on the board

[slyfox2151]

maybe the fan is working but its not turning on as its not hot enough?

[alucard13mmfmj]

Originally Posted by eidairaman1

that header should be to control the fan in the psu with relation to the motherboard temperature. Its a quiet fan scheme but todays PSUs adjust fan speeds on their own or run at a static setting.

if that machine is an ATX machine and has its own CPU fan, plug the CPU Fan into the CPU header on the board

the wire/plug from the PSU plugs into that header.

and the CPU fan above the CPU heatsink is plugged to another part of the motherboard. so i should get that CPU fan plug and stick it into that header?

maybe i should get a picture before i do this lol

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by alucard13mmfmj

the wire/plug from the PSU plugs into that header.

and the CPU fan above the CPU heatsink is plugged to another part of the motherboard. so i should get that CPU fan plug and stick it into that header?

maybe i should get a picture before i do this lol

ok if your looking at the motherboard and you see the a fan facing you towards the center of the motherboard that is the CPU heatsink, trace the fan wire from the fan itself to the board and see where it is hooked up, if it says CPU on the motherboard leave it there, the other connector coming from the PSU is to adjust the fan speed with temperatures the motherboard is reading. Today its not needed.

[theoneandonlymrk]

Originally Posted by alucard13mmfmj

the wire/plug from the PSU plugs into that header.

and the CPU fan above the CPU heatsink is plugged to another part of the motherboard. so i should get that CPU fan plug and stick it into that header?

maybe i should get a picture before i do this lol

right , if the cpus fans plugged elsewhere just forget about that plug on the psu and mobo alltogether, as the corsair(and most others) psu controls its own fan as someone else said, only answered for clarity

that could as another above poster said explain the psus heat and the fan not spinning as the mobo might not be poewring up the psu's fan due to percieved low temp(poss false) or the mobo's header being broke or the psu's fan being broke, all fixed with new psu and no fan plug

[alucard13mmfmj]

Originally Posted by theoneandonlymrk

right , if the cpus fans plugged elsewhere just forget about that plug on the psu and mobo alltogether, as the corsair(and most others) psu controls its own fan as someone else said, only answered for clarity

that could as another above poster said explain the psus heat and the fan not spinning as the mobo might not be poewring up the psu's fan due to percieved low temp(poss false) or the mobo's header being broke or the psu's fan being broke, all fixed with new psu and no fan plug

well it is an old motherboard. so that connecter coming from PSU to the mobo is to adjust or monitor the fan speed of the PSU? it has nothing to do with the fan on the CPU heatsink?

i'm kinda scared to leave the comp on to see if increase temps would get both fans to work lol.

http://i50.tinypic.com/2upe6h3.jpg
CPU fan is connected to the motherboard on the right side of the picture. the PSU 3 pin fan connecter goes to the brown 4 pin plug on the the left side of the picture.

I was also searching the antec homepage for 3 pin fan sensor and there was a manual (different model)
http://www.antec.com/pdf/manuals/pp_atx12v.pdf
I think it said the 3 pin doesnt have to be plugged into the mobo unless you want to monitor the PSU fan. Well, I'll try to leave the comp on and hope nothing gets fried or catches on fire.

If the explanation is true and it works ;p.. i'd like to thank you guys in advance if it is the solution lol. Learning new things here ^^.. This is the first tech forum I've signed up for lol.

[alucard13mmfmj]

also i read some newegg reviews and
-------

"Pros: Good PSU out of the box. Lasted a good while before I had problems with it.

Cons: Decaying power -- The power is now going down on my computer. USB has stopped functioning correctly and causing PC to halt on Windows startup. The back fan stopped working about 2 months ago. This of course could have been a hint that the thing was starting to fail. I continued to use it b/c I was having no problems with heat due to other fan inside of casing. But now I'm here at work diagnosing and find that the PSU is the problem. So....BLAH!

Other Thoughts: I do have the 400W version now, but I had the 500W initially. I got it home, out of the box, and into the computer. Started using it, and then when I was done of course turned it off. I got a whiff of a burning smell, and guess what, it was the PSU. Both fans didnt work, RIGHT FROM THE BOX! Returned it to St**les, but they didn't have another 500, so i got the 400."
------------
"Pros: Relatively inexpensive. Stable. Reasonably quiet. Honest power rating is for continuous output, not peak. PCIE connector for advanced Video Cards. SATA connectors. TUV rated for (passive) power factor correction.

Cons: Rear fan doesn't run during normal operation which may inspire panic in uninformed users. Quiet, but not extremely quiet. Efficient, but not best of class.

Other Thoughts: Another nicely made, stable and reasonably quiet power supply from Antec. Fine for most mid-to-higher powered systems, as the rating is for continuous output, NOT the commonly stated "peak" output. Reasonably efficient, but doesn't offer Active Power Factor Correction."
------------
"Pros: Very stable with the dual 12v rails, very cheap for such a good power supply! Very quiet even with the 2 fans, supports my old 20 pin motherboard, and is very well manufactured. No problems so far, at all.

Cons: The inside fan starts spinning faster when the PSU gets hotter, but since my case has 6 fans on it, the outside one will never even spin...thus my CPU has gone up 3c, but no big deal.

Other Thoughts: IF you're assembling or upgrading a medium-end system that doesnt eat away at the PSU, doesnt have an SLI set up or such, this is the PSU for you."

Most of the comments are from 2005-2006 lol... There are recent comments. 1 from 2011 and 1 from 2012.. haha dang this PSU is old. 2 of the comments above say the back fan doesnt turn on unless it is hot.

[alucard13mmfmj]

have the computer running for an hour or so.. but its hard to get the temperature up by increasing the load or wattage used lol...the comp is just for browsing net and watching korean drama.

although... from malwarebyte, theres 400 flagged files, 30-40ish are trojans. i suspect those chinese sitse are less than friendly.

anyways, the PSU is not hot. mostly feels like luke warm water.

[eidairaman1]

if you suspect that PSU to be on its way out replace it, nothing to it.

[lilhasselhoffer]

I believe there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what is going on here, so a bit of background might help you with understanding what you need to do and why.



First the following picture you linked to (http://i48.tinypic.com/rlgcd0.jpg) is where the CPU fan (http://i50.tinypic.com/2upe6h3.jpg) needs to be connected. The reason for this is that the temperature sensor which feeds this fan information is near the CPU. The temperature sensor will increase and decrease the fan speed, relating to CPU temperature. Using any other plug will potentially damage the CPU if the fans don't respond as the temperature increases.


Modern PSUs generally have thermal sensors built into them, and activate their internal fan as needed. As such, you don't need the plug you are talking about on the new PSU.


Can you spring for a more substantial PSU? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139026 The wattage is a little higher, you get an 80+ efficiency rating, and a decent brand name. All of which are good selling points.

On the same note, PSUs decay over time (more so if they are near the rated wattage). A small decrease in sustained wattage may occur over years, but a properly sized supply won't create instability. A 350 watt supply can be maxed out pretty easily on older systems, which leads them to decay quickly.

Finally, Newegg reviews are hit and miss. There are complete fools who rate their tech knowledge as "High." Take it with a huge grain of salt, and ask the crazy internet forums (read, excellent nerd bastions like here) what is reasonable if you have any doubts.


The penultimate consideration here is how far are you willing to go with this? You're looking at replacing a PSU on a computer that doesn't sound like much. A nettop or tablet could offer significantly better performance, mobility, and only cost a couple hundred dollars. I don't endorse changing if it doesn't fit the usage, but if surfing and e-mail are all this thing is used for then it might be a worthwhile consideration.


One last point, a bogged down OS doesn't cause overheating problems. The continually demanding processes might slow the system, but this only creates a small amount of heat due to the processor being heated. Keeping a clean computer is essential to fast operations, but not a heating issue. So, while cleanup is a good idea, it won't help to address the heating issues you've described.

[alucard13mmfmj]

Changing out PSU is no big deal, its just the 3pin threw me off a little bit (cause my several different models of spare PSU didnt have the 3pin). Also, the fact that the back fan didn't move (which apparently is normal for this PSU) until at a higher temperature lol.

Yeah. I did have a misunderstanding and lack of knowledge on this lol.

I also know that newegg reviews should not be taken in as "experts", however I just looked at newegg just because it was to verify and support what was being said here XD.. and from reading antec site lol. So using info from this forum, from antec site, and from the less than reliable sources from newegg reviews lol... helped me understand things more ^^.

[WalkupManuel]

You could fashion your own using a 4-pin molex and a voltage regulator if you intend to control the fan speed.

[TC-man]

It's no big deal, because the cable you mentioned is a RPM (rotations per second) monitor for the fan (the one in the PSU). Look here (a similar model Antec PSU - SmartPower 2.0).

So essentially, you don't need a PSU that has such wire/cable.

From the manual of the Antec SmartPower 2.0 PSU:

Quiet Computing and Hybrid Fan operation SmartPower 2.0 features an innovate design to help decrease noise during normal use, but which still allows for superior cooling capabilities as loads increase. To this end SmartPower 2.0 features both an internal intake fan as well as a unique external exhaust fan. The internal intake fan operates when the power supply is turned on. It rotates slowly to blow out the hot air from the power supply and case, and is thermally controlled, speeding up as heat increases. The external exhaust fan remains off to make sure your computer maintains a quiet computing environment until the power supply senses the required temperature to turn on the external exhaust fan.

We've also included a 3-pin fan signal connector. Connect it to one of the fan connectors on
your motherboard. You can monitor the speed of the internal intake fan through your motherboard BIOS or through the monitoring software included with your motherboard.
Note: When temperatures are low, the speed of the fan may drop below 950RPM. At such low speeds, some motherboards may not be able to properly detect the fan speed and may generate false warning of fan failure. To ensure proper fan monitoring, please refer to your motherboard manual.

It's okay to use one of your backup Antec PSUs to get your mum's computer running again, so she can watch her K-dramas again.

[alucard13mmfmj]

also, im sorry for posting multiple times in a row XD.. i noticed while reading another thread, where a person multi posted, was against the rules.

well ^^ I learned something, so it is all good.