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3 pin fan connector

S

Schpeedy

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Nov 6, 2004
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So i did my mod to my ati silencer 3 and fit it onto my 9800se. The biggest problem i had with it was the fan plug on the card is a 2 pin while the one on the silencer is a 3 pin, so basicaly i just reconnected the plugs and gave myself a 2 pin connect but the yellow wire is hanging lose, just wondering if anyone knows what each of the wires do on a 3-pin fan connector.
 
well not sure on the wire Colors but I have a fan from an old GF2 440 on my 9600 and its red+, black- and blue fan control tho I too only have red and black connected
 
The black is almost always the ground, and the other 2 are for different voltages for when you use fan control, colors vary. On a standard molex connector it is:
+12v
Ground
Ground
+5v

(This is the order wires appear and are colored)
 
so from that, using my current setup im am grosly underpowering my fan? figures
 
No, on a 3-wire connect for fans the red is 12v, black ground and the yellow is feedback for working out the fan speed. You are powering the fan with 12v.
 
Ahh okay thats exactly what i wanted to know, thanks fr33ze.
 
no worries mate, if you still wanna get the fan rpm you can connect that yellow wire to the correct pin on one of the fan headers on the motherboard and use MotherBoardMonitor to display the fan rpm
 
fr33ze said:
no worries mate, if you still wanna get the fan rpm you can connect that yellow wire to the correct pin on one of the fan headers on the motherboard and use MotherBoardMonitor to display the fan rpm
Click to expand...

And now the 1.000.000 $ question: what the hell do i need a fourth pin for? My Shuttle SN95G5 barebone uses 4-pins to connect the big 92x92 case fan to the mainboard. The chipset fan is connected to it with a 3-pin fan, pin out as you described. Result: only the 4-pin fan is BIOS/software (SmartFan) controllable. Perhaps you can tell me more about the 4th magic pin. I always thought fan speed is regulated by PWM controlling the VCC fan pin. This seems to be (at least for my fan temp/control chip) not the hole truth.
 
no idea rols, never come accross a fan with 4 pins.
 
rols said:
And now the 1.000.000 $ question: what the hell do i need a fourth pin for? My Shuttle SN95G5 barebone uses 4-pins to connect the big 92x92 case fan to the mainboard. The chipset fan is connected to it with a 3-pin fan, pin out as you described. Result: only the 4-pin fan is BIOS/software (SmartFan) controllable. Perhaps you can tell me more about the 4th magic pin. I always thought fan speed is regulated by PWM controlling the VCC fan pin. This seems to be (at least for my fan temp/control chip) not the hole truth.
Click to expand...
Maybe it uses 2 voltage lines for changing speed?
 
I took an old cpu fan that has 4 connectors, and Im gonna plug it into my motherboard and use it as a case fan. Although the place plugging it in is for only 3 connectors, not 4. There are 4 colours, blue, green, yellow and black. Black isnt getting plugged in, can it short circuit my motherboard or cause any other damage? When I plugged it in, it seemed to spin pretty fast...
 
conan said:
Hell W1zzard, where'd you get that kind of manufacturers drawing? You work for them?:D:D:D

Never seen the 4 pin config before though, a seperate pin/wire for control instead of using voltage:)
Click to expand...

data sheets for pretty much everything are available if you know where to look, it's how a lot of people work out how to do voltmods, by looking at the spec sheets of IC's
 
yeah...my Coolermaster Hyper 48 HS also has a 4 pin plug which fits my Mobo...but I am going to count the wires later...:)
 
4-pin connectors are to power 4-pin fans, also called PWM fans. PWM fans are software controlled. The motherboard controls the PWM fan speed.

The 4 pins diagram is as follows:
1= +12Vcc
2= GND
3= SPEED SENSOR (it communicates the current speed of the fan back to the motherboard)
4= PWM pulse

The computer controls the speed of the fan thru the PWM channel (wire #4). For example, Shuttle barebones have PWM fans for silent use (the fans rotate at minimum speed; when the temperature rises, the motherboard tells the fans to speed up).
Also, some CPU fans require 4-pin connectors (the mainboard controls the speed of the fan).

These fans are backward compatible (they can be used with regular 3-pin and even 2-pin connectors). They just won't be software controlled anymore (some rotate at minimum speed, some at maximum speed, depending on the manifacturer, i believe.)
 
rols said:
And now the 1.000.000 $ question: what the hell do i need a fourth pin for? My Shuttle SN95G5 barebone uses 4-pins to connect the big 92x92 case fan to the mainboard. The chipset fan is connected to it with a 3-pin fan, pin out as you described. Result: only the 4-pin fan is BIOS/software (SmartFan) controllable. Perhaps you can tell me more about the 4th magic pin. I always thought fan speed is regulated by PWM controlling the VCC fan pin. This seems to be (at least for my fan temp/control chip) not the hole truth.
Click to expand...

Intel is trying to push a 4 pin fan connector, similar to floppy connectors, so that they can control the fan speeds better.
(last i checked, atleast) BTX?
 
What I would like to know is how the 4-pin PWM system works, and if a controller can be build that accepts the 4-pin PWM drive to control a 3-pin generic fan. I'm wanting to get a Zalman CNPS9500LED for my new Core2, but I don't want to run the poxy FanMate2, I'd rather the motherboard control it as it sees fit.
 
Carcenomy said:
What I would like to know is how the 4-pin PWM system works, and if a controller can be build that accepts the 4-pin PWM drive to control a 3-pin generic fan. I'm wanting to get a Zalman CNPS9500LED for my new Core2, but I don't want to run the poxy FanMate2, I'd rather the motherboard control it as it sees fit.
Click to expand...

Or you could always just use one of theses

 
That won't solve the issue - I want the motherboard to control fan speed, not myself.
 
as far as i know,a fan with a 4 pin connector has a pwm built into the motor.its mostly used on intel fans only.
 
Zalman's 9500AT appears to have it too, might just have to settle.

Would be nice if there was a clean motor control module one could use to emulate a PWM motor... yes you can adjust it yourself with a fan speed controller, but in the case of something like the CPU fan I'm too lazy for turning it up/down when required, and would be far happier if the motherboard dealt with it on behalf. *shrug*
 
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