• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Do I need a fan controller?

Joined
Oct 23, 2022
Messages
78 (0.14/day)
Hello,

I have a ASUS ROG Strix Gaming E B650e motherboard, a Kraken 360 Z73 RGB AIO, Fractal Meshify 2 with 3 Case fans, probably will change it to 4 case fans.

Do I need a fan controller?
 
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
17,832 (2.67/day)
System Name AlderLake / Laptop
Processor Intel i7 12700K P-Cores @ 5Ghz / Intel i3 7100U
Motherboard Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master / HP 83A3 (U3E1)
Cooling Noctua NH-U12A 2 fans + Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme + 5 case fans / Fan
Memory 32GB DDR5 Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 6000MHz CL36 / 8GB DDR4 HyperX CL13
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
Storage Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Evo 500GB + 850 Pro 512GB + 860 Evo 1TB x2 / Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD
Display(s) 23.8" Dell S2417DG 165Hz G-Sync 1440p / 14" 1080p IPS Glossy
Case Be quiet! Silent Base 600 - Window / HP Pavilion
Audio Device(s) Panasonic SA-PMX94 / Realtek onboard + B&O speaker system / Harman Kardon Go + Play / Logitech G533
Power Supply Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 750W / Powerbrick
Mouse Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Laser wireless / Logitech M330 wireless
Keyboard RAPOO E9270P Black 5GHz wireless / HP backlit
Software Windows 11 / Windows 10
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R23 (Single Core) 1936 @ stock Cinebench R23 (Multi Core) 23006 @ stock
Check your motherboard or it's manual to see if there are fan headers left for more fans...
 
Joined
Mar 21, 2021
Messages
4,403 (3.89/day)
Location
Colorado, U.S.A.
System Name HP Compaq 8000 Elite CMT
Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
Motherboard Hewlett-Packard 3647h
Memory 16GB DDR3
Video Card(s) Asus NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2GB GDDR5 (fan-less)
Storage 2TB Micron SATA SSD; 2TB Seagate Firecuda 3.5" HDD
Display(s) Dell P2416D (2560 x 1440)
Power Supply 12V HP proprietary
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Or just use a Y cable for a pair (for running two PWM fans on the same header)
 
Joined
Feb 22, 2022
Messages
526 (0.66/day)
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling Custom Watercooling
Memory G.Skill Trident Z Royal 2x16GB
Video Card(s) MSi RTX 3080ti Suprim X
Storage 2TB Corsair MP600 PRO Hydro X
Display(s) Samsung G7 27" x2
Audio Device(s) Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1500W
Mouse Logitech G903
Keyboard Steelseries Apex Pro
Or just use a Y cable for a pair (for running two PWM fans on the same header)
Yeah, a y-splitter or two will get the job done. Your fan headers have a max output rating, see the manual. Fans have max power draw specified on them.

You can daisychain fans off one header as long as you stay within spec. There are even fans with built-in daisychain capability for this reason. See Arctic fans with PST technology for one example.

Bottom line is: you can use splitters as long as you are running PWM fans, and stay within the max output rating of the fan header.
 

AsRock

TPU addict
Joined
Jun 23, 2007
Messages
18,875 (3.07/day)
Location
UK\USA
Processor AMD 3900X \ AMD 7700X
Motherboard ASRock AM4 X570 Pro 4 \ ASUS X670Xe TUF
Cooling D15
Memory Patriot 2x16GB PVS432G320C6K \ G.Skill Flare X5 F5-6000J3238F 2x16GB
Video Card(s) eVga GTX1060 SSC \ XFX RX 6950XT RX-695XATBD9
Storage Sammy 860, MX500, Sabrent Rocket 4 Sammy Evo 980 \ 1xSabrent Rocket 4+, Sammy 2x990 Pro
Display(s) Samsung 1080P \ LG 43UN700
Case Fractal Design Pop Air 2x140mm fans from Torrent \ Fractal Design Torrent 2 SilverStone FHP141x2
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V677 \ Yamaha CX-830+Yamaha MX-630 Infinity RS4000\Paradigm P Studio 20, Blue Yeti
Power Supply Seasonic Prime TX-750 \ Corsair RM1000X Shift
Mouse Steelseries Sensei wireless \ Steelseries Sensei wireless
Keyboard Logitech K120 \ Wooting Two HE
Benchmark Scores Meh benchmarks.
I believe typically fan headers are 1A max and the pump fan head is 3A.
 
Top