4 pin fans to 3 pin connectors?

[boed]

Hello,

I screwed up. I bought a bunch of 4 pin noctua fans ages ago when they were on sale and my new case (cosmos II) has a bunch of 3 pin connectors. Can I buy adapters? If so what is the down side?

 

[UsandThem]

4-pin fans will still plug into a 3-pin motherboard header / fan hub, they will likely just run at full speed.

If for whatever reason that doesn't work for your needs, 4-pin to 3-pin fan adapters are pretty common, and if I remember correctly, Noctua PWM fans come with the 4-pin to 3-pin adapters (unless you bought their Redux fans).

 

[boed]

Thanks!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

As I understand it, PWM (4-pin) fans when properly connected to 3-pin ports are still controllable like 3-pin fans -- provided that the 3-pin ports allow "3-pin control."

 

[Billb2]

^ +1

 

[Paperdoc]

BonzaiDuck and Bullb2 are right. Any 4-pin fan CAN plug into a 3-pin header easily (the 4th holes simply won;t fit over a pin) and WILL be under speed control. As long as the mobo fan header is configured to use it normal automatic speed control (and not set to some other option) it will work just fine. This is part of the backwards compatibility features in the new PWM Fan design.