corsair 520hx and antec 182

[toughwimp11]

I just got my corsair 520hx and my antec 182 and i have a couple of questions

1. What are fan only plugs and how are they unique?
2. Antec recommends that you set the fans on high if using fan-only. Do fan-only plugs regulate the fan speed? And if they do, which is better, straight plug and using the 3-switch option or using the fan-only plugs and setting the fans on high?
3. I see that the 4 pin plugs on the fans are double sided. Can i plug them into each other and then only plug one 4 pin plug from the psu or would that decrease the voltage to each fan (if i remember my physics correctly, it shouldn't)?
4. I bought a evga 8800gts. is it ok to use the pci-e plug that corsair provides or should i use the convertor provided by evga? (it might seem stupid but i want to make sure)
5. why does the 6 pin pci-e plug have one end that is 6 pins and one end that is also 6 pins but with an extra 2 pin side plug?

thanks in advance

 

[John]

1) the Y-splitter cable is 12V power only
2) if your fan is adjustable you can use any setting
3) no problem
4) use the PCIe on the psu and not an adapter
5) 8-pin PCIe is for the new "300W" cards w/ an 8-pin connection (eg. 2900XT)

 

[Varun]

Fan Only plugs are PSU controlled voltage plugs to slow down fan speeds when the case is not too hot. It uses the temp sensor in the PSU just like the PSU fan to adjust the fan speeds. You would not want to hook up a hard drive or anything to these because it could damage the internals with the low voltages, or they just might not work.

They recommend you put fans hooked to these connectors on high so they start all the time. If the PSU drops the voltage to 7V and you have the fan set at low, it might be too low to spin up the fan.

 

[John]

The Corsair fan only adapter cable is not temp. controlled.

 

[Varun]

Originally posted by: John
The Corsair fan only adapter cable is not temp. controlled.

You know I own one of these so I should have checked that out - but it is tucked away in my home theatre rack... You are correct of course. Usually fan only means temp adjustable but apparently not in this case.

 

[lopri]

1. Fan-only connectors are limited to 5V (or 7V?) output, so some fans might not start spinning properly if they're designed to run off 12V rails.
2. See above
3. You can daisy-chain using both sides of molex, but it doesn't have anything to do with decreasing voltages.
4. It shouldn't matter either way, but the cable that comes with the PSU looks nicer and makes less clutter.

 

[lopri]

Well, I was thinking about Antec PSUs' fan-only connectors. But I imagine they're same thing?

 

[Varun]

The Antec ones are the ones that are temperature controlled