CPU vs SYS vs NB fan?

[Sekkai]

Where am I to hook all this up?

My heatsink and its hooked-on fan (Prolimatech Megahalem) is a 3-pin thingy connecting to SYS_FAN1. My 6 case fans are all four-pin Molexes. I currently have a single cable from my Corsair 850W PSU (with a bunch of Molexes on it) hooking up all six case fans, and then the end of it plugging into some 4-pin thing on the mobo (CPU FAN). Another optional 3-pin fan is connecting to SYSFAN2 and another three-pin fan is hitting up SYSFAN3.

Questions:

1. Do I need to plug anything into NB FAN?
2. Is it bad for me to be hooking up all my fans onto one cable?
3. Does it make a different if one is in SYS fan versus CPU fan? It's hugely inconvenient, as on my case, the Antec 1200, my CPU fan is 3 pin and all my case fans are 4 pin.


I have two long cables that have a bunch of 4-pin molexes on them, ending in four-pin things which correspond to CPU fan. I also have a thing that has 4-pin Molex female to 4-pin Molex male to 3-pin male to 3-pin female.

What should I do?

 

[yh125d]

STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


It sounds like you have a wire coming from your PSU plugged into your motherboard at CPU_fan. Is this correct? That is the floppy power connector. If you try to power on with that plugged in you're gonna fry your motherboard. REMOVE IT IF THIS IS THE CASE



Plug the 3 pin from the fan on your prolimatech to CPU_fan. It doesn't matter that its 3 pin in a 4 pin, the 4th pin is for PWM function which the fan doesnt have and it isnt necessary



1) No
2) No
3) Not really, but some motherboards require a fan be plugged into CPU_fan or else it will cause an error/not boot

 

[Sekkai]

I'm not turning it on until I am sure it's all hooked up correctly. I'm just really not sure what the best way to go about this is. I've got two PSU cables that each have four 4-pin Molex things (each one is female) ending in a smaller 4-pin female thing. My heatsink fan is 3-pin female, and my other two optional fans are also 3-pin female.

 

[Sekkai]

Whoa, so that four pin thing on the end is not something I need to plug in? Why does it fit onto the CPU Fan thing?

 

[yh125d]

Just because it fits doesn't mean it goes there. It's power for a floppy drive, and if you tried to power up you probably would have fried your motherboard


The only thing that plugs into the motherboard are the 24 pin ATX connector, and the 4 or 8 pin CPU power

 

[Sekkai]

I plugged in a 24-pin thing from the PSU (lots of colorful wires) to the mobo, and there's another thing that has 8 pins (a few detachable i think) that I've also plugged into the mobo (ATX 12V 2X)

 

[Sekkai]

If my fans are all three-pin, what on earth do I plug into the fourpin CPUFAN?

 

[yh125d]

"It doesn't matter that its 3 pin in a 4 pin, the 4th pin is for PWM function which the fan doesnt have and it isnt necessary "

 

[Sekkai]

Whoa, so I can just plug the three-hole connector into the four-pin CPU fan thing? Which pin is the unneeded one?

My other power line is connecting all the other fans via their four-pin Molexes. Is this enough or do I somehow need to plug this into the mobo?

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Sekkai
Whoa, so I can just plug the three-hole connector into the four-pin CPU fan thing? Which pin is the unneeded one?

My other power line is connecting all the other fans via their four-pin Molexes. Is this enough or do I somehow need to plug this into the mobo?

Alright...

The 4 pin CPU_FAN header on the motherboard should a white 'backplane' as it were. The 3 pin fan connector off of your heatsink should be rectangular with a little key on either end sort of looking like this poq. That will then fit onto the 4 pin header in only 1 way since the backplane is the size of the gap between the keys.

I would recommend against putting all 6 case fans (6? Really? That's a little excessive.) onto a single molex, maybe instead spread them out. I don't think it will cause any problems, but it will look ghetto and make it harder to remove just the one that is causing problems if one develops.

 

[Sekkai]

But do those fans have to plug into anything else, or is plugging the fans into those molexes on the PSU enough? Do I have to somehow use a converter and attach that to the SYSFAN thing on the mobo?

Do I lose anything by not using that fourth pin?

 

[Sekkai]

Can, I connect, say, the front three fans to the 4-pin molexes on one cable, and then connect the back two fans plus the top fan to a second cable with four-pin molexes, connect the center optional fan to the three-pin SYSFAN thing, and connect the sidepanel fan to the other SYSFAN pins on the mobo, and then connect the heatsink fan to three out of four pins on the CPUFAN?

 

[yh125d]

You don't want to have the side panel fan connected to a mobo header, cause then you cant open the case with it running. Other than that it's fine yeah

 

[Sekkai]

What else would I attach it to? No matter what I attach it to, I won't be able to open the case with it running. It'll be attached to something, no?

 

[yh125d]

I'm sure with all that hardware and fans, something came with a 3 pin to molex adapter... If not lust put it on the back panel and put one of those molex fans on the side panel

 

[Sekkai]

EDIT: Yes, I have an adapter. I can just attach the threepin fan to the adapter and then use that four-pin thing in one of the cables?

Also, there are a bundle of wires that come from the front panel of my case. A two-pin power wire, a two-pin reset wire, a two-pin HDD LED wire, and then two wires that bundle together into a single USB plug thing (which is strange to me -- you can have two separate USB devices going through one pin header thing on the mobo?), and another cord with a SATA L-bracket plug (do I just plug this into a free SATA port?), and a cord that has two plugs (AC 97 and HD Audio). Do I just plug all these into the mobo somewhere?

 

[yh125d]

Yeah, and consult your manuals for front panel connectors. On the bottom right corner of the motherboard theres a little area for the front power/LED/switches, you can either read the print on the motherboard or get it from the manual. To the left is where you'll plug the USB header in. On the left edge of the motherboard above the pci-e slot is usually where the front audio plugs in. Look in your manual for that cause it can vary



oh and yeah, just plug the sata cable in a free port for your esata

 

[Sekkai]

I am afraid of turning this baby on -- I don't want to ruin anything XD Maybe I will take pictures of all my connections once I finish

 

[yh125d]

If you do, take your time, and take them from a tad farther away. Your other pics were pretty blurry/shaky

 

[Sekkai]

My hands perpetually shake, unfortunately, but I'll try.

That 8-pin big clunker on one of the PSU cords is safe to plug into the thing at the upper left of the mobo, correct?

And for the GTX 295, there's a 6pin PCIE thing that I can plug something into from the PSU, but right next to it, there's an 8pin that looks a lot like the 8-pin that I plugged into the mobo. I have this adapter thing that is 8-pin that branches off into two PCI-E things. Should I plug those into two separate PCI-E plugs on two separate PSU cords?

 

[yh125d]

The CPU power cord or an 8 pin pci-e? The one you plug in to the top left corner by the socket has 4 yellow wires on one side, and 4 black on the other

 

[Sekkai]

Yes, that is what I have plugged in to the upper left from the PSU.

I have a few other PSU cords that end in PCIE (6 pin). I have one of these plugged into the 295. I have two more PCIe's from separate cords that plug into this adapter thing that converges into an 8-pin, but it isn't black and yellow like the other one (it's a mix of yellow/black and one brown)

 

[yh125d]

Yeah the mix is PCI-e. You don't need to use an adapter though. For the 6 pin on the GTX295 ust plug in a 6 pin pci-e connector. For the 8 pin, use one of your 4x 6+2 connectors



I'm going to bed now, someone else will have to help you out til tomorrow

 

[Sekkai]

"For the 8 pin, use one of your 4x 6+2 connectors "

What? I don't have to use the dual 6's-combined-into-8 thing that came with the card?



Thanks for all your help

 

[Sekkai]

This is what I mean:

These are the plugs in the card
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4040/dsc00490z.jpg

This is the "adapter" thing that connects to two separate PCI-Es
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/686/dsc00493i.jpg

The 8-pin adapter inserted along with ANOTHER 6-pin PCIE
http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/8149/dsc00494.jpg