fan connections to MB - 3 pin fan to 4 pin MB connector?

[brollend]

I just built a DIY system using a Coolermaster Centurion 5 case and a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R motherboard. Also used a Scythe 120mm fan and a Zalman 9700 cooler. THe case comes with an 80mm fanon the front to cool the HDDs.

It seems all my fans including the Zalman 9700 have 3 pin connectors but I only have 2, 3 pin fan connetions on the MB. I have the main 120 mm fan plugged into the SYS_FAN1 connector, and the Zalman Fan plugged into the PWR_FAN connector. I had tried plugging the Zalman fan into the CPU_FAN connector but it is 4 pin. I put the 3 pin on the right 3 of the 4 pins, but it didn't turn on the fan. THere is also another 4 pin SYS_FAN2 connector on the MB.

Right now i don't have the front 80 mm fan plugged in anywhere since its a 3 pin connector and I don't have any other 3 pin connectors. Is there a way to get this fan connected?

Is there such a thing as a 4 -pin to 3 pin connector converter? Is there a way to connect some of the fans directly to the Power Supply? Was hoping to be ale to control the fan speeds via BIOS to keep the system noise low when the PC is only used for general purpose use, and then be able to crank it up for gaming.

other details - Q6600 CPU, 2 GB Corsair XMS2 memory, Corsair 520W power supply, Seagate 500 GB HDD, Liteon DVD burner, EVGA 8800GTS.

 

[AmberClad]

It's my understanding (and this may or may not be 100% correct) that only 4-pin PWM fans can be speed controlled by the motherboard. With that said, a 3-pin fan should still work just fine when plugged into the 4-pin CPU fan connector on a motherboard (it will always run at full speed though).

You may not have the fan plugged in correctly. On my motherboard, if I were to plug my Zalman 7000 in, there's a little tab that sticks out of the pinout, so you know how you're supposed to slide the plug on. So that should take care of the powering the fan problem.

As far as controlling the speed, since that cannot be done by the motherboard with that type of fan, use the Zalman FanMate, if your heatsink came with one. In my case, I have a fan controller panel that I used for my case fans, and I'm also using it for the Zalman, instead of the FanMate.

 

[brollend]

thanks. The Zalman didn't work when plugged into the 4 pin in the manner you described. The LED came on, but the fan wouldn't turn. I will try it with the 80 mm fan.

I do have the fan mate installed, so I can control the Zalman fan. Right now I have it on silent mode and its pretty quiet.

 

[AmberClad]

Check this diagram is your HSF kit didn't come with it. You can probably see the little tab behind the pins I was referring to. With a 4-pin setup, the unused pin is going to be whichever one is not centered over the tab. The two little ridges on the Zalman's plug is going to be on the same side of the pins as the tab.

Assuming all that's done, I guess something else is the problem. Does the system power up?

 

[brollend]

yes the system boots just fine with the Zalman fan turning or not. The Zallman on the PWR_FAN is spinning the fan and everything seems to work. I will try the seconday 80 mm fan on one of the 4 pin connectors and see if it works tonight. Thanks for your help.

 

[AmberClad]

Could be a defect with the Gigabyte board. This guy was having problems too, but with a PWM fan.

 

[brollend]

mine is a rev 1.0 board as well

 

[seemingly random]

Does the hsf fan start up without the controller?

I believe the controllers were included a while back when bios fan control was non-existent or in its infancy. Many mb's do fairly good job on user adjustable hsf control these days.

The zalman controller could be used to fine tune a case fan to suit noise/cooling preferences.