3-pin fan - 4-pin motherboard for CPU fan?

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tutu
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Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:26 pm
Location: UK

3-pin fan - 4-pin motherboard for CPU fan?

Post by tutu » Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:29 pm

I have the Zalman MFC-1 Plus fan controller connected upto to 3 Slipstream fans (which are 3 pin). My motherboard has a 4-pin connector for the CPU fan.

The Zalman plugs into the Slipstream but also includes an extra 3-pin wire to plug into the motherboard for RPM monitoring (but not control).

Can I connect the 3-pin RPM monitor to a 4-pin on my motherboard? Or is that just a bad idea. Or is there some adaptor or something? I believe 4-pin is for PMW. Or do I need a different fan? :oops:

I just need to monitor the RPMs (for shutdown in case it fails). Not that I've ever had a fan fail! (well maybe once 12 years ago).
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nafets
Posts: 89
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:04 pm

Post by nafets » Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:47 pm

..
Last edited by nafets on Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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tutu
Posts: 119
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:26 pm
Location: UK

Post by tutu » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:13 pm

Thanks :D

Update: It worked!!! Cheers :D
Last edited by tutu on Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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destructo
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Joined: Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:40 am
Location: Boston

Re: 3-pin fan - 4-pin motherboard for CPU fan?

Post by destructo » Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:26 am

wow, this is exactly the problem I'm having in my new build... I'm so glad I found this post! I'm going to give this a try.

I'm new to all this stuff, and I have one question still about this. Tutu said:
tutu wrote:The Zalman plugs into the Slipstream but also includes an extra 3-pin wire to plug into the motherboard for RPM monitoring (but not control).
Are you sure about this. So if I use a zalman on my case fans, they will run at the same speed all the time, even if plugged into the motherboard fan ports? I was thinking (guessing really) that the motherboard would be able to speed up and slow down the fans, but the zalman would keep the overall rotation speed down.
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tutu
Posts: 119
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:26 pm
Location: UK

Re: 3-pin fan - 4-pin motherboard for CPU fan?

Post by tutu » Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:07 pm

destructo wrote:I was thinking (guessing really) that the motherboard would be able to speed up and slow down the fans, but the zalman would keep the overall rotation speed down.
The Zalman allows you to adjust the speed of the fans and thus the airflow and noise they generate. It does this by altering the voltage given to the fans (5v, 7v, 12v and in between).

The advantage to doing this is that you can run the fans really slow for when you are watching a film or web browsing. If you are gaming or freakish hot weather you can speed up the fans (if required) to keep your temps down.

The extra wire the Zalman comes with allows the motherboard to detect the fan speed (RPM) so you can monitor in programs like Speedfan for example. It can also be used in some BIOS - for example if the RPM monitor in the BIOS is reading 0 then the fan isn't working!! So the system would shut down.

My gigabyte seems to go on temperatures and not RPM speed.
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