# Wrong plug, fans won't work help!!!



## 5Babies (Feb 12, 2009)

I have an ASUS P5Q-PRO Mobo, the pin connections for the PWR FAN & CHASSIS FAN are both a 3 pin connector.
The cables that came with my psu (THERMALTAKE TR2 RX 550W) are Peripheral connector(4 PIN), Floppy Disc Connector (4 PIN), Serial ATA Power Connector, +12V Connector (4 PIN)
My Case is THERMALTAKE ARMOR +MX, 3 FANS
the fan plugs are 4pin, they plug into the psu peripheral connectors (4PIN) no problems, just that the psu cable that they all plug into, has the wrong connector to plug into the mobo.

So the question is, what cord do I need, or is their some kind of adaptor to go onto my current cord, so i can plug the fans in????

This is my first PC build & so far everything has gone smoothly, everything else is plugged in & connected & then I hit this speed bump 

I hope someone can understand what I'm asking & is able to help.
Thank u


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## sneekypeet (Feb 12, 2009)

so you have these plugs on your case fans?


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## 5Babies (Feb 12, 2009)

sure do sneekypeet, these plugs aren't the problem, it's the end of the psu cable that they plug into  the small 4pin connector that won't plug into my mobo.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 12, 2009)

Edit: I took that completely wrong....

You have an issue plugging the fans into the motherboard, or there is another plug from the PSU that isnt fitting where you need it to go.


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## alexp999 (Feb 12, 2009)

You need one of these. I have them for some of my fans. They work great!






http://www.akasa.co.uk/akasa_english/spec_page/cables/spec_ak_cb423_adpt.htm

Its a 4pin to 3pin fan adaptor. Can be quite tricky to find, make sure you dont get the more popular, 3pin to 4pin adaptors.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 12, 2009)

alexp999 said:


> You need one of these. I have them for some of my fans. They work great!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



After I thought about it a bit I was unsure if that was the request or if the 4-pin power for the CPU plug on the motherboard wasnt fitting correctly.


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## alexp999 (Feb 12, 2009)

> I have an ASUS P5Q-PRO Mobo, the pin connections for the PWR FAN & CHASSIS FAN are both a 3 pin connector...
> 
> the fan plugs are 4pin, they plug into the psu peripheral connectors (4PIN) no problems.



So I'm assuming the connector on the fan looks like this:






And the mobo connector looks like this:


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## kiriakost (Feb 12, 2009)

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/cs-012074.htm


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## Mussels (Feb 12, 2009)

we need to check what you're talking about. if your fans use the large 4 pin connector, then they simply DONT connect to the motherboard, they connect to the PSU.


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## alexp999 (Feb 12, 2009)

Mussels said:


> we need to check what you're talking about. if your fans use the large 4 pin connector, then they simply DONT connect to the motherboard, they connect to the PSU.



They can connect to the mobo, they just need that adaptor I posted.
Provided the Wattage rating doesnt exceed the capability of the mobo.


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## Thrackan (Feb 12, 2009)

I wouldn't bother connecting to the motherboard if you have only 4-pin connectors on your fans.
Unless they're noisy sons of b's, in that case I'd go find a fan with a normal 3-pin connector.

I still don't know why they keep making fans with molex connectors though...


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## BarbaricSoul (Feb 12, 2009)

if I'm undertsanding you correctly Babies, your trying to plug your fans in at the wrong place. Look at the picture I posted below. In the red circle is where you'll find the connection for your CPU fan. In the green circles is where you find the connection to plug your chasis fans into the motherboard.


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## 5Babies (Feb 12, 2009)

View attachment 22885

Here is the pic of my PSU Cord, the four x 4 pin plugs is what my three fans plug into, as you can see I've inc a pic of my case fan plugs as well. These aren't the problem.

The problem is with the end of the PSU Cord, (close up pic of the 4 hole socket), this is what I need a connector for.  The pics alexp999 posted of the small connector which plugs into the mobo is what I need.

But I need 2 of them, cause as I said I've got three fans that need plugging in.  The pic of the mobo that barbaricSoul posted is of my mobo, the connectors that he has circled with green is what I need the connectors for, as u can see there is 2 of them.

I hope this explains a bit better my problem.


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## Nick89 (Feb 12, 2009)

5Babies said:


> View attachment 22885
> 
> Here is the pic of my PSU Cord, the four x 4 pin plugs is what my three fans plug into, as you can see I've inc a pic of my case fan plugs as well. These aren't the problem.
> 
> ...



That pick of the connector from your PSU is a power connector for a FDD and some old video cards. I've never seen it used for fans. 

PS that attachment is broken.


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## dadi_oh (Feb 13, 2009)

Nick89 said:


> That pick of the connector from your PSU is a power connector for a FDD and some old video cards. I've never seen it used for fans.
> 
> PS that attachment is broken.



+1  That is a floppy drive power connector. You shouldn't need to use it for fans. I've seen adapters that convert the larger 4 pin power connectors down to small 3 pin connectors (like AlexP's pic) but the only thin I have seen that smaller 4 pin used for was old tape drives or floppies.


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## desertjedi (Feb 13, 2009)

Wow, this is the most confusing fan connection thread I think I've ever seen. 

To the OP, I think you need to ignore that connector that seems to be held in someone's hand in that picture - it looks like it's not of this Earth. 

From the pic, we can see that your fans are using MOLEXES (4-pin, BIG) 

As such, you have two choices (as already pointed out):

1) connect your fans to MOLEXES from your PSU.

2) connect your PSU MOLEXES to the adapter that Alexp showed, then plug your fan's molex into the connector too and then plug the 3-pin fan plug into your mainboard.

What's nice is when your fans have small 3-pin fan connectors that plug right into your mainboard and your cooler has a small 4-pin connector that plugs right into the mainboard as well.


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## sneekypeet (Feb 13, 2009)

dadi_oh said:


> +1  That is a floppy drive power connector. You shouldn't need to use it for fans. I've seen adapters that convert the larger 4 pin power connectors down to small 3 pin connectors (like AlexP's pic) but the only thin I have seen that smaller 4 pin used for was old tape drives or floppies.



DFI still occasionally uses them for suplimental power for multicard configurations.


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## 5Babies (Feb 13, 2009)

desertjedi said:


> Wow, this is the most confusing fan connection thread I think I've ever seen.
> 
> To the OP, I think you need to ignore that connector that seems to be held in someone's hand in that picture - it looks like it's not of this Earth.
> 
> ...



WOW I'm so 

This speed bump in my 1st build is getting bigger.

Ok, I have 3 Fans with 4-pin male molex connectors
I have 2 3-pin male fan connectors on my mobo 

So my question is, Can I attach one of my fans with the adaptor directly to the mobo wth no psu involved?
&
the other 2 fans, attach them to the psu cord, attach the adaptor to the psu cord & then plug that one into the other connector on my mobo?


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## Mussels (Feb 13, 2009)

for now, just stick with the native connectors. if they have a 4 pin PSU connector, connect them to the PSU!


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## 5Babies (Feb 13, 2009)

OK, next question is, seen as though I've got three fans, which connection on my mobo do i attach them too ?
One socket has CHA_FAN1
the other socket PWR_FAN
this is so ing


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## Wile E (Feb 13, 2009)

5Babies said:


> OK, next question is, seen as though I've got three fans, which connection on my mobo do i attach them too ?
> One socket has CHA_FAN1
> the other socket PWR_FAN
> this is so ing



None of us understand why you don't just plug the fans straight into the psu.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 13, 2009)

If you were plugging fans into the motherboard, then you would use the 3 pin connector that is coming off the fan. If it has a 4 pin molex connector, then you plug it into the PSU. Simple as that. The 4 pin that is coming out of the PSU is for floppy drives as mentioned. 

You can plug a 3 pin connector from the fan in any 3 pin connector on teh motherboard SO LONG AS it is designated for use by a fan.

Heres what it SHOULD look like


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## kiriakost (Feb 13, 2009)

If i yield  loudly  RTFM i will be baned ??


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## Wile E (Feb 13, 2009)

Ok, after rereading the thread, I get what the OP is thinking. They think you have to plug the floppy connector to a fan port on the mobo to give the fans their power. This is wrong. 

I made a simple diagram to explain what to do.






Hopefully that makes you understand this a little better. Just plug the fans into the psu wire itself. they do not plug into the motherboard at all.


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## silkstone (Feb 13, 2009)

Your fans should have both small (3-pin) connectors and 2 big molex (4-pin) connectors.
2 of the fans you can stick on your motherboard (even if your motherboard has 4 pin connectors you just use 3 of them)
1 of the fans connect to the 4-pin psu molex.

Doesn't matter if you put them on the CHA (Chassis) connector or the PWR connector, they should both work.

For easiest results. just connect them all to a single 4 pin PSU molex connector daisy chain style.


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## 5Babies (Feb 13, 2009)

Wile E said:


> Ok, after rereading the thread, I get what the OP is thinking. They think you have to plug the floppy connector to a fan port on the mobo to give the fans their power. This is wrong.
> 
> I made a simple diagram to explain what to do.
> 
> ...



I know that the fans plug into the psu cable, they're already plugged in.  My confusion on the whole matter is, I was under the impression that some how the psu cable with the fans plugged in also had to connect to the 3-pin fan socket on the motherboard.

Which is why i was asking if i needed to buy an adaptor to make this possible.
According to you Wile E, I don't need the adaptor to connect my psu cable (with the fans attached/plugged in) to the mobo at all.  The fans just work off the psu unit & have nothing to do with the mobo connectors at all ?

Sorry for confusing everyone, like I said this is my 1st build & I'm just trying to make sure everything is perfect & I don't screw something up & short circuit the mobo before I've had a chance to use it.

Also my fan plugs are only the 4-pin molex connectors, they didn't come with the 3-pin connector at all, which is why I started this confusing thread   I thought all fan plugs were the 3-pin kind.


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## Mussels (Feb 13, 2009)

there are actually 3 kinds of fans commonly used in PC's.

Large 4 pin Molex (the kind your fans are, that dont connect to the motherboard at all)

small 3 pin connector (the one your mobo has several of, and dont need to be used)
small 4 pin connector (modern CPU's use these. most boards only have the one of these, next to the CPU socket)

But yes, you caught on, fans do NOT need to connect to the motherboard.


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## Thrackan (Feb 13, 2009)

5Babies said:


> I know that the fans plug into the psu cable, they're already plugged in.  My confusion on the whole matter is, I was under the impression that some how the psu cable with the fans plugged in also had to connect to the 3-pin fan socket on the motherboard.
> 
> Which is why i was asking if i needed to buy an adaptor to make this possible.
> According to you Wile E, I don't need the adaptor to connect my psu cable (with the fans attached/plugged in) to the mobo at all.  The fans just work off the psu unit & have nothing to do with the mobo connectors at all ?
> ...



*Now* I understand!
You thought that the Floppy Drive connector on the PSU needed to be connected to the motherboard in order for the fans to work.

So, to answer your question:
If you connect fans with 4-pin molex connectors to the PSU, you only need to connect them to the PSU. They will run off the standard 12 volts supplied by the PSU.

And to go into more detail:
Fans can come with a 3-pin connector as well. Those fans that have a 3-pin connector can be directly attached to the motherboard.
It doesn't matter if the fan connectors on your motherboard have nothing attached to them, except the CPU_FAN, which, obviously, should have the CPU coolers' fan attached.

When you connect a fan to the PSU, the fan gets its juice from the PSU. When you connect a fan to the motherboard, the fan gets its juice from the motherboard.
The downside of connecting a fan to the PSU is that you can not monitor/adjust fan speeds through software. Also, the fan will be running at full speed constantly.


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## 5Babies (Feb 13, 2009)

So my 1st pc build is actually finished 

Thank you to all who helped with my ing problem.  I'm so  for not knowing about the fan situation, but hey, it's my 1st build so I can be forgiven 

I will post my pics of my finished masterpiece in my other thread 

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=1210308#post1210308

Just have to turn her on, cross fingers that she works & then boot her up.


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## t77snapshot (Feb 13, 2009)

5Babies said:


> So my 1st pc build is actually finished
> 
> Thank you to all who helped with my ing problem.  I'm so  for not knowing about the fan situation, but hey, it's my 1st build so I can be forgiven
> 
> ...



Awesome man, good luck!

Post mod and I shall rate it


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## madmanjohn (Feb 13, 2009)

dadi_oh said:


> +1  That is a floppy drive power connector. You shouldn't need to use it for fans. I've seen adapters that convert the larger 4 pin power connectors down to small 3 pin connectors (like AlexP's pic) but the only thin I have seen that smaller 4 pin used for was old tape drives or floppies.




some pci soundcards use them as well- i think shed b ok if she re read kirakosts intel reprint-

if its not molex 4 pin - it should have a spot on the board- with asus usually 3 spots

ive never seen a fan using a fdd power connector either- theres a 1st 4 everything


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