New Case Fans, 3 or 4 Pin?

ihoks

Member
Hello and a good day!
I would like to upgrade my case fans to the Silent Wings 3 140mm to reduce noise and improve temps.
However there is 2 variants available the PWM Version (4 Pin) and the 3 Pin Version regulated by supply voltage.
Currently I am manually controlling the fan speed with a 3 level fan control system based on voltage of my Arc Midi R2 Case. However this is a bit clunky since the fans go from fairly silent to Vacuum Cleaner Turbo mode in 3 Steps. So in order to set up a profile for my OC CPU and a more precise setting and lower noise level would I like to use something like Speedfan or Asus Fan Xpert and connect the fans directly to my MB, the Asus Maximus Hero 6.

Now this MB has 1 x CPU Fan connector 1 x CPU OPT Fan connector and 3 x Chassis Fan connectors, all of them being 4 Pin. However, according to this post do:

"Asus and most manufacturers, only have one true PWM fan header, CHA_FAN (CPU_OPT is only a mirror none controllable, just a mirror of the CPU_FAN). The rest of headers CHA_FAN 1,2,3 even though they are 4pin physically, they are are voltage controlled or what some called fake 4pin."

So if this is true, does that mean that the PWM fans connected to CHA_FAN 1 -3 will only run at low, midle and max. speed due to being voltage controlled and hence the same as my current manual controlling? Are PWM Fans even made for this or will they take damage in the long run?

What would be the best setup and does it make sence to split the PWM signal from the CPU OPT?
My current plan is to use 1 PWM controlled fan on "CPU OPT" and control the pump of my H90 on "CPU FAN" and than use 2 fans at the front of the case, which ones though and how to set them up?

Maybe I am over thinking this a bit, but somehow this is highly fascinating and entertaining me a lot :)
Appreciate any input on this!
Cheers,
ihoks
 

_Glitch

Active Member
Your PWM fans will not take damage by running on a 3 pin header.
The forth wire is to tell the onboard chip in the fan what speed it needs to run at. If the chit doesn't get any data, it runs a 100%
Volt controlling 3pin (or PWM) fans works very well. The motherboard has to support it though. i use FanXpert on my Maximus 6 Hero
 
Last edited:

ihoks

Member
Your PWM fans will not take damage by running on a 3 pin header.
The forth wire is to tell the onboard chip in the fan what speed it needs to run at. If the chit doesn't get any data, it runs a 100%
Volt controlling 3pin (or PWM) fans works very well. The motherboard has to support it though. i use FanXpert on my Maximus 6 Hero
Thanks for your help, Ill get some PWM fans than.
Cheers :)
 
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