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Need help connecting all 6 fans (mobo only has 4 headers)

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UncleGrandpa

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Nov 16, 2016
Hi all, I'm in the process of putting together my son's build and I just realized I won't be able to connect all six fans I have because the motherboard can only take 4 fans. I read that one can connect the remaining fans directly to the power supply but I wouldn't know how to do it.

I also have these adapter cables that came with the Rosewill fans, but I don't know what they do. Apparently, one is a 4-pin molex and on the other end it has 2 other connectors. One is a 3 pin female and the other is 2 pin male. Maybe I could use this to install the extra fans? If someone could give me some advice I would really appreciate it.

IMG_20170222_144446.jpg IMG_20170222_144707.jpg
 
yes, you can use the adapter pictured on your post.
connect the power plug to the PSU (the molex one on the adapter), and the 3 wired connector one to the fan.

I'll stay away with the term of male vs female, as they tend to be confusing and end up with "shemale" :rofl
you did a good job by posting the picture :thup

just leave the 3 pin connector which had 2 wire unconnected, it supposed to be connected to the motherboard to send the fan's rpm.
fyi, not all of the motherboard fan headers had this feature, and since you've already run out of fan headers on your motherboard anyway.
 
Thanks so much guys :) I will probably be ordering the 3 pin splitter so that the fans aren't running at full speed all the time, but for now I'm using the adapter.

Hi inVain, that is true about the molex adapter, seems like mine is more of a hermaphrodite as it has both, sticks and holes on different sides LOL

BTW, does anybody know anything about the CP7 thermal paste? This is what came with the Cryorig H7. It came with no instructions on how to apply it, but it says it's a "high density" paste and I saw it on Newegg being sold with a spreader, does that mean I need to definitely spread it?

I read on another forum that this needs to be wiped out and reapplied every so often, unlike the MX4? Is this like a silver paste or something? I don't want to mess anything up :$ Should I get a paste that is easier to work with?
 
UncleGrandpa said:
Thanks so much guys :) I will probably be ordering the 3 pin splitter so that the fans aren't running at full speed all the time, but for now I'm using the adapter.

Hi inVain, that is true about the molex adapter, seems like mine is more of a hermaphrodite as it has both, sticks and holes on different sides LOL

BTW, does anybody know anything about the CP7 thermal paste? This is what came with the Cryorig H7. It came with no instructions on how to apply it, but it says it's a "high density" paste and I saw it on Newegg being sold with a spreader, does that mean I need to definitely spread it?

I read on another forum that this needs to be wiped out and reapplied every so often, unlike the MX4? Is this like a silver paste or something? I don't want to mess anything up :$ Should I get a paste that is easier to work with?
Click to expand...

Very viscous paste may not spread well with the traditional "blob" in the center method when just relying on clamping pressure alone. It's really more of a risk with clamping systems that don't apply high pressure I would think. So you wind up with a thick layer in the middle that produces more insulation. To my way of thinking, you can't do better than AC MX4. It's one of the top performers and is economical. I just get a big 20 gm tube so I'll have plenty around for various build projects.
 
Thanks Trents! Yeah I was considering the MX4 before getting the CPU cooler, than I sort of figured I wouldn't need it if the H7 came with its own paste. I've been reading about this paste and I'm relieved to find out it doesn't conduct electricity like the Arctic Silver one, but it does seem a little thicker than the average paste. I'm not yet done with the build so I might take another day or so to think what I'm going to do. How do you recommend putting the paste, like a dot in the middle or a cross? I saw some videos of people who said the cross is better. Seems like this paste issue is very controversial on the net LOL
 
UncleGrandpa said:
Thanks so much guys :) I will probably be ordering the 3 pin splitter so that the fans aren't running at full speed all the time, but for now I'm using the adapter.
Click to expand...

You can change how fast it spins even with the molex. Instead of 12v, you can give it 7v or 5v to lower the rpm. Modifying the molex is very easy.
 
Seems like this paste issue is very controversial on the net LOL
Click to expand...

Everything is controversial in the interwebz. LOL Sometime I think it was invented just so total strangers can tell you you're wrong about something/anything.
 
Jeff G said:
You can change how fast it spins even with the molex. Instead of 12v, you can give it 7v or 5v to lower the rpm. Modifying the molex is very easy.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jeff G, that would be great if I could make them a little quieter. Would I do that in the BIOS?

Alaric said:
Everything is controversial in the interwebz. LOL Sometime I think it was invented just so total strangers can tell you you're wrong about something/anything.
Click to expand...

Very true. It sometimes seems like 50% of people on the web are professional trolls :p I'm stuck on this paste situation, I guess I'm being too perfectionist. I usually do tons of research before I decide on something, but this time it's like people can't agree on how to do the paste LOL Some swear by spreading it with an old credit card. Others say that's dangerous to do because of air bubbles. I'm kind of leaning toward just doing the X shape so that it's a little bit more spread out than the dot but not totally spread out :&
 
Either will work, as witnessed by the vast numbers of proponents on both sides. I've done all three and not had a problem yet. It's a situation where you can get lost in minutiae and lose sight of the end goal. If you use the cross method just make sure there is enough in the center. searching some de lidding threads (or Google) will give you a better picture of where the heat source is under the metal heat spreader. For example, this is a 6700k Skylake chip from Intel. The rectangle in the center is where you need coverage.
intel-2015-skylake-delid-05.jpg
 
Unclegrandpa, there is more than one good way to apply TIM. Personally, I use a blob in the center somewhere between the size of a BB and a green pea.

By the way, Arctic Silver 5 is not conductive, it's capacitive. That means it will "hold back and store" an electrical charge which would mess with the flow of electricity to the components it is interfering with. And when it did finally release the juice it might be too much.

If you have 3 pin fans you want to be able to control the speed of then you should look at a drive bay fan speed controller. Better though, is to go with 4 pin "PWM" fans or just choose 3 pin fans whose noise level you can live with at a constant speed.
 
As Jeff G. said, it's just a matter of changing the sequence of the colored wires. There is a ground wire (black) and three other colored wires that carry various voltages up to 12v. Slowing the fan would involve changing the + wire to one of the two that carry less than 12v. Only two of the wires are actually needed to complete a circuit and you are choosing a different one to carry the + signal than the original wire color sequence afforded. The black wire is the ground or - (minus) wire. It takes a plus and a minus wire to complete a DC (Direct Current) electrical circuit.
 
It really is an easy mod. My HTPC build uses several fans to keep everything cool in the small case, but I didn't want to hear the fans running full bore and I only had so many headers. As it was a small case that I didn't want to shove a controller in to, I dropped them all down to 5v with this mod and they are wisper quiet now. Once you get the hang of popping the wire out of the molex, they take less than a minute per fan to set up.
 
The only problem you might have is getting the molex pins out of the plastic connector housing without buggering them up. Some of them just don't let go easy.
 
Thanks so much for all the help folks :)

I'm not sure I will be doing the molex mod very soon because I'm such a newbie. But I will keep that in mind for later as I learn more.

I finally installed the H7. I did an elongated pea because I remembered the picture that Alaric posted where the die is rectangular. But then I had a little trouble setting the H7 straight down, so I notice my paste had smudged a little bit closer to the bottom than toward both sides , so I took a plastic bag and spread it just a little bit north with my covered finger. I ended up doing this weird mix of techniques with the paste LOL. I hope everything's OK. It probably is, I guess. I will have a friend who knows more about PC's coming over on Monday to check on what I did, and we will probably turn it on together.

Here's a picture of it so far. Feel free to suggest anything :)

20170225_134739.jpg 20170225_135005.jpg
 
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