How to control molex fans?

I have a 120mm and a 140mm fan that I need to control in an antec 300 black illusion case, and I need to do it cheaply. Both fans have standard molex 4 pin connectors that connect to the psu, but they also have a 3rd wire with a high and low switch(low does nothing, high is unbearably loud). I'm hoping this is a voltage control wire.

What would be the best way to control the fan speed? I was hoping I could mod the wires and turn it into a 3 pin fan connector that the mobo could control, but I also looked for a cheap front bay fan controller... And didn't find anything decent. Any recommendations? What's the easiest and cheapest solution?

for a cheap fan controller, have you looked at sunbeam? I'd bet that the speed controller on the fan is a set of 3 inline resistors...that or antec did something weird. I have a 1200 myself and have wondered what each is. You could do a continuity check (with a multimeter) to see if either ground or 12v lines are continuous with any of the wires in the controller...actually, I have one I cut a while back for replacement. Let me dig that up, strip it down and post some pics.

Found what I want

This would work... But it's out of stock. Hmm, anyone know any alternatives?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/185-5544252-2875024?a=B0000TFCJU

http://jab-tech.com/Sunbeam-5-1-4-Rheobus-Kit-BLACK-pr-2530.html
http://jab-tech.com/Sunbeam-Rheobus-Extreme-Black-pr-4090.html
http://www.amazon.com/Fan-Molex-Pin-MB/dp/B000BSJGL0

I pulled the fan apart. There are 3 wires coming off of it, red, black yellow, which leads me to believe you could solder new wires onto there and power it (potentially sans leds) from the mobo...can't find my multimeter.

This one should work http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/137 and is rather cheap. Just try it on like a junk fan to make sure it comes out correctly. This did work for me 3 years ago.

I like the techpowerup mod, so I guess I'll sacrifice an old buzzing scythe fan to try it out. If it doesn't work, I'll buy a $16 sunbeam fan controller on newegg that I like.

If you want to "control" the fans, eg adjust the speed at any given time, then yeah you want to get a dedicated controller; if, however, you simply want to run the fans a little slower to reduce the noise, the cheapest (and best) way to do it is with a resistor - they cost hardly anything (a few cents) and when you have the right value of resistor all you have to do is solder it to the 12v fan wire.

If you want to give this a try, you'll need to know the amperage of the fan at full speed so that you can calculate what resistor to use to knock it down to 7v or 5v.

Those fans that came with your Antec 300 actually have three positions: low, medium and high.

Best thing to control them: Sunbeam Rheobus. It's has been one of the best (some say it's the ONLY) fan controllers on the market and it's a true darling of these forums.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811998808

It comes with at least two adapters that you'll plug into the Molex connectors of your fans and then plug into the Rheobus. You can also clean up your wiring by cutting off the Molex connector and switch from the fans and soldering on a three-pin connector if you have any, or you can even cut the three-pin off of the adapters that come with the Rheobus and solder those unto your Antec fans).

And you can also just buy the Rheobus AND two good fans like these Scythes and be done with the Antec Tri-Cool fans altogether.

http://www.aerocooler.com/shop.cart?action=ITEM&prod_id=FANSC1325H

http://www.aerocooler.com/shop.cart?action=ITEM&prod_id=FANSC2G

With those fans and the controller you can run them off or very low when you want it quiet or you can crank them up as loud as you want for when your benching or gaming.

The last alternative is to not worry about the fan controller or the Antec fans and just replace them with these quiet, low-speed fans and be done with it:

http://www.xoxide.com/yate-loon-140mm-d14sl-12.html

http://www.xoxide.com/xoxide-120mm-silent-fan.html