Case Fans

If given the option, is it more beneficial to plug a case fan directly into
the motherboard using the 3-pin connector or directly to the power supply
with the 4-pin connector? My motherboard is an older Gateway model and does
not have a thermal control option for fans that I know of.

- E

On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 20:35:26 -0500, "Eric Scofield"
wrote:

If given the option, is it more beneficial to plug a case fan directly into
the motherboard using the 3-pin connector or directly to the power supply
with the 4-pin connector? My motherboard is an older Gateway model and does
not have a thermal control option for fans that I know of.

- E

Only advantage to motherboard plug is ability to monitor fan speed with
MotherBoard Monitor and similar programs. Can alert you to a fan failure,
etc.. Also, be aware that some fans pull more than the motherboard can
supply, but those are rare.

JT

On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 20:35:26 -0500, "Eric Scofield"
wrote::

If given the option, is it more beneficial to plug a case fan directly into
the motherboard using the 3-pin connector or directly to the power supply
with the 4-pin connector? My motherboard is an older Gateway model and does
not have a thermal control option for fans that I know of.

- E


The power supply. There is a risk that the fan could draw more
current than the motherboard's components are designed to supply and
might fry the motherboard. I would hope that newer boards have some
sort of built-in protection that would limit the current, but I don't
know for certain.


----------------------------------------
Thanks,
MCheu

Only advantage to motherboard plug is ability to monitor fan speed with
MotherBoard Monitor and similar programs. Can alert you to a fan failure,
etc.. Also, be aware that some fans pull more than the motherboard can
supply, but those are rare.

Where is the MotherBoard Monitor program available from or is it integrated
in the motherboard itself? Also, if a fan pulled too much power from a
motherboard, what effect would you see in your computer's performance?
Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Eric Scofield

On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 23:43:39 -0500, "Eric Scofield"
wrote:

Only advantage to motherboard plug is ability to monitor fan speed with
MotherBoard Monitor and similar programs. Can alert you to a fan failure,
etc.. Also, be aware that some fans pull more than the motherboard can
supply, but those are rare.

Where is the MotherBoard Monitor program available from or is it integrated
in the motherboard itself? Also, if a fan pulled too much power from a
motherboard, what effect would you see in your computer's performance?
Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Eric Scofield


Mother Board Monitor, and similar programs are available for download lots
of places. Some motherboard companies, like ASUS and MSI provide a
monitoring program with the board. Runs in the tool tray. Similar programs
are available for Linux.

If your fan pulls too much from the motherboard then it could damage the
12v line, which is shared by some components on the motherboard. Normally,
the fan will just not work. If your fan is a normal, 300ma or less draw it
will work either place.

JT

If your fan pulls too much from the motherboard then it could damage the
12v line, which is shared by some components on the motherboard. Normally,
the fan will just not work. If your fan is a normal, 300ma or less draw it
will work either place.

I bought a the Pro 80 mm Double Ball Bearing Case Fan from Antec. Do you
think that it will be alright if I leave it plugged into the motherboard.

Thanks,

Eric

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 13:08:03 GMT, JT datacare@www wrote:

snip

If your fan pulls too much from the motherboard then it could damage the
12v line, which is shared by some components on the motherboard. Normally,
the fan will just not work. If your fan is a normal, 300ma or less draw it
will work either place.

JT


The risk from high-current fans isn't that they just won't work, they
will fry the circuit from overcurrent, heat. The effect may not even
be obvious immediately but close examination of the board can show
bubbled coating, discolored or lifted traces, and eventual breakage of
the traces.

The larger issue, that motherboard manufacturers don't often mention,
is which fan headers have the specific limitations, if it's just one,
a pair, or all of them. Some boards can't take over 6W with all fans
combined, which with 3 fans is an (average) max of .16A each. Usually
it's not that limiting though, but still 2 may be sharing a common
supply rail and be limited to .25A each, at least if the
manufacturer's intentions are to be met.


Dave

On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 23:43:39 -0500, Knowing that it was a Hollywood
invention that lemmings jump off cliffs "Eric Scofield"
wrote :

Only advantage to motherboard plug is ability to monitor fan speed with
MotherBoard Monitor and similar programs. Can alert you to a fan failure,
etc.. Also, be aware that some fans pull more than the motherboard can
supply, but those are rare.

Where is the MotherBoard Monitor program available from or is it integrated
in the motherboard itself? Also, if a fan pulled too much power from a
motherboard, what effect would you see in your computer's performance?
Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Eric Scofield


I prefer,"Speedfan",
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
small and easy to setup/use.
HTH



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The risk from high-current fans isn't that they just won't work, they
will fry the circuit from overcurrent, heat. The effect may not even
be obvious immediately but close examination of the board can show
bubbled coating, discolored or lifted traces, and eventual breakage of
the traces.

So therefore, if I have one 12 V case fan in the entire PC (of course there
is a PSU fan), my motherboard should be relatively safe? Should I just
unplug from the motherboard and plug it directly to the PSU to be safe?

Thanks,

Eric

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 19:39:15 -0500, Knowing that it was a Hollywood
invention that lemmings jump off cliffs "Eric Scofield"
wrote :

The risk from high-current fans isn't that they just won't work, they
will fry the circuit from overcurrent, heat. The effect may not even
be obvious immediately but close examination of the board can show
bubbled coating, discolored or lifted traces, and eventual breakage of
the traces.

So therefore, if I have one 12 V case fan in the entire PC (of course there
is a PSU fan), my motherboard should be relatively safe? Should I just
unplug from the motherboard and plug it directly to the PSU to be safe?

Thanks,

Eric

I run a cheapy ECS K7S5A and have run both my CPU and Case fan off the
mother board headers for over two years on an O/C XP1800 @ 143/143 no
problems.



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