Mainboard And Fans

I thoguht I had this fan deal understood but now that I am planning to
build this weekend and starting to look at things really carefully I
still don't fully get it.

My Lian Li case has 5 fans of which 2 go to a fan speed control
switch. The Gigabyte 8KNXP motherboard has 2 spots for fans to be
plugged into it, but the connectors are of the 3 pin type while the
fans themselves have the bigger Molex connectors. As the wires come
out of the fans there is first a connector with 4 pins and out of the
back of this connector come the wires which lead to another connector
of the same type, but this time with 4 holes.

So, if one wants to connect the fan to the motherboard or power supply
3 pin connector what does one do, is there a connector that plugs into
the molex with 4 pins that converts it to a three pin job that can
attach to the motherboard, and, if so, do you just leave the 2nd Molex
with the 4 holes hanging unconnected? Also, why is the second Molex
with the 4 holes there in the first place, is it to 'daisy chain' the
fans, which I have been told is not a good idea anyway, or is it so
you can plug the fan into a power supply molex and then use the second
4 hole connector to bring power to a drive or other peripheral...and
how 'safe' is it to use that way in terms of powering a drive?

Howard

 > 3) You can get Molex-FMC connectors that will allow you to power any fan off
 > an ordinary PSU Molex peripheral connector. On my Lian-Li PC-71 the 2 front
 > case fans are powered by one of these (though it goes through a
 > variabl-speed switch on the case front). You can power any number of fans
 > (within reason) like this, including the PSU fan if you don't want to use
 > PWR_FAN on the M/B.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Mainboard And Fans 

The manual really isn't very much help on this. I used an Enlight case &
power supply and plugged the rear case fan three pin connector on to the
SYS_FAN header. This header drives the case fan and monitors the fan speed.
My front case fan and two hard drive coolers are just hooked up to the
standard power supply Molex connectors. The PWR_FAN header just allows you
to attach a two conductor signal cable from your power supply so your system
can monitor the PS fan speed. If you go into the BIOS and view the PC Health
screen you should be able to read the CPU, Power Supply and case fan speeds
and enable alarms for each one if you wish. The "alarm" makes a very feeble
raspy buzz through the PC speaker when one of the fans stop. By the time you
realize that your PC is making a funny noise and figure out what is going
on, your CPU may be toast. Maybe in a future BIOS update, the Gigabyte
engineers will make this a more useful feature by implementing a loud
attention grabbing alarm tone!
Good luck with your project!

"Howard" <HMSDOC.RemoveThis@aol.com> wrote in message
news:46aea5bb.0310170925.3fe2a34d@posting.google.com...
I am about to start my first build, but want to spend a few days to
get answers to a bunch of questions rather rhan get stuck in the
middle (though I am sure I will still do that as well)!

I have a Gigabyte 8KNXP motherboard. My case is a Lian Li that has 5
case fans. I am using an Antec power supply. I believe that there
are one or two 'Fan Only' connectors on the power supply that you can
connect fans to, and that the power supply will automatically adjust
the fan speed on these based on the case temperature. That leaves 3
or 4 fans left. I am reading the manual that comes with the
motherboard very carefully, but ,in many instances, I think the
clarity leaves a little to be desired, especially to a novice.
Anyway, the manual shows several fan connectors. One is called
SYS_FAN (system Fan Connector), and is described as 'This connector
allows you to link with the cooling fan on the system case to lower
the system temperature.' Then there is a PWR_FAN (Power Fan
Connector) and the manual desciption is exactly the same as for the
SYS_FAN (this connector allows you to link.....).

So, a few questions I hope I can get some help with:

1) What, if anything, is the difference in purpose between these two
connectors...they give them each a different name, so I presume they
are not totally interchangable?

2) Of the remaining fans not attached to the "Fan Only" connector on
the power supply should they be connected to one or both of the
SYS_FAN and PWR_ Fan connectors on the motherboard (ie..do you connect
one fan to SYS_PWR and one to PWR_FAN or just use a particular one and
connect just one fan to the motherboard?)

3) If there is only one "Fan Only" connector on the power supply..I am
not home and can't remember right now if there are one or two...then
should any fans not connected via your recommendations to question 2
just be connected to a connector right from the power supply like any
other peripheral?

4) Also, I assume the fan connector NB_FAN is for the northbridge
fan..the manual is not explicit here (but I assume this is because I
am a novice). I have not yet opened the motherboard but assume the
northbridge chip has a 'built in' fan with a connector that gets
plugged into the NB_FAN much as the CPU has its own CPU fan connector.
Is this correct?

Thanks.

Howard
 >> Stay informed about: Mainboard And Fans