[Reefsmoka]

Hey all,

When i got my computer it come with a case fan at the front of the case sucking air in, its got a 3 pin plug on it but is connected to a 4 pin plug on the motherboard, therefore one of the pins on the motherboard is doing nothing. I bought 2 case fans the other day (akasa apache) and they both have 4 pin plugs on them but i only have 1 4 pin plug on the motherboard, is it ok to put a 4 pin plug on a 3 pin connector? Whats the difference between 3 and 4 pin plugs on fans? is it something to do with speed control?

[Abarbarian]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_control

Everything you need to know.

[V_R]

4 Pin = PWM, Speed control basically.

Yep, you can use a 4 pin in a three pins header, just the fan will go at full speed, Though the Apache is a quite fan. Good job you didn't get the Vipers, they be loud at full whack!

Them Apache's are good fans.

[Reefsmoka]

yeah, they nice looking and are silent fans, got the 120mm, bit of an overkill but there dont half shift some air i bet.

I've got a standard case fan at the front (which i cant be arsed to change to an apache cos its behind the hdd bays) sucking in air, then im going to have an apache sucking air out the back i think, but im not too sure as it will be directly below the psu intake fan so it might detract from the psu cooling efficiency, cant really have one on the case door either as the graphics card n cpu cooler are so damn big! could do with having one at the top of the case but theres no holes!

[V_R]

Almost all fans are 120mm now, bigger, slower RPM = more efficient.

Do it mate, nothing wrong with having an exhaust fan on the back of the PC, in fact i'd say if i was you i'd definitely have one there. Especially with a 'gaming PC' with today's hardware in, they can get quite hot.

You can see pics of my rig now with the fans on here, it would go into meltdown without an exhaust.

I forget how this turned out BTW, Did you get the PC back with new card and OC or is it still running @ Stock speeds?

Also, Post up a pic! I wanna see their work.