Gigabyte Z170x Gaming Mobo and system fans

[chenc22]

I will be building my first PC this summer and I need some clarification regarding regulating system fans. Hopefully someone who has one of the Gigabyte's Z170X Gaming mobo can answer my questions.

According to the manual for Z170x Gaming 7 mobo, there are 5 fan headers on the mobo. One labelled CPU_fan, one as CPU_OPT and three more as Sys_Fan. Even though all 5 headers are 4-pin, from what I can tell, only the CPU_fan header is true PWM header. The other 4 system headers probably can regulate fan rpm by varying voltage. Can someone confirm this?

CPU_FAN:
Pin 1 = GND
Pin 2 = +12V
Pin 3 = Sense
Pin 4 = Speed Control

CPU_OPT and Sys_Fan:
Pin 1 = GND
Pin 2 = Speed Control
Pin 3 = Sense
Pin 4 = VCC

The case I am looking at for my PC build can handle 6 case fans. I plan to use a splitter on some of the fan headers to accomodate all of the fans. Does anyone know how many watt/amp each header can handle? Fans that I am thinking of are the 140mm & 120mm Cougar Vortex case fans.

Since I don't plan to use water-cooling, I will just use the CPU-OPT header which is labelled for water-cooling as one of my system fan header instead. Gigabyte say it is okay to do so but it would be a relief if someone can confirm this too.

Finally I am undecided about installing a fan controller as of yet. It seems if I want, I can control fan speed through either the Gigabyte BIOS or the Gigabyte Software App Center. Or perhaps with Speedfan. My question is, if I install a 3-pin Cougar Vortex Fans (non-pwm fan) into the sys_fan/ CPU_OPT fan headers, would I be able to alter voltage through the above-mentioned method in order to rough-control the speed of the fan? Or do I need to install PWM fans into those headers to do so? Assuming I setup 2 configurations, 50% RPM for light usage, 100% under load?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer my questions.

[dmdilks]

You shouldn't have a problem because the fan draw very little amp. Most fans are at 0.37a. So the total is about 2.30a. If you have good fans and not the cheap crap most of them you can't even hear them running.

I have been using & building computers for over 35 yrs. Have connected them on the board and right to the PSU. As long as they are not making any noise. I don't worry about them no matter what speed they are running at.

I have a cooler master HAF 932 case that sits right next to me and I can't hear the fans running. I have never adjusted any fan speed. The power they are going to use is really nothing. 

[chenc22]

You shouldn't have a problem because the fan draw very little amp. Most fans are at 0.37a. So the total is about 2.30a. If you have good fans and not the cheap crap most of them you can't even hear them running.

I have been using & building computers for over 35 yrs. Have connected them on the board and right to the PSU. As long as they are not making any noise. I don't worry about them no matter what speed they are running at.

I have a cooler master HAF 932 case that sits right next to me and I can't hear the fans running. I have never adjusted any fan speed. The power they are going to use is really nothing.

My plan to adjust fan speed is really about noise. If I am doing light work on PC like web surfing or word processing, I guess I figure I can lower the fan speed so it doesn't make much noise. I would only run the fans at full speed, hence louder, when I am doing heavy gaming.

[dmdilks]

All I can say is just use the software that comes with the board or in the bios. I myself don't change fan speed no matter what I'm doing. Maybe some one else that does use that software that can help. I can't help I don't use any of that kind of software Sorry.

[ElectroStingz]

Hello,

Go for an external Fan controller, I use a Zalman one which is no longer available.
http://www.zalman.com/global/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=208

Closest I have seen is this one from Akasa.
http://www.akasa.co.uk/update.php?tpl=product/product.detail.tpl&no=181&type=Fans&type_sub=Fan%20Controller&model=AK-FC-08BKV2


The software / motherboard controller will never provide you with satisfactory results especially if you start doubling fans per header <and you have the issue of 2 RPM signal wires going into 1 header, 1 needs to be blocked.

*They function based on temperature of something depending on the header, usually the reference is the CPU temp.
*Depending on the fan the RPM sensitivity will be a problem, when going for low RPM low noise fans your RPM range will be to sensitive.

With the external fan controller its simple and most good ones will be over 7W per channel (0.5A+), true control for a quiet pc. Yes I am the same, I want my PC to be as quiet as possible when not gaming. Right now the loudest thing for me are my hard drives 2xWD blue and PSU fan which I might modify at some point

[chenc22]

Hello,

Go for an external Fan controller, I use a Zalman one which is no longer available.
http://www.zalman.com/global/product/Product_Read.php?Idx=208

Closest I have seen is this one from Akasa.
http://www.akasa.co.uk/update.php?tpl=product/product.detail.tpl&no=181&type=Fans&type_sub=Fan%20Controller&model=AK-FC-08BKV2


The software / motherboard controller will never provide you with satisfactory results especially if you start doubling fans per header <and you have the issue of 2 RPM signal wires going into 1 header, 1 needs to be blocked.

*They function based on temperature of something depending on the header, usually the reference is the CPU temp.
*Depending on the fan the RPM sensitivity will be a problem, when going for low RPM low noise fans your RPM range will be to sensitive.

With the external fan controller its simple and most good ones will be over 7W per channel (0.5A+), true control for a quiet pc. Yes I am the same, I want my PC to be as quiet as possible when not gaming. Right now the loudest thing for me are my hard drives 2xWD blue and PSU fan which I might modify at some point

The fan controller you mentioned can connect PWM (4-pin) and non-PWM fans (3-pin). As I understand it, even if I connect PWM fans to the Akasa fan controller, it won't be true PWM control and instead be controlled by regulating voltage. In this case, should I just buy regular 3-pin case fans for connecting to these fan controllers? What advantages if any would PWM fans give me if I won't be able to have true PWM control?

[ElectroStingz]

Yes consider 3 pin fans and forget PWM.

With PWM controlled fans the voltage supply is always 12V but not constant, so to regulate the speed the 12v supply is pulsed on-off-on-off very quickly. The delay from on to off is what kind of changes the speed of the fan, to give you a better idea.

1 sec on | 1 sec off >Repeat
0.5 sec on | 0.5 sec off >Repeat

And that means the fan speed is controlled using 12v with the only advantage being max torque <for the motor. Whilst this is good the downside which no one ever talks about is noise, when you pulse a motor on/off it emits a slight grumpy sound, grrrr,grrrr,grrrr you get the idea.

The alternative method of control by varying the voltage is a very soft approach, the motor is always supplied a voltage just at different levels with the downside being less torque, not really a significant issue for a case fan. And depending on the control circuitry usually the controller generates some heat when you lower the fan speed.

[chenc22]

Thanks to everyone for replying back. A lot of helpful information for a first time builder.