Official GIGABYTE Forum

Power fan header

yayo

Power fan header
« on: June 02, 2011, 02:21:28 pm »
Can somebody kindly explain to me what is it and what it does? Is it safe to plug a case fan into it?  The mobo manual lacks info on the topic, it's my first Gigabyte mobo, btw - GA-Z68X-UD4-B3

Dark Mantis

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Re: Power fan header
« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2011, 06:17:00 pm »
Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

Yes you can use it for any case fan or other extra fan that needs to be powered by the motherboard. It is always better to power your fans either directly from the PSU or from a fan controller.
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

yayo

Re: Power fan header
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2011, 06:52:40 pm »
Thanks for the reply. Of course I did a Google search before asking the question here but couldn't find a definitve and 100% reliable explanation. According to some forum posts the Power Fand Header on a motherboard doesn't provide any voltage but only serves to monitor and regulate the speed of a PSU's fan, if the PSU is equipped with a probe that supports such function. My PSU doesn't, lol, and I suspect nobody else's does either. Maybe the Power Fand Header is a leftover of times when personal computers ran on coal, who knows...  ;D

Dark Mantis

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Re: Power fan header
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2011, 06:54:59 pm »
Yes that information sounds like bulls*** to me and not something I have come across even when we used steam powered systems!
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy

wooly

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Re: Power fan header
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2011, 07:37:26 pm »
whilst were on the subject of fans, I have my 212+ with 2 fans (push/pull) I used a fan header on the motherboard for my 2nd fan, I think it was NB_Fan (which is heatsinked on my mobo anyway isn't it) will this be ok or should I maybe change it?

790FXT btw
GA-MA790FXT-UD5P | 2x2GB corsair XMS3 1333 7-7-7-20 | AMD Phenom x4 B50 @ 3.8gHz with coolermaster 212+ | 2x Gigabyte HD5770 | 500GB+80GB seagate barracuda | LG Bluray reader/DVD writer | 22" LG Flatron W2261VP@1080p | NZXT Alpha | Coolermaster SilentPro 700w |

Dark Mantis

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Re: Power fan header
« Reply #5 on: June 02, 2011, 07:42:17 pm »
If yopu are running any sort of push/pull setup then both fans should be powered from the same controller because otherwise if one is going faster than the other it is being held back by the slower fan. Always use the same controller.
Gigabyte X58A-UD7
i7 920
Dominators 1600 x6 12GB
6970 2GB
HX850
256GB SSD, Sam 1TB, WDB320GB
Blu-Ray
HAF 932

Gigabyte Z68X-UD5-B3
i7 3770K
Vengeance 1600 16GB
6950 2GB
HCP1200W
Revo Drive x2, 1.5TB WDB RAID0
16x DLRW
StrikeX S7
Full water cooling
3 x 27" Iiy