Molex to 3 Pin adapter

0	Anyone know of an adapter that'll convert the molex plug comming from my case fan into a 3 pin female plug that i can plug into my motherboard? case adapter fan molex asked Apr 11 '12 at 12:40 Zorbeen98 151●64●77●84

2 Answers:

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they don't make those because they are likely to kill the motherboard if you try to short the power supply to a fan connector

(but you could build your own by purchasing a normal molex to 3 pin adapter

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Molex-IDE-4-to-3-pin-CPU-Chasis-Fan-Power-Cable-Adapter-/290523863612?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a4925a3c

then chopping the female connector from a old fan then soldering it to the normal adapter.

you will then get a molex to female fan adapter that you can plug into the motherboard and enjoy a nice light show that the motherboard will put on for you. (PS the fan connector on a motherboard only gives around 5 watts of power and does not give out a completely stable output (cost cutting measure since fans do not need to meet strict line ripple specs)

answered Apr 11 '12 at 13:42

Razor512
15.6k●34●80●242

You really aren't suppose to do something like this. You can easily damage your motherboard if the fan tries to draw to much power. I would advise against using this method, and instead look into getting one of these...

Amazon link

This will allow you to connect the fan to the power supply instead. Just use it on a molex plug that is connected to a hard drive or CD drive. It should be a lot safer then the method you were thinking of using.

answered Apr 11 '12 at 19:14

Griff
1.4k●1●5●25

I Don't want to be frying my motherboard. I'd just like to be able to control my fan speeds with software. Would it be as dangerous if I used an adapter and connect it to a fan controller? Or is it a case of I'll have to get new fans?

(Apr 12 '12 at 10:53) Zorbeen98

You're not going to be able to control the speed of a fan with software through a Molex connection. You'll either have to modify the fan you have to accept the third speed control wire (which will probably involve soldering), use a manual switch to control the speed, or just buy a new fan that has the right connector.

It's not impossible to do what you're asking, but it takes a bit of hacking skill.

(Apr 12 '12 at 11:06) Griff

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