Formula-Z 3 pin Fan Control

[dertester]

Hi,

i just ordered a Formula-Z. As to upgrade my PC further i plan on getting 4 Yate Loon D12SH-12 (Rad).
These have only 3 pin connectors and are the loud ones but work 3v-12V. I just want the headroom getting the 2200RPM ones.

But i cant find fan control impressions, just some bios pictures .. 😕

Questions:
A) Is 3pin also on CPU-Fan header working and adjustable?
B) In what range can 3pins be adjusted? Are all headers the same?
C) If it works something big i miss without pwm?


I dont know the capabilities of the board. But i want them to stay very low in general (lets say 20%). As casefans is would be okay if they stay. It would be also cool to turn them higher when temperature rises. Is this possible? (With 3pins)

[cbjaust]

The CHA_FAN1, CHA_FAN2 and CHA_FAN3 header work with 3 pin plugs and fan control is available via the BIOS or FAN Xpert in Windows. 3-pin fans are also controllable on the CPU_FAN header, I'm not sure about CPU_OPT though.

The other three fan headers (OPT_FAN1, OPT_FAN2 and OPT_FAN3) are controllable in the BIOS only and they can be in PWM mode or voltage mode. EDIT: I think that OPT_Temp sensors need to be connected for the fans to change speed, otherwise the fan will just spin at a constant speed.

So to answer your questions:
A) Yes, I think so
B) the FAN Xpert graph in windows shows 0 -100% on the power Y-axis and 0 - 100°C on the temperature x-axis and on mine with a PWM CPU Fan the adjustment range is 20 - 100% for power and 0 - 100°C for temperature. On my 3-pin chassis fans the adjustable range is 40 - 100% for power and 0 - 100°C for temperature.
C) PWM is better because instead of altering the voltage it alters how often the voltage is applied so you could have a fan that won't run at all below a certain voltage but with PWM control the full voltage is applied in pulses so you can get a lower RPM on a fan that you couldn't with just voltage control.

[dertester]

THX for the answer.

Im going with the 3pin yate loon now 🙂

I dont want to spend so much for fans like noctua nf-f12 (5x16€ O.o).
The Yate loon seem like best alternative on the cheap side (4,8€ each).
And i think cheap pwm ones make more pwm noise than the feature itself will give me.

[cbjaust]

OK, with the OPT_FANs I think the OPT_Temp sensors need to be installed to get the fans to change speed. I turned on the OPT_FAN control for one of my case fans and set the threshold to 40°C low and 60°C high and the fan just spins at a constant ~900rpm when before without the OPT_FAN control enabled it was running at full speed of ~2600rpm.

How much are Corsair AF series PWM fans for you?

[dertester]

Around 10€ for one sp120 Performance (Af120 around the same). But i would go with the sp ones for more static pressure as i use a Fan Filter and
Radiator.

SP120 Perf: 106m3/h @ 30db(A) 10€+
Yate Loon: 150m3/h @ 41db(a) 4,8€

Using the Corsair Air 540 my Setup will be like this:

Front : 3x Yate Loon (D12SH-12) (Dust Filter + 360mm Rad) mid Speeds into the case
Back: 1x Corsair AF140 Low Speeds out of the case
Top: 2x Corsair AF140 Low Speeds out of the case

=> Hope to get little positive pressure so the front Filter will be enough.
==========

Not sure if i need Opt Sensors or if i can use other thermal reading?
But as case fans it would be fine if they stay at one setting.

The headers support 1A, each Yate Loon uses 200mA max, so 2 @ 1header should be safe. I will measure spike at start to be sure 🙂
=> So the 3 Rad Fans could be used with the CPU and CPU-Opt Header.
=> The Top and Back Fans go with the Case headers...

Everything should be fine 🙂