CPU Cooling Fan Question

[kevgeo]

The CPU cooling fan has a connector that accepts 4 pins on the MB. My MB has 3 pins for CPU cooling fan. How do I make this work?

Thanks

[Panama Red]

How bout some specifics? Which mobo and cpu combo are you using?

[pam123]

We need your specs ; processor, motherboard, the heatsink/fan you bought (If that's a retail cpu you bought and the connector doesn't work with the motherboard then you may have a mismatch.).
There are adapters but that may not be a good idea for you and we can't tell without some more information.

[kevgeo]

AMD Sempron 3000+ retail box with AMD Qualified Heatsink/Fan, Biostar K8M800-M7A MB

[Panama Red]

I think you're confusing the 4 pin Power connector for the cpu with the cpu fan connector. I checked your mobo manual and the cpu fan connector is JCFan1. The 2x2 power connector is for the additional power from the power supply. It has two yellow and two black wires.

[pam123]

Are you sure you're not looking at the cpu power connector instead of the fan header?

edit : Panama Red has a permanent head start!:)

[Panama Red]

Are you sure you're not looking at the cpu power connector instead of the fan header?

edit : Panama Red has a permanent head start!:)

Nah, I just got up early today!:D

[kevgeo]

JCFan1 has 3 pins. CPU/Heatsink fan has 4 wires with female connector that accepts 4 pins.

Thanks!

[Lespaul20]

Check the connector on the Fan and make sure there's not an adapter on it already. Typically fans have the 3pin connector for CPU. I think what you have is a PWM connector. I think you can plug than into the 3pin but it will cause the fan to run at it's lowest speed, probably not what you want.

Others will have more info I'm sure.

[Panama Red]

The cpu fan connector should have a notch for alignment with the small tabs on the mobo fan header. It will only install one way and it should work fine. You'll end up with a black, red and yellow wires connected to the header pins I would think. Red and black are + and - and the yellow is the speed monitor.

[kevgeo]

Thanks Panama Red! You are correct. The black, red and yellow wires will connect to pins. The blue wire will have no pin.