PSU Cable Questions

[Jeri]

My case (Antec 300 Illusion) has 4 fans. These fans do not have anyway to connect them directly to the MB. I hooked all 4 fans to one power cable.

1st question: Is it OK to hook all 4 fans to one cable???

The end of this cable has what looks like a connector to plug into a 4-pin chassis fan connector. Am I supposed to plug this in? Will it allow the fans to be monitored and the speed to be changed? If not – what is this for?

OK – One more question... Can I hook 3 HD’s to one power cable? They are 2-WD caviar black 500, and an older Seagate 500 that will go away when everything is copied over.

MB & PSU in question:

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

[flanzig1]

Fans: yes, it's OK to connect 4 fans together as long the daisy chain is connected to the PSU. The fan headers on motherboards are rated for one fan.
HDs: OK to daisy chain HDs

[edfair]

1st question: Is it OK to hook all 4 fans to one cable???
Yes, power limitations are 5A, 4 fans < 2A assuming the normal .28A or so. Check the labels.

The end of this cable has what looks like a connector to plug into a 4-pin chassis fan connector. Am I supposed to plug this in? Will it allow the fans to be monitored and the speed to be changed? If not – what is this for?
If this is like the power socket on the optical drive, no monitoring, no speed change.

Can I hook 3 HD’s to one power cable?
Normally, yes. Power draw of the drives generally is <1A@12 <1A@5 for a total of 3A each. Draw is higher at startup so you might have some issues.