Hi Lime-Tech Forums,

 

I am a long time lurker, first time poster. I have recently purchased the hardware for my planned unRAID server. My hardware list is as follows:

 

Case: NZXT Whisper (newegg)

PSU: Corsair HX650 (newegg)

Motherboard: Intel DH55HC (newegg)

CPU: Intel i3 540 (newegg)

RAM: Corsair CMV4GX3M2A1333C9 2x2GB DDR3 (newegg)

HDDs: Seagate Green 2TB (newegg)

 

I was able to score a nice discount through a friend's wholesale account so it isn't the money splurge it looks like even though the hardware is fairly overpowered 

 

After about an hour of assembling it I ran into something I hadn't considered. I have too few fan plugs on my motherboard. The NZXT case comes standard with two 120mm (front and rear) fans and two 80mm (above the PSU) extraction fans. The motherboard comes with two fan plugs which is obviously not going to do.

 

I plan to expand the case, eventually filling the six 5.25" bays with two 5-in-3 trays (do the fans in these run independantly?) as well as fill the existing nine HDD slots. This will all take time, I have 4 drives for now and will add them as I need the space.

 

What are my options here?

 

Should I be looking for a fan controller solution or is there something else I can do to start all these fans and possibly a couple more I might add in the future? Does anyone have a recommendation for fan controller solutions?

 

I will post some pictures when I can wrest my roommates camera away from him.

Most fans you buy will come with the 3/4 pin Fan connector to Molex connector, so instead of plugging them into the mobo, you just plug them into the standard 4 pin Molex plugs from the PSU. Course you lose any PWM control. You can also purchase this convertor, from Newegg or from ebay or some such. Also, research, and some fans come with the Molex connector only.

 

Typically the fans on the 3x5 cages are plugged into the backplane of the cage to draw their power.

 

If you only have two fan connectors on the motherboard, this shouldn't be a big issue. I run most of my fans direct off Molex connectors - that way they all run at full speed and not slower because the mobo thinks the system is cool enough. Running a bit higher is noiser, but does pull more air in from the front on my case, cooling the drives...

 

Shawn

Ah ha!

 

Thanks Whaler_99, I had assumed the Molex might power the fans but thought having them run from the motherboard or a fan controller would be preferable due to temperature controls. Having them run full tit will accomplish the same thing and I have quite a few extra Molex cables with this beast of a PSU.

Don't get me wrong, a fan controller is nce, you can power them down a bit if not needed... But, more stuff to buy and manage. In my case I run all 120mm or 140mm which already run slower and nice and quiet, yet move a lot of air. All plugged via Molex. Just on my SuperMicro cage do I have the 92mm.

 

Shawn