February 12, 201610 yr I have just bought an AsRock EP2c602 motherboard and upon installation of all the case fans I noticed that all my fans (with the exception of the CPU fans) all are 3 pin analog fans. Of course the fans work when plugged in the 4pin mobo connector, but the fan runs at full power all the time. I've looked all over to find a 4 pin PWM to 3 pin analog adapter, but haven't found anything to purchase commercially. I found this http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/683678-4-pin-fan-PWM-signal-to-3-pin-fan but don't feel like making 6 adapters from scratch. Anyone run into this issue and how did you resolve it?
February 14, 201610 yr The solution is to go in to the BIOS and turn the fan down. A 3-pin plugs right in to the 4-pin plug. There's no adaptor, because it wouldn't do anything. PWM is PWM, moving the pinouts around won't do a thing. The 3 pin plug is power, ground and speed sense. 4 pin PWM is the same power, ground and speed sense and the 4th pin provides a speed signal used by a PWM fan. It's something like a 2kHz TTL signal, and absolutely no use to a DC fan.
February 14, 201610 yr Which is why he posted the link which effectively turned the 4pin PWM into a voltage controlled 3pin. Workable solution if you can find the amp and have the skill set required.
February 14, 201610 yr Author I did some more searching over the past couple of days, and I'm shocked that I can't find anything commercially available. One would think that pretty much every conceivable adapter had been invented and marketed for use with computer components. I would love for someone to prove me wrong and send me a newegg (or similar widely available outlet) link. At this rate, I'm seriously thinking of designing and marketing an adapter on my own. Can't be that hard to sell them when you're the only shop on town.
February 14, 201610 yr I did some more searching over the past couple of days, and I'm shocked that I can't find anything commercially available. One would think that pretty much every conceivable adapter had been invented and marketed for use with computer components. I would love for someone to prove me wrong and send me a newegg (or similar widely available outlet) link. At this rate, I'm seriously thinking of designing and marketing an adapter on my own. Can't be that hard to sell them when you're the only shop on town. Its because (at least on the low end of things), it damn near the same price to buy a cheapie 4 pin fan as it would be to buy an adapter as described in the diagram
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