3 pin to 4 pin GPU fan \ VOGONS

3 pin to 4 pin GPU fan

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First post, by Almoststew1990

Posted on 2019-10-04, 14:37

Almoststew1990 Offline

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Location: Southampton, UK

I have a 9800GT Green card. The fan used a 4 pin PWM connection. The fan died, I want to use a replacement Zalman heatsink and fan. This has a 3 pin fan. Unlike motherboard fan headers, the little notch on the PWM connector on the GPU PCB is centralised, so it is not clear if I put the 3 pin zalman fan into PWM pin 1,2,3 or 2,3,4!

the 3 pin is:
red
black
white

The 4 pin is
black
yellow
green
blue.

It seems to work with
Red = black
Black = yellow
White = green

This doesn't seem to make sense to me as black is usually ground? It is working but is making a screaming noise.

Is this right and am I going to blow anything up?

Edit - Nevermind, I unplugged the fan and the screaming continued so something else on the GPU is unhappy? Coil whine or something?

Last edited by Almoststew1990 on 2019-10-04, 14:42. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 4, by Warlord

Posted on 2019-10-04, 14:40

Warlord Offline

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Joined: 2018-02-02, 05:14

no... on a 3 pin fan 1 of the 3 wires is a sensor.. only positive and negative need connected. 🤣
the 4ths is pwm.

For ATX on a 4 pin red + back is 12v.. yellow and black is 5v.. fan will run off either +5 is slow speed. +12 is full speed. 🤣

green is not a standard atx or even AT 4 pin color... 🤣

For a graphics card If i were you i would just hook the fan up to the ATX and not pulg it into the card at all becasue its not the right fan for that.

the middle pin on the 3 pin is power.... black is usually ground looking at the conector with the clip part facing you the ground is on the left.

Last edited by Warlord on 2019-10-04, 14:50. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 4, by Almoststew1990

Posted on 2019-10-04, 14:50

Almoststew1990 Offline

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Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 879
Joined: 2017-03-14, 19:48
Location: Southampton, UK

Nah, it's a aftermarket graphics card cooler rather than an ATX fan header. The card is "dead" anyway, makes very loud whining.

Here is the original 4 pin fan

Last edited by Almoststew1990 on 2019-10-04, 14:53. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 3 of 4, by Warlord

Posted on 2019-10-04, 14:52

Warlord Offline

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black looks like its power on that fan for wahtever reason, and red looks like its ground. Thats the weirdest thing.

Reply 4 of 4, by PARKE

Posted on 2019-10-04, 17:02

PARKE Offline

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Almoststew1990
wrote:
Here is the original 4 pin fan
>>
>>
That is what is known as an Intel design. see attached

Filename: Intel Fan.doc
File size: 152.5 KiB
Downloads: 42 downloads
File license: Fair use/fair dealing exception

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