power cables - help!

[magictom8]

Hi everyone

I've got the parts to my computer now :D

The Lian-Li PC7 case I've got has 3 fans in it, and I need a bit of help to know how to plug these in to the PSU.

The first one is just below the power supply. It has a small (female I think) connector the has space for three pins. The onboard fan on my motherboard has the same kind of connector if this helps anyone understand.

The other two fans are below the drive bays. They each have a cable coming off them, and I'm having trouble understanding why each cable has two connectors (in parallel). I know ones male and ones female. Is this so that power can go into the HDD and the fan from one cable or what? :confused:

The power supply unit has cables labelled 'fan monitor' and 'fan only'. Do these connect to the fan that mounts on to the CPU? or should they go to a case fan?

Thanks for any help ;)

[Beta Geek]

The small 3-pin connectors plug into your motherboard unless you have large 4-pin (molex) adaptors for them. Check your mobo manual for the locations of the fan headers. The CPU fan should be connected to the CPU fan header (same type as above, but is usually closest to the CPU slot/socket). You want to use the mobo’s CPU fan header for the CPU fan because most modern mobos monitor the fan’s operation and will give a warning or shut down the system if the CPU fan fails. Again, check your manual for the location of this header.

Use the PSU’s output leads to plug into the larger 4-pin molex connectors. There is a male plug in parallel so you don’t use up all the PSU connectors on fans. They’re there to connect to other fans or drives in your system.

It’s a good idea to make sure your PSU can handle the power requirements of your setup. Go here (http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/power_supply/page2.asp) to determine your system’s power consumption.

One more thing, this probably would have gotten much quicker responses if posted under Case, Power, and Cooling.

Hope this helps.

Beta Geek

[magictom8]

One more thing, this probably would have gotten much quicker responses if posted under Case, Power, and Cooling.

i'll remember that next time! thanks for the help, but i took a chance and went for it without advice - its all working and the headers are in the right place so its okay ;)