Do I need to plug case fans into the mobo *and* the power supply?

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PhlegmMaster

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Hi. First time I have to build a PC by myself, so I'm scared and confused.

I have a Corsair 620HX and a Thermaltake Armor VA8000, which includes three fans. Two of these three fans are already plugged into the mother board (gigabyte p35 ds3l), but I'm wondering if I also have to plug them into the 620HX?

Thanks.
 
No you don't. In fact I don't think that's a good thing to do. So just hook the fans to only one power source: the mobo or PSU but not both at the same time.
 
Danny Bui said:
No you don't. In fact I don't think that's a good thing to do. So just hook the fans to only one power source: the mobo or PSU but not both at the same time.
Click to expand...

I thought so, since the CPU fan doesn't even have a cable to be plugged into the PSU. Not to mention those cables are fugly.

Thanks :)
 
Another question:

The PC boots, but some of the fans aren't turning. The CPU fan turns, as does the case fan at the back of the HDD, but the power supply fan and the two other case fans (exhaust for the CPU and intake) aren't moving at all. IIRC, the HDD fan is the only case fan that is plugged in the power suppy (but not in the mobo).

Help!
 
how many wires from the fan go to the motherboard fan header? if its only 1, then it is just a sensor wire, and DOES need to be plugged into the power supply. the power supply fan however may only go on when it needs to. but the case fans should be on, so im guessing they only have 1 wire going to the 3 pin fan header.
 
If you're talking about hybrid fan cables that have both a 3-pin connector with power wires and a 4-pin molex pin, then only plug in one at a time. If the 3-pin connector only has a single yellow wire, then you can plug both in or just the Molex connector since the yellow wire is just for the RPM sensor (thus the 3-pin connector provides no power in this case).
 
SockMan! said:
If you're talking about hybrid fan cables that have both a 3-pin connector with power wires and a 4-pin molex pin, then only plug in one at a time. If the 3-pin connector only has a single yellow wire, then you can plug both in or just the Molex connector since the yellow wire is just for the RPM sensor (thus the 3-pin connector provides no power in this case).
Click to expand...

I see, that's why the fans aren't turning then. I'll plug the molex thingies as well.

But this doesn't explain why the PSU fan isn't turning. Anyone have any ideas?
 
New problem, this time with Vista (or at least I hope the problem is with Vista). First of all, the installation was extremely weird. There were these extremely long periods when absolutely nothing would happen, for example after I entered the product key. My impression is that there's something wrong with my Samsung DVD writer, since it didn't make any noise during these long periods.

Anyway, after a long while I finally got through the Vista installation, and everything was really sluggish, I figured it must be because I hadn't installed the video drivers yet, so I put the EVGA DVD in, it loaded just fine, the little EVFA window appeared, I clicked "Install video drivers", the little window vanished and... nothing happened. I mean, absolutely nothing. I waited ten minutes and nothing happened. So I took the DVD out and in again, repeated the process, and still nothing. I tried four times.

Am I right that there's a problem with my DVD writer, or is it somewhere else?
 
For video drivers, I suggest going online. They're really easy to find. Just go to the website of the manufacturer of your video card and find the drivers section.

It could be an issue with your DVD burner. Or with the DVD itself. It's best to download the latest drivers anyway. I would only suggest drivers from the CD/DVD if you could not download them or if you had no internet access (I guess that means you couldn't download them...)
 
ethraax said:
For video drivers, I suggest going online. They're really easy to find. Just go to the website of the manufacturer of your video card and find the drivers section.

It could be an issue with your DVD burner. Or with the DVD itself. It's best to download the latest drivers anyway. I would only suggest drivers from the CD/DVD if you could not download them or if you had no internet access (I guess that means you couldn't download them...)
Click to expand...

Well, I figured installing the drivers on the DVD would make the rest of the driver/software installation process less sluggish, and I could always update them afterwards.
 
Since no one seems surprised by that, I take it the long pauses during Vista installation are normal?
 
Depends. I wouldn't assume it's a drive issue yet. Move on. It's vey easy to swap out a DVDRW, and it won't mess anything up.
 
Hey guys, this is the first post I'm making from my new PC, and it is awesome (I'm watching 5 HD trailers simultaneously, bwahahahahahaha!!!!). Everything seems to run smoothly, although I'm going to have to test the DVDRW more thoroughly.


Thanks for you help, everyone.
 
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