I'm new to building PCs and I need some guidance on case fans. I'm concerned about whether I'll need a fan hub before I start assembling my PC since I wouldn't want to realize halfway through that I don't have enough fan headers. I have a setup of 2 intake fans on the side, 3 on the bottom, 1 exhaust at the back, and 3 exhaust fans on top connected to an AIO radiator. I'm planning to use this fan model for all the positions: [link to fans]. My motherboard is a Gigabyte B650M AORUS ELITE AX Micro ATX AM5, and my case is a Cooler Master Elite 481 mATX. Any advice would be super helpful!
2 Answers
Those fans you're looking at support daisy chaining, which means you can connect them together and potentially hook up all 7 if needed. Luckily, your motherboard has 6 fan/pump headers, so you should have enough. Just remember, if you're using an AIO, it usually takes one header for the pump and another for its fans. You can designate one for the rear exhaust and one for the bottom intakes, leaving you with two extra headers for your side fans!
Yes, that sounds right! Just a heads up, I recommend not daisy chaining more than 3-4 fans on a single PWM header to avoid overloading it. Each header is about 1A @ 12V, and each fan draws roughly .2-.25A.
If you want to skip dealing with a fan hub, you can use Y splitters on your motherboard instead. It’s a simple way to connect multiple fans without needing extra hardware.
Thanks for the info! So, if I add the side fans too, I'd still have one header left, right? Also, do the aRGB headers follow the same idea?