I recently bought a pre-built PC, and I've noticed that the case fans are a bit too noisy for my liking. I've tried adjusting the fan settings in the BIOS, but I can only control the CPU fan and not the case fans. It seems like the case fans are connected directly to the PSU instead of being connected to the fan hub, which currently only powers the RGB lights. Before I potentially mess things up, I'd love to get some advice! Here are my questions: 1. Is there a way the SATA power cable can control the fan speed by itself? I don't think so, but I'm not sure. 2. How can I find the PWM cable for the case fans among all the wires? I've linked some photos of the fan hub for reference.
3 Answers
1. Just to clarify, the SATA cable only provides power—it doesn't have PWM control. If you're not seeing a PWM connection in the photos, it may be hiding somewhere, but typically you need a specific connection for fan speed control. 2. To identify the PWM cable, follow the wires coming from your fans. If there's a 3 or 4-pin connector, that’s likely your PWM cable. Otherwise, if they're connected directly to Molex or SATA, they'll just run at full speed.
The PWM connector is usually at the center of your fan hub, labeled as FAN. Make sure that one is connected to your motherboard's fan header for speed control.
That's a good tip! Just trace the cables from the fans if you're unsure what they look like. And if your builder didn't connect them to the hub, you might want to check if you need to plug them in yourself.
For your first fan on the hub (the red one in your pics), you definitely need to connect that to a fan header on your motherboard for PWM control. It should be a single cable with connectors on both ends, so make sure you find that!
Thanks for the insight! I thought that might be the case, but I wanted to double-check. If I need to buy a cable for it, I’ll be ready.
If you need further help identifying the cables, just trace them from the fans to find the right ones. And yep, if the fans are directly connected to SATA or Molex, they won't be controllable and will spin at maximum speed.