I have an ASUS B450M-K motherboard with a single CHA_FAN header rated for 12 W / 1 A. The ASUS A21 Plus case I'm considering includes four fans. Is it safe to daisy-chain all four fans to that motherboard header, or could their combined power draw overload it?
3 Answers
A practical safety target is keeping the combined draw below roughly 0.8 A rather than running right up to the 1 A maximum. If the fan specifications aren’t available yet, wait until the case arrives and check the labels or manual before daisy-chaining them.
The 1 A rating applies to all the fans combined, not each fan individually. Check the current rating printed on each fan or listed in its specifications, then add them together. For example, four 0.2 A fans would total 0.8 A and should be within the limit. Do not exceed 1 A, and leaving some headroom is a good idea.
Four fans will probably be fine if they draw around 0.2 A each, but check the actual ratings before connecting them. If the total is close to the motherboard header’s limit, use a SATA-powered fan hub instead. The hub gets power directly from the power supply, while the motherboard header only provides the control signal.
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