I'm working with a Prime A320M-K motherboard and I'm trying to figure out how many fans I can connect to it. I want to use 7 fans in total: four 40mm fans, two 80mm fans, and one 90mm fan. Currently, they're hooked up via Molex and they get pretty loud when they all run at full speed. I'm considering getting an adapter to connect them to the motherboard's fan header so I can control their speed, but I'm not sure if my motherboard can handle that many fans. Is this setup feasible?
3 Answers
I’ve set up a PWM fan controller that connects to only one motherboard fan header while drawing external power from the PSU. The catch is that all fans will run at the same speed based on the header setting. I currently have 6 fans on one header with SATA power, and it works well!
Make sure to check the labels on your fans to see their amp ratings and add them up. Your motherboard's manual should indicate how many amps each fan header can handle, typically around 1A. Just make sure you don’t exceed that limit with all the fans combined!
It’s a good idea to connect the fan headers directly to different areas inside your case so you can control their speeds independently through the motherboard. Alternatively, you can use a fan controller to manage multiple high-power fans for each section.
What's the advantage of controlling each fan’s speed? I’m leaning towards this setup, but I hope it works fine with my Molex fans since it seems you’re setting it up for PWM.