I'm trying to connect five fans to a cha fan port on my motherboard. The motherboard spec says the port can handle 1A, and the fans I have are rated at 3 fans drawing 0.2A each and 2 fans at 0.16A each. I can calculate that it adds up to just under 1A, but I'm worried if I need to consider any leeway. Are the .2A and .16A ratings the maximum they will draw? Any insights would be appreciated!
3 Answers
If you're connecting that many fans, consider using a SATA powered fan hub. This would keep things safer, even though the BIOS will only recognize all the fans as one, meaning they won’t have independent speed control. I think it’s still a better bet than overloading the motherboard header.
What motherboard are you using? That .92A total is pretty near the 1A limit. I wouldn’t want to risk damaging the fan header unless you really have to. Can you split the fans between different headers? That way, you could also control their speeds individually, which could be useful.
I'm using the Prime B550+ AC-HES. I could split them, but it might mean some rewiring, which I'd prefer to avoid for now. I do have another header, but it already has two fans plugged in. I know seven fans is probably overkill, but I'm just filling space until I get an AIO.
You're technically under 1A, so that should be okay in theory, but it's cutting it pretty close. It might not hurt to spread out the fans a bit if you can.
Exactly! A SATA hub might be the safest route. Better than risking a header burn-out for sure.