Explanation of connectors for fans

[Rick52]

Newbie question.... I need to replace a noisy fan(cpu) and add two fans for the case. I see references to 2 or 3 pin connectors. Looking at the fan that I now have I see a three pin connector that has one wire in it and then a standard peripheral type connector with two wires in it. so.... what's the single wire connector for and what do I need for the actual power supply connector.

Also, for the case fans, where do they plug in (the mb I assume) and do most mb's support two case fan connectors?

Thanks

 

[J3anyus]

There are two main types of connectors for fans, 3-pin connectors and 4-pin connectors. There are also 2-pin connectors, but they are generally not found very often (found in power supplies, and on some chipset fans). 3-pin connectors plug into the motherboard, while 4-pin connectors plug directly into the power supply. The 4-pin connectors actually only use 2 of the pins, one for power and one for ground. The 3-pin connectors have one for power, one for ground, and one for RPM monitoring. Black is always the ground wire and red is always the power wire. There are converters to change 3-pin fans to connect into 4-pin connectors, in case you don't have enough 3-pin connectors on your motherboard.

Anyway, I know that didn't answer all your questions, but it's a start. Good luck!

J3