I am using a Nexus 120mm fan to cool my Zalman Flower heatsink (6500 AlCu) for a 2.6ghz P4. The Nexus is suspended above the Flower on a Zalman bracket.

My question is about the connections. The Nexus draws its power from 4 pin connectors and has a separate 3 pin rpm counter cable for connection to the cpu mobo socket. I want to use a Zalman Fanmate and when I connect the Nexus to the Fanmate (using a 4 to 3 pin cable adapter), and connect the Fanmate to the cpu socket on the mobo (Asus P4TE) the fanmate works fine but the fan's rpm does not register in the BIOS because the rpm cable from the Nexus is not connected to the cpu socket.

So, I have connected the Fanmate to the pci fan socket on the motherboard and the flying Nexus rpm cable to the cpu socket on the mobo. Now the Fanmate works and the rpm registers in the BIOS. But can I check that I am not damaging anything connecting the fan to the mobo in this double way. I hope its ok because the the Nexus rpm cable only carries rpm information not power. Grateful for confirmation that I am not destroying my mobo. Thanks.

David

Most likely you would have damaged the board already if this was going to cause a problem. Since both the RPM sensor and the power cable both are grounded I would think everything would work no problem.

If it were me, I'd cut the connectors off and splice into a standard 3-wire motherboard fan connector w/ solder & heatshrink. Then you'll have your tacho lead passed thru the fanmate and only connect to the CPU fan header in the normal manner. You can also experiment with ditching the fanmate in lieu of speedfan or fanspeed thermal control of the CPU fan.

Thank you for the advice.

The set up did not seem to do any damage to any components, though I have gone back to a 92mm Acoustifan because the Nexus 120mm provided neither the same nor more cooling at lower noise levels. As others have noted, the Nexus produces very light airflow for its size. I'll just crank up the Acoustifan as summer room temps go up. My idle MB temp is currently 32C and CPU 41C.

David,

With my Nexus, I chopped the existing connectors off and put on a 3-pin connector -- no soldering req'd, just a crimp here or there.

Useful stuff


Dave

Dave

Thanks for that info. I chickened out of changing connectors and bought an adapter from here -

http://www.trianglecables.com/4pinpowto3pi.html

couldn't find any in the UK.

David