nf4 Ultra D - Powering fans from MB: Stupid or Really Stupid?

[VideoFool]

Thanks all. Great responses.

 

For now, I just have my chipset fan and CPU fan plugged into the mb. The rest are powered directly from the psu.

 

I'll give that a run for a while until I can get a fan controller to play with.

 

However, I like the idea of the mb controlling the speed of the fan for the CPU based on core temps. That way I don't have to worry about kids using the computer for something when I'm not around. I can just see me telling them, "Don't forget to turn up the fan on the computer when you're playing games!"

 

Oh well. Maybe time for two computers in the house

 

Videofool

[`clipse]

There is no rule that says you have to use the pin headers, or use molex. each one has their advantages and disadvantages. however I have always found that using low wattage, high-quality fans on pin-headers is completely safe.

 

The only fan I have ever had fail was a cheaply made 60mm (?) fan from my GF4 video card. the fan failed a few years ago and took out a good part of the computer system with it. But i think good 80mm fans are much less likely to fail. also if you use any sort of monitoring software you may get a clear heads-up when a fan is starting to fail. if you arent going to software-control your system there is really no point to use the pins though. might as well use the molex for that.