crazynex Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Hi I just purchased the Spec Alpha case, which is a fantastic looking case. However.... The fan connectors for the front panel fans (which run through the fan controller) are 3 pin male plugs. The manual says they should be plugged into the motherboards case fan header.. I have been putting together pc's for a while and every motherboard I have come across also has pins not sockets. Now I know I can disconnect the fan switch and plug the fans in directly, but one of the selling points for me was the front panel fan controller. Why is there not a female to female link lead supplied, Or am I simply doing something wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper69 Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Shouldn't they be connected to the fan controller itself? I have had a couple of cases with built-in controllers and the fans were always connected to the controller rather than the motherboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phal Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 As I think, the fan plugs are female and the fan headers are male. Anyway, your case has four headers. http://www.corsair.com/~/media/corsair/product-images/cases/spec-alpha/black-silver/large/spec-alpha_gray_12.png You can use up to four fans or maybe more, if you know the max. of ampere. In your case is more space for than four fans, so it's your point, which fans you will control with your fan controller or with your mainboard (without CPU Fan). Maybe you should do some pictures, which will help for explanations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazynex Posted May 9, 2016 Author Share Posted May 9, 2016 Thank you every one.. I am a complete numpty!! I assumed (wrongly) that the fans were connected to the controller via the 2 wires (which they do) but I thought the other 2 wires then had to go to the motherboard. (which the don't) The other 2 wires are as pointed out by Phal for a further 2 fans. At this moment in time I'm having my name changed to 10 watt. As I'm not that bright. Thank you all again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phal Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 It's okay. If you need more help for your case you can ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellcat Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 Hi, I'm new and also building my first with the alpha. I'm stuck at plugging in the front fans and have no clue where the control is. Where do I plug in the fans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phal Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 Hi, I'm new and also building my first with the alpha. I'm stuck at plugging in the front fans and have no clue where the control is. Where do I plug in the fans? http://www.corsair.com/~/media/corsair/product-images/cases/spec-alpha/black-silver/large/spec-alpha_gray_12.png Your fans must pluged into the fan-headers, which you see on the picture at left side. If you need more help, do some pictures to show your state and problems. Additional: fill in your specs: http://forum.corsair.com/forums/profile.php?do=extra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panvi Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Hello, I am currently deciding whether to buy the corsair spec-alpha but I have no Idea what the second wire in the posted picture does... The rest are just fan speed, audio, usb, and power/reset but what is the second one used for??? Also how do the fans get power if they are plugged right into the switch? appreciate any help :D: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-attack Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 It is a SATA connector. You have designated plugs on your PSU for those cables and they are commonly used to power hard drives, SSDs, 5.25" drives, and now more frequently coolers, LED controls, and sometimes fan controllers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Googliman Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 Hi. I'm am helping my son build his first gaming computer. We purchased a Corsair Spec Alpha case. We had some confusion over the front fan connectors but this post clarified. Thanks for that. However, we are still confused on the rear fan. The connector out of the fan is a female for 3 pins. As discussed above , all of the board males are with 4 pins, one being a ground. Does the rear fan connect to a connector out of the front as discussed above? However, those front connectors have 2 pins. Could someone help us through this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Googliman Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 No worries. I decided to do the simple thing and unplug one of the front fans. Guess what, looks exactly like the rear fan plug. So the rear obviously plugs into the same connector. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phal Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 Your front fans has three pins too. Your Mainboard has PWM-Support, I think. You have at fans up to four pins: GroundVoltageRPMPWM Signal (or something similar) For the Front Fan Controller you need just ground and voltage. You can't read the rpm info with the controller also you don't need them. Your fan at the back has ground, voltage, rpm info. If you want to plug the fan into your mainboard, you have regulary a backplane, which allow just in one direction to plug the fan. Don't use any force! Most the place for system fans at mobo is called with "sys_fan#" (#=number). OPT_FAN or CPU_FAN should used for pumps or (addional) cpu coolers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricardo205568 Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 hello if anyone can help i dont now where to connect the fan control my motherboard is an msi b150 gaming m3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper69 Posted December 7, 2016 Share Posted December 7, 2016 You don't. You connect the fans to the leads from the controller and the SATA lead from the controller to a SATA power connection from your power supply. If you scroll up to the photo above, the fan connectors are the 4 leads on the left and the SATA lead is next to them (the one with the gold coloured connector). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMalhotra Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 http://www.corsair.com/~/media/corsair/product-images/cases/spec-alpha/black-silver/large/spec-alpha_gray_12.png Your fans must pluged into the fan-headers, which you see on the picture at left side. If you need more help, do some pictures to show your state and problems. Additional: fill in your specs: http://forum.corsair.com/forums/profile.php?do=extra Hi Phal, Thanks for the wonderful explanation. Was very helpful in regards to where the fans goes. But I am a bit unsure about the front panel wires. Please bear with me as I am a newbie with the hardware part of the systems. I am working with Asus Z170-AR Motherboard and Spec Alpha Case. As you can see in the pics attached, the power sockets, p led+, p led-, hdd and the reset sockets all gets attached to a median socket (comes with the motherboard) which then gets attached to the motherboard. My concerns are: 1. there are 2 p led+ and p led - pins on the median, so which ones to go for. 2. Is the positive power socket suppose to with the ground pin or the power pin on the median. 3. I have assembled the system, but when I switch it on, I can only see the standby LED on the motherboard glow but the system doesn't turn on. There is no movement even the LED fans doesn't turn on. I suspect might be due to the sockets arrangement I have done, not sure. The power supply is connected to the mobo (24pin as well as 8pin). I have gone by the manual, so really not sure where am I going wrong. Your help would be deeply appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phal Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Hi Phal, Thanks for the wonderful explanation. Was very helpful in regards to where the fans goes. But I am a bit unsure about the front panel wires. Ha, Thank you! :): 1. there are 2 p led+ and p led - pins on the median, so which ones to go for. There are some cases with a three-pin-header as one piece. The Spec Alpha has two Pins seperated with + and -. You can use them in every case and as I read on the manual you can use the two-pole or three-pole connector. As you connected on the pictures it's correct prepared. If you connect it to the motherboard it should be fine. 2. Is the positive power socket suppose to with the ground pin or the power pin on the median. Did you mean the pwr with ground? I think I don't understand correctly what you want to know. 3. I have assembled the system, but when I switch it on, I can only see the standby LED on the motherboard glow but the system doesn't turn on. There is no movement even the LED fans doesn't turn on. I suspect might be due to the sockets arrangement I have done, not sure. If you think the button on the Spec Alpha isn't functional you can use the PWR_SW on your motherboard at the bottom, right from COM Connector (or check your manual at mainboard overview). As I read to Standby Power LED: there is PSU connected and active (Switch on PSU at 1). If you press the Power Switch it should turn on and the cpu fan should spin on. There are some post LEDs. If your CPU Phase connected incorrectly there should be a fan spin or any LED should inform you with a color. In this case it should be the CPU LED under the CPU Socket. Finally: Question 2 should be explained and if the problem persist - do some pictures of your setting and upload them to this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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