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A little back story as to why I'm writing this guide:
Earlier today I went into my local PC shop looking for a cheap monitor and while I was there I found a couple of Dell 120 x 38 Y4574 server fans (148.34CFM, 51dB, PWM). Which are actually Delta AFC1212DE-PWM case fans.
I was really stoked since I got them for really cheap.
At any rate, I get home, install one on my Xiggy DK, turn my rig on and nothing.
At first I thought they were dead, but then I decided to jump them using a car battery. Lo and behold, they turn on and damn near fly off the bench.
After a little digging, here's what I found:
Dell not only rearranges the pin configuration in the plug itself,
Dell PWM pin config
they also change the color of the wires from the standard 4pin PWM fan, with the exception of the control wire.
Standard PWM pin config
So here, you're thinking, well this is easy, I simply swap the number 1 and number 3 pin and hook it up.
Well in order to prevent people from plugging it in to anything other than a Dell, they decided to put a clip on their plug.
However, on the other side there are the normal 2 notches that every fan has.
So in order to make them work and not have to cut anything, you'll need to rearrange the wiring.
So if you're holding the plug with the notches pointing right, from top to bottom the wiring should go as follows:
Top- blue
Second down - white
Third one-red
Fourth -black
Fifth -empty
Should look like this:
After doing this, I tested the fans. I went into my BIOS and set it so the fan runs @ 50% until 42C, and then it ramps up to 100%.
Sure enough, when 2 of the cores hit 42C, it kicked up a little and cooled them right off. It even lowered my MOSFET temperature ~8C.
At any rate, in this configuration, it should work on most any board....except a Dell of course.
Earlier today I went into my local PC shop looking for a cheap monitor and while I was there I found a couple of Dell 120 x 38 Y4574 server fans (148.34CFM, 51dB, PWM). Which are actually Delta AFC1212DE-PWM case fans.
I was really stoked since I got them for really cheap.
At any rate, I get home, install one on my Xiggy DK, turn my rig on and nothing.
At first I thought they were dead, but then I decided to jump them using a car battery. Lo and behold, they turn on and damn near fly off the bench.
After a little digging, here's what I found:
Dell not only rearranges the pin configuration in the plug itself,
Dell PWM pin config

they also change the color of the wires from the standard 4pin PWM fan, with the exception of the control wire.
Standard PWM pin config

So here, you're thinking, well this is easy, I simply swap the number 1 and number 3 pin and hook it up.
Well in order to prevent people from plugging it in to anything other than a Dell, they decided to put a clip on their plug.
However, on the other side there are the normal 2 notches that every fan has.
So in order to make them work and not have to cut anything, you'll need to rearrange the wiring.
So if you're holding the plug with the notches pointing right, from top to bottom the wiring should go as follows:
Top- blue
Second down - white
Third one-red
Fourth -black
Fifth -empty
Should look like this:
After doing this, I tested the fans. I went into my BIOS and set it so the fan runs @ 50% until 42C, and then it ramps up to 100%.
Sure enough, when 2 of the cores hit 42C, it kicked up a little and cooled them right off. It even lowered my MOSFET temperature ~8C.
At any rate, in this configuration, it should work on most any board....except a Dell of course.
