H80 and the 3-pin

[Generic User #2]

*i seem to remember it being a 3-pin, but is it actually a 4-pin?

Can someone tell me what the 3-pin connector actually does? The molex connector seems like it provides power for the pump and the two connected fans, but I can't tell what the 3-pin does.

However, I just plugged in the NF-p14 directly to the CPU fan header and left the h80's 3-pin dangling. am I doing it wrong?

[Arinoth]

If it's anything like a standard 3-pin fan connector then you have your 12 V, your Ground and your fan speed back (don't know what a pump normally reports back). The 4th pin would be to control it yourself (PWM pin) without volt modding (lowering the voltage to your fan/pump) yourself.

[dandelioneater]

I'm pretty sure that the 3 pin is just for your cpu fan header if your board needs to have a fan plugged into it in order to boot. It will also report an rpm to the bios - I'd guess its the speed of the h80's pump.

[Generic User #2]

so, if I have a single PWM fan or a 4-pin splitter for two fans, I might as well just plug the fans into the motherboard rather than the pump itself?