EggXpert

I'm looking the the Zerotherm Nirvana NV120 and want to use it on the Gigabyte EP45-UD3P. The Nirvana has a 3 pin connector and the Gigabyte mobo has a 4 pin CPU connector. Will this work so I can monitor fan temps, etc? 

It will work, in that you can monitor the fan speed yes. But you will not be able to control it, as the fan does not have a speed control feed. Temps are monitored by the motherboard directly, not through the fan.

DTMAce:

It will work, in that you can monitor the fan speed yes. But you will not be able to control it, as the fan does not have a speed control feed. Temps are monitored by the motherboard directly, not through the fan.

 

So if I understand you correctly, the 4 pin header is backwards compatible with 3 pin fan? But it's just a hardware limitation with the fan control, so I'm not losing any functionality if I use the external manual fan control that it comes with? 

DYNAMIC fan control is disabled. (fan speed going up as cpu heats up etc).

a 3 pin fan ina 4 pin header is always at 100% unless you use mobo software control to down the speed. 

Correct.  Your external control just lets you change it how it suits you directly.  Some of those come with a feed for the speed sensor, if you want the board to monitor that.

As CAGG above states, the motherboard MAY come with a means to control the 3 lead fan via OS software, but I have found many do not, or are not that reliable in working as expected.  The 4 leads are better for this, or in your case the external controller.

 

Good luck!

Thanks for the wealth of information. Still undecided on my next build, was waiting until today (Nehalem launch), but this new tech is out of my reach price wise. I configured a pretty basic build and it was already over $1500

I just got me a ZeroTherm Zen FZ120 cooler for my overhaul.    At $15 after rebate it's a killer deal, its fan is 4-pin, software controllable, no weird dongle, and man does it COOL!     I previously ran my Intel with a stock cooler, and temps were on the 40s.    Yesterday as I was putting the build through the paces, CPU temp never went over 22C.    Word or caution:  that thing is HUGE, gotta have a wide case (mine is a 8.5" wide CoolerMaster 690)