This is the pinout when looking at the connector.
In case of a Noctua fan colors are :
-pin1 :black
-pin2: not connected
-pin3: yellow
-pin4: red
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MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro (4.1/5.1) aftermarket fans WITH automatic SMC control
- Thread starter amedias
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This is the pinout when looking at the connector.
In case of a Noctua fan colors are :
-pin1 :black
-pin2: not connected
-pin3: yellow
-pin4: red
Has anyone found the cables from the NF-A12x25 being ever so short to reach the intake and exhaust fan headers? I've found the extension cables add too much extra length. I suppose one option would be to splice them with the extension cables to add as much extra length as needed.
I should mention I gave soldering a go last night and made a right mess of it, so I'm going to try again on the weekend but go much slower 🙂
EDIT: Ok, I routed the extensions better 2nd time and it's looking much better
I should mention I gave soldering a go last night and made a right mess of it, so I'm going to try again on the weekend but go much slower 🙂
EDIT: Ok, I routed the extensions better 2nd time and it's looking much better
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Update: I managed to solder the Noctua cables to the Mac Pro fan connector pretty good eventually. Does anyone have any tips to secure the fan to the casing? I'm having difficulty getting the Noctua grommets in place as there isn't much space to manoeuvre in the casing.
Super happy with the fans swapped out so far, the machine is so much quieter 🙂
Super happy with the fans swapped out so far, the machine is so much quieter 🙂
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Soldering is fun, and once knowing some basics it's easy
I use the Noctua rubbers too, and for the PCI fan I found it much easier to first mount them in the fan ( reversed) and then after some fiddling pass them through the mounting holes.
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I agree, I've found I also like to tinker around, too 🙂Soldering is fun, and once knowing some basics it's easy
I use the Noctua rubbers too, and for the PCI fan I found it much easier to first mount them in the fan ( reversed) and then after some fiddling pass them through the mounting holes.
I watched a few tutorials on YouTube to get the basics down as I've not soldered since school quite some time ago now and was worried about irreversibly damaging the cables, but it seems to have worked out well 🙂
Thanks for the tip about reversing the grommets, I'll give that a go 👍
Post #18
- top left = empty
- bottom left = black cable
- middle bottom = red cable
- bottom right = yellow cable
So with your Noctua fans it’s:
- top left = empty
- bottom left = black cable
- middle bottom = red cable
- bottom right = yellow cable
Hi. received the other fans yesterday and made the fan swap under 2 hours.
For the PCI fan, i reused the contact and solder/cover with a shrink tube according to the earlier picture in this thread.
The PSU fan i just loosened the 4 pin contact from the motherboard for the fan and then cut it loose. Then just take out the old fan cable including the fan (No need to take out the motherboard). Fit the new fan and redraw the cable through the DVD compartment and down the same way as the DVD cable.
Do the pin swap by loosening the three-pin plastic cover and fit the pins (earlier pic in this thread) in the 4- pin plastic cover. Refit the finished contact to the motherboard.
The intake & exhaust fans. Remove hardisks and CPU-tray. Loose the two fan pin contacts and the loudspeaker contact. Remove the fan cage with both fans and the internal loudspeaker. Remove the old fans and refit the new ones. Do the same pin swap as PCI. Refit the cage, CPU tray, and harddisks.
Everything went smooth and fine. Thanks again for a superb thread
A side note:
- in the EU, the REDUX fan kits do not appear to carry these fancy Noctua rubber used to fit the fan vibration-free, just some simple screws (this is expected, as REDUX is a line of Noctua products stripped from any accessories). Don't know about the US.
And a question:
- I did my PCIe fan yesterday and while it works (moves air like a boss), I neither can see the RPM in any app nor can adjust the speed. Do I have an unintended short between the V Control and Sense/Tacho pins? I am really not good at soldering...
- in the EU, the REDUX fan kits do not appear to carry these fancy Noctua rubber used to fit the fan vibration-free, just some simple screws (this is expected, as REDUX is a line of Noctua products stripped from any accessories). Don't know about the US.
And a question:
- I did my PCIe fan yesterday and while it works (moves air like a boss), I neither can see the RPM in any app nor can adjust the speed. Do I have an unintended short between the V Control and Sense/Tacho pins? I am really not good at soldering...
Congrats for getting it installed!
- these noctua rubbers are sold separately too, in a box of 16 pieces iirc , cost ~ €6,- and even available in different colors
You're right: with the NF-A they're included , with the redux not.
-Yes, im afraid there's a failing connection , because the noctua tacho signal works fine together with the SMC.
Double check the pinout and the solderings and make sure they're isolated between each other ( tape or heatshrink).
EDIt:
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It could be a faulty connection of the tacho too: if the SMC reads no signal (0 rpm), it keeps increasing the Voltage up to 12V max.
Re-checked my lousy soldering, re-seated the fan cage with connector, SMC reset and...
Great success!
Thank you for all your input throughout the thread, from the very first idea to production-ready pinouts. Kudos to @amedias, @KeesMacPro and @hutzi20. It's all easier than it seems!
Great success!
Thank you for all your input throughout the thread, from the very first idea to production-ready pinouts. Kudos to @amedias, @KeesMacPro and @hutzi20. It's all easier than it seems!
As a sidenote:
When using TGPro with replacement fans , randomly it may show "fan not working properly".
This is not caused by a faulty fan or an SMC error, but due to the fact that the replacement fan responds in a slightly different way than the OEM fan.
I've been testing TGPro on different MPs and had a few very pleasant conversations with Tunabelly.
TGPro seems to be over-accurate diagnosing the fan respons, so you can just ignore the message .
When using TGPro with replacement fans , randomly it may show "fan not working properly".
This is not caused by a faulty fan or an SMC error, but due to the fact that the replacement fan responds in a slightly different way than the OEM fan.
I've been testing TGPro on different MPs and had a few very pleasant conversations with Tunabelly.
TGPro seems to be over-accurate diagnosing the fan respons, so you can just ignore the message .
Perhaps we suggest Matt from Tunabelly to include a "Noctua mode" in TG3, whenever it comes?
I used the NF-A9 PWM chromax.black.swap and voltage to pwm board to replace the PCIe fan. And it can reach up to 2000 rpm.
Discovered something today. Moved my XFX RX480 graphic card from PCie-slot 1 to slot 2. My gpu temp decreased about 10 degees celsius by just do that. It gives me more silent gpu fans.
I discovered the same phenomenon a while ago, but it seems to be more effective for GPUs with small/medium size heatsinks
Is it quiet at idle? I've replaced PS, Intake and Outake with NF-A12x25 with the pin swap and they seem quiet and I'm pretty pleased. However my NFA9 FLX swap for PCI fan is problematic. It's now the loudest fan. Spins at 1200rpm at idle and if I turn it up with TG Pro (it'll go up to 1600rpm) I can't turn it down again either by lowering the manual slider or switching fan control back to System. The rest of the fans can be turned up and back down again.
I think I might try the voltage->pwm board like yourself and the chromax and hope for better results.
Although not addressed to me, I feel free to comment...
The NF-A 9 FLX was one of the first Noctua's I've tested (~1 year ago) and i'm still enjoying the efficiency and silence on daily basis.
One thing though: I've had some strange issues with TGPro installed in a DUAL MP concerning the SMC behavior.
If I were you I'd uninstall TGPro and do a SMC reset and a triple NVRAM reset.
Perhaps you've got multiple fan control software installed/running ... ?
Personally e.g. MacsFanControl or iStatmenus does the job fine...
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Does your NF-A9 FLX run at lower than 1250ish at idle?
I've never installed any fan software other than TG Pro. I've a few different systems on my machine:
- Main OS - 10.14.6 - NVMe Highpoint 7505 - TG Pro installed
- Admin - 10.14.6 - optical bay SATA SSD - TG Pro installed
- Working From Home - 10.14.6 - internal SATA SSD - no fan software installed
The PCI fan is running at 1250ish in all three OSes and the behaviour of not being able to be turned down once up displays in both Main OS and Admin.
Totally value your input @KeesMacPro thanks for jumping in. Maybe I should try one of the other fan software options but I feel it's more likely to be my soldering or the fan itself.
The noise level is around where my PS fan was before I started changing fans but it's less annoying so I have moved forward!!!
Yes, very quiet. I'm going to wait for the A12x25 PWM black version to ship and replace the power supply, CPU front and rear fans using a voltage to PWM board.
Yes, the NF-A 9 FLX in my cMP runs at any rpm (800 up to ~ 1860=max) the SMC dictates or the 3rd party fan control software is set to.
One of the issues i noticed with TG Pro was that with multiple user accounts (on the same OS) with different fan settings , the fans didnt respond correctly , the SMC default min rpm changed etc.etc.
After some communication with TG Pro it appeared that this scenario wasnt foreseen/tested.
Another note is that with TG Pro setting a fan is a bit more advanced/complicated/versatile than with e.g. MacsFanControl
Short version: unless you set the preferences to " overrule system" (IIRC its called that way) it lets you only increase the fan speed above the fan speed the SMC wants.
Question remains why your PCI fan is running that fast.
I would:
- double check the solderings/ pinout
- uninstall TG Pro ( once found the cause you can install it again)
- reset SMC and NVRAM
- install MacsFanControl to check/set fan speeds
Test the PCI rpm at auto(default) and set it manually to min rpm 800 fixed.
Lets see what happens in both cases.
Supposing all is working correctly, with MacsFanControl it's 100% sure that if the fan is set manually to a fixed rpm , it should run at that rpm.
In case it runs at idle (no 3rd party fancontrol set=auto) higher than min rpm , the only reason i can think of is the "racing fan bug".
Nevertheless this is easy to control with e.g.MacsFanControl or iStatsmenus.
AFAIK the cause for this bug isnt 100% clear but i've noticed it on one of my cMP4,1>5,1 single CPUs....
I can live with it very well , since i notice it only before logging into my user account.
In case of curiosity :
AirOut: A solution to the racing fan bug
Introduction The racing fan bug is a well known issue that affects certain cMP systems with upgraded video cards, particularly systems with SMC version 1.39f5. On these systems the PCI, PS, and booster fans spin abnormally fast at idle, causing unnecessary noise. Although the issue appears to...
forums.macrumors.com
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