{"id":63254,"date":"2026-03-16T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/?p=63254"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:50:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T09:50:42","slug":"motherboards-explained-fan-headers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/motherboards-explained-fan-headers\/","title":{"rendered":"Motherboards Explained: Fan Headers\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019re&nbsp;contributing another article to our in-depth&nbsp;<strong>Motherboards Explained&nbsp;<\/strong>series.&nbsp;In this entry,&nbsp;we\u2019re&nbsp;covering fan headers,&nbsp;detailing how they&nbsp;facilitate&nbsp;cooling solutions and help keep your gaming PC tickety-boo.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mobo-Explained-Fan-Header.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-63255\"\/ loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mobo-Explained-Fan-Header.png 1080w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mobo-Explained-Fan-Header-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mobo-Explained-Fan-Header-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mobo-Explained-Fan-Header-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mobo-Explained-Fan-Header-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mobo-Explained-Fan-Header-600x600.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Motherboard&nbsp;fan&nbsp;headers&nbsp;supply the&nbsp;signal and&nbsp;electrical power that&nbsp;cooling&nbsp;fans need to&nbsp;operate.&nbsp;They are designed to&nbsp;directly&nbsp;interface&nbsp;with&nbsp;the connector&nbsp;found on the end of a PC fan\u2019s&nbsp;cable.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Motherboards&nbsp;feature&nbsp;a mixture of&nbsp;3-pin&nbsp;DC and 4-pin PWM fan&nbsp;headers.&nbsp;DC&nbsp;stands&nbsp;for&nbsp;Direct Current,&nbsp;and&nbsp;PWM&nbsp;refers to&nbsp;Pulse-Width Modulation.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both types of headers&nbsp;allow you to control and&nbsp;monitor&nbsp;your fan speeds, with DC headers using voltage regulation, while PWM communicates directly with the fan.&nbsp;As such, PWM offers finer control of your fans\u2019 RPM,&nbsp;helping you ensure&nbsp;efficient&nbsp;airflow and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/best-cooling-solutions-for-overclocked-pcs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stable temperatures under any load<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s&nbsp;not just about thermals, either. Speed&nbsp;affects sound, so you can favour quiet operation whenever you like&nbsp;with PWM fans&nbsp;as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3-pin&nbsp;and&nbsp;4-pin&nbsp;Headers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As previously mentioned, there are two types of&nbsp;fan&nbsp;headers:&nbsp;3-pin&nbsp;and&nbsp;4-pin.&nbsp;You\u2019ll&nbsp;need to check your motherboard manual to see which you have and how many.&nbsp;Here\u2019s&nbsp;a quick breakdown&nbsp;of&nbsp;their capabilities:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>3-pin&nbsp;headers \u2013 Accommodate&nbsp;DC&nbsp;fans with three wires,&nbsp;which cover power&nbsp;(red wire), ground&nbsp;(black wire), and signal&nbsp;(yellow wire).&nbsp;You&nbsp;can\u2019t&nbsp;use the motherboard&nbsp;to&nbsp;alter the speed of the rotating blades.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>4-pin&nbsp;headers&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;Connect to&nbsp;DC and&nbsp;PWM&nbsp;fans.&nbsp;You&nbsp;are able&nbsp;to&nbsp;adjust fan RPM&nbsp;on PWM&nbsp;fans,&nbsp;which is what the extra cable is for.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Connecting&nbsp;is straightforward. Simply line up the&nbsp;cable&nbsp;with the motherboard and header, and gently slot it in. A final check can help you&nbsp;ensure the link is secure, so give it a&nbsp;light pull&nbsp;to&nbsp;test for any resistance. Remember that&nbsp;there\u2019s&nbsp;no latch,&nbsp;which makes&nbsp;extraction easier,&nbsp;but&nbsp;this&nbsp;also means you&nbsp;shouldn&#8217;t&nbsp;apply too much force when linking up the wires.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3-pin&nbsp;fans&nbsp;are smaller and so can be connected&nbsp;to&nbsp;4-pin&nbsp;headers. However,&nbsp;you&nbsp;shouldn\u2019t&nbsp;expect PWM support without that extra fourth cable.&nbsp;That said, some motherboards can automatically detect what kind of fan you plugged in&nbsp;and adjust their performance accordingly.&nbsp;TL;DR:&nbsp;4-pin&nbsp;headers are backwards compatible.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-930feb06 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-thumbnail\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pwm-vs-dc-150x150.png\" alt=\"PWM or DC Fans: Everything You Need to Know!\" class=\"wp-image-31881\"\/ loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pwm-vs-dc-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pwm-vs-dc-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pwm-vs-dc-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pwm-vs-dc-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pwm-vs-dc-580x580.png 580w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pwm-vs-dc.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Want to know more about PWM fans? We&nbsp;had&nbsp;them do battle with their DC counterparts just over here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-ef7a8b26 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/pwm-vs-dc-fans-everything-you-need-to-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CPU-FAN and CPU-OPT<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the labels on your motherboard might suggest, there are many specific cooling headers, such as the PUMP, which is reserved for connecting&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/what-is-an-aio-cooler\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AIO liquid pumps<\/a>. However,&nbsp;we\u2019re&nbsp;focused on our fan headers, and those&nbsp;should be&nbsp;designated&nbsp;CPU-FAN and CPU-OPT.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The CPU-FAN&nbsp;header is designed to power&nbsp;the primary cooling solution&nbsp;for your processor.&nbsp;It can increase or decrease the speed of your fans based on what kind of CPU temperature&nbsp;you\u2019re&nbsp;dealing with,&nbsp;but you can adjust to your liking&nbsp;if&nbsp;you&#8217;re&nbsp;in&nbsp;4-pin&nbsp;territory with PWM fans.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CPU-OPT is a second cooler fan&nbsp;header, hence the name&nbsp;\u2018opt\u2019,&nbsp;literally meaning&nbsp;optional.&nbsp;It\u2019s&nbsp;a useful header to have if you need to power&nbsp;additional&nbsp;fans. When in use,&nbsp;this&nbsp;header&nbsp;mirrors the performance of the CPU-FAN. You can connect multiple devices to this&nbsp;interface,&nbsp;whereas&nbsp;the&nbsp;CPU fan&nbsp;is&nbsp;solely&nbsp;designated&nbsp;for your CPU cooler.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are going to get experimental with these headers, always&nbsp;refer back&nbsp;to your motherboard manual. They should have guidance on what&nbsp;additional&nbsp;power you can extrapolate,&nbsp;which types of fans can be&nbsp;interfaced&nbsp;with certain headers, and&nbsp;where to watch out for failures in your system,&nbsp;should your set-up be ill-advised.&nbsp;Always double-check your configurations!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Time to Upgrade Your Motherboard?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking to customise cooling speeds and add more fans to your PC gaming build rig? Here at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Overclockers UK<\/a>, our stock of motherboards will support your ambitions!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-ef7a8b26 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/pc-components\/motherboards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shop Motherboards<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-930feb06 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"f-product-wrapper \"><div class=\"product-image\"><!-- <div class=\"tag-list\"><a href=\"#\">in stock<\/a><\/div> --><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"feed-product-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/dw\/image\/v2\/BLRM_PRD\/on\/demandware.static\/-\/Sites-master-catalog-ocuk\/default\/dw554cc61e\/images\/data\/product\/05\/74415b\/35c2d58473178ac7e290dd5b2bd631f2646d2fe6.jpg?sw=800\" alt=\"Sapphire Pure X870A WiFi7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard\" \/ loading=\"lazy\"><\/div><div class=\"product-wrapper\"><h3>Sapphire Pure X870A WiFi7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard<\/h3><p class=\"sku\">MOT-SPR-05687<\/p><p class=\"pricing\"><span class=\"main-price\"> \u00a3209.95 GBP<\/span><\/p><p class=\"vat-info\">(incl. VAT)<\/p><p class=\"free-shipping\">FREE SHIPPING<\/p><p class=\"instock  in-stock\">in stock<\/p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/sapphire-pure-x870a-wifi7-socket-am5-ddr5-atx-motherboard\/MOT-SPR-05687.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"product-link btn btn-primary\">ADD TO BASKET<\/a><\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"f-product-wrapper \"><div class=\"product-image\"><!-- <div class=\"tag-list\"><a href=\"#\">in stock<\/a><\/div> --><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"feed-product-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/dw\/image\/v2\/BLRM_PRD\/on\/demandware.static\/-\/Sites-master-catalog-ocuk\/default\/dwe008424b\/images\/data\/product\/4c\/f4a3d4\/ada47c1cc920c0f831691bf21c2fbf2a7b911428.png?sw=800\" alt=\"Gigabyte X870E Aorus Elite WIFI7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard\" \/ loading=\"lazy\"><\/div><div class=\"product-wrapper\"><h3>Gigabyte X870E Aorus Elite WIFI7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard<\/h3><p class=\"sku\">MOT-GIG-03318<\/p><p class=\"pricing\"><span class=\"main-price\"> \u00a3284.99 GBP<\/span><\/p><p class=\"vat-info\">(incl. VAT)<\/p><p class=\"free-shipping\">FREE SHIPPING<\/p><p class=\"instock  in-stock\">in stock<\/p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/gigabyte-x870e-aorus-elite-wifi7-socket-am5-ddr5-atx-motherboard\/MOT-GIG-03318.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"product-link btn btn-primary\">ADD TO BASKET<\/a><\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"f-product-wrapper \"><div class=\"product-image\"><!-- <div class=\"tag-list\"><a href=\"#\">preorder<\/a><\/div> --><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"feed-product-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/dw\/image\/v2\/BLRM_PRD\/on\/demandware.static\/-\/Sites-master-catalog-ocuk\/default\/dw6978e6f6\/images\/data\/product\/91\/af73d1\/414e2a46180eefbea764b96e5fcb36c9aaee1628.png?sw=800\" alt=\"MSI MPG Z890 CARBON WIFI (LGA 1851) DDR5 ATX Motherboard\" \/ loading=\"lazy\"><\/div><div class=\"product-wrapper\"><h3>MSI MPG Z890 CARBON WIFI (LGA 1851) DDR5 ATX Motherboard<\/h3><p class=\"sku\">MOT-MSI-03436<\/p><p class=\"pricing\"><span class=\"main-price\"> \u00a3329.99 GBP<\/span><\/p><p class=\"vat-info\">(incl. VAT)<\/p><p class=\"free-shipping\">FREE SHIPPING<\/p><p class=\"instock  preorder\">Pre order<\/p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/msi-mpg-z890-carbon-wifi-lga-1851-ddr5-atx-motherboard\/MOT-MSI-03436.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"product-link btn btn-primary\">ADD TO BASKET<\/a><\/div><div class=\"clear\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Learn More in &#8216;Motherboards Explained&#8217;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-930feb06 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/motherboards-explained-pcie-slots\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Mobo-Explained-PCIe-Slots-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-1-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-58805\"\/ loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Mobo-Explained-PCIe-Slots-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Mobo-Explained-PCIe-Slots-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-1-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Mobo-Explained-PCIe-Slots-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Mobo-Explained-PCIe-Slots-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Mobo-Explained-PCIe-Slots-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-1-600x600.png 600w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Mobo-Explained-PCIe-Slots-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-1.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/motherboards-explained-dimm-slots\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Mobo-Explained-DIMM-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55665\"\/ loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Mobo-Explained-DIMM-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Mobo-Explained-DIMM-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Mobo-Explained-DIMM-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Mobo-Explained-DIMM-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Mobo-Explained-DIMM-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text-600x600.png 600w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Mobo-Explained-DIMM-Overclockers-UK-Blog-Feature-Image-Standard-Blog-1080x1080Light-Text.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-medium\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/motherboards-explained-tpm-header\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mobo-Explained-TPM-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53505\"\/ loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mobo-Explained-TPM-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mobo-Explained-TPM-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mobo-Explained-TPM-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mobo-Explained-TPM-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mobo-Explained-TPM-600x600.png 600w, https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mobo-Explained-TPM.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How&nbsp;Are You Using Motherboard Fan Headers?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Are you rocking PWM fans or sticking with trusty DC fans a while longer? Have you curated a glorious cooling set-up using the CPU-OPT header? Tell&nbsp;us&nbsp;your thoughts in the comments.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&rsquo;re&nbsp;contributing another article to our in-depth&nbsp;Motherboards Explained&nbsp;series.&nbsp;In this entry,&nbsp;we&rsquo;re&nbsp;covering fan headers,&nbsp;detailing how they&nbsp;facilitate&nbsp;cooling solutions and help keep your gaming PC tickety-boo.&nbsp;&nbsp; Motherboard&nbsp;fan&nbsp;headers&nbsp;supply the&nbsp;signal and&nbsp;electrical power that&nbsp;cooling&nbsp;fans need to&nbsp;operate.&nbsp;They are designed to&nbsp;directly&nbsp;interface&nbsp;with&nbsp;the connector&nbsp;found on the end of a PC fan&rsquo;s&nbsp;cable.&nbsp;&nbsp; Motherboards&nbsp;feature&nbsp;a mixture of&nbsp;3-pin&nbsp;DC and 4-pin PWM fan&nbsp;headers.&nbsp;DC&nbsp;stands&nbsp;for&nbsp;Direct Current,&nbsp;and&nbsp;PWM&nbsp;refers to&nbsp;Pulse-Width Modulation.&nbsp;&nbsp; Both types of headers&nbsp;allow you to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":63257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1335,1357,1332,1350,1366,1345],"tags":[6293,6294,6297,6298,6295,6292,2312,1219,6296],"class_list":["post-63254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buyers-guide","category-cooling","category-gaming","category-gaming-hardware","category-motherboards","category-round-ups","tag-3-pin-dc-fan-headers","tag-4-pin-pwm-fan-headers","tag-cpu-fan","tag-cpu-opt","tag-direct-current","tag-fan-headers","tag-gaming-hardware","tag-motherboard","tag-pulse-width-modulation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Motherboards Explained: Fan Headers\u00a0 | Overclockers UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019re&nbsp;contributing another article to our in-depth&nbsp;Motherboards Explained&nbsp;series.&nbsp;In this entry,&nbsp;we\u2019re&nbsp;covering fan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.overclockers.co.uk\/blog\/motherboards-explained-fan-headers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Motherboards Explained: Fan Headers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019re contributing another article to our in-depth Motherboards Explained series. 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