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This is for a legacy PC I want to keep for a work. The PSU has only 1 4pin molex which is connected to the IDE HDD atm. I live in a tropical area and things get really hot and my PC overheats occasionally. I have 3x spare 12V 60mm fans with current 0.11A, 0.18A, 0.13A. All have a molex splitter of sorts which connects the fans in parallel in between.

My question is that can I fit all of them along with the HDD? The fans are old and there is a chance they may spin bit erratically. Can those fluctuations affect the power going to the HDD?

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  • "molex splitter of sorts" - So is it a molex splitter or something else? I have no idea what you meant by "or sorts"
    – Ramhound
    Aug 28, 2017 at 13:30
  • It acts as a passthrough if that makes sense. It consists of molex male and female on each side and one 5v and 1 gnd are connected in parallel and goes to power the fans. I didn't use "splitter" because 12V and the other gnd lines are simply relayed and untouched.
    – Ganjadevashree
    Aug 28, 2017 at 14:02
  • A screenshot of this cable might be able to help the community determine what you are talking about if they don't already know
    – Ramhound
    Aug 28, 2017 at 14:06

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In general a hard drive consumes about 10 watts of power your fans as as specified will consume about 5W [(.11+.18+.13)*12]

A Molex connector is rated for 5A or 60Watts at 12V. (http://www.molex.com/molex/products/family?key=standard_062&channel=products&chanName=family&pageTitle=Introduction&parentKey=power_connectors) So there is no concern with the connector being able to handle the additional load. The remaining items to consider is the wire from the PowerSupply to the connector and the power supply itself. I've never seen a system that would not be able to provide an additional 5W of 12V power so yes you are safe to proceed.

If you have any doubt check the connector after the system has been running for 5-10 mins if the connector is warm, check your connections and fan health.

So long as the fans are not sticky (seizing) they should not pull any excess power even if they aren't spinning at the same speed. Regardless an increase of 5W shouldn't cause any fluctuations that would have any impact to the hard drive.

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