For reasons I won't go into, I had to take apart the various parts of my tower, and just reassembled it. This is the first time I did this; the computer is also my source of income, so I'm very, very CAUTIOUS about it all. I have an extra fan, and need to know where to plug it in. The wires from the fan end in a white plastic plug, enclosing 4 female and 4 male pins. The bundle of wires from the power supplier (not sure if that's the correct TERM) have TWO sets of wires ending in the same type of white plastic plug, with female pins. The fan can obviously be ATTACHED to either of these plugs, i.e. male on the fan to female on the wires from the power supplier. Is that, in fact, where I plug it in? Does it matter which SET of wires it's plugged into, and if so, how can one tell which is the correct one?

Many, many thanks in advance to anyone who can guide me on this.

Marsha The white plastic plugs you describe here are called Molex plugs...
You can safely plug that fan into any free one you have coming from your power supply...

I'm assuming the reason the fan has both male and female is so it could be piggybacked to another fan connector if needed.

PS: All the Molex plugs from the PSU carry the same voltages so there is no right or wrong one...any empty one will do.Patio,

Many many thanks for the help and terminology. It's much appreciated.

Marsh Welcome Aboard ! !  Stop by anytime...