3-wire is: TACH, DC, GND
4-wire is: PWM, TACH, DC, GND
https://noctua.at/en/what-pin-configuration-do-noctua-produc...
4-wire is: PWM, TACH, DC, GND
https://noctua.at/en/what-pin-configuration-do-noctua-produc...
(Edit: if you mean that in practice, the motherboard approximates DC voltage control using a PWM-based method, that may be true, but it's beside the point; a 3-pin fan is missing the control circuitry that a 4-pin PWM fan uses, and the 3-pin fan's behaviors like turn-on point will be specified in terms of DC voltage not PWM duty cycle, and you can't drive a 3-pin fan with the PWM signal intended for a 4-pin fan because the voltage and current supplied are both far too low.)