good fan controller

Cancer12 · 11-09-2012, 02:25 PM

Hi
Yesterday I finished setting up a small Silverstone SG 09B (Think thats the name, not looking) and it's just a bit too loud. I'm intending on using it most of the time to do productive things while gaming time on it will be a minority.

I tried setting up Speedfan but I did not see my motherboard (Biostar TH67B) on the list of motherboards with fan control, so I'm assuming that will not work.

Now I'm considering getting a fan controller to control case fan speeds. It needs to use a pci slot (no external 5.25 bays). Software to adjust fan speed automatically would be nice but not necessary. Small would be good, its going to sit below the video card in a compact case so I really don't want to reduce airflow. Anyone have a recommendation? Not sure what else I'm looking for.

I'd just love to be able to turn everything down a bit when I'm trying to think!

blastingcap · 11-09-2012, 03:12 PM

NZXT Sentry Mesh. Old school but fewer things can break so IMHO it's more reliable than something like the NZXT Sentry 2. Also, avoid the rheostat ones made by Sunbeamtech as I bought one which literally fell apart on me in addition to having a wobbly heatsink on one of them. The resistor-style fan controllers also eat more power anyway, which is a minus.

Cancer12 · 11-09-2012, 03:20 PM

Thanks for the response but it looks like that uses a front 5.25" bay. Unfortunately, this case doesn't have any of those so I'm looking for something that could fit in a pci slot.

blastingcap · 11-09-2012, 04:42 PM

Sorry I didn't catch that. Well, Rosewill sells those speed-controllable fans that come with PCI controllers but the problem is fitting the knob through the case PCI slot bars. Those PCI controllers are for cheapo cases where you can punch out the entire PCI bracket leaving no metal bars.

If Mobo BIOS supports fan control use that instead of speedfan. Mobo may also come with fan control software.

Cancer12 · 11-09-2012, 05:19 PM

I don't think it does. The fans are in the bios and I can see rpms and such but I can't find a way to control them. I checked speedfan and did not see my motherboard (biostar th67b) on the list. The MB comes with Toverclocker but I could not find an option to change fan speed there either.

Marckitop · 11-09-2012, 07:50 PM

you can make a very interesting circuit that will keep your computer cool. with a temperature sensor and increasing the ventilator speed.

birthdaymonkey · 11-09-2012, 09:27 PM

I'd suggest a 7v mod. As long as the case is well designed, you don't need a ton of fanspeed for good airflow, even while gaming.

Carson Dyle · 11-09-2012, 09:37 PM

I'm a little amazed that there aren't more software controllable fan controllers. Seems a little daft having everything in the system controllable through software and then needing to fiddle with knobs just to control a fan. I'd like to find a nice PCIe card fan controller that can control 4-6 fans, including PWM fans. If it needs auxiliary power input through a molex connector, that's fine.