Anyone Used This? Cooler Master Aerogate III fan controller

[WhipperSnapper]

I'm thining about picking up a fan controller for a new rig simply because my new case will have 5 case fans and a controller (purchased on the cheap) seems like a good way to bring power to four of them.

Does anyone have any opinions on the Cooler Master Aerogate 3 (and 1)?

http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?L...-V03&other_title=ALD-V03Aerogate%20III

On the Aerogate 3, can the fan speeds (all case fans in my case) be set independently of temperature probes, or are their speeds always connected to the readings from the temperature probes? What if I don't want to connect the temperature probes at all? Might it be less of a pain in the ass to just get a simple (dumb) 4-fan controller with rheostat knobs? I like the Aeromaster 3 for its aesthetics and presumably better control over fan speeds (as opposed to analog control with LEDs).

 

[BeakerChem]

I got the Aerocool Gatekeeper I. Big giant LCD 2 5.25 bay control panel with 4 fan controllers and 4 temp readouts.

I just like extra readouts personally. Lol. Works great for me, the only complaint is that it is all 3 wire fan connectors, so I had to do some trickery to get my 4 plug fans on the program.

 

[rise]

yeah, i got a couple. no complaints. svc has them for $14.99 last i checked.

one thing that is odd is that one of mine shows the "coolermaster aerogate 3" scrolling across the lcd when i'm not checking temps or fan speed. but the other one just cycles through the rpms and temps, a couple seconds on each.

i haven't really messed around trying to figure out why because i'm not really sure which i like better it'd be nice to know how to change it though.

edit- i figured it out, its the "idle mode" i thought that would spin my fans down (which i didn't want) but it just puts the lcd into scroll mode.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: rise4310
yeah, i got a couple. no complaints. svc has them for $14.99 last i checked.

That's what piqued my interest. They also have a knobs-only controller for $5, but I thought the Aerocool III looked good for $15.

What I'm wondering about is whether I can set fan speeds without their having to be connected to the temperature sensors. Could I operate it if I didn't want to use the temperature sensors at all?

I'm not going to mess around with my GPU and CPU fan speeds; my mobo will regulate the CPU fan speeds for me. Would it be worthwhile to place the four sensors somewhere in the case? Maybe it would make sense to put one on the CPU heatsink, one near the GPU, one on the top of the case, and one on the bottom.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Judging from my Aerogate II and the tradition of these things, the sensors just provide information. The Aerogate III as far as I can tell doesn't thermally control the fan speeds. You can control the fan speeds without the thermal sensors -- you can even control the fan speeds without having the tach sensor plugged in, but you won't know how fast it's spinning, even if you can control it.

I'm happy with my Aerogate II for what it does for me. I've been casually eyeing front-panel controllers that automatically spin fans up or down from the thermal sensors and a USB connection to the system running the manufacturer's software. But since I'm moving toward fewer, more strategically placed fans, and you can control at least one from the mobo's CPU_fan header, SpeedFan is fine in comparison to the software bug reports I've seen on the products bundled with the automatic controllers.

 

[doinmybestatlast]

I have one in my rig. It works. Want more information? It really works.

 

[rise]

yeah, like bonzai says, the temp sensors are independent of the fan controls.

i use the sensors but don't put a lot of faith in them. i'm sure they're fairly accurate but mostly i read the cpu/pwmic/chipset/gpu off the software reads.

i have the sensors on a hdd, the psu case, the ram and one in the general vicinity of the graphics card.

 

[JEDIYoda]

The aerogate is a nice front panel controller!!!
There are quite a few out there!!!
I use the Zalman MFC1!! To be honest it has nothing to do with the fact its Zalman!
I just liked the way it looked when added to my Black case!!
But I have not been disappointed fan control in my opinion is very necessary to keep noise down to tolerable levels!!

Mind you tolerable to me doesn`t necessarily mean quiet!!!
I do like the way I can adjust the fan speed!! I also like the 2 12v-- OFF--5c adjustments also!!

http://www.zalman.co.kr/
http://www.svc.com/fanandtemman.html
http://www.jab-tech.com/customer/home.php?cat=42
http://www.directron.com/speedcontrol.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=19&Go.y=30

There are alot of different brands and most of them work very well!!!

 

[l Xes l]

aerogate series are awesome.. u can't find a negative review..