Fan controller recommendation

[Essence_of_War]

Can anyone recommend a PWM fan controller? I'm a little annoyed with the built-in one on the carbide 500R (it doesn't seem to actually DO anything...) and I'm planning on replacing several of the case fans with NF-F12's at some point in the near future. Thought it might be fun to hook them up to a real fan controller at the same time.

 

[dma0991]

Lamptron FC5v3. I am currently using Lamptron FC5v2 for over a year now and its a tank. It has to be manually controlled via knobs but my knobs are always 50% for regular use (only 100% when benchmarking). Lamptron FC5v2/v3 can daisy chain up to 30W total per channel, so get a Y-splitter if you'd prefer to turn fewer knobs to control more fans. The temp probes that come with it are really handy to monitor motherboard/case temps.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Lamptron FC5v3. I am currently using Lamptron FC5v2 for over a year now and its a tank. It has to be manually controlled via knobs but my knobs are always 50% for regular use (only 100% when benchmarking). Lamptron FC5v2/v3 can daisy chain up to 30W total per channel, so get a Y-splitter if you'd prefer to turn fewer knobs to control more fans. The temp probes that come with it are really handy to monitor motherboard/case temps.

I wouldn't expect you to read through posts or threads I've recently made, but I'm looking at this device:

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/sw8waypwmsp8.html

. . . and hoping I can integrate it with something like this:

http://www.svc.com/pwmx.html

This way, all the power comes off the PSU directly, but the fans are thermally controlled through the CPU_FAN PWM header. This may fall short with an interest in monitoring every single fan. With the 3-pin fans (hopefully using the second device) you could simply run the tach-wire with some spare three-pin plugs to the mobo fan headers.

You'll get a fan controller that fits your budget and does what you want. I could even sell you a very nice, brand-new brushed-aluminum manual controller with alum knobs and LED lights the go red to blue at a point where a fan is spinning at 50%. I don't like "manual" control. I want "thermal" control of everything. If I can get it off the motherboard, then fine. If I can get it off the motherboard without drawing power therefrom, better.

So if it comes to a "fan-controller," and if I wanted one right now, I'd save my pennies for the Aquaero 5 LT:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...ontroller_Liquid_System_Controller_53095.html

OR -- something similar with internal USB communication and even its own microprocessor. But mobo thermal control is my first choice, and I don't need to spend the bucks on something like the Aquaero if I use the mobo.

 

[dma0991]

But mobo thermal control is my first choice, and I don't need to spend the bucks on something like the Aquaero if I use the mobo.

I was actually looking for a splitter like that. I do agree that thermal control has its place but thermal control follows a predefined curve (maybe not for SpeedFan). With watercooling, you typically see temps at the lower end of the curve and the fans will not be running at its full potential if they are thermally controlled from the motherboard.

What if you want it to run at its full speed? Sure, the Nanoxia fan speed controller fixes that but it would be nested somewhere inaccessible and you might need to remove the side panel to get to it.

What if you want more fine grained control of each individual fans? I presume that the Nanoxia fan speed controller will control the fan speed but it'll affect all the fans. With a dedicated fan speed controller I can control 4 fans with 4 knobs or 4 fans with 2 knobs (I could even control 4 fans with one knob for a 480mm radiator).

There's also the fact that manual controls allows noise output to be constant or at the intensity that I'm comfortable with depending on my current usage. I don't get any problems with noise as the fans ramp up and down constantly.

I never deemed the use of a manual fan controller to be the perfect solution, which is why I always include its drawbacks (speed doesn't scale automatically) whenever I recommend a fan controller such as the Lamptron FC5v2 because it still boils down to individual preference. As its name implies, controller; I expect every bit of control I can get.

 

[Essence_of_War]

So the Lamptron FC5v3 uses voltage regulation, right?

Is there any downside to using that with fans, like the nf-f12 that are allegedly optimized for use with PWM?

 

[dma0991]

Is there any downside to using that with fans, like the nf-f12 that are allegedly optimized for use with PWM?

It'll just revert back to voltage regulation since the fourth pin/slot is not connected to anything.

Other choices / choices to consider that allows some automatic control.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I was actually looking for a splitter like that. I do agree that thermal control has its place but thermal control follows a predefined curve (maybe not for SpeedFan). With watercooling, you typically see temps at the lower end of the curve and the fans will not be running at its full potential if they are thermally controlled from the motherboard.

What if you want it to run at its full speed? Sure, the Nanoxia fan speed controller fixes that but it would be nested somewhere inaccessible and you might need to remove the side panel to get to it.

What if you want more fine grained control of each individual fans? I presume that the Nanoxia fan speed controller will control the fan speed but it'll affect all the fans. With a dedicated fan speed controller I can control 4 fans with 4 knobs or 4 fans with 2 knobs (I could even control 4 fans with one knob for a 480mm radiator).

There's also the fact that manual controls allows noise output to be constant or at the intensity that I'm comfortable with depending on my current usage. I don't get any problems with noise as the fans ramp up and down constantly.

I never deemed the use of a manual fan controller to be the perfect solution, which is why I always include its drawbacks (speed doesn't scale automatically) whenever I recommend a fan controller such as the Lamptron FC5v2 because it still boils down to individual preference. As its name implies, controller; I expect every bit of control I can get.

Manual controllers fit certain uses despite my own preferences for auto-thermal-control. My Mom's computer upstairs is still waiting for a "case-upgrade; her hardware is in a 1998 Gateway tower box, and I never much did any significant mods to that box except to put modder's mesh (perf-steel) in the front and put an "all-aluminum" 120x25 fan on the case exterior in the rear exhaust port. The front intake fan is a 120x38 Delta (no tach wire) that probably pulls 0.90A. Everything is "quiet" for Mom's machine, but the Delta fan is no good at its top end, and just great for maybe half that. So we use one of the brushed alum controllers I mentioned.

But on the other angle, my Z68 board is heading toward age 3 years. Yet the BIOS fan functions and Q-FAN allow for profiles in the Windows (asus) "FAn-Expert" to be custom defined with three points of customization. If you don't get a "curved" profile, you get the cruder version of it. So you can set the minimum, the maximum, and a mid-point (adjustable on both axes)-- all with respect to CPU temperature on X (or mobo temp as desired), create a custom profile and actually choose it in BIOS!

I'd been waiting for such features for years, even though there was a promise to provide it with my NVidia boards, "ESA" and the Silverstone Commander. Somehow, they never finished the software, so it was a keyboard-controlled manual controller.

On this Swiftech splitter, the limit to your output would be defined by your 12V rail on the PSU. But the mobo would control those fans according to the type of profile I just explained with my ASUS board. The only drawback is the tach wires for all but one of the fans connected, and I think you could just move the tach wires to designated mobo fan-headers for monitoring, if the fans aren't all identical or vary by size and amperage draw. If they are, you don't need 'em: you'd just inspect them from time to time with the computer running -- preparatory to shutdown and a go-over with canned air/compressed-gas-duster.

 

[Biggu]

I have the Aquaero 5 LT on my Mini ITX build and I actually love it. worth every penny spent once you figure out the software.

 

[WiseUp216]

I've been happy with a Bitfenix Recon in my Corsair 400r. It has a pretty good touchscreen and is reasonably priced around $30.

It also can be controlled by a phone app but I never tested it.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I have the Aquaero 5 LT on my Mini ITX build and I actually love it. worth every penny spent once you figure out the software.

I'd think that anyone who needed the Aquaero 5 LT would love it. Not totally familiar with the full-feature offerings of current-gen ITX boards, I'd think that you'd be more likely to need the Aquaero to supplement limited motherboard fan ports.

On another similar front, I had purchased a T-Balancer "mini-NG" about two years ago, when I was not so clear on where my cooling solution "was going." [This should spur some to plan their overall computer cooling in greater detail.] The bundled software had last been updated through Windows XP, and the only other option was to use SpeedFan. I left the controller in its shipping box and put it away in my computer parts-locker.

Now I find they've updated the software through Windows 8:

http://www.hfx.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=151&Itemid=212

T-Balancer had been another reliable controller that reads motherboard data. I suppose now that I don't need to keep eyeing the Aquaero for my next computer build . . . I already have something similar. . . .

Back to the Swiftech and similar product: that's a pretty decent alternative to shelling out money for a controller, if you don't need separate control for more than one fan. I need to place my order to-dayyy! Don' know what shipping will be, but the base price is less than $10.

Live and learn, I say . . .

 

[badb0y]

I am also looking for a fan controller but something more akin to the fan controller in Enthoo Primo where the hub automatically controls the fan speed based on the needs of the system. It's like the Swiftech splitter but it also controls 3-pin fans.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I am also looking for a fan controller but something more akin to the fan controller in Enthoo Primo where the hub automatically controls the fan speed based on the needs of the system. It's like the Swiftech splitter but it also controls 3-pin fans.

Does the Enthoo Primo provide monitoring of the CPU temperature as a basis of thermal control?

Such features (possible, for the $230 price-tag) would imply the controller's internal USB connection to the motherboard.

PWMs vary their own power requirements based on input from the PWM signal cable. They can be powered directly from the PSU. 3-pin fans, which are controlled by varying voltage under 12V on each channel, are the key reason that would make a fan-controller even necessary.

You might want to look at the Aquaero 5 LT for about $80 at either FrozenCPU or Sidewinder. There are other similar controllers like the T-Balancer products. These all allow USB connection to the mobo, monitoring of CPU temperature without need of applying a sensor wire, and no need for a front-panel switch or display. Of course, you can probably buy a 5.25" plate assembly for the Aquaero. Or just spend the $200 for that particular model.

If you don't want to shell out the approximately $80 to buy devices in the Aquaero 5 LT class, there is an NZXT Sentry for maybe $30 which allows each fan to be controlled using different corresponding thermal sensor wires, which you must place on (or "in") the processor, chipset heatsink or other component.

 

[badb0y]

Does the Enthoo Primo provide monitoring of the CPU temperature as a basis of thermal control?

Such features (possible, for the $230 price-tag) would imply the controller's internal USB connection to the motherboard.

PWMs vary their own power requirements based on input from the PWM signal cable. They can be powered directly from the PSU. 3-pin fans, which are controlled by varying voltage under 12V on each channel, are the key reason that would make a fan-controller even necessary.

You might want to look at the Aquaero 5 LT for about $80 at either FrozenCPU or Sidewinder. There are other similar controllers like the T-Balancer products. These all allow USB connection to the mobo, monitoring of CPU temperature without need of applying a sensor wire, and no need for a front-panel switch or display. Of course, you can probably buy a 5.25" plate assembly for the Aquaero. Or just spend the $200 for that particular model.

If you don't want to shell out the approximately $80 to buy devices in the Aquaero 5 LT class, there is an NZXT Sentry for maybe $30 which allows each fan to be controlled using different corresponding thermal sensor wires, which you must place on (or "in") the processor, chipset heatsink or other component.

Not sure how they are doing it but I saw it in Linus' overview of the case. He took off some screws from the CPU waterblock and pulled it back and the fans in the system started speeding up.

EDIT: Works off of PWN connector on motherboard.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=U...feature=player_detailpage&v=CWttZcWWF9Y#t=808

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Not sure how they are doing it but I saw it in Linus' overview of the case. He took off some screws from the CPU waterblock and pulled it back and the fans in the system started speeding up.

EDIT: Works off of PWN connector on motherboard.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=U...feature=player_detailpage&v=CWttZcWWF9Y#t=808

If the case works off the PWM motherboard CPU plug, it has to be close to or same to the Swiftech 8W PWM SPL or the likely similar cables for half as much. Akasa makes a cable like that.

So this PHanteks Enthoo PRimoo job has a selling point that the average buyer will find enthralling. But it's a feature worth about $10 to anyone else. Beautiful case, though -- I have to say it . . .

 

[badb0y]

If the case works off the PWM motherboard CPU plug, it has to be close to or same to the Swiftech 8W PWM SPL or the likely similar cables for half as much. Akasa makes a cable like that.

So this PHanteks Enthoo PRimoo job has a selling point that the average buyer will find enthralling. But it's a feature worth about $10 to anyone else. Beautiful case, though -- I have to say it . . .

From what I've been reading the Swiftech fan hub doesn't control 3-pin fans where the Primo's fan hub does.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

From what I've been reading the Swiftech fan hub doesn't control 3-pin fans where the Primo's fan hub does.

Then the Enthoo-Primo actually includes a true "fan-controller." I think it is also possible to design a device that gets a PWM signal from the mobo directly, while actually "converting" 3-pin fans to PWM control.

But mostly, to deal with that issue, there are instead true fan-controllers like Aquaero or the modest NZXT Sentry. Some have PWM, others don't.

All this stuff is wonderful for what you want or need. I'm just determined to mount a Crusade in my own practice with the mantra "Simple is best."