Fan controller?

[bluesky]

It seems Zalman fan mate is too much to add more cables inside the box.
I need to lower the speed of 4 to 5 fans.

I bought NSK 6500 and it doesn't have a drive bay cover doors like Antec 3700 models.
I know my young kids are gonna play with those fan controller knobs, and it can kill the cpu in some of models, which undervolt fans to zero volt in lowest setting.

I need a controller with minimum voltage of 5, or a digital, but something with little complicated key sequence to change the settings and at least control 4 fans.
Also used in a 5.25 drive bay.

I was looking at Sunbeam's Chromatic windmill.

Is there any other models? I'd like to see simpler ones.

Thanks.

 

[Operandi]

What dose a manual fan controller do that BIOS controls or SpeedFan can't do better?

 

[Zepper]

You could always buy my case, has locking front door - click on link in sig!

Failing that:

The Aerogate 3 from Coolermaster should make it difficult for kids to mess things up too badly. At the current price it's hard to beat... But it is a full range controller so the potential exists.

http://svcompucycle.stores.yahoo.net/ald-v03-us.html

This one has ~7V minimum :
http://svcompucycle.stores.yahoo.net/pct-fancon-sil.html - not as many features but the same low price.

Or how about a PCI card fan controller/temp monitor with no knobs at all - has a software interface. Sunbeam Theta at http://www.jab-tech.com et al. Then there is the Silverstone unit that can be mounted on a drive bay filler panel or a card slot cover plate on the back, but this one may not be able to handle as high powered fans as the others as it is totally rheostat based (no semiconductors) - I saw this one on Newegg.

A plethora of options...

.bh.

 

[bluesky]

Sorry Zepper.
I missed your F/S Thread.
Hmmm, I'll look into your recommendation.
At least the first two are very attractive for pricewise.
It seems people have split opinion on Theta. Seen pretty negative review somewhere.

What dose a manual fan controller do that BIOS controls or SpeedFan can't do better?

Had hard time dicipering your sentence.
But Speed Fan doesn't require the fans to be pluged into mobo?
If so, I'll have 3 case fans, and mobos are't universal to have 3 case fan connectors?
Is there any maximum fan control limit on Speed Fan?

I think I am pretty tolerable to PC noise.
Usually it doesn't bother much, and I turn it off when sleeping and it's in another room.
But when I see people trying to make quite system, I just get the urge.:roll:

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: bluesky
Is there any other models? I'd like to see simpler ones...

My personal favorite... Vantec Nexus NXP201!

*edit*

Oops! Missed this on the first read...

Originally posted by: bluesky
I need a controller with minimum voltage of 5, or a digital, but something with little complicateds key sequence to change the settings and at least control 4 fans.
Also used in a 5.25 drive bay.

How about a Logisys FP706SL or FP706BL? They're nice too!

Here's The Manual

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: bluesky
Hmmm, I'll look into your recommendation.
At least the first two are very attractive for pricewise...

No kidding! I'm gonna have to check that place out...

Kinda kludgey looking, but what the heck... for the price!

 

[VinDSL]

You know, I'm sure you've thought of this, but be sure to check the specs on the manufacturer's site...

I checked out that site Zepper linked to, but I didn't see any Nexus 201s over there, so I Froogled them to check the lowest price...

Check out the specs HERE and HERE.

The manufacturer's site says "Up to 1.5A"

Directron says the output current is "0 ~ 1.5A"

To me, that's kind '0' is kind of of misleading...

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: bluesky

Had hard time dicipering your sentence.
But Speed Fan doesn't require the fans to be pluged into mobo?
If so, I'll have 3 case fans, and mobos are't universal to have 3 case fan connectors?
Is there any maximum fan control limit on Speed Fan?

I think I am pretty tolerable to PC noise.
Usually it doesn't bother much, and I turn it off when sleeping and it's in another room.
But when I see people trying to make quite system, I just get the urge.:roll:

Yes SpeedFan depends on the motherboard, some boards control just the CPU fan, some the CPU fan, + 1, 2, or 3 system fans. Most mid to high-end board control at least 2 these days.

Personally I only find it necessary to control the CPU and exhaust fans. I let the intake fans run at a fixed 5v since they have little to no impact on temps aside from hard drives, and 5v is plenty for that purpose.

The beauty of SpeedFan is that it's completely automated and fool proof. Just set the desired temp for the CPU and system. Set the min and max fan speed for each temp zone and you're set.

 

[bluesky]

My personal favorite... Vantec Nexus NXP201!

Well, it could be another choice, since it regulates the minimum output of 7v.
The kids can not kill anything with that.
But funny thing is they're warning not to use on CPU fan with this controller. Well, can't think of any reason not to use on it.

I let the intake fans run at a fixed 5v since they have little to no impact on temps aside from hard drives, and 5v is plenty for that purpose.

What kind of adapters you use?
Modded 4 pin molex connector?
I found this Zalman multi connector, which is perfect for my use, since my Nsk 6500 has two front intake fans.

By the way, all of Scythe fans are good when it used at 5v?
Looking at these fans to choose 92LS or 92L.

Thanks.