Are LCD fan controllers a gimmick?

Cleisthenes · 28 Aug 2013 at 12:06

I have been thinking about buying one, as it shows clearly what your speeds are and its very easy to change the speeds. But whenever I look into one seriously, I always find that there are problems with them.

What would you recommend?

Thanks

james_2k · 28 Aug 2013 at 12:21

if you can i would recommend motherboard controlled options. mine are all controlled by the motherboard and linked to profiles which vary the speed based on heat.

but before that i had them linked to the built in fan control on the 600t. which was fine.

yes its a gimmick to see your fan speeds but it can be nice i suppose. cheap fan controllers are probably a false economy, especially with a lot of fans on them.

V F · 28 Aug 2013 at 12:56

james_2k said:
yes its a gimmick to see your fan speeds but it can be nice i suppose. cheap fan controllers are probably a false economy, especially with a lot of fans on them.

Or you research. Check the fan specifications and so on before buying. Therefor you wont blow the thing.

Whats a cheap fan controller? I mainly see them all around the £25 to £45 mark. The only ones thats expensive is the Aqua brand. £100+.

I only have two fans running these days. Side and rear.

flame696 · 29 Aug 2013 at 21:49

james_2k said:
if you can i would recommend motherboard controlled options. mine are all controlled by the motherboard and linked to profiles which vary the speed based on heat.

but before that i had them linked to the built in fan control on the 600t. which was fine.

yes its a gimmick to see your fan speeds but it can be nice i suppose. cheap fan controllers are probably a false economy, especially with a lot of fans on them.

How do you use your mobo to control your fans as I have not found a program that does exactly what I want

james_2k · 29 Aug 2013 at 21:57

V F said:
Or you research. Check the fan specifications and so on before buying. Therefor you wont blow the thing.

Whats a cheap fan controller? I mainly see them all around the £25 to £45 mark. The only ones thats expensive is the Aqua brand. £100+.

I only have two fans running these days. Side and rear.

er yeah but i said cheap ones.. i cant quantify this as i haven't looked at prices recently. but i did do some research a while back and it seems people have blown ones of poorer construction, even within their limits.

however expensive ones are even more pointless. (imo).

my pc has 5 fans which are controlled. two on each radiator and a rear exhaust. only other fan is the psu one which uses a hybrid mode and is off most of the time.

my motherboard comes with software to control and profile the fans (fan xpert 2)

Tealc · 29 Aug 2013 at 23:49

flame696 said:
How do you use your mobo to control your fans as I have not found a program that does exactly what I want

Speedfan works great for my PWM controlled 3 pin fan. You can even set a PWM curve and base it off any core you fancy and it even has hysteresis to prevent too frequent up and down speed variations.

I don't think LCD are a gimmick though. They control fans and give you information on speeds and temperatures and some beep at you if there are issues. Touch screen and Internet control is a gimmick though.