Fan controller advice

spikey57 · 16 Apr 2010 at 09:15

Hi Guys,

I'm thinking of getting a fan controller plus fans but have no idea where to begin.

My case is an Antec 300 with specs in sig.

I'm currently just running with the standard case fans at the moment with the two fans with the controllers built in set at medium. I have an aftermarket cooler on the cpu, and the cooler on my graphics card.

Temps at idle tend to be about 25 degrees on average and under load can peak at about 45-50 degrees when gaming but mostly staying around the low to mid 30's.

Not much I know, and am currently running at stock speeds. But will be overclocking in the future.

Ideally what I would like is to add 2 fans in the front as intake to help aid airflow through the case.

I bought a Scythe Kaze Jyuni 1900RPM Slip Stream 120mm Fan and have put that in the front, but disconnected it as it was hella loud.

So what I want to do is buy another fan (or two fans to replace the scythe) and stick them both on the fan controller so that I can reduce the noise levels but improve the air flow in the case.

If any one could give me some advice on this that would be great.

spikey57

eddyc · 16 Apr 2010 at 10:56

Do you have any control from the headers on the motherboard? I personally would always prefer to use speedfan or similar before getting a fan controller. If you do have control then some selective use of this / this might sort you out.

mymorph · 16 Apr 2010 at 12:00

the Akasa AK-CB002 PWM Fan Splitter Cable, i suppose the fans connected have to be pwm to make full use of this?

eddyc · 16 Apr 2010 at 12:15

Yes. If they are not PWM then they will run but there will be no speed control. But if they are 3 pin then you can use the 3 pin splitter.

spikey57 · 16 Apr 2010 at 12:17

My motherboard is a MSI P55-GD65 motherboard. I did have the fan plugged directly into the motherboard, and it would just spin up to full speed, and be incredibly noisy I have also tried the splitter cable that came with the fan to .

What does PWM mean??

That's why i thought that a fan controller would help me gain control over the noise levels. The specific fan I bought is not a PWM fan as far as I can tell. Looked at it in the shop and it doesn't specify it being one.

With the three pin splitter would you get speed control of the fans??

mymorph · 16 Apr 2010 at 12:54

i think ill opt for a small 3.5 bay controller, maybe Two fan controls and temp sensors.

eddyc · 16 Apr 2010 at 13:11

spikey57 said:
My motherboard is a MSI P55-GD65 motherboard. I did have the fan plugged directly into the motherboard, and it would just spin up to full speed, and be incredibly noisy I have also tried the splitter cable that came with the fan to .

What does PWM mean??

That's why i thought that a fan controller would help me gain control over the noise levels. The specific fan I bought is not a PWM fan as far as I can tell. Looked at it in the shop and it doesn't specify it being one.

With the three pin splitter would you get speed control of the fans??

PWM is a method of controlling the speed of a fan involving rapidly turning the power on an off. If a fan has a 4 pin connector then it is most likely PWM.

But standard 3 pin fans can also have their speed controlled by the motherboard. This is done by reducing the voltage coming from the mobo fan socket.

I am not sure about your board but most motherboards have the ability to control the fans plugged into them. My mobo has 3 fan headers. 1 PWM and 2 three pin ones. It can control one of the 3 pin ones and the PWM one. I think this is fairly standard.

Download a program called speedfan. This monitors the speed of your fans

(if they are plugged into the mobo). It will also allow you to slow the speed down (if the header has that ability). It will even allow you to temperature control the fan speeds. E.g. when the cpu temp is below 45 then the fan speed will be 20% but when it is over 45 then it will be 100%.

I personally much prefer this to having to manually control my fans with a fan controller.

Speedfan is free so you might as well try it and see if you can do this method. If not then go for a fan controller.

spikey57 · 16 Apr 2010 at 14:14

Yea, I've heard of speed fan, and will install it again. I shall have a look into it. I'm pretty sure my motherboard has this feature built in.

Thanks for the help. It would be nicer to have this option, as pretty much all of the decent fan controllers are out of stock here lol!!

mymorph · 16 Apr 2010 at 16:56

i always forget to turn the fan speeds up, when i ought too. so ive always been keen on software/ pwm/ mobo control

Danm54 · 16 Apr 2010 at 17:47

Ive just bought one of these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BB-009-SY&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=189

You have a temp sensor for each channel which you place around the PC and then you set a temp for the fan to start.
So attatch it to your graphics card and if the sensor goes above the temp you set the fan will spin slowly, the hotter it gets the quicker it spinns.

There's also a semi auto and a manual mode too.

mymorph · 16 Apr 2010 at 20:01

well, i was going to get one of those - but instead i used up all my free 5 1/4 bays with a 120mm fan! hence i need something that can do that but in 3 1/2". be nice if you could get a pciex1 card for fan control.