Fan controller advice

gupott · 9 Oct 2017 at 19:49

Hi there,

I have an older system (i5 3570, 8gb ram), that I am looking to quieten down to use as a media server (I will be building a new PC in the spring). I currently have a couple of system fans and a Noctua NHU12P. I have removed the overclock and will remove the graphics card too ultimately and I will go back to the graphics on the cpu.

Anyway, I was looking for a fan controller and I am not sure what to go with as this is not something I have used before. Can anyone recommend a decent one? Ultimately the PC may become headless (not attached to a screen etc) so I want to experiment with fan speeds to get the right balance between noise and performance. I have just installed CAM as well. Also should I look for a static or is there a way to set a variable speed?

Any help greatly appreciated.

gupott · 10 Oct 2017 at 18:36

Anyone got any thoughts?

I was wondering about the NZXT Grid+ Version 2 Internal Digital 6 Fan Controller, however I read it may have an issue with my noctua fan.

doyll · 10 Oct 2017 at 19:46

Most motherboard companies have fan control software to control speed of fans connected to motherboard fan header. What motherboard do you have?

gupott · 11 Oct 2017 at 09:14

Thanks for the reply - I have a Gigabyte Z77-D3H.

doyll · 11 Oct 2017 at 11:44

I think Z77-D3H uses Easy Tune 6 with Windows OS.

gupott · 11 Oct 2017 at 16:57

Thanks doyll.

I downloaded, I vaguely remember this previously. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually seem to effect the fan speeds even when I change them. I have rebooted a few times, I do seem to get blank message box on the restart so there is an issue somewhere.

doyll · 11 Oct 2017 at 17:18

I can't remember exactly how it works, but have found many now require running the automatic fan control tuning whatever feature before user can effectively manually adjust fan speed to temp and setup custom curves.

Pocah · 14 Oct 2017 at 09:35

A media PC really doesn't create a lot of heat, so a fixed fan profile would be just fine for the case fans. Also you don't have to follow the traditional scenario for venting heat. A single fan may be sufficient. I constructed a media PC a little while back using a Fractal R4. The thing about the Fractal is that it has an sound insulated door, so I placed the supplied 140mm fans behind that blowing in to the case with no other case fans ( no fan at the rear ). Any noise coming forward from the fans is partially absorbed by the front panel and any going backwards will be partially absorbed by the internal panels. The key to all this is that the case has a three position fan speed controller, which set to minimum, keeps a media PC more than well enough ventilated, yet is nearly silent ( nearly because the supplied case fans could be improved upon - with a pair of noiseblockers for example it would be silent. A media PC really doesn't need variable speed fans.
If you want to really take control of the fans then Speedfan will work with your motherboard. Alternately you could go and buy a Corsair Commander Pro. Excellent device that gives you full control and monitoring of everything. You can also individually set the fan speeds with that mobo although it's not full control, so it can be greatly improved upon.

bimbleuk · 14 Oct 2017 at 10:39

I use a Grid+ with a mix of Corsair 120mm & Noctua 140mm fans. Only issue I found was that I was getting some fluctuation at idle when trying to run the fans very slowly. I found sticking a Noctua fan resistor on each fan or pair of fans if using a Y cable helped to stabilise the fans at slower speeds.

It limits the fans to ~1400 RPM but then they're too noisy above that anyway.

CAM software has improved considerable over time and is becoming quite useful now.