Fan controller + fans

It is 3 pin fans mainly for controllers although some feature the special 3/4 pin connectors so you can use either.

To be honest though it is a bit pointless spending extra on a PWM fan if you are going to throw it on a fan controller and use variable DC to control it.
 
doyll said:
PWM fan controllers beginning to appear now.
Click to expand...

Genuine question, Does that mean:

1) A fan controller that accepts PWM as an input which then outputs a DC voltage for 3pin (like Tealc's converter)

or

2) A fan controller that develops it's own PWM signal to use PWM fans based on user settings?

or

3) A fan controller accepts PWM input and sends it to multiple fans (making it an expensive splitter)

If it's No3 then I'd say they were pointless unless you were running so many fans that you couldn't draw enough power via the header, but then again you can get splitters which draw power from a SATA/MOLEX connector and they're about £6. Much less than you'd spend on a controller.

No2 I'm not so sure about. In one way it's not such a bad idea but then if you're buying fans and a controller for them what's wrong with 3pin and voltage control?

No1 is also a bit pointless why do you need to run a controller to drive DC fans via PWM. There are commercial converters out there (plus Tealcs) which are cheaper.
 
I would imagine they'd be dial based or auto controllers that control PWM fans directly and separately from the CPU PWM. You might want certain fans to be running slower or faster than the CPU I suppose.
 
Yes as I thought. Thanks Doyll. I'd seen the little fanmate type one before while researching PWM to DC conversion. I can certainly believe that a fan controller with a PWM channel would be of some use as PWm fans work better on PWM than they do on variable DC.

Still I think its cleaner to use your CPU PWM as if that is getting hot then you need all fans to increase really. Same goes for graphics, if that's being used heavily and exclusively. Few people have anything running of their Graphics card apart from their graphics card, or perhaps even realise it can be done.
 
We know how well it does work. ;)
Seeing more and more rigs being built using CPU/GPU PWM signal to control case fans. The Phanteks' not yet released Enthoo Primo case has PWM controlled adapter/splitter for 11 fans built in. Assume it's something similar to adapter with 14TC. Don't have enough info yet. Trying to find out more.
 
Got me wondering now how Phanteks have designed the PWM hub. The board itself from what I can see on the video only seems to have a large inductor, or possibly heatshrunk capacitor on the connection side. All the magic smoke containing components must be on the other side. Their 14TC adapter was really designed with one of their own fans in mind while this one would seem to be able to control 6x 3 pin fans with what appears to be no user interaction. Microcontroller maybe? Simple enough to do with a micro as it can adjust itself as load is added or removed.
 
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