Fan Controller....how do they work?

[caseman]

Just deciding on the CPU fan at the moment...

torn between the Artic Cooling Freezer 64 PRO, Akasa Evo33, Scythe Ninja and the Gigabyte G-Power Cooler Pro

few questions...... I am also looking at a fan controller...how do they work....as in how are they able to identify and control the fans....and from the list above are any of them not capable of being controlled........and basically are controllers worth the money or are they a gimmick?

 

[Big.Wayne]

This should be in the cooling or general section.

A fan controller is a must is you use powerful air cooling. It fits into a spare floppy bay (or large one in a CD bay) and is powered by a floppy style plug. You then plug your fans into the back of the fan-controller and thats it. By twiddling the knobs on the front you are able to reduce and increase the voltage being fed to your fans, this makes them spin faster and slower etc.

If you are using mostly quiet/silent fans then there is no *real* need to use a controller. Also newer motherboards are sometimes able to control fans that you have plugged in, works quiet well.

There are also newer fan controllers that can automate this process, you tell it the parameters and then it will adjust the fans accordingly. Some of these controllers have temps probes you can connect to various componets, so that the controller has a direct reading.

I would say the main use of a fan-controller is for people (like me) that use king kong fans (YS-TECH FD1238 120mm Fan - 4 Pin / FG-004-YS) for cooling, these type of fans draw too much current to be connected directly to the motherboard, so you either have to connect them direct to your PSU *or* to a nice fan controller!

 

[Toothpick]

Yes check the controllers power per fan rating. else you might blow the controller when using the big fans.