Fan controllers and noise reduction.

Exige

Exige

Exige

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Joined
23 Apr 2008
Posts
15
Hi

I'm currently tempted to splash out on a fan controller to try and reduce the noise my case fans make.

I have 6 case fans in total, the noisiest being the two 14" in the roof.

I'm wondering if:

A. A fan controller can help reduce noise without compromising too much performance, i.e. if i reduce fan speed will case temps fly upward?

B. Can anyone suggest a simple but sexy fan controller for a drive bay slot?

C. Can you get software fan controllers?

Thanks,

Exige
 
A) Most fans give diminishing returns, so by the time they get up to maximum speed they're not doing that much more shifting of air than they do at 11V, and so on downwards. Mine all run at 7V currently, as my fan controller's still in its box :rolleyes: but bumping them up to 12V doesn't give a big drop in temps. Sounds like you have a well cooled system so it'll depend a bit on the rest of the rig.

B) Lots of people, Akasa for instance, make simple 3.5 inch voltage controllers... But there's all sorts of more clever options with temperature pickups etc, Kama meter etc. I went with a Silverstone FPS2 which at the time I was quite convinced was the way to go, it's an automatic controller. But like I say, I've never fitted it, seems like a hassle ;)
 
Like Northwind says, it's a dimishing returns thing. This is probably a "varies as a square" thing.......to get 2x cooling you need 4x airflow or something like that.

Noise however works the opposite way.....double the fan speed and the noise will as near as damnit quadruple.

Fan controllers REALLY help. If you've heard an antec900 in action, would it help if I were to tell you that my linux box, in one of them is as near to inaudible as I've ever encountered (well, apart from my mate's 1/2" steel, 19" rackmount stuffed with accoustafoam and passive coolers).


Sadly I cannot help with a reccommendation, mine are only 4 channel akasa's, though they are very nice.
You're definitely going the right way though.
You can run them RIGHT down when machine is idling, and crank em when gaming, if needs be, that's pretty much how I do it. With 6 fans, it might be nice to get a controller with "profiles", if such a thing exists....ie one touch to send all fans into tickover/full wellie.
 
have you got the fans arranged so they arn't conflicting ?

have you tried starting out with 1 front and 1 at the top, reason being is more fans doesnt necessarily mean better cooling.
 
z0mbi3 said:
6 case fans is over kill imho.
Click to expand...

I run 5 Yate Loons and a Nexus 80mm in mine, but all at low speed- quieter than 2 or 3 fans running fast, and it helps keep the graphics and CPU fans slower too. It's not neccesary- this system runs OK with just one in and one out- but it's a worthwhile luxury I think
 
I have 5 case fans and 3 more on cpu and gc. I use one of these -
BB-001-ZA_400.jpg



you can get them from overclockers - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BB-001-ZA
Works a treat and HUGELY reduced the noise turning them all down a bit. Temps are still fine on my ecu (e6750 overclocked to 3.7ghz, 27C idle and 52C under full load). Looks good too in my black case. (you can get a silver one too).
 
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