Hardware shutdown on fan failure

Vertigo · 16 Sep 2008 at 00:18

I'm looking for a solution that will force a shutdown/power-off in the event that the RPM reading from a standard 3-pin fan connection (actually a pump) falls to zero.

I'm not interested in software solutions which rely on the app and OS running, I want a purely hardware solution which connects to the PSU and/or mobo to effect a power-off in the event of hardware failure.

What are the options here? I know the Aquaero can do it but it's hideously expensive. Don't think the mCubed T-Balancer can do it, can it? What else is there?

Cob · 16 Sep 2008 at 00:56

What kind of fan options do you have in your BIOS? Some boards (such as my Abit IP35 Pro) allow you to set the board to shut down if a certain fan drops below a pre-set minimum speed.

WJA96 · 16 Sep 2008 at 06:55

Pretty much every motherboard will allow you to shut down the board if the CPU fan fails. The T-Balancer is a sotware solution, so that's not going to work. To be honest, if the pump fails the CPU will over-temp and shutdown anyway so it should be safe enough. I've only had one pump fail (Eheim on a Zalman Reserator) and the PC just shut down.

Vertigo · 16 Sep 2008 at 08:31

Fraid my mobo won't do that (Gigabyte DS3P). All it has is a warning buzzer on CPU fan failure which is no use at all if I'm not at the machine.

It's not the CPU I'm worried about, it's the GFX card as that's going to fry itself if the pump fails.