NZXT PWM fan hub

flowrider99 · 24 Feb 2016 at 22:39

I have a new version of the H440 with the PWM fan hub which i have not been able to make work the way i think it should. My testing has shown the following........

1. Unlike NZXT's advice i have found that there is no need to connect the PWM cable to the CPU header on your motherboard, connecting to any controllable fan header operates the same way.

2. You must have a case fan connected to the white 4 pin fan connector on the hub (fan1) to see rpm of the fan but this only shows the rpm of the connected fan on that particular header.

3. Changing fan speeds via the motherboard BIOS or software only affects the fan on the white fan1 header, all other fans appear to run at full speed, surely it should change all the connected fan's speeds.

I dont think the fan hub works very well, (surely NZXT tested the functionality..........i guess they did'nt!) in fact it seems to be a waste of money which NZXT could have utilised to make the case a little cheaper.

flowrider99 · 25 Feb 2016 at 08:57

I have a CPU fan2 header which I have used with the hub but it makes no difference. My motherboard doesn't have an option for PWM or DC fan control but all headers are 4 pin so I assume it detects what is connected and adjusts automatically.

I have software fan control bundled with my motherboard (A-Tuning) and when I click on the fan test button I can see the fan connected to the white header slow down and speed up as the software tests but the other fans all continue at full speed.

flowrider99 · 25 Feb 2016 at 17:18

I think the main point here is that when I connect the NZXT PWM hub to a 4 pin fan header (be it PWM or DC) it does control the fan speed but only the speed of the fan connected to the white 4 pin header on the hub. All other fans run a full speed no matter what.

flowrider99 · 26 Feb 2016 at 09:57

cjbagnall said:
I use the cpu fan header on my mobo and it works perfectly, if I use any other 4 pin fan header on my mobo the fans run 100%. So i guess that the CPU fan header is the only PWM controlled header on my mobo and the others are voltage controlled.

I can control fans on all my mobo headers. I don't understand why the NZXT hub only controls one fan and not all, I guess my hub must be faulty based on others experiences.

What I have done is connect the CPU_FAN2 header to the hub, connected one NZXT fan to the hubs Fan1 header (which is speed controlled) and connected 2 Noiseblocker fans to the other hub headers that aren't controlling the fan speed, the 140mm rear fan is connected to a chassis fan header on the mobo controlling the speed. This has actually resulted in a much quieter case.

flowrider99 · 26 Feb 2016 at 20:11

If your happy for all your fans to be controlled based on CPU temps then fine but i prefer the chassis fans to be based on mobo temps. The fact remains though that no matter where i connect the PWM cable the hub doesn't control all the fans.

As an aside i have been looking up the supplied H440 fans on line and they are slightly different to NZXT FN fans that you can buy seperately. The FN fan in the H440 does not have sleeved cables or rubber mounts for the screws. One of my fans also leaks fluid! Luckily i dont use it anymore.

flowrider99 · 27 Feb 2016 at 15:23

My issue with NZXT "PWM" fan hub is that it is not an accurate description as only fan1 is PWM controlled and all other fans are run at full speed. Whats the point of that? I thought I was buying a version of NZXT's Grid+ fan controller. To me if I remove the fan hub and replace all the NZXT fans then I have thrown away roughly £50 worth of kit making the chassis a very expensive buy.

Despite the above I love the design of the case, its a shame the fan hub is so poor.