PWM fans or fans on a PWM controller

HalfBakedJake · 27 Dec 2014 at 20:21

Hi guys,

Just got myself a new case Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV which comes equipped with a 6 fan PWM controller.

My question basically is should I bother paying the extra for PWM fans or should I buy the standard fans and connect them to this controller?

I was looking at the Corsair SP120 Quiet edition fans.

los · 27 Dec 2014 at 21:05

I use 3 pin fans via my fan controller as they are usually cheaper

vsg28 · 27 Dec 2014 at 21:35

Careful, that isn't a PWM controller. If you see, it is a hub that takes 3 pin fans and not 4 pin PWM fans. What it does, is accept a PWM signal from the motherboard or another proper PWM controller and converts it to voltage to control 3 pin fans. It's a weird contraption and I don't really know how it works out properly.

Scotspaul · 27 Dec 2014 at 21:58

I have one of those phantech controllers in my system as a cheap way to control all my fans.
Basically it monitors one PWM fan and uses that pwm signal to run all the other fans at the same speed (whether pwm or not). You will need one pwm fan though.
I have mine tied to the CPU fan socket on my motherboard, so all my fans are regulated by the cpu temp.
I run water cooling, and have 6 fans. You can run splitters on it too, increasing the number of fans to I think 13?
I think it's a nice cheap solution. (I bought mine separately, I have a corsair case.

Hope this helps.