Running H100i off the fan controller

KristopherF · 22 Jan 2013 at 20:40

Hi guys,

Today I did a big swap-out on my case fans.

My original setup was:

2x 120mm fans - Antec TrueCool (intake) on the front of the case.
2x 120mm fans - Corsair H100i Stock SP120L (intake/exhaust) on the H100i Rad attached to top of case.
1x 120mm fan - Antec TruCool (exhaust) on the back of the case.

I was getting average temps of 35-37 degrees on the CPU when running idle and temps of 63-65 degrees when running on full load for 20mins.

What I have now done is removed all of the fans, and changed to the following setup:

2x 120mm fans - Xigmatek XAF-F1251 (intake) on the front of the case.
2x 120mm fans - Xigmatek XAF-F1251 (intake) on the front of the case after the HDD bay.
2x 120mm fans - Xigmatek XAF-F1251 (intake/exhaust) on the H100i Rad attached to top of case.
1x 120mm fan - Xigmatek XAF-F1251 (exhaust) on the back of the case.

All of the fans are now ran off a Lamptron FC5 V2 4 channel fan controller, including the H100i fans.

The H100i fans had a Y-Splitter cable which went from the pump to both the fans, this is what Corsair Link uses to control the fans speeds etc.

What I am getting at, is I have completely removed this cable and now have the fans on the H100i running via the fan controller - is this safe?

I mean as long as I don't keep my fan controller set to '0' or a ridiculously low temp the CPU wont over heat.

Whats your thoughts?

Oh and just for info for people....
Xigmatek XAF-F1251 are super quiet and push tons of air! These are an amazing replacement to the H100i stock fans. I can push them harder and they are still nearly half as loud, so if you want some fans to replace the stock H100i fans, I would recommend these!

Temps with old fans - Idle: 37
Temps with new fans - Idle: 29

Temps with old fans - Full Load: 65
Temps with new fans - Full Load: 59

Noise with old fans: 40.5dB
Noise with new fans: 32.5

So to conclude: 8dB Drop in noise, and 6-8 degrees drop in temps.

I should also note this is with a i7 3930K 3.2GHz OC to 4.0GHz.

Like I said, I really recommend these fans! I would get these over the GT's any day with this performance.

nogoodreason · 17 Feb 2013 at 13:25

I'm curious (having just bought an H100i myself) - what do you mean when you say "intake/exhaust"? Do you have one of the fans pulling in and the other blowing out? Is this worth doing?

Resident · 17 Feb 2013 at 13:50

I run the fans independently on my H100i and they work fine. Although I'm running mine from my CPU PWM, using one of Tealc's PWM converters and then using the sys_fan input to monitor the pump.
This way if either fail, the BIOS set fail-safes will kick in.

I'm running 2 SP120 Performance and getting similar temps to you

I assume when you say you have your rad fans as intake/exhaust, you mean in push configuration, both push air through the rad and exhausting straight out of the case roof?

Tealc · 17 Feb 2013 at 16:54

I think you'll be fine. Even if the fan controller fails the CPU will cut out when it gets too hot anyway. It's not a wonderful idea to rely on it but it's a safety net.

Ideally your CPU_FAN header would control the CPU fan, it's designed to react to the actual CPU temperature and not some other temperature such as the fluid, or worse a temperature probe from a fan controller, or even worse than that no temperature reference and just relying on a manually adjusted knob.

Kyle1987 · 18 Feb 2013 at 01:56

I am running my h100i fans and the pump on a bitfenix recon controller and no problem what so ever runs really nice. I left the usb on the pump plugged in so I can still change the colour of the corsair logo

So don't worry will run nicely.

With the bitfenix recon controller it comes with sensors so I put a the h100i on channel 1 and then I put channel 1 heat sensor right next to the cpu nearly touching it so if the cpu so the recon will auto adjust the fans at what I set the temps at.

Castiel · 18 Feb 2013 at 02:03

Kyle1987 said:
I am running my h100i fans and the pump on a bitfenix recon controller and no problem what so ever runs really nice. I left the usb on the pump plugged in so I can still change the colour of the corsair logo

So don't worry will run nicely.

With the bitfenix recon controller it comes with sensors so I put a the h100i on channel 1 and then I put channel 1 heat sensor right next to the cpu nearly touching it so if the cpu so the recon will auto adjust the fans at what I set the temps at.

Does the recon not have a PWM function.

Resident · 18 Feb 2013 at 03:11

Castiel said:
Does the recon not have a PWM function.

No. It's just a straight 12v input and the auto control comes from it's own temp probes.