Silent Fans with PWM

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28 Apr 2015
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Yesterday I changed the positions of my fans, since then the Asus Thermal radar 2 keeps failing on me. The fans are shutting down, no matter what speed I set. It works for a couple minutes then it stops for no reason. Only the non-PWM ones are stopping. (This happened before but it worked for some time)
I think the issue is that most of my fans are not PWM and I use a Phanteks PWM hub.
My fans atm:
6 of these: PH-F120SP
2 of these: PH-F120XP
And 1*80mm evga fan for my 980ti hybrid.

I'm not 100% happy with the noise either, so I'd like to change the fans, but now I ask for advice before buying them, because this is the 2nd full set of fans I buy. :)

Which ones should I get for the case (I need 4 or 6), for the 240mm rad and for the 980ti (I'd like to replace this as well, because I cant control the speed of it if its connected to the GPU)?
Any suggestions where the fans should be?

This is how it looks now:
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2*PH-F120SP Pull on top.
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2 on the front and also 2 on the right side.
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I had a similar experience with thermal radar. Utter trash.

2Ls0x3v.png


I bought a grid+ v2. It just works fantastically with all fans.
 
The "Phanteks PWM Hub" IS NOT A PWM HUB !!
It is a PWM controlled PSU powered variable voltage 3-pin fan hub. It only used the PWM signal to change the voltage to fans.

For control of multiple PWM fans use A PWM splitter or a real PWM fan hub with 12v power from PSU. Swiftech make a good PWM fan hub and Gelid make good PWM splitters that use 12v volt power from PSU 12v.
 
Thanks for the tip! :) Do you think it will work in CAM if I have 2 of these?
I don't really like the CAM either, I use it for the Kraken X61, but if it works I'm ok with it.
Also I read that it doesn't like to go below 40% RPM on a PWM fan.
 
The "Phanteks PWM Hub" IS NOT A PWM HUB !!
It is a PWM controlled PSU powered variable voltage 3-pin fan hub. It only used the PWM signal to change the voltage to fans.

For control of multiple PWM fans use A PWM splitter or a real PWM fan hub with 12v power from PSU. Swiftech make a good PWM fan hub and Gelid make good PWM splitters that use 12v volt power from PSU 12v.

All I want to do is to control 2 types of fans at the same speed, all the time.
I've just bought 6 NF-A14 PWM and 1 NF-F12 PWM. I dont want any of them to be louder than the other, so I don't really need to control all of them separate.

That Swiftech hub looks cool, but the pins are facing forward not sideways, so I wont be able to put this onto the back of my mobo tray. (Also its out of stock everywhere)

Edit:
This can work.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the tip! :) Do you think it will work in CAM if I have 2 of these?
I don't really like the CAM either, I use it for the Kraken X61, but if it works I'm ok with it.
Also I read that it doesn't like to go below 40% RPM on a PWM fan.

CAM is fine with 2 devices. It uses purely voltage to control fans and you can set the speed from 20% to 100% in 10% increments as well as have them off.
 
So these hubs can control any connected fans at the same speed as the CPU PWM header?

What if the fans are capable of different speeds does it just match the speed across all fans?
 
So these hubs can control any connected fans at the same speed as the CPU PWM header?

What if the fans are capable of different speeds does it just match the speed across all fans?

No, think of it as a percentage of full speed as opposed to absolute RPM numbers.
 
So the motherboard gives the percentage and the hub tells each fan to spin at whatever RPM that percentage is that its capable of?

I have a hard time following that sentence :p, but fan hubs controlled by a motherboard header is really just a power distributor.

The RPM of a fan is just the product of either the input voltage, or the PWM signal, depending on what type of fan it is.

A PWM signal can be seen as a percentage, ex. "here, have 75% power".
A voltage control header just outputs whatever voltage is set, ex "here, have 9 volts (out of max 12V)".
 
So these hubs can control any connected fans at the same speed as the CPU PWM header?

What if the fans are capable of different speeds does it just match the speed across all fans?

It changes the fan speeds based on either your GPU or cpu temperature - no PWM is involved at any point. It has 6 channels which can all have different fan curves, or the same.

This review shows you what it is capable of. http://proclockers.com/reviews/cooling/nzxt-grid-v2-digital-fan-controller-review?nopaging=1
 
It changes the fan speeds based on either your GPU or cpu temperature - no PWM is involved at any point. It has 6 channels which can all have different fan curves, or the same.

This review shows you what it is capable of. http://proclockers.com/reviews/cooling/nzxt-grid-v2-digital-fan-controller-review?nopaging=1

That's very similar to the Bitfenix Recon with Phoebetria software

I was more curious about the little PWM boxes and how they distribute the PWM signal to all of the connected fans, I cant get my head around if the fans all run at the same speed or if they run at individual speeds of what percentage the bios tells them to run at

eg

BIOS says run at 100% all fans run at their individual RPMs at 100%

Or

BIOS says run at 100% and all fans are limited to the lowest RPM fan
 
That's very similar to the Bitfenix Recon with Phoebetria software

I was more curious about the little PWM boxes and how they distribute the PWM signal to all of the connected fans, I cant get my head around if the fans all run at the same speed or if they run at individual speeds of what percentage the bios tells them to run at

eg

BIOS says run at 100% all fans run at their individual RPMs at 100%

Or

BIOS says run at 100% and all fans are limited to the lowest RPM fan

The PWM splitter simply sends the PWM signal to all the fans. If all the fans are same rpm range, then they will all run the same speed. If all are similar, similar speeds they will probably run similar speeds .. assuming the fans' internal PWM PCB is programed for similar pulse speeds at similar % of PWM signal rate.. If all are different speed than they will run differnt speeds.

The difference in fan speed is based on % of PWM signal rate and individual fan PWm signal rate to 12v pulse rate.

For example, Thermalright TY-147 and TY-140 have same rpm and same PWM/pulse curve and run same speed. But while TY-147A is same speed, it has a differnt PWM/pulse curve and runs an entirely different RPM curve than TY-140 and TY-147 (and TY-141)
.
TY-14xseriesfanPWMtoRPM_zps2dc8c571.png


Now on top of all of the above, the load resistance of airflow to and from the fan also effects it's speed. It will spin faster with no restriction than mounted on a radiator or behind a grill and filter ..50-300rpm difference. Think of it like your car .. on flat ground you can do 50mph but when you come to a hill if you don't give it more throttle it will slow down. ;)

I know it's all confusing as hell.

As a general rule fans with a similar top speed 12000-1500rpm or 1500-1800rpm) will run similar speeds to each other on same PWM signal. Obviously the faster the go the more difference there will be. ;)
 
That's very similar to the Bitfenix Recon with Phoebetria software

I was more curious about the little PWM boxes and how they distribute the PWM signal to all of the connected fans, I cant get my head around if the fans all run at the same speed or if they run at individual speeds of what percentage the bios tells them to run at

eg

BIOS says run at 100% all fans run at their individual RPMs at 100%

Or

BIOS says run at 100% and all fans are limited to the lowest RPM fan

This:
BIOS says run at 100% all fans run at their individual RPMs at 100%
 
Great post doyll, thanks both for confirming

If I would have known about these I probably would have gone for one over the Bitfenix Recon and not spent hours of my life messing around with the Phoebetria software fan curves
 
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