Fan Controller?

[Grimezy]

Hi all,

I've been in the mood to tinker lately and am considering giving my rig a nice fan overhaul. I am still using the stock fans that came with my CM690 II advanced and would really like an 'inexpensive' mod to keep me happy. I was thinking of replacing all my fans and adding a few and maybe adding a fan controller to make use of my many unused drive bays.

Can anybody suggest a decent product?

I don't have a budget, I'll buy whatever works best. Functionality obviously comes over looks but I would like it to be aesthetically pleasing as well. My rigs theme is blue so if I could keep in line with that it'd be great

Also is there anything I need to know about a fan controller? I've never used one before... I assume it's just plug the fans in and away you go but leave the CPU one in the motherboard? And am I correct in thinking fan controllers work better with 3-pin connections?

Thanks in advance

 

[keynes]

http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/spectre-pro-led/
I have a fan controller I never used, I would just add new fans.

 

[Grimezy]

Ah really keynes? :\ I was going to add a few more fans but I wasn't sure if I had enough headers without using splitters and then I wasn't sure how reliable things like Speedfan and Fan Xpert were once you started introducing split cables, etc. I've always used Fan Xpert but I really find it has a mind of its own and doesn't do what I ask it to.

I've been looking at the Lampton FC5 + FC6 and they look pretty promising.

Was that link the Bitfenix fans mate (their website is a bit dodgy). They look nice, I've only used Corsair AF + SP fans before so I'll check out the bitfenix ones

 

[keynes]

what you mean that the website looks dodgy?
Corsair fans are great but more expensive and do not have lights.

 

[Grimezy]

what you mean that the website looks dodgy?
Corsair fans are great but more expensive and do not have lights.

For some reason when I click the link it doesn't take me straight to the page that's all So when I finally got through it was the fans on the screen when I thought you may have linked to a controller that's all I understand now though!

Corsair AF fans have lights I'm not sure whether or not to turn my rig into a sparkly christmas tree yet, I have to leave it on overnight a lot to download things and it's a struggle covering all my constantly on LED's as it is! It would look pretty though....

 

[tom_gr7]

nah chin off all fan controller brands except Lamptron. Lamptron are the best that i've found on the Market.

I have an FC5 V3 and its bloomin fantastic. Got a little LED screen on it, goes loadsa colours, 6 channels with enough watts on each channel to run two or three fans in one loop. - Although, I tend to have them in pairs. oh Excellent build quality.

Have a butchers over at http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/ I've ordered fan controller stuff from them a few times, great service, fast delivery. And Issues have been dealt with pretty well tbh.

 

[tom_gr7]

As for which fans to go for, well that's a different story. Personally, I've ran my 11 Akasa vipers (clicky) for a couple of years (a good few hours each day) and they are still going strong. If you didnt fancy yellow, (its a little marmite) you could go for the Apache Black range (clicky)

I'd probably walk away Corsair fans, I don't think they are anything special over anything else other than the overpriced Corsair brand. Just clever marketing imo.

Noctua's are exceptionally good, they do some really great 120/140mm static pressure fans, although you're looking at 20 quid a pop and brown in colour. lol

Bitfenix spectre pro's (make sure you get the newer pros) are a good options, loads of colours to choose from. Look pretty good airflow wise and static pressure wise. Or you can go for plain black fans. clicky

fyi, static pressure is only important for intake, rad or heatsink fans. ie the greater the static pressure the better. But for exhausts it doesnt really matter if the static pressure is great or not. As far as I know anyway.

 

[Grimezy]

Cheers Tom I'll definitely sway towards the Lamptron controllers then.

I think fans are gonna be a lucky dip! I'll keep having a look but at the end of the day any fan will probably be fine for my needs. I'm running a fairly basic setup with stock CPU and a single GPU so I don't need anything too drastic, just wanting to get rid of the nasty stock ones!

 

[tom_gr7]

Cheers Tom I'll definitely sway towards the Lamptron controllers then.

I think fans are gonna be a lucky dip! I'll keep having a look but at the end of the day any fan will probably be fine for my needs. I'm running a fairly basic setup with stock CPU and a single GPU so I don't need anything too drastic, just wanting to get rid of the nasty stock ones!

oohh thanks for the rep.

I guess it depends upon whatever looks the nicest. You will probably find with a dedicated fan controller, you wont be running the fans much above 50% speed. Most I have four fans are turned off most of the time. With the cold weather I just don't need them running.

 

[Grimezy]

Yea that's true, I'm using Fan Xpert 2 at the moment and it worries me how low it puts my rpm's at time (I have it fully on Turbo mode yet they're never really above 400rpm). I figured a fan controller would give me that extra level of confidence and I could set it up how I feel best.

And no problem You were a sneaky devil by making 2 posts I'm glad you chirped in because I was really keen on the Lampton's and you reinforced my decision and even gave me another model to check out which I hadn't seen before

 

[tom_gr7]

ah, I hate asus fan xpert... its blooming awful. I only have asus suite installed to control my cpu fans. Which half the time the motherboard doesn't want to do anyway, but that's another story.

well, I posted the first time, and then realised I had more to say

But yeah, Lamptrons are Great. I've had two now. Never had any issues with either. Will try and dig out some pics of the FC5 v3. Its pretty clever, displays the channel voltage, fan rpm and you can also use temp sensors which come with it - i never did, but I checked they work.

oh, if you haven't read this article, you should. Its worth a read. Talks about cooling and fans n stuff.

 

[D1craig]

There is a fan hub ( something to plug all your fans into if you don't have enough sockets on motherboard ) from nzxt, I have it in my computer.

Also there are some nice looking fans with coloured rings ( red white and blue ) that come with it. Corsair they are. I have them in my case. My system isn't worse off for it either.