Which fan controller to choose?

[TenBlade]

Inspired by another thread I figure I´ll do right in adding a fan controller for my upcoming rig. I´m going to mod my H100 with four Arctic Cooling fans. I got an Antec 902 case with three fans in front and a huge fan in the top and one regular sized in the back, I´m afraid it´s not practical for my cooling solution, so I´m thinking Corsair Graphite for a hassle free placement of the radiator and fans. The fans in my case each have their own knob or button for control, but slightly impractical.

Any fan controller you could recommend? Overclock of 3770K on MVF is the plan btw.

Bonus question. Is the cooling paste pre-applied on the H100 good or adequate?

Bjorn

[kkn]

well the cooling paste i can not say for shure, i guess its good enough for its use.
if you want to try enny thing else do so, if not you can let it be.
fan controler, you have several types, turn knob or touch screns or sliders.
this is just some examples: http://www.komplett.no/k/kl.aspx?bn=10539
http://www.aquatuning.no/index.php/cat/c68_Steuerger-te.html

[Zka17]

The H100 does come with pre-applied thermal paste... you can start with that, but if you remove the block/pump combo from your CPU it's advisable to clean both surfaces and reapply the thermal paste... and for that you will need anyway to get something...

Regarding the fan controller, you have to take in consideration two things:
1. Are your fans PWM- or voltage-controlled? Personally, I would change those original fans into better ones... and then you can match them with the controller...
2. What is the amperage/wattage of the fans and each line on the controller?

[Karmageddon]

You can only have 6 fans on it, but i have the Scythe Kaze Master Pro and love it. Nice and clear digital disply, that also comes with temperature probes. One nice thing about this fan controller is you can also turn the fans completely off if you dont want or need them on at the time

[saipan]

what mb do u have? most of the asus ones come with fan control software, via ai suite.

[kkn]

saipan wrote:
what mb do u have? most of the asus ones come with fan control software, via ai suite.

they suport up to 1A per channel saipan.
so the best is to have a controller.

[TenBlade]

Thanks for your suggestions, guys. My fans are PWM-controlled, it´s a control issue thing 😉 , so I´ll look into how many lines I´ll end up with, and note amperage and wattage of those. The four Arctic Cooling fans for the H100 will be connected as one line to assure they´re sync´ed.
Haven´t read about any must-have features in AI-Suite so far, so that´s a no-go (and another discussion).

If there are no objections to the factory applied paste on the H100 I´ll have a go at it...when it arrives one day. Now, my new build is a slow ongoing progress, as a conciderable chunk of my monthly funds are channeled into commuting a long way to work. But in a few days I´ll be the happy owner of Maximus V Formula (MVF among friends) with ThunderFX 😄 and I´ll join the club.

[Macforth]

There is much information missing in order to give you proper advice. However, a summary of controllers in respect to cooling fans may assist.
You can either use software or hardware. If you use Fan Xpert 2, (it will come with MVF), you will get a very good controller that will adjust the speed of one set of PWM fans (let's say the ones on your rad), and the ability to control all others by reducing or raising the voltage (so not PWM type control).
Even though looking at page 1-41 of the MVF manual will clearly show you that each fan outlet has a classic PWM 4 pin description, Asus has not incorporated a PWM choice for each outlet when using Fan Xpert 2, even though the Super IO chip they use has the capability.
It is possible to use fan control in the BIOS alone, however, the control there is , in my opinion, rudimentary and certainly not sufficiently complete for water cooling systems.
There does not exist...at this point in time...any controller in the market place that has the ability to control multi PWM fans and/or waterpumps and give a wide range of control.
Be very wary of such advertisements saying otherwise. eg Corsair's webpage under Corsair/products/Corsair Link/Corsair Link Cooling Node......where they state, "Corsair Link Cooling Node gives you desktop control of up to five PWM or DC case fans". That is just not the case and is a blatent misrepresentation, and even though this has been brought to their attention, they continue to peddle such misrepresentation. There is a thread in their forum about this.
For a full PWM controller, the only choice at this instant in time is a self built one, and if you have a small ability in soldering a simple electronics, such a controller and all the assistance you need can be found on this thread:http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=641111

But let's turn to your specific situation. You mention that you intend to change the standard fans of the H100 and use Artic Cooling, and you also mention that your fans are PWM. I don't quite know whether you mean the Artic Cooling fans or all of the fans you intend to use in the whole system are PWM. Assuming you meant the Artic Cooling fans, I note that there are three fans that Artic Cooling put out that are PWM, and they range from 120 x 25 to 120 x 35. Assuming again...that you are using 4 F12 fans......the other thing you must do is work out the total power required to run them. Each F12 would require a max of 0.15 amps, so it is possible to run 4 via your CPU_FAN outlet, as the MVF CPU_FAN outlet can handle up to 1 amp. (I would still bring 12v and earth straight from the PSU, as I personally try to remove as much power from the MB as possible).
The rest of your fans (again this is assuming that you have not changed them) are the fans that came with the Antec 902. All fans used in the 902 are non PWM type. They have some control for their speed provided, and without running your system, it will be difficult to assess it's abilities. Best wait till then. So to get you up and running, the best advice would be to use Fan Xpert 2.....use your CPU_FAN outlet PWM signal to control the speed of your four PWM rad fans.......and the remaining case fans. Then see how the system is behaving temp wise....and make any other decisions at that time.

[X-ROG]

+rep Mac (not for Fan Xpert suggestion 😛 but for full answer!)

[danjw]

MarshallR@ASUS wrote:
+rep Mac (not for Fan Xpert suggestion 😛 but for full answer!)

Is he somehow misstating the capabilities of Fan Xpert or the motherboard?