Fan controller considerations.

brennan77 · Sep 16, 2003

Fan controller considerations... UPDATED

I've got a 4 case fans and an 80mm Tornado. My case is loud. So I've been shopping for controllers.

I found the Sunbeam controller at Directron for $15.99, which is a good price. The only problem for me is that it regulates the voltage from 0-12v. This is a potential disaster as my wife uses the computer from time to time. I can just imagine coming home to a burnt down CPU, though I can set shut down temps.

Another option is the Nexus contoller from Newegg for $23.99 which regulates from 7-12v. That's much safer though more expensive.

What do you guys think?

I'm open to all suggestions, but I'd like to keep the controller in the 5 1/4 in bay and it needs to be black.

UPDATE:

I've got the SunBeam in now. It's a really decent product accept you lose a little juice to the fan when you run it through the controller even at full blast. It's a difference of 400 rpms on my Tornado. So it's running at 5400 instead of 5800. Also, it's nice to be able to hear again when surfin the web.

stan03 · Sep 16, 2003

both are really nice controllers, are you planning to hook up your hsf to the controller too? if not then i don't think you really have to worry about the burnt down computer. I guess in your case if you are afraid of your wife or whoever uses the comp of turning off all of the fans, then the nexus should be your choice.

brennan77 · Sep 16, 2003

Yeah, I'm primarily buying this thing to tame the beast that is the Tornado on top of the CPU.

macklin01 · Sep 16, 2003

Ah, go for the Nexus. $8 is a very small price to pay for additional peace of mind. (And very small compared to replacement parts.) You should still experience a good reduction in sound at 7V.

Good luck! -- Paul

Deathknight · Sep 16, 2003

Are you talking about the nexus fan controller with the 4 knobs on it or the nexus that has the digital display on it? The fan controller with 4 knobs on it, at least when I bought it, was horridly buggy. There was a screw that actually made contact with a trace on the circuit board that could cause the controller to melt down(it did in my case).

After some forum members figured out what the cause of the problem was I got my rma in and I insolated the screw so that short would not happen but the controller is still very buggy. Turning down a fan on channel 4 for instance would affect the speed of the fan on channel 1.

Its quite possible that these issues have been resolved now that it has been out longer but personaly I would either steer clear or research these issues first. I have never had confidence in my nexus since my near fire.

macklin01 · Sep 16, 2003

Hey, Deathknight, it's good to see you!

Ah, the Vantec Nexus Death and Destruction thread, and the fond memories there.

As far as I've seen lately, all the major issues have been resolved in that controller, but it is a good thing to keep in mind.

Of course, there's always the route of building your own.

There's a unit by Zalman that's supposed to be pretty good, too, and as far as I recall, it goes from 7V-12V, too.

-- Paul

Deathknight · Sep 16, 2003

Heh good to see you too

Not exactly the most fond of memories on that thread, but at least no hardware was nuked (well aside from the nexus that melted on me hehe).

Good to know that the issues seem to have been worked out. It was a very sharp controller, a perfect fit for my Lian-Li PC-65B.

x-kid · Sep 16, 2003

what about the coolermaster areogate 1. it looks pretty nice. haven't really seen many people talk about it. does anyone have any opinion's on it. here is a review of it and a link to it at newegg.

review: http://www.datafuse.net/aerogate1.php

newegg: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...tory=1333&catalog=11&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

it's the first one. i'm thinking about getting it just wanna hear people's opinion on it.

brennan77 · Sep 16, 2003

I like the look of that coolermaster, myself. I don't like that it doesn't include 4 to 3 pin adapters. I mean, geeze, most case fans are the 4 pin variety. But anyway.

brennan77 · Sep 16, 2003

Is it even safe to run a Tornado off of a 3 pin connector?

brennan77 · Sep 16, 2003

I'm seeing this one that looks interesting. But there aren't a lot of details to the specs.

http://www.svc.com/pwmfanco.html

brennan77 · Sep 17, 2003

I went ahead and ordered the Sunbeam for maximum control. The LED's turn red when the voltage is lower than 7 I believe. I'm going to set up MBM to shut down or give an alarm when the CPU fan falls below a certain RPM.

Aristotle-IV · Sep 17, 2003

i have the sunbeam but i told everyone in the house touch the fan controller and its your life.

So they pretty much lay off.

Bren, I had to splice wires to hook my tornadoes to the three pin connector, i had to cut up some three to four pin adapters and reroute the wires then electrical tape em.

But on another note it works really well despite the patch job.

squirtle632 · Sep 17, 2003

Aristotle-IV said:
i have the sunbeam but i told everyone in the house touch the fan controller and its your life.

So they pretty much lay off.

I had the same problem. I passworded the computer and built them a P3-700 w/768mb ram.

brennan77 · Sep 17, 2003

Aristotle-IV said:
i have the sunbeam but i told everyone in the house touch the fan controller and its your life.

So they pretty much lay off.

Bren, I had to splice wires to hook my tornadoes to the three pin connector, i had to cut up some three to four pin adapters and reroute the wires then electrical tape em.

But on another note it works really well despite the patch job.

Well it's just me and my wife. I'm going to show her to keep the LED blue which should keep enough voltage to the fan for her purposes.

Why did you have to cut up the adapters? I just ordered 4x 4 pin to 3 pin adapters for my case fans.

brennan77 · Sep 17, 2003

squirtle632 said:
I had the same problem. I passworded the computer and built them a P3-700 w/768mb ram.

What bugs me is that I have a perfectly acceptable K6-3 450 with 128mb of RAM. It's running Win98 with just basic office programs, so it's great for internet and MP3's. I built it 2 years ago for my wife while she was still my girlfriend. I'd love to have that in her study (we each have our own study/play room). But she volunteered it to her friend for the year, without really talking to me about. I still have a Pentium Pro 180 rig, but that's not really good for much. So she's gonna be using my system.

I was gonna go with the Nexus, or even the Coolermaster(which I'd have to paint black), but alas the Sunbeam was on sale.

Aristotle-IV · Sep 17, 2003

i couldnt find 4 to 3 pin adapters, actually i did but the have the wrong tips, so i took 3 to 4 pin adapters and cut them up.

they need to have only 2 wires, coming out of the 4 pin and going into the 3 pin.

brennan77 · Sep 17, 2003

These are the ones that I got...

Aristotle-IV · Sep 17, 2003

thats perfect, but SVC was sold out of those when i needed them, and noone else had so i had to you other tactics.

Rutkus · Sep 17, 2003

brennan77 said:
Yeah, I'm primarily buying this thing to tame the beast that is the Tornado on top of the CPU.

if this is your goal then buying a baybus to control just the one fan would really be a waste, i just use a single 4 pin rheostat to control my tornados, works well, and super easy to mount, i have it going out the back of my case, i slipped it through a small existing fan hole that i widened to make it fit, its cheap and i got it at bestbyte.net here

Or if you're up for a little DIY action, all the parts are available at your local ratshack or jameco.com and there are diagrams all over the web and even this forum if i'm not mistaken.

Fan controller considerations.

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