Alternatives to Aquaero for Fan Speed Control

Hey everybody,

I have decided that I want to try controlling my radiator fans based on water temps rather than cpu/gpu temps for a number of reasons, but I am seeing a lack of options out there. The aquaero system looks to be a good options besides the price point. What other methods/systems have you guys used and what are some of the pitfalls and advantages you all see? Just kinda looking for general discussion and knowlegde from the masses.

AFAIK, the Aquaero is the premium choice bar none. I've been using it for almost a year now. One of my favorite investments I've done. I will say though, it does have it's own learning curve but once figured out, it's a amazing piece of hardware. If you do head this route, make sure your list of components are all compatible together.

I should note, they recently came out with the Aquaero 6 LT that is the cheaper version of the others. It's basically the same AQ6 controller without a LCD.

I decided against the Aquaero for cost reasons, and some incompatibilities with my build plan. Personally, I think Speedfan is overlooked as a really powerful tool for fan control. It's been around for ages, has great compatibility with various motherboards, and once you get past the initial learning curve it's a really powerful tool. I have my fans set to turn off when my cpu and gpu are below a certain temp. once one of the temps gets too high, the fans will slowly ramp up in speed. After the initial config, it's largely set and forget. if you buy pwm pumps, you can also control pump speed through there.

sporktar said:

I decided against the Aquaero for cost reasons, and some incompatibilities with my build plan. Personally, I think Speedfan is overlooked as a really powerful tool for fan control. It's been around for ages, has great compatibility with various motherboards, and once you get past the initial learning curve it's a really powerful tool. I have my fans set to turn off when my cpu and gpu are below a certain temp. once one of the temps gets too high, the fans will slowly ramp up in speed. After the initial config, it's largely set and forget. if you buy pwm pumps, you can also control pump speed through there.

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Could you take a temp. probe from one of the radiators and plug into the motherboard to use as your basis for fan speeds using Speed fan. I haven't used speed fan in forever and I never played with it long enough to get over the learning curve, and I wanted something controlled independent of the MB is why I went with an AQ6, but I can see where speed fan would be a good alternative if you had that functionality.

Radiator water temps could take a while to heat up. So might be behind the heat curve. Also, the water temps don't change a lot actually, and having poor quality non-industriual sensors could be a problem.

Could still be a viable method, just have to try it.

Using the CPU or GPU as temp sources, will create chaotic responses from the fans and or pumps. Yes, you want curves based on delta temps or water loop temp. The data source I use is from a water temp sensor. I could combine all my water sensors and create a average and go by that. One of the many perks you can do with the AQ.

Ohh yes. Once learned that would be a great idea. It's an amazing unit. I never had one... Did fine using CPU temps for a long time. It also wasn't... Just a guess $300 or more once you add the sensors?

Don't know where the chaotic comes from. Temps from xx too xx it ran at say 30%. Anything above that at 60%. Pump never complained, neither did my temps or noise levels.

Fans, always set to just right. Lots of rad, fans set to RPMs that worked all the time. My PC always was quiet.

Conumdrum said:

Just a guess $300 or more once you add the sensors?

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You could grab a AQ6 LT for around $100 and a couple $10 water temp sensor. You must be thinking of the AQ 6 XT with a flow sensor, air/water temp probes, Farbwerk + LEDs + cables.

I think you guys have pretty much sold me on the aquaero. I had missed the 6 LT previously and only saw the 5 LT, but the 6 seems like a much better option. This is a bit unrelated, but have any of you used the new Theraltake Riing fans with an aquaero. From what I see, they have their own software which would make them incompatible. Is it possible to rewire them so that the fan power/control is from the aquaero and the RGB control is still through their software? Seems like it might be possible, but I haven't bought some and started taking them apart yet to see how they are wired.

AFAIK, some were saying they would try and do some reverse engineering to as such but haven't heard from them. As it stand, it's not compatible via RGB control but possibly only fan control but not even sure on that front either.

I have been looking into it more over the past couple hours and am finding basically what you have said. I am guessing there should be a way to make it work, if all else fails, it seems like it would be possible to deconstruct the fan and rewire the led's with separate leads that could be run off the aquaero itself. It would probably require some soldering and such, but it may still be possible.

t1nm4n said:

Could you take a temp. probe from one of the radiators and plug into the motherboard to use as your basis for fan speeds using Speed fan.

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Not that i know of. This is one of the biggest features I'm missing out on by not using an aquaero.

GTXJackBauer said:

Using the CPU or GPU as temp sources, will create chaotic responses from the fans and or pumps. Yes, you want curves based on delta temps or water loop temp. The data source I use is from a water temp sensor. I could combine all my water sensors and create a average and go by that. One of the many perks you can do with the AQ.

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In my application, my fans are not chaotic at all. at idle fans turn on every once in a while, and while folding they maintain a steady speed.

It does help that my loop has a little under a gallon of water, so coolant temp changes are gradual enough to act as a bit of a buffer during load changes. I also have it set up so the gpu will be the first thing to activate the fans at 37c (optimized for folding@home). My gpu temps are much more predictable than cpu spikes, cpu fan curve doesn't begin until it hit's around 60-65c (and by that point the gpu is usually over 37 anyways).

Not saying the Aquaero isn't a great controller, but speedfan is a viable budget alternative if you set it up right.