Fan controller? How does it work?

[sw0mgt]

I am purchasing a SilverStone Fortress Series FT02, a Scythe Kaze Master Pro, and an ASUS P9X79 WS motherboard


How do I hook up the fan controller to this board?


1. My motherboard has:

1. 1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (4 -pin)
2. 4 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (4 -pin)
3. 1 x Optional Fan connector(s) (4 -pin)

What are these for, and will I be using them if I have a fan controller?

2. My case has 3 x 180mm fans and 1 x 120 mm fan. The other fan in my system will be a Noctua NH-D14 heatsink. Can I control all of them with the Scythe? How do I control the D14?

3. How do I hook up the fan controller to the motherboard to get temperature readings?

thank you!

 

[Knufire]

You don't need the fan controller, since all the headers on the motherboard are 4-pin, they can control the speed of the fan. The fan controller is for when your motherboard has 3 pin headers and can't control the speed of the fan.

The temperature readings on the fan controller are read from temperature probes that come with in. Since you can't really place these anywhere useful (unless you mind taking a drill to your CPU), they're not all that great

 

[txus.palacios]

You don't need the fan controller, since all the headers on the motherboard are 4-pin, they can control the speed of the fan. The fan controller is for when your motherboard has 3 pin headers and can't control the speed of the fan.

The temperature readings on the fan controller are read from temperature probes that come with in. Since you can't really place these anywhere useful (unless you mind taking a drill to your CPU), they're not all that great

Not exactly. Some motherboards with PWM can't control fans that don't have PWM regulation, thus, if you have, say some old fans that are only voltage regulable, a fan controller comes handy.

The temperature probes are not the best thing in the world, but you can probably place them somewhere that becomes a tad bit more useful, say, close to the heatsink base of the CPU, on the northbridge / southbridge, or maybe put a couple of them on the exhaust fan's airflow path and the intake's path to check the temperature delta of the intake and the exhaust fans... The sky is the limit.

 

[Knufire]

They can't vary the voltage on the power pins? I was under the impression that some of the higher end ASUS motherboards could with the Fan Xpert control software included?