FRONTPAGE How to Turn a High-Speed Gentle Typhoon Into a PWM Fan

[Overclockers.com]

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What if you want to control the speed of your high-speed Gentle Typhoon fan? Maybe you’re tired of it going full-blast all the time. It is quite noisy after all… What to do? You could buy an expensive fan controller, but there is a better way. Actually, there are a couple of better ways, and they involve a hidden capability of your high-speed Gentle Typhoon’s PCB.

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[I.M.O.G.]

Great article eHume, a good read. I love how-to's!

 

[xsuperbgx]

Looks good. Nice write-up!

 

[noobnerd]

Great write-up but why didn't you just have all the wires go to the mb?

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Can handle more power if the mobo only does pwm, and the power comes direct from the psu. Mono fan headers have an amperage limit, and some fans would blow them up.

Not sure why he did it his way. This is just what came to mind.

 

[muddocktor]

Yep, that is exactly why he did it that way, IMOG. You go putting high powered fans pulling their juice from the mobo headers and the next thing you know, you have just cooked a fan header. I personally don't like to connect any fan that pulls more than an amp directly to a motherboard fan header, even though the manufacturer might say it's rated for higher. Startup current can be twice the running current on these fans.

 

[ehume]

Great write-up but why didn't you just have all the wires go to the mb?

Can handle more power if the mobo only does pwm, and the power comes direct from the psu. Mono fan headers have an amperage limit, and some fans would blow them up.

Not sure why he did it his way. This is just what came to mind.

Yep, that is exactly why he did it that way, IMOG. You go putting high powered fans pulling their juice from the mobo headers and the next thing you know, you have just cooked a fan header. I personally don't like to connect any fan that pulls more than an amp directly to a motherboard fan header, even though the manufacturer might say it's rated for higher. Startup current can be twice the running current on these fans.

Exactly. Look at Nidec's specs here (pdf). Startup current on the AP-14 is 210mA, where the running current is 49mA. The AP-15 runs at 83mA, starts at 190mA.

But then look here. The 3000 rpm GT runs at 0.22A but needs 0.97A to start. The 4250 rpm GT runs at 0.56A but needs 1.35A to start. The 5400 rpm GT runs at 1.14A but needs 2.69A to start.

Gigabyte headers nominally support a current draw of 1 Amp. My As.s board will allow 2A. YMMV, but I'd say you could power a bank of the highspeed GT's from Molex where your mb would fail.

Normal highspeed GT's usually involve the mb only in reporting their rpm. Scythe is nice to include the wire and plug for that. The PWM puts the mb back in the action to control fanspeed.

Well, you can see how I set mine up. Highly recommended.

 

[xsuperbgx]

Does this work on the ap15? You say it doesn't work on the low speed ones, but where do you draw the line of low vs. high? Only the ap29, ap30 and ap31?
I also wonder how slow and quiet can you get them? So, will a 5400 rpm fan on pwm turn down as low as the 3000 when set with the same controller?

I am trying to decide on some fans....

 

[BeepBeep2]

Looks like the AP-29 start reliably at 5v/1250 RPM, 1850 RPM @ 7v:
http://www.coolingtechnique.com/img...tletyphoon/high-rpm/data-gt-high-rpm-3000.png

Of course, might be different on a PWM controller...but if your board can control speeds of non-PWM fans then most likely you can work with it.

 

[xsuperbgx]

I suspect that with pwm, you can take them down to a certain percentage and they will not start, but it seems like they may work at a lower speed thatn they would do on a voltage type controller. I have never played with Pwm stuff.

 

[MattNo5ss]

The lower model fans don't have unused PWM built in. AFAIK only AP-29+ can do this. See this pic in the article of a lower model GT...

 

[ehume]

I suspect that with pwm, you can take them down to a certain percentage and they will not start, but it seems like they may work at a lower speed thatn they would do on a voltage type controller. I have never played with Pwm stuff.

You are right. I recently tested an AP-29 that I converted to PWM. At 0% PWM duty it ran at slightly more than 1200 rpm.

 

[m.oreilly]

thanks for the tutorial
fans are done, just ordered pins and molex (3x ap-30), and a 3 way pwm splitter. anxious to see how they perform

 

[xsuperbgx]

Bump and thanks for a good guide. I got 4 ap29s running pwm.
I have the pwm plugged into the mobo's fan header and the fans seem to run about 2600-2700 rpm when rig is at full load cpu and gpu's.
I can't comment on noise due to the mining rig on the shelf above, but that will be moving soon.

 

[jasperng18]

What is the lowest and the highest RPM can you go for gentle typhoon AP-30 4250 rpm pwm?

I have mod my AP-30 to a 3 pin connector so I could plug it and control the RPM through my motherboard and it goes from 1650 RPM to 4050 RPM.

I just want to know if I should go for the PWM route for lower and higher RPM.

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

Why not just put all 4 wires in 1 connector?

 

[doyll]

Why not just put all 4 wires in 1 connector?

Because these fans have high power demands.
AP-29 is rated 0.22 Amp; 0.95 Amp starting current
AP-30 is rated 0.56 Amp; 1.35 Amp starting current
AP-31 is rated 1.14 Amp; 2.69 Amp starting current

Motherboard fan headers are usually rated at 1.0 Amp.

 

[ehume]

What is the lowest and the highest RPM can you go for gentle typhoon AP-30 4250 rpm pwm?

I have mod my AP-30 to a 3 pin connector so I could plug it and control the RPM through my motherboard and it goes from 1650 RPM to 4050 RPM.

I just want to know if I should go for the PWM route for lower and higher RPM.

4-pin connectors, dude.

AP-30: 1180 to 4325 rpm
AP-29: 1234 to 3000 rpm (now I remember; the exact number was so improbable)

 

[jasperng18]

Because these fans have high power demands.
AP-29 is rated 0.22 Amp; 0.95 Amp starting current
AP-30 is rated 0.97 Amp; 1.35 Amp starting current
AP-31 is rated 1.14 Amp; 2.69 Amp starting current

Motherboard fan headers are usually rated at 1.0 Amp.

AP-30 is only rated at 0.56 Amp.

I also tried connecting two AP-30 in one motherboard header both of them run at 3950 RPM but that is just for testing I really don't want to fry my motherboard.

4-pin connectors, dude.

AP-30: 1180 to 4325 rpm
AP-29: 1234 to 3000 rpm (now I remember; the exact number was so improbable)

Thanks man

PWM is the way to go and it create less stress for my motherboard.

 

[doyll]

AP-30 is only rated at 0.56 Amp.

I also tried connecting two AP-30 in one motherboard header both of them run at 3950 RPM but that is just for testing I really don't want to fry my motherboard.



Thanks man

PWM is the way to go and it create less stress for my motherboard.

You are correct, my bad.