Which fan hub should I choose?

[Parideboy]

I currently have 6 3 pin fans controlled by 2 fan controls (2 fans controlled by the integrated controller in the case, the other 4 by a 5.25-inch bay). I want to get access to the third top slot fan of the case and to achieve that, I have to get rid of the external controller.

 

My initial idea was to get a 3 pin splitter to control the voltage through the motherboard using the CPU_FAN2. Checking the manual, that could be possible. A couple of issues started to pop up in my head. I wouldn't be able to go over 1Amp on a single header. I REALLY don't feel like messing with the CPU headers is a good idea, to begin with. I've read that speed fan can't control the CPU headers of most motherboard manufacturers. 

 

Doing a quick search, I think I've found what I'm looking for (I guess)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SATA-Power-10x-4Pin-Male-Computer-PC-Fan-HUB-PWM-Cooling-Fan-Controller-Splitter/122930213429?hash=item1c9f363235:g:rkQAAOSw8A1aaCOs

(It says SATA powered but the pics show a Molex connector lol, doesn't really matter, I've got plenty cables free for both)

 

If I connect this hub to any 4 pin CHA_FAN (for reference, it's just like the CPU one, so no voltage control, just PWM) will my 3 pin fans be controlled by voltage or by PWM?

I know that 4 pin fans can be controlled with the voltage on 3 pin headers, but I'm not sure if this hub sends the PWM signal to all headers or it adjusts the voltage on the second pin. I'm really tempted by the price...

 

Any (cheap) alternatives you guys can come up with? By the way, the case is a Fractal Design Define R5 and the motherboard is an ASRock H97 Pro4.

Thanks in advance for your time.

[emosun]

4 minutes ago, Parideboy said:

Any (cheap) alternatives you guys can come up with?

6 fan external controller 

[Parideboy]

4 minutes ago, emosun said:

6 fan external controller 

Thanks for your reply.

As stated before, I already have one and I want to get rid of it.

[emosun]

1 minute ago, Parideboy said:

Thanks for your reply.

As stated before, I already have one and I want to get rid of it.

ok i read your post wrong

yeah that controller just controls the fans via whatever you plug the input into and the power from the sata plug actually runs the fans

[Parideboy]

6 minutes ago, Pangea2017 said:

without the chance to see the back with the IC i would guess that this hub is PWM only.

Thanks. What should I be looking for exactly? Some sort of chip? 

[Parideboy]

1 minute ago, Pangea2017 said:

PWM is cheap and simple (transistor and maybe a cap for stability).

Voltage regulation a bit more expensiv. 

The other reason why i belive this is pwm is the description and that they use 4 pin header. What is a bit strange is the cable they include which only have two wires. This looks like PWM and tacho but no ground wire.

Maybe the ground is provided by the sata/molex connector?

 

I'll search for something else.

[Parideboy]

This one seems to do the trick

http://www.phanteks.com/PH-PWHUB.html

 

From a review:

 

Turns out this was exactly what I needed, for my specific situation.

I have only 1 PWM fan header which I wanted to use to control my other case fans. My other fans were 3pin only so I could not use a PWM signal splitter. This fan hub was perfect because it takes the PWM signal and controls the fans using voltage.

Also, my motherboard's BIOS has "smart fan" settings that really help dial in the desired fan behavior. There's a setting for the min/max PWM signal - the min signal should be high enough so the fans don't stop completely, and the max should be high enough to reach the fan's normal max speeds. Of course, there's also a temp threshold to control when the fans are on low or high RPM modes. Without these BIOS settings the fan hub wouldn't be as useful as it is.

 

Now I just hope that speed fan could actually control them, but it should on paper...

 

I'm gonna see if I can find something cheaper, but I think it's already a reasonable price (for making the dumb mistake of buying 3 pin fans cause they were 3/4 euros cheaper than their 4 pin big brothers)

[WoodenMarker]

3 hours ago, Parideboy said:

This one seems to do the trick

http://www.phanteks.com/PH-PWHUB.html

Now I just hope that speed fan could actually control them, but it should on paper...

I'm gonna see if I can find something cheaper, but I think it's already a reasonable price (for making the dumb mistake of buying 3 pin fans cause they were 3/4 euros cheaper than their 4 pin big brothers)

SpeedFan doesn't have any particular issue with cpu_fan headers but there are a number or motherboards that aren't fully supported yet.

If you want to use a 4pin pwm signal and control 3pin fans, the Phanteks pwm hub works. What motherboard do you have? 

[Parideboy]

2 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

SpeedFan doesn't have any particular issue with cpu_fan headers but there are a number or motherboards that aren't fully supported yet.

If you want to use a 4pin pwm signal and control 3pin fans, the Phanteks pwm hub works. What motherboard do you have? 

An ASRock H97 Pro4. The manual shows that case fans are "configured" like the cpu_fan1 header picture I posted above.

[WoodenMarker]

2 hours ago, Parideboy said:

An ASRock H97 Pro4. The manual shows that case fans are "configured" like the cpu_fan1 header picture I posted above.

There should be an option to set the headers to pwm or dc mode. If you want to control 3pin fans, using dc fans and a normal splitter should be fine.

[Parideboy]

58 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

There should be an option to set the headers to pwm or dc mode. If you want to control 3pin fans, using dc fans and a normal splitter should be fine.

Already checked before opening this thread. There is no such option. The only fan header that supports multiple voltages is the cpu_fan2. The rest is just PWM at 12volts.

To your knowledge, are there any other brands that manufacture this kind of hubs? Don't care about looks, just has to get the job done.

I might just put a bunch of them on a watchlist and get the first one that's on sale.

 

[WoodenMarker]

9 minutes ago, Parideboy said:

Already checked before opening this thread. There is no such option. The only fan header that supports multiple voltages is the cpu_fan2. The rest is just PWM at 12volts.

To your knowledge, are there any other brands that manufacture this kind of hubs? Don't care about looks, just has to get the job done.

I might just put a bunch of them on a watchlist and get the first one that's on sale.

If you want to control 3pin fans with a 4pin pwm signal, the Phanteks hub is pretty much what's available.