Internal Fan Hub?

[Judist]

I'm putting together a liquid cooled system using 10 140mm PWM fans (5vdc - 12vdc operating range) and a PWM pump (8vdc - 24vdc range, 12vdc nominal).

 

What I'm looking for is an internal solution that'll link Rad#1 fans together (140.3 / 6fans) and Rad#2 fans (140.2 / 4fans) together.

 

Basically I want to control each rad seperately. Ex: Adjusting 1 fan (via bios or mobo software) will in fact control all 6 fans on Rad#1.

 

The pump will use its own pwm header, so not really a factor.

 

I prefer mobo fan headers so I can implement mobo shutdown solutions in case of failures. Moreso I don't really have room for a nice bay controllers.

 

I hope I explained this well enough.

[flibberdipper]

NZXT Grid?

[Judist]

NZXT Grid?

 

Ahh yes something like that, although that model looks like it only has 3-pin (non-pwm) connections, so no speed control (tandem or otherwise).

[W-L]

I think this is what your looking for, controlled via motherboard 4-pin and splits into multiple fan outputs. I think you may need two though one for each set of rad fans using two 4-pin motherboard headers. 

 

Splitter:

http://www.swiftech.com/8-WayPWMsplitter.aspx

[Judist]

Perfect! Thx, and yea 2 is fine.

 

Odd that they sleeved the cable nicely but used white connectors. Beggars cant be choosers tho.

 

Edited to add:

 

Those connectors aren't laying flat, that might not work. Device thickness + connector length would make it a tight squeeze. Weird design.

[W-L]

Yeah I think hey designed to be placed on the bottom of a case or a computer that has a mid-plate hiding everything since it's not really friendly for routing behind a motherboard tray unless you have a lot of spare room.

[Judist]

I decided to order 2 Swiftech 8-ways (sata powered). 1 for CPU_FAN and 1 for CPU_OPT. I think I'll be ok with these. Fortunately I went with a CaseLabs Merlin SM8 which has decent room for cable management. Should be deep enough. Swiftech still needs a version with the connectors laid flat, it just makes sense.

 

The PWM pump will go to a case fan header. I'm hoping Asus fan xpert can initiate a system shutdown when a case fan fails (pump failure). Guess I'll find out when everything arrives.

[W-L]

Yeah they need to make a more compact version basically for behind the motherboard tray. Revision two, flat mounted black fan connectors swiftech???

 

I might be wrong but I think it might be best to have the pump connected to the main CPU header then the two fan splitters to two other 4 pin headers on the motherboard, since most systems automatically send a warning if the fan on the CPU header fails, but I'm not too familiar with Asus fan xpert software so I might be wrong on that. 

[Judist]

Typically I'd do just that, but I read this review for the fan hub.

 

As noted, this only works with 4-pin PWM fans. Also, you must connect it to a CPU fan header on your motherboard. EVEN IF your motherboard has other "pwm" headers, it will only give pwm control over all connected fans when connected to the CPU (or CPU-OPT) header; connected to any other header, all fans on this hub will run at 100%. Connected properly, it absolutely works 100%. A+ product.

 

 

Also for cable routing having Rad's 1 and 2 run off CPU 1 and 2 is ideal. But if the pump needs a CPU header I'll find another fan-hub solution (or workaround).

[W-L]

Hmm didn't know that about the splitter, I wonder if there is some logic board on that fan splitter or something that prevents it from being able to use other 4 pin headers that you can control via software.  

[Judist]

It'll be interesting to test it out. I'll keep this thread advised in the upcoming weeks.

 

I suppose if I'm forced to have one rad run at 100% I can live with it.

[VSG]

Nothing to do with the splitter, only the CPU fan header (and the mirror CPU OPT header) are true PWM headers. Everything else uses voltage control, which for PWM fans is bad.

 

I have 4 of those Swiftech splitters and each works great with the 4 headers on the Aquaero 6.

[Judist]

I should have looked at the available fan hubs BEFORE purchasing $190 worth of pwm fans.

[d33g33]

there are these as well

http://modmytoys.com/pcb.html

[Judist]

Nothing to do with the splitter, only the CPU fan header (and the mirror CPU OPT header) are true PWM headers. Everything else uses voltage control, which for PWM fans is bad.

 

I have 4 of those Swiftech splitters and each works great with the 4 headers on the Aquaero 6.

 

I may have lucked out for options. I read this on the OC forums.

 

Fan Controls are now far more intuitive with a graphical interface for setting the fan slope with 3 control points (more than enough to configure any fan) in manual mode as well as 4 preset modes. Full PWM and DC support is present on EVERY fan header across all ASUS Z97 motherboards from the Z97-A to Deluxe, ROG and of course the TUF series.

 

 

I have my Z97-WS mobo but still waiting on more parts to arrive to verify full PWM control on CASE_FAN headers.

[VSG]

That's what was said by reviewers on the z87 boards as well, take it with a grain of salt.

[Judist]

I'll update once parts arrive.