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Control PWM Fans

Malaber
By Malaber
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I have 4 PWM Noctua NF-F12 3000 RPM Fans and i want to control them via PWM, are there any good fan controllers out there that support pwm ? (I mean real PWM not a 3 Pin output wich regulates Voltage being compatible with 4 Pin Fans...) I searched long enough now and havent found a single one, not even a ridicously priced one :D

I guess I am not the only one trying to do that and I am sure there is a good solution to this problem... I dont even need a fancy controller, i want to set the fans at a speed that is nice for me and that will be find that way :) (I know fan profiles are very cool and everything and I wont complain if they are supportet, but i dont care if they're not ;) )

 

Thanks Malaber :)

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Gigabyte GA-Z68-AP-D3 (only one PWM 4 Pin Header ;) )
but i guess i will buy a new one in the near future since my USB3 ports are dead :o

I just dont know if i should upgrade my CPU as well and jump to a recent socket... or buy a high end board for 1155(I have the i7-2600) 

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I have 4 PWM Noctua NF-F12 3000 RPM Fans and i want to control them via PWM, are there any good fan controllers out there that support pwm ? (I mean real PWM not a 3 Pin output wich regulates Voltage being compatible with 4 Pin Fans...) I searched long enough now and havent found a single one, not even a ridicously priced one :D

I guess I am not the only one trying to do that and I am sure there is a good solution to this problem... I dont even need a fancy controller, i want to set the fans at a speed that is nice for me and that will be find that way :) (I know fan profiles are very cool and everything and I wont complain if they are supportet, but i dont care if they're not ;) )

 

Thanks Malaber :)

 

While the price is steep, the Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 Pro or XT is gonna be your best bet probably. It is capable of controlling fans through either direct voltage or PWM fans. Supports fan curves, temperature probes, plus all kinds of other stuff. Most other fan controllers are only capable of using direct voltage control because it's cheaper to make and typically more compatible. 

 

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/17839/bus-335/Aquacomputer_Aquaero_6_PRO_USB_Fan_Controller_Graphic_LCD_Liquid_System_Controller_53145.html

 

Gigabyte GA-Z68-AP-D3 (only one PWM 4 Pin Header ;) )

but i guess i will buy a new one in the near future since my USB3 ports are dead :o

I just dont know if i should upgrade my CPU as well and jump to a recent socket... or buy a high end board for 1155(I have the i7-2600) 

 

If I were you and I had the money, I would just update to the newer socket personally, really depends on your budget though.

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If you want PWM controllability, don't stay on Gigabytes team. They haven't yet figured the whole fan controlling thing out.

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While the price is steep, the Aquacomputer Aquaero 6 Pro or XT is gonna be your best bet probably. It is capable of controlling fans through either direct voltage or PWM fans. Supports fan curves, temperature probes, plus all kinds of other stuff. Most other fan controllers are only capable of using direct voltage control because it's cheaper to make and typically more compatible. 

 

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/17839/bus-335/Aquacomputer_Aquaero_6_PRO_USB_Fan_Controller_Graphic_LCD_Liquid_System_Controller_53145.html

 

 

If I were you and I had the money, I would just update to the newer socket personally, really depends on your budget though.

 

Could just use the 5LT. Just split the fans off the one 4pin header which the controller has. Much cheaper...

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/13696/bus-271/Aquacomputer_Aquaero_5_LT_USB_Fan_Controller_Liquid_System_Controller_53095.html

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Could just use the 5LT. Just split the fans off the one 4pin header which the controller has. Much cheaper...

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/13696/bus-271/Aquacomputer_Aquaero_5_LT_USB_Fan_Controller_Liquid_System_Controller_53095.html

Yes, but then I wouldnt be able to control them individually.. If i would use a splitter I could just use the one 4 Pin header from my mother board, but i want to individually control them ;) 

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Sorry for hijacking thread, but Im interested in the excact same. Is there a fan controller where you can set up individual fan-curves by software. As OP my motherboard also just have one 4 pin fan controller. Im thinking about filling my case, and also a closed-loop CPU-cooler with PWM fans, giving a total of 6 fans. Could realy live with just two controlls, one for CPU and one for inflow/outflow.

 

EDIT: I see by reading Mobo documentation more that also CPU-fan is 4-pin. How should I use the one chassie-fan port to controll 4 fans?

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EDIT: I see by reading Mobo documentation more that also CPU-fan is 4-pin. How should I use the one chassie-fan port to controll 4 fans?

 

Splitters and/or hub like NZXT Grid.

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I have read somewhere that often only one of the 4-pin (CPU) is a propper PWM-controller. My motherboard is a Asus P8P67 and got two 4-pin. Can I be sure that both of these are propper PWM-connections? I would like to have a individual fan speed on CPU and chasie.

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I have read somewhere that often only one of the 4-pin (CPU) is a propper PWM-controller. My motherboard is a Asus P8P67 and got two 4-pin. Can I be sure that both of these are propper PWM-connections? I would like to have a individual fan speed on CPU and chasie.

 

Sometimes onboard headers are PWM controlled, sometimes they control by voltage regulation. In most cases you won't know which unless you contact the manufacturer, sometimes it is in your owners manual. In reality though for 99% of users, it won't make a difference which one you use, its just a different way to get the same result.

PWM or Pulse Width Modulation uses 4 wires. 1 Wire for 12V power, 1 for ground, 1 for Tachometer (RPM) readout, and the other to control a relay. The controller will then send pulses of electricity through the 4th wire, when electricity is present on the 4th wire, then it allows the first wire to connect and deliver 12V power, spinning the fan. If you wanted 50% fan speed, the 4th pin may stay on for 0.5 second, then turn off for 0.5 seconds, and keep flipping back and forth. In reality the pulses are much shorter than that, but you get the idea.

Voltage regulation does things a little bit differently, but achieves the same affect. The first three pins are the same, but the last 4th pin, doesn't exist. What this does instead is change how much voltage goes to the first pin. In this case if you want a fan to spin at 50% speed, instead of passing 12V to it, it instead passes 6V. The only downside to this method is for fans with a high startup voltage. For example, the Noctua NF-F12 Industrial PPC 2000RPM fans require 7V to get them spinning at all, after you get them moving you can drop down to 5V. So for very powerful fans like this, voltage regulation may be a bit tricky to get working, but for most regular consumer fans it works fine because they have relatively low startup voltages.

 

So unless you are using super high-rpm fans, you can probably use your MoBo's onboard control and be fine regardless of whether its PWM or Voltage regulated.

The reason the OP needs PWM control is because he is using Noctua NF-F12 Industrial PPC 3000RPM fans, which have a startup voltage of 8V or 9V, which makes voltage regulation extremely tricky to do. 

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I just use this and it works for me. I just let the fans go with the flow, which they never really get that loud. I did so much research to find a budget fan controller, that I just took the easy way out besides just running my fans at full power off of molex adapters.

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I have read somewhere that often only one of the 4-pin (CPU) is a propper PWM-controller. My motherboard is a Asus P8P67 and got two 4-pin. Can I be sure that both of these are propper PWM-connections? I would like to have a individual fan speed on CPU and chasie.

 

You can always look into manual. It has all conenctors listed with pics explaining what pins are supposed to do. If it says VCC or not-connected on 4th pin, you don't have PWM.

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I just use this and it works for me. I just let the fans go with the flow, which they never really get that loud. I did so much research to find a budget fan controller, that I just took the easy way out besides just running my fans at full power off of molex adapters.

 

That doesn't allow individual control like the OP had wanted.

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