Looking for a fan controller controlled by software

[Tomek20225]

Hi
I've bought my PC about a half year ago. I found it awesome back then and now, when I unleashed it's true potential, I find it even greater! You see, the problem is that my period of blind love for it has lasted and now I can see all pros and cons of it.
For example, I built it to run cool. It is really conscientious in this regard (never going above 50 degrees on CPU and 60 on GPU in full load while being air cooled very cheaply!), but now I can clearly see that it is loud as f*ck. I tried to change it's fan curves in BIOS and in ASRock A-Tuning software (I've got an Z97 Extreme3 motherboard). It was a bit quieter, but then my everything in the chassy got hotter by at least 5-10 degrees. Plus the controls weren't perfect and these often didn't work.
Right now I have 3 1500 RPM pre-installed Zalman fans (the case is Zalman R1 - by the way, if you're considering buying it then I can really recommend it, it's really nice and frosty, but just know that this sound dumping material on the front doesn't change s*it), 1 CPU fan (the cooler is CM Hyper 212 EVO), 1 PSU fan and 3 fans on the GPU (it's a Gigabyte Windforce GTX 970).
I'm super annoyed by the sound that PC makes, so I started thinking about changing fans to Noctua NF-S12Bs 700RPM - quietest on the market I believe, but I'm not sure if I should change the case fans or add them to the case. Contemplating the second option one problem came to my mind - even though I can plug them all to motherboard easily, I wouldn't be able to change their speeds because of problems with mentioned software. So I started thinking about a fan controller, with which I wouldn't have any problems in terms of controlling their speeds.
I started doing a little bit of research and I just can't find any that would suit me. And what suits me? I want it to be controlled by software in the os and to be cheap. That way I would be able to define their fan curves and not only change their speeds by desire.

And here my questions come to you:
1. What do you think about the fan configuration? Should I change these 3 to NF-S12Bs, add 2 of them to make 5 in total (and then set them all to the same low RPMs via the fan controller) or save some money and just invest in fan controller (and then set them to desired RPM curves)?
2. Are there other fans like NF-S12Bs (as quiet and cheaper, maybe in black-white color scheme)?
3. Is there a fan controller that would suit my needs? If not, then is there something that you would recommend?
4. What do you think about buying and gluing some sound dumping 4mm thick material inside the chassy? I think about SilverStone SF01.

Thanks in advance

 

[desertcomputer]

Speedfan 

[Laputacake]

NZXT Grid 2?

[WoodenMarker]

Have you tried SpeedFan?

It doesn't get much quieter than NF-S12A's.

Sound dampening foam on panels help a bit but lower noise at the source is more effective.

[LogicalDrm]

NZXT Grid+ and Corsair Commander are the only hardware based ones which use software to control.

[Tomek20225]

Have you tried SpeedFan?

It doesn't get much quieter than NF-S12A's.

Sound dampening foam on panels help a bit but lower noise at the source is more effective.

Thanks for your advice

The problem with SpeedFan is that I'm not sure if you can configure it with my motherboard. Also it's quite a new and expensive PC, so I wouldn't like to brick anything.

I didn't fully understand what you mean - shall I get NF-S12As instead of what I have right now, add them to the setup or don't change anything?

 

NZXT Grid+ and Corsair Commander are the only hardware based ones which use software to control.

Thanks

I checked them out. Grid+ seems what I've been looking for, but it's a bit too expensive and doesn't have many fan inputs in case I would love to add another ones :\ And Commander is pretty much my entire budget

What do you think about Phobya Touch 6? I'm starting to think about it, even though it doesn't have a software control.

[LogicalDrm]

Thanks

I checked them out. Grid+ seems what I've been looking for, but it's a bit too expensive and doesn't have many fan inputs in case I would love to add another ones :\ And Commander is pretty much my entire budget

What do you think about Phobya Touch 6? I'm starting to think about it, even though it doesn't have a software control.

I haven't had hardware based controller since one from Scythe with knobs. I tried CAM (NZXT) when it first launched but didn't really like it back then.

To your amount of outputs problem. You can connect 2 or max 3 fans to each output. They will be spinning at same speed but still.

[WoodenMarker]

Thanks for your advice

The problem with SpeedFan is that I'm not sure if you can configure it with my motherboard. Also it's quite a new and expensive PC, so I wouldn't like to brick anything.

I didn't fully understand what you mean - shall I get NF-S12As instead of what I have right now, add them to the setup or don't change anything?

It works for most motherboards and I can confirm it works without an issue for your board. I don't see how you would go about bricking your system with SpeedFan.. 

Try SpeedFan first. If that doesn't work out, NF-S12A's are excellent replacements. 

[Exotath]

I use the Swiftec 8 Way PWM Splitter and connect it to my motherboard... then I use whatever software or bios to control the fans.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Swiftech-8-Way-Splitter-Power-Connector/dp/B00IF6R4C8

[Tomek20225]

It works for most motherboards and I can confirm it works without an issue for your board. I don't see how you would go about bricking your system with SpeedFan.. 

Try SpeedFan first. If that doesn't work out, NF-S12A's are excellent replacements. 

I tried to use and configure SpeedFan, but it didn't even work :\ I also tried to use the ASRock A-Tuning again, but I can't get proper readings from my fans and it doesn't let me to turn the fans off. Because A-Tuning is basically like a BIOS (just graphical and in os) I didn't even want to try to change anything in it again. I have no clue why this happens.

After all I'm sure that the only thing that will work properly is a fan controller. Plus it would be much easier for me to control - the only drawback is no fan speed curve control, but that's minor.

I know I'm going to buy a controller (probably a Gelid Speedtouch 6), but I don't know if I shall buy replacement fans then. With that hardware I could just lower their speeds to absolute minimum, which is about 600RPM. One thing I would be worried about is temps - they would still be able to call "acceptable" and "good", but not for me, because I got used to what we can call "frosty". By lowering the RPMs I would rise temps, and by adding more fans and setting them to quiet I would just add more noise (however I'm not entirely sure about it because of this video:

).

I think that I will buy a controller and some silicon pins for fans first. If that doesn't help THAT MUCH AS I WOULD LOVE TO I will replace the fans (probably with Cyroig QF120 Silents, because they're 2/3 the price of Noctua S12As are and practically the same). And if that doesn't help maybe some Silverstone sound dampening foam will help at least a bit (thicker one won't fit inside my case).

What do you think about it? Shall I do something else or change something? Just keep in mind that I don't want to spend more than I have to and my parents wouldn't like me to play with this PC too much.

You seem really helpful and smart, so I ask this mainly to you

Thanks in advance!

[WoodenMarker]

I tried to use and configure SpeedFan, but it didn't even work :\ I also tried to use the ASRock A-Tuning again, but I can't get proper readings from my fans and it doesn't let me to turn the fans off. Because A-Tuning is basically like a BIOS (just graphical and in os) I didn't even want to try to change anything in it again. I have no clue why this happens.

After all I'm sure that the only thing that will work properly is a fan controller. Plus it would be much easier for me to control - the only drawback is no fan speed curve control, but that's minor.

I know I'm going to buy a controller (probably a Gelid Speedtouch 6), but I don't know if I shall buy replacement fans then. With that hardware I could just lower their speeds to absolute minimum, which is about 600RPM. One thing I would be worried about is temps - they would still be able to call "acceptable" and "good", but not for me, because I got used to what we can call "frosty". By lowering the RPMs I would rise temps, and by adding more fans and setting them to quiet I would just add more noise (however I'm not entirely sure about it because of this video:

I think that I will buy a controller and some silicon pins for fans first. If that doesn't help THAT MUCH AS I WOULD LOVE TO I will replace the fans (probably with Cyroig QF120 Silents, because they're 2/3 the price of Noctua S12As are and practically the same). And if that doesn't help maybe some Silverstone sound dampening foam will help at least a bit (thicker one won't fit inside my case).

You're probably going about it incorrectly then--SpeedFan has no issues with your motherboard. I'm currently using the very similar Z97 Extreme4.

Why would you be looking to turn your fans off? I'm pretty sure they'd have to ramp right up again or there wouldn't be enough cooling. 

Are you tuning your fan speeds in the bios and are you sure you're referring to the correct fan headers on the motherboard?

Speedfan or the settings in the bios should both work properly.

Adding more fans will add to noise but generally less so than running fewer fans at a higher rpm. 

I haven't found any fan that's 'practically the same' as NF-S12A's--they seem to be unrivaled when it comes to airflow/noise. It's the reason why they're also my favorite fans. 

[Tomek20225]

You're probably going about it incorrectly then--SpeedFan has no issues with your motherboard. I'm currently using the very similar Z97 Extreme4.

Why would you be looking to turn your fans off? I'm pretty sure they'd have to ramp right up again or there wouldn't be enough cooling. 

Are you tuning your fan speeds in the bios and are you sure you're referring to the correct fan headers on the motherboard?

Speedfan or the settings in the bios should both work properly.

Adding more fans will add to noise but generally less so than running fewer fans at a higher rpm. 

I haven't found any fan that's 'practically the same' as NF-S12A's--they seem to be unrivaled when it comes to airflow/noise. It's the reason why they're also my favorite fans. 

These are the fans I was talking about: http://www.cryorig.com/qf120.php

And may I ask you a question - how did you configure SpeedFan? It may be possible I did something incorrect.

[WoodenMarker]

These are the fans I was talking about: http://www.cryorig.com/qf120.php

And may I ask you a question - how did you configure SpeedFan? It may be possible I did something incorrect.

I know which fans you were referring to. What I meant was that they aren't as good as NF-S12A's and far from 'practically the same'. 

As for SpeedFan, this can cover the basics:

Names and settings will be a bit different varying from motherboard to motherboard. 

As for settings I use personally in 'Configure' tabs

-Temps: Click on any of the sensed temps for desired and warning temps. By expanding an item, you can check which fans respond to these temps. At warning, fans go to 100%. 

-Fans: Selected labels will show up in SpeedFan

-Speeds: Min value applies when desired temps are reached. Fan speeds can ramp up to max value when temps are higher than desired. Check auto-variated to have fans ramp between the values instead of shooting up to the max

Options: Delta value is how quickly the fan speed increases between min and max rpm.

There's an advanced control tab that is another option for setting fan curves but I prefer the above method. 

When done, you can check automatic fan speed in the main window.