Fan controller (with basic fan curve based on 2 pin temps)

[0ld_Chicken]

Tldr: a control that's between the run of the mill crap, and aquacomputer's aquaero. There's gotta be some middle ground

 

So I'm trying to figure out how to get my set up to control my fans based on water temps instead of component temps.  My mobo (z97 classified) has no 2 pin temp headers so I was thinking of going with a fan controller. I waded through the pages of garbage offerings brought forth from Google, Newegg, etc and can't find anything that matches my needs (other than aquaero obviously) 

 

Is there any 2+ channel fan controller that will let you set a simple curve based on temperature inputs? Nothing fancy or crazy high powered (30w total maybe), just linear control between 2 or more temps.  EVERY one that I find that I think might do it, just has a max temp where it sets all fans to 100% blehh...

 

If nothing else exists I'll just start exploring the overwhelming aquaero route.  Even a 5lt is over 60$ though and that is with no screen, which is OK but I'd end up getting a 6 pro or xt and that is obscene.  I thought about the poweradjust for 40, but it is a single channel and I'd like 2 since I've got 2 loops.  

 

The 6xt and pro cost enough that it'd be cheaper to switch motherboards to one with a 2 pin header and avoid all this haha. Maybe that isn't a terrible option

 

Any advice is appreciated! 

Edited April 26, 2016 by 0ld_Chicken
Added tldr

[W-L]

5 minutes ago, 0ld_Chicken said:

-SNIP-

NZXT makes a decent unit that takes a temp reading from a probe and allows the fans to be controlled from that:

https://www.nzxt.com/products/sentry-3

[airdeano]

basing fan curve on coolant/water temp really doesn't have a wide/granular spectrum range.

so a coolant temperature at 25° ambient to 50° loaded redline doesn't have much "curve" (almost trigger action).

the device can be 70° on a loaded condition, but the coolant can be 30° so a 5° difference over ambient has no curve.

 

there is not really a "cheapish" solution. find your highest comfortable temperature under load with the quietest voltage on that fan set and run them from the PSU at a fixed voltage and be done with it. spends less money, less cable management headaches, and less complicated. ramping the fans up and down are for those that haven't found that best fan/pump speed combination to run the voltage statically.

[Shoggy]

17 hours ago, 0ld_Chicken said:

I thought about the poweradjust for 40, but it is a single channel and I'd like 2 since I've got 2 loops. 

Even if it had two channels it would not work the way you want. The poweradjust only allows a manual control or temperaure based control with a set-point-controller but not with a curve. This can be only done with the aquaero.

[0ld_Chicken]

23 hours ago, W-L said:

NZXT makes a decent unit that takes a temp reading from a probe and allows the fans to be controlled from that:

https://www.nzxt.com/products/sentry-3

I can't really find much info on how it determines the fan speeds according to the temps, I'll keep looking though.  The bitfenix recon seems like it would also do what I want but the reviews are pretty bad, mostly on behalf of the partially nonfunctional software so more investigation is needed on those 2. 

 

23 hours ago, airdeano said:

basing fan curve on coolant/water temp really doesn't have a wide/granular spectrum range.

so a coolant temperature at 25° ambient to 50° loaded redline doesn't have much "curve" (almost trigger action).

the device can be 70° on a loaded condition, but the coolant can be 30° so a 5° difference over ambient has no curve.

 

there is not really a "cheapish" solution. find your highest comfortable temperature under load with the quietest voltage on that fan set and run them from the PSU at a fixed voltage and be done with it. spends less money, less cable management headaches, and less complicated. ramping the fans up and down are for those that haven't found that best fan/pump speed combination to run the voltage statically.

well my coolant takes about 2 minutes to get to full load (30°c to 40°c) so I get what you are saying i think.  If I could get temperature control through the motherboard though, speedfan will utilize multipliers for temperatures so I could make the temperature difference seem much larger (I hadn't thought of this before).

 

as far as running them at a fixed voltage, that will be ok when I have more room for radiator space but I'd rather not have my fans set for full load in the mean time, even though its still quite reasonable as far as noise goes. 

6 hours ago, Shoggy said:

Even if it had two channels it would not work the way you want. The poweradjust only allows a manual control or temperaure based control with a set-point-controller but not with a curve. This can be only done with the aquaero.

good to know, thanks for the heads up!