fan controllers Your thoughts on PC fan speed controllers

[Shammikit]

so i recently saw one of these things in a site of a local vendor and i have not used one or seen one personally to see what use they have in real life. isnt the controlling of fan speed done by the motherboard? you can even set the speed using software right? so why would a person invest on one of these fan controllers? these things are available at various prices too. u can find one on ebay for low as $8 and prices can go upto around $70 or even more! are these things really worth it or are they just there for show? what do u think

[Mooshi]

PWM fans and motherboard controls are what I personally prefer.

[Megah3rtz]

I have one, but it came with my case by default. I have no opinion since I've never plugged my fans into my motherboard. 

[Shammikit]

2 minutes ago, Megah3rtz said:

I have one, but it came with my case by default. I have no opinion since I've never plugged my fans into my motherboard. 

if u dont plug the fans to the motherboard how do u run them?

[Changis]

42 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

so i recently saw one of these things in a site of a local vendor and i have not used one or seen one personally to see what use they have in real life. isnt the controlling of fan speed done by the motherboard? you can even set the speed using software right? so why would a person invest on one of these fan controllers? these things are available at various prices too. u can find one on ebay for low as $8 and prices can go upto around $70 or even more! are these things really worth it or are they just there for show? what do u think

a fan controller can control fans without pwm.. you can also add more fans.. some motherboards have fan headers spread about and you might not be able to connect some fans without leaving messy cables..

but above simple fan control, everything else is basically just added to justify a higher price and add that bling factor

[Tsuki]

i have one, i like having hardware control over my fans.

[Changis]

2 minutes ago, Shammikit said:

if u dont plug the fans to the motherboard how do u run them?

fan controllers usually are powerd by molex or sata power. some have extra sensor headers to connect to the motherboard so it can monitor rpm of a "main fan"

[r3loAded]

I have in my case 8xCorsair AF120mm Quiet edition fans. When I installed them and turned on the PC it sounded like an airplane taking off. I tried to control the fans through motherboard but no luck. I bought an NZXT GRID+ V2 and plugged them all in the back and now my motherboard looks cleaner without all the wires from the fans. Still control the fans through CAM Software which is developed by NZXT so compatible with the GRID.

 

Reasons:

1. Cable clutter in front of the motherboard

2. Number of fans possible to connect to the motherboard

3. Some of them offer you a much better and easier GUI for fan control (to the ones applicable like in my case CAM Software)

 

 

P.S You can check my fans in the link from my signature.

 

[emosun]

plus if the fan controller uses potentiometers it's faster and easier than having to go into software and adjust fan speeds.

 

just turn a dial and thats it. no software needed.

[Shammikit]

5 hours ago, r3loAded said:

I have in my case 8xCorsair AF120mm Quiet edition fans. When I installed them and turned on the PC it sounded like an airplane taking off. I tried to control the fans through motherboard but no luck. I bought an NZXT GRID+ V2 and plugged them all in the back and now my motherboard looks cleaner without all the wires from the fans. Still control the fans through CAM Software which is developed by NZXT so compatible with the GRID.

 

Reasons:

1. Cable clutter in front of the motherboard

2. Number of fans possible to connect to the motherboard

3. Some of them offer you a much better and easier GUI for fan control (to the ones applicable like in my case CAM Software)

 

 

P.S You can check my fans in the link from my signature.

 

what should u look for when u r buying one of these. there are different types at various price points. this one : https://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/recon is the only one i found locally. there are many cheaper ones on ebay. 

[Leonard]

Fan controllers are a fancy touch for a build but not really needed once you have PWM fan headers on the MOBO, a simple PWM splitter and a software to set a curve/speed per temperature is all you need.

 

 

[r3loAded]

1 minute ago, Shammikit said:

what should u look for when u r buying one of these. there are different types at various price points. this one : https://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/recon is the only one i found locally. there are many cheaper ones on ebay. 

Not an option for me. If you would have checked my build you would've seen that I got a tempered glass build (front as well) so N/A to my case.

[Shammikit]

4 minutes ago, r3loAded said:

Not an option for me. If you would have checked my build you would've seen that I got a tempered glass build (front as well) so N/A to my case.

The one you use is very affordable. the one in the local shop says the one in the link i sent is $70 and i was like wtf, that expensive!  

[THFourteen]

The only reason I'd use one is because my case had an external drive bay that needed filling up and I hate unused drive bays and I hate external drives.