Fan controller vs motherboard?

[Gdourado]

hello, how are you?

I am wondering if a fan controller is worth it?

I am looking at the Lamptron FC5v2.

My idea would be to connect my case fans to one channel and my cpu cooler fans to another channel and then have them both dialed down while browsing and such and then turn the dials up when gaming.

I think it would work better than having my fans connected to my board and having the board manage the fans according to some curves.

 

From what I can tell, fan controller like the FC5v2 use voltage to control the fans, so having PWM fans and a fan controller is pointless since they will be controlled by voltage.

Is this correct?

Anyway, do you use dedicated fan controllers?
Are they worth it? Do they work well and better than mainboard control?

 

Thanks.

Cheers!

[W-L]

11 minutes ago, Gdourado said:

-SNIP- 

It depends on the motherboard but in general I recommend to use what is already built in and to only go to something else if there is a problem or it is inadequate. 

[paddy-stone]

I tried fan controllers a few times, TBH it's not worth it, you'll get fed-up having to keep adjusting the fans manually IMO. If you have a sensible fan curve applied to go with your CPU heat for example it should be good for most situations, the GPU looks after itself for the most part, so the only thing IMO that MIGHT need to be adjusted separately to the CPU heat, is the intake fan(s), make sure that's not too low so it's starving your system.

By all means try fan controllers if that's what you like the look of, it's not a case of one size fits all when it comes to pc systems.

[LogicalDrm]

I have had knob controller in past with older mobo. But currently pretty much all manufacturers have decent to excellent controls with mobo. So need for knob controller for pure control purpose isn't imo that great. I would advice against using CPU cooler on that. Too many points of failure to risk it. And usually CPU cooler header is the one with best controls anyway.