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Cheap Fan Controller Suggestions?

Proxish
By Proxish
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Hey, thanks to everyone that tries to help out in advance.

 

I'm looking for a cheap Fan Controller for my gf's build. Right now it sounds like a miniture tropical storm in her desktop, I've tried SpeedFan and couldn't quite figure it out, I've also tried the bios settings and that didn't work either, for reasons beyond me.

The case is a Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case with one intake, and two exhaust fans. Two are connected to the motherboard and one just straight to the PSU.

 

What I'm looking for is a cheap decent looking fan controller, with at least four three-pin slots. My plan is to add one more intake fan on the front, and then turn them all down quite slow, run a few benchmarks to make sure the temps don't get too high and then all's good.

 

I live in the Uk, so the cheapest one's that have decent reviews that I liked were these two.

3.5" Bay Panel LED w/ 4 PC System Cooling Fan Speed Controller

5.25" Lcd Panel Fan Speed Control

 

Any other suggestions, both hardware and software would be appreciated.

Thanks

i7-4770K @ 4.5GHz | AsRock Extreme 4 Z87

EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 @ 1485/8002 | Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
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Use one of the two exhausts as intake or else you will suck in dust through the cracks...always have more air coming in than going out to prevent dust buildup

There are 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary, and those who don't.

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Hey, thanks to everyone that tries to help out in advance.

 

I'm looking for a cheap Fan Controller for my gf's build. Right now it sounds like a miniture tropical storm in her desktop, I've tried SpeedFan and couldn't quite figure it out, I've also tried the bios settings and that didn't work either, for reasons beyond me.

The case is a Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case with one intake, and two exhaust fans. Two are connected to the motherboard and one just straight to the PSU.

 

What I'm looking for is a cheap decent looking fan controller, with at least four three-pin slots. My plan is to add one more intake fan on the front, and then turn them all down quite slow, run a few benchmarks to make sure the temps don't get too high and then all's good.

 

I live in the Uk, so the cheapest one's that have decent reviews that I liked were these two.

3.5" Bay Panel LED w/ 4 PC System Cooling Fan Speed Controller

5.25" Lcd Panel Fan Speed Control

 

Any other suggestions, both hardware and software would be appreciated.

Thanks

you might just wanna cut down that signature, only 3 lines allowed

Intel 3570k 3,4@4,5 1,12v Scythe Mugen 3 gigabyte 770     MSi z77a GD55    corsair vengeance 8 gb  corsair CX600M Bitfenix Outlaw 4 casefans

 

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Use one of the two exhausts as intake or else you will suck in dust through the cracks...always have more air coming in than going out to prevent dust buildup

 

I didn't know that, thanks for the info.

I have a fourth fan sitting here that I was going to install anyway, I'll put that in as another intake when I install a fan controller.

 

 

NZXT Sentry

 

I was more looking for something half the price of that. It's only to control fans, the aesthetics aren't that important enough to double the price.

 

 

you might just wanna cut down that signature, only 3 lines allowed

 

I wasn't aware of that, I'll do that just now then. Thanks for the info.

i7-4770K @ 4.5GHz | AsRock Extreme 4 Z87

EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 @ 1485/8002 | Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
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Those are too expensive.

Is there nothing decent for around £10-£15?

I'm shocked at what people are charging, to just control the speed of fans.

i7-4770K @ 4.5GHz | AsRock Extreme 4 Z87

EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 @ 1485/8002 | Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Corsair Vengeance LP 2x4GB 1600MHz | Samsung Evo 840 250GB
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Well, if you want something with at least decent quality, then it's going to cost you a little bit more. 

phanteks enthoo pro | intel i5 4690k | noctua nh-d14 | msi z97 gaming 5 | 16gb crucial ballistix tactical | msi gtx970 4G OC  | adata sp900

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Well, if you want something with at least decent quality, then it's going to cost you a little bit more. 

 

All I want is something that will work and turn those fans down to a level which is bearable. Not too bothered about aesthetics, anything above £20 seems a little silly, just to control fan speed.

i7-4770K @ 4.5GHz | AsRock Extreme 4 Z87

EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 @ 1485/8002 | Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Corsair Vengeance LP 2x4GB 1600MHz | Samsung Evo 840 250GB
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All I want is something that will work and turn those fans down to a level which is bearable. Not too bothered about aesthetics, anything above £20 seems a little silly, just to control fan speed.

 

Doesn't AsRock offer a fan control program? My Extreme4 does a fine job in throttleing down my CPU cooler and you can control some case fans with this as well, maybe give this a try?

phanteks enthoo pro | intel i5 4690k | noctua nh-d14 | msi z97 gaming 5 | 16gb crucial ballistix tactical | msi gtx970 4G OC  | adata sp900

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Doesn't AsRock offer a fan control program? My Extreme4 does a fine job in throttleing down my CPU cooler and you can control some case fans with this as well, maybe give this a try?

 

It isn't the build listed in my signature, but it does have an AsRock 960GM motherboard.

It's the case fans that are the problem, they are the ones causing the noise. I have two of the fans plugged into the motherboard, and one into the PSU, and for some reason, only one of the motherboard slots can control the speed of one fan, another one powers a fan, but can't control the speed.

I'm not sure, but I'd assume plugging more than one fan into one fan slot on a motherboard via a splitter would just be a massive power drain on the board.

i7-4770K @ 4.5GHz | AsRock Extreme 4 Z87

EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 @ 1485/8002 | Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Corsair Vengeance LP 2x4GB 1600MHz | Samsung Evo 840 250GB
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Maybe you could get a fan spiltter (NZXT makes one) and control all your fans over one header. That could be an option. 

They don't cost that much. 

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NZXT-Grid-Port-Fan-AC-GRID-10-M1/dp/B00ELC6ZA2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388343974&sr=8-1&keywords=NZXT+Grid

phanteks enthoo pro | intel i5 4690k | noctua nh-d14 | msi z97 gaming 5 | 16gb crucial ballistix tactical | msi gtx970 4G OC  | adata sp900

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Maybe you could get a fan spiltter (NZXT makes one) and control all your fans over one header. That could be an option. 

They don't cost that much. 

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NZXT-Grid-Port-Fan-AC-GRID-10-M1/dp/B00ELC6ZA2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388343974&sr=8-1&keywords=NZXT+Grid

 

Would plugging four fans into one header on my motherboard not be a massive strain?

That was my original thought, which is why I was looking at the two cheap alternatives I listed in my OP.

 

EDIT: Is that NZXT bit of kit, not what this is? Link

 

EDIT 2: I've just unplugged all fans but the CPU and the Chassis Fan to make sure the Chassis Fan speed could actually be controlled via the MoBo. Unfortunately it can't, as the fans are all 3-Pin and fan speed is located on the 4th-Pin. 

Looks like I'm back to a Fan Controller...

Edited by Proxish

i7-4770K @ 4.5GHz | AsRock Extreme 4 Z87

EVGA GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 @ 1485/8002 | Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Corsair Vengeance LP 2x4GB 1600MHz | Samsung Evo 840 250GB
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Use one of the two exhausts as intake or else you will suck in dust through the cracks...always have more air coming in than going out to prevent dust buildup

Based on my experience and contrary to popular belief.

Not in all cases mate. I personally have 2 200mm fans and a 120 exhausting air out and only 2 140a and a 120 blowing air in. I haven't cleaned my PC for 3 months and there is barely any dust there.

The key is to keep air moving.

This is a case by case basis (quite literally)

CPU: i5 -2400 Cooler: Noctua NH-L12 Mobo: Fatal1ty Z68 Pro Gen3 Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8gb 1600mhz SSD: Samsung 840 120gb HDD: WD 3TB Green, Seagate Barracuda 1TB GPU: Asus GTX 760 Direct CU II (future SLI) Sound card: Xonar Phoebus PSU: Corsair RM series 750 watts Case: Aerocool Mechatron Fans: Bit Fenix Spectre Pros
Monitor:Samsung SyncMaster SA950, Philips Blade 234CLSpeakers: Logitech z506 Headset: Razer Tiamat 7.1 KB: Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth edition Mouse: Ouroburos Mouse pad: Golaithus Extended Speed edition Gamepad: Orbweaver Controllers: Wireless Xbox 360 Controller, Razer Hydra 
System: Razer Edge Mouse: Razer Orochi Mouse pad: Razer Vespula Controlers: Razer Sabertooth (2 pcs.) Headset: Razer Blackshark Speakers: Razer Ferox What can I say, I'm a huge fan of Razer.  :D
 
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Nzxt sentry mix or mesh. Fractal has one like that and so does bitfenix but that exslusively for their spectre pro led fans.

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