Fan controller question...

[4Flat4Life]

I want to make sure I understand this correctly...

This controller...
Lamptron FC-8
Says it is 30W per 8 Channels... My new case, the Switch 810, will someday have 15 fans... 6 at the top with Rad, 4 on bottom with Rad, 2 in front, 2 on hard drive casing, and 1 rear fan. And the Cougar fans I want are rated at 14 watts.
So...

If I link the push pull fans together in pairs, (That's 10 fans, 6 top, 4 bot) and connect each pair to a channel, that's 28W so that's good to go...
Then pair the two front fans, and the two HDD case fans to two separate channels, that's another 28W (Not sure what there are actually called, they are the adjustable fans like dead center of the case that can be angled)
Then the last rear fan just connect to it's own channel...

That's 8 channels, with 15 fans, 7 channels at 28W... Is this all correct math etc or am I missing something...

 

[lehtv]

14 watts per fan must be at full speed. If you're buying a fan controller, you're probably not going to run them all at full speed, right? So although it seems like that'd be cutting it close, you probably won't use that much power in reality.

Just an idea: could you install two 5.25" fan controllers and use one fan per channel?

 

[Tweakin]

What are you trying to cool with that many fans? My last build only housed 5 fans total. Unless you are really hitting the upper thermals, push-pull configurations only add a few c drop over pull.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Why would you want to use a fan controller for your rad fans?

You should connect them all to mobo headers (if possible, and you can use splitters) and let the CPU decide, since I doubt you'll have a temp program running.

 

[4Flat4Life]

14 watts per fan must be at full speed. If you're buying a fan controller, you're probably not going to run them all at full speed, right? So although it seems like that'd be cutting it close, you probably won't use that much power in reality.

Just an idea: could you install two 5.25" fan controllers and use one fan per channel?

4 external bays... 2 are for the reservoir, 1 for the fan controller, and 1 for a DVD/blu ray player.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

What are you trying to cool with that many fans? My last build only housed 5 fans total. Unless you are really hitting the upper thermals, push-pull configurations only add a few c drop over pull.

The OP apparently wants to "go his own way." He's in process of building a super-system. I had advised that the motherboard he favored had about 8 fan plugs -- most controllable thermally within the BIOS, with a couple two-pin thermal sensor plugs to control the last two fans.

Just for the record, though. Fewer fans means lower noise and less power-consumption, even if the KwHrs is trivially minute. I always designed my systems for the maximum throughput of air in cu-ft/min. I think I actually increased the throughput with larger fans and a CM HAF case, but basically I only have three input fans and one 120x38mm output fan. Of course the Noctua D14 adds two more fans that I probably don't need if I were to duct the cooler to the output fan.

With radiators for a water-cooling rig, you'd need enough fans for full radiator coverage.

But . . . FIFTEEN?! FANZZZ?!

 

[ali1988]

Lamptron are good units and I remember reading a review where they tested the 30w limit per fan cable and it was golden so wouldn't worry about the 28w. It's close, but like someone above mentioned, you won't be running them all hundred percent (presumably).

 

[4Flat4Life]

What if I attach two fans to one header pin on the motherboard with a 3 pin y splitter?
Can the MoBo control both effectively and with enough power?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

What if I attach two fans to one header pin on the motherboard with a 3 pin y splitter?
Can the MoBo control both effectively and with enough power?

You can do that -- and I have done it -- with certain caveats.

Read the manual for the Rampage IV (I think that was your choice) motherboard. Find the page on the fan headers. There are spec limitations on two aspects: first, the total wattage or amperage that can be drawn from the total of ALL fan headers, and second, there may be a "per-fan" limitation. On ASUS boards, it's been my experience with other (and older) less expensive boards that the total spec is the only spec: So, if you hook up fans with a certain amperage to "primary" or CPU headers, the wattage available for the remainder may limit them against their spec "full" speed and output. I would only suspect that a board like the Rampage would have more ample power useable for the fan headers, and as I said -- there are some eight of these fan-headers on the board.

They are all 12V DC fans, so hooking up two identical fans in parallel would simply double the amperage draw, if I'm not mistaken. You'd have to experiment to see whether the BIOS would correctly control such a rig. Just my opinion, and someone might differ, but you'd want to use a single "yellow-wire" sensor connection from one fan. I think that connecting the two sensor wires from both fans is a "no-no." With that number of fan headers on the Rampage-Black, you're probably better off powering fans separately.

You would first choose your fans for your radiator coverage. If a radiator is mounted on the case back-panel to use output air, the fan may double for both the case output and that radiator; if you have a double or triple-sized radiator at case bottom, your fans might be input fans; at case top, they could be either.

If the mobo isn't adequate for the entirety of fans you wish to use, then you could add either a simple manual controller (cheaper) or something like the Aquero units I'd suggested to you in the CPU forum.

Frankly, the thermal control of fans for both noise reduction and cooling at load is best deployed to the essentials -- either heatpipe cooler fans or radiators and exhaust. Anything after that, you could choose the fan-speed, set it manually with a manual front-panel controller, and just "leave it alone." Barring some need to limit fan speeds with these latter, you could simply hook up the fans to the PSU with a 3-pin Molex converter cable and let them run full-bore.

I'm assuming you are still set on a water-cooled rig -- part of the purpose of which is to reduce the noise of air-cooling. You are still going to want some sort of case exhaust -- perhaps as I've described above.

The goal in either water-cooled or air-cooled scenarios is to provide maximum cooling with the fewest number of fans deployed with greatest effectiveness. It would be a "trade-off" or balancing act, so to speak.

 

[4Flat4Life]

My goal in terms of these fans and watercooling is looks and overkill. Even if adding more fans doesn't actually increase performance that much, having empty fan slots irratates my OCD, and there's no such thing as to cold is there? Without extremes I'm sure there's not. So even if 10 fans and no push/pull does cool the system enough, 15 with push/pull would do even more. Maybe not a lot more, but Idc. That's what I Want.

Just trying to figure out the best method for controlling them all... I am really leaning towards the fc8 controller just so I have complete control of them all. Prolly run em all at 50% unless I start playing a game then turn them to 100% or whatever I want.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

My goal in terms of these fans and watercooling is looks and overkill. Even if adding more fans doesn't actually increase performance that much, having empty fan slots irratates my OCD, and there's no such thing as to cold is there? Without extremes I'm sure there's not. So even if 10 fans and no push/pull does cool the system enough, 15 with push/pull would do even more. Maybe not a lot more, but Idc. That's what I Want.

Just trying to figure out the best method for controlling them all... I am really leaning towards the fc8 controller just so I have complete control of them all. Prolly run em all at 50% unless I start playing a game then turn them to 100% or whatever I want.

You can do that -- more fans at all-around lower speeds will keep the noise down. But there should be a throughput limit with any computer case and the fan ports. You'll reach a point of diminishing returns for each marginal fan added. There's also the "dust" factor.

Again -- the point of water-cooling had always been two-fold: get the CPU and GPU temperatures down an extra 10C or so (and reduce variability in temperature between idle/load), and eliminate or reduce the need for fans. You need fans to cool the radiators. After that -- a modest flow of CFM air through the case should resolve all the other sources of heat.

If it's a matter of cooling motherboard components -- RAM, chipset, etc. -- you can do more with a single input and a single output fan by taking a few hours to design and build a duct out of plexi-glass or foam art-board. In that case, it isn't the sheer number of CFMs you push through the case that counts, but the amount of air pushed through small spaces around those components.

People are going to admire your system more for a clever use of resources with the water-cooling. I have also seen DIY projects where the case was stripped to a frame, and everything but the front bezel and rear case-panel covered with fans. That, too, makes a conversation piece. . . if you can hear the conversation above the fan decibels.

EDIT: Per your OCD. When some manufacturer builds cases, they provide so many fan ports for fans of various sizes. They can't anticipate what any particular custom rig will need. Instead of filling all the fan ports available, you could consider using those you actually need for an optimal cooling effect and minimum noise. Like I said in another post (somewhere), I don't use all my 200mm fan ports -- don't need 'em. I block off airflow with foam art-board (plexiglass would also work) to get a pressurized case.

Without phase-change or chilled water-cooling with TEC devices, the best you can do is approach room temperature with any number of fans.

 

[4Flat4Life]

No matter I do someone will always argue I should do more, some will argue I did to much or how it should be done... I have wasted so much time and money with cars and women and sports changing to what others think I should have done. That attitude is dead. Once again I have posted a question looking for a simple answer and this forum has gone into a rant about what I should or shouldn't do, all I needed was already answered.

I have given up on this entire site. To many people need lives because commenting and reading a thread that has been answered is pathetic.

I will be putting the parts on eBay tomorrow cheap as hell just to get rid of them and not have to use this site ever again.

Thanks for the wasted hours and extremely few good ideas.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I will be putting the parts on eBay tomorrow cheap as hell just to get rid of them and not have to use this site ever again.

Thanks for the wasted hours and extremely few good ideas.

[I thought he wanted a new hobby. Certainly, there are a lot of computer hobbyists here at Anandtech. And what does one do -- seeking to start a new hobby? Avoid consulting with other hobbyists?!]

 

[Bubbleawsome]

No matter I do someone will always argue I should do more, some will argue I did to much or how it should be done... I have wasted so much time and money with cars and women and sports changing to what others think I should have done. That attitude is dead. Once again I have posted a question looking for a simple answer and this forum has gone into a rant about what I should or shouldn't do, all I needed was already answered.

I have given up on this entire site. To many people need lives because commenting and reading a thread that has been answered is pathetic.

I will be putting the parts on eBay tomorrow cheap as hell just to get rid of them and not have to use this site ever again.

Thanks for the wasted hours and extremely few good ideas.

Ok. That is why it is a forum though. There will always be different opinions, and if you can handle that it is a shortcoming of yours. If you didn't want an opinion you shouldn't have posted. You could post the sale here though, I'm sure you will get some buyers.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Ok. That is why it is a forum though. There will always be different opinions, and if you can handle that it is a shortcoming of yours. If you didn't want an opinion you shouldn't have posted. You could post the sale here though, I'm sure you will get some buyers.

If the exit and reversal of intention and enthusiasm was an emotional reaction, I'd seen it before in my long life. Before I started high-school. But perhaps my comment here is judgmental.

I just thought it was a bit strange . . .

 

[Bubbleawsome]

If the exit and reversal of intention and enthusiasm was an emotional reaction, I'd seen it before in my long life. Before I started high-school. But perhaps my comment here is judgmental.

I just thought it was a bit strange . . .

I'm not 100% sure what you are saying (1:00AM), but I was talking to him, not you. ^_^

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'm not 100% sure what you are saying (1:00AM), but I was talking to him, not you. ^_^

It was my comment about his reaction. He criticized us for offering opinions. Perhaps, if some of my remarks were intended as witty or sarcastic, it got to him the wrong way.

The guy had been on the CPUs/OC'ing forum. "Sky's the limit! No budget! I want to build a machine with the 4960X processor." Which -- is fine. But this business about " . . . cars . . women . . sports . . . changing to what others think I should have done . . " -- it just raises questions about . . . well . . . "issues" . . .

Just seems frivolous -- making those kinds of outlays, then -- junking the whole idea. Like I said -- I'd seen this . . . behavior before. Long ago. Infrequently.

Your own remark was quite level and to the point. I could only agree.