No baseline as I haven't even bought the MB and CPU. I will run the H60 with shroud sealed in the pull only and then with the push fan added. I plan on using a Gigabyte x97 UD5H with fan control in the software. Might set up the H60 fans to thermal control and the case fan intakes to a temp sensor inside the case.
Would be nice to have a single software system to monitor all the temps at once( CPU, GPU, MB chips, drives and inside case temps) to create a termp/ fan speed config base on any max temps or a ave temp across all sensors. I need to sniff around the nets and get up to speed on fan conrols/ software. Like I said, been out of building PC for a loooooong time.
That's why we share experiences here at the forums.
I was on a "vision quest" for maybe six years for thermal fan control. First time I "did it right," I had a 120x38mm Delta Tri-Blade on a heatpipe cooler and a Springdale ASUS board -- p4p800-SE I think it was. I could only control the CPU fan. I spent too much change on controllers. I started backing away from SpeedFan: the project has attempted almost to do too much -- keep track of all the sensors on all the boards ever made.
Gigabyte has a proprietary software called "EZ-Tune," and it has a module or feature that works similar to ASUS AI Suite and either Fan Xpert or Thermal Radar -- to set fan curves for duty-cycle plotted against temperature C. On the ASUS board, one has both CPU and Chassis fan control -- for two fan curves. Both controlled according to CPU temperature. There's a chance that the EZ-Tune software also allows for multiple fan curves. The only version I'd worked with belonged to an LGA-775 Gigabyte board.
I'd say you should plot a course on this issue with a goal of avoiding extra software, extra sensors, etc. An ingenious solution will be the most simple.
You can GET monitoring software that serves up everything, and first I can think of are CPUID HWMonitor and Aida-64. There should be a limited trial version of the latter, but you have to buy the full enchilada.
Point of it: Unless you're setting up a peculiar airflow situation as pertains to GPU, VRM or chipset motherboard components, you shouldn't need to do more than just "monitor" those. More recent GPU cards come with their own monitoring software and features for defining fan curves of the GPU.
I find it very fine -- even elegant -- to define a fan curve for all the chassis fans and a fan curve for all the CPU fans. But both groups of fans ramp up according to CPU temperature. They just follow different fan curve schedules or sets of RPM/temperature points.
However, if you want to at least LOOK at add-on, "smart," thermally controlled fans by a front panel controller or even a simple little circuit card, look at the Aquaero units:
http://www.frozencpu.com/search.htm..._id=oFIcSjJh&searchspec=Aquaero&go.x=0&go.y=0
Again -- adds a level of complexity. But it (the Aquaero 5 units) communicate with the motherboard and CPU via internal USB connection (as I recall). Otherwise, with some controllers you'd be "on your own" with separate analog and digital sensors, harder to place and measure core temperatures. And even with the Aquaero, it's another device, which connects to additional "devices" (fans and pumps). Better if you can organize the fans, distribute them so as not to overload the mobo fan ports, or -- with PWM fans, you can control them from a splitter connected to the CPU_FAN PWM port and powered directly from the PSU 12V Molex or SATA. the Swiftech 8W-SPL-PWM-SAT model has ports for 8 PWM fans.
Find us a Gentle Typhoon AP-30 -- preferably with PWM all wired and ready -- I can show you what you can do with your duct and that lil' ol' H60!! But you're going to want to wrap the assembly in acoustic-deadening foam rubber . . adhesive padding.. . . . The closest I can come to an AP-30 as I scan the online stores is a 120mm Noctua "Industrial" IPPC 3,000 RPM fan . .. which . . . looks promising. PWM, all the features and reputation you'd need to build with confidence. And ONLY 41 dBA noise rating!!
Peace!! Through superior . . . fire . . . power!!
Incidentally, now that I scroll back through your photos. Get some rubber fan mounts for those top fans. If you have some strategy about a custom panel to cover them with a grille, fine -- but the little screws and nuts will propagate fan vibration and motor noise throughout the case. You'll be glad you spent the chump-change on those little rubber suckers. Sidewinder Computers has them; so does FrozenCPU, I think.