Nexus 120mm fans and fan controller

[grimlykindo]

I have a p180 will all new 120mm nexus fans except the lower cage (thick) one and they are all pretty quiet, but since its right by my bed I need to be able to turn em' down at night.

I couldn't find anybody on the forum with Nexus fans on a manual controller and am just unsure how the fans will react. They only run at 1140 rpm (according to my mobo) and I'm wondering if pushing them lower would cause them to fail on make noises.

Any input is appreciated - thanks

 

[JBDan]

Are you familiar with SpeedFan? I think its a kick a_s program and highly recommend it. Its free! SF will turn your fans down/up to whatever you want them at (up to your fans max rpm) and monitor temps, rpms, and voltages as well.

 

[Shadowknight]

I use a Zalman multi-fan controller. The fastest I run them at is 750rpm. I usually run them at 650rpm and don't bother cranking up the fans when gaming, (Well, I crank up the 92mm Nexus pointed at my video card, but I don't crank up my CASE fans). Fans are almost completely inaudible in a quiet room at night, I can't hear it over the tinnitus in my ears. Just don't turn them all the way down to 5v, they won't always start from a cold boot. Run them above 600rpm and they should have no problem starting when turning on your computer.

 

[Operandi]

Another SpeedFan vote. Fan controllers are so 20th century .

 

[Banzai042]

What's wrong with manual fan controllers? You can always change things around no matter what is going on on your comp, if you're in the middle of the game and want to throttle up your fans because you had them in "ultra-slient" mode and you want them faster so your temps stay low it's far easier to punch a button or two or turn a few knobs on the front of the case than it is to alt-tab out, open the fan speed program and load the preset, or worse manually adjust things.

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: Banzai042
What's wrong with manual fan controllers? You can always change things around no matter what is going on on your comp, if you're in the middle of the game and want to throttle up your fans because you had them in "ultra-slient" mode and you want them faster so your temps stay low it's far easier to punch a button or two or turn a few knobs on the front of the case than it is to alt-tab out, open the fan speed program and load the preset, or worse manually adjust things.

You dont have to alt-tab out. Take a gander at SpeedFan. Its all automatic kinda like set it and forget it thing ya know? Instead of turning knobs, you dont move at all...you just let SF do the work. I've never used a manual fan controller and after using SF I don't see any valid reason too. Nothing against them, I guess each to their own.

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: Operandi
Another SpeedFan vote. Fan controllers are so 20th century .

lol

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I like the Sunbeam in that it can go down to 0V. I just hate the ghetto LEDs.

Do not get Nexus. Just get Yate Loon. Get the medium speeds even. Yate Loon = Nexus = Yate Loon = Nexus. Ok. Since you get the Sunbeam, you might as well just drop the voltage down for your Yate Loons. If you wanna run them at higher RPM, feel free to do so when you game. Nexus = overpriced = overpriced ver of Yate Loon fans.

 

[t0kinl3lunts]

I just got the nexus fan & light controller because it is a good looking way to control my ccfls from the front... That said, they have almost no effect on the noise of the nexus 120mm fans because it is only from turbulence. At full speed there is a noticable whoosh from the front and side fans that is lowered by about half when the fans are given only enough power to keep spinning (1/3). I don't really turn them down because it is quiet enough to sleep 3 feet away.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Operandi
Another SpeedFan vote. Fan controllers are so 20th century .

only works when you hook up the fans to the mobo right?

 

[albumleaf]

Correct, speedfan can't mess with molex-supplied power... although that would be quite a feat

 

[Safeway]

How about this you dopes touting SpeedFan as FTW:

Go ahead and plug in 3 120mm Deltas into your board and see how it likes a cold boot. I am betting your on board fan connections wouldn't survive. Plugging in alot of 120mm fans to mobo headers is continually advised against!

Buy a fanbus if you want to use alot of fans, especially 120mm fans.

 

[grimlykindo]

Thanks for all the replies guys,

I have tried speedfan numerous times and can't really ever get the fans how I want them. Also I would rather trust hardware then software for controlling my fans (plus its just another program taking up memory).

Yeah and the thing about not having 4 - 120 fans connected to your motherbord is also a valid point. The only fan I like to have connected to the mobo is my cpu and even then I usually have a fan mate 2 on it.

I'm lookin at the Sunbeam Rhoebus - its a great deal and has gotten some really solid reviews.

 

[Safeway]

Why the Sunbeam Rheobus over the Vantec Nexus? Link to your Sunbeam.

 

[Zepper]

DO NOT use fans like the Nexus 120 or SilenX fans on a controller. They already have dropping resistors in them and if you try to reduce the voltage, they may not run at all as they are already at or near the low end of their acceptable woking voltage range. Get a YateLoon 120 (the same fan as the nexus w/o the resistor (jab-tech.com has the YateLoon).
. IOW, you want to get the full-speed version of any fan you want to use on a manual or automatic controller. The Coolermaster Aerogate 1 is an excellent controller and has been on clearance at SVC.com for around $5. for some time. It can handle up to four fans and give each up to 18 Watts of power. The only niggle I had with it is that the LED color resets at each power-down. There are a couple messages here with modifications to lock your preferred color in. I have another method that I'll post it in this section one day (allows the use of a switch to lock in the color - just in case you get tired of the color you thought you wanted ) - as soon as I've fully checked it out on my unit.

.bh.

 

[grimlykindo]

Originally posted by: Safeway
Why the Sunbeam Rheobus over the Vantec Nexus? Link to your Sunbeam.

http://www.jab-tech.com/customer/product.php?productid=2529&cat=42&page=1

I haven't researched the Vantec Nexus yet - is it much different then the Sunbeam? They look pretty similar to me, I will look futher into it

 

[Safeway]

Hmm. I like the Sunbeam more now. 0 - 12V instead of 7 - 12V and 20 watts per channel instead of 18 ...

Cheaper to boot. I'll be order 2 x Sunbeam now

 

[grimlykindo]

Originally posted by: Safeway
Hmm. I like the Sunbeam more now. 0 - 12V instead of 7 - 12V and 20 watts per channel instead of 18 ...

Cheaper to boot. I'll be order 2 x Sunbeam now

Yeah its pretty hard to beat! 20W is the best I've seen and I like the simple yet effective knobs. I will probably do the same - except I only need one

 

[Safeway]

I just ordered quite a bit from Jab-Tech. Black wire grills (14), tubing inserts, 2 x Sunbeam rheobus, a couple of quiet 80mm fans, and a sleeving kit for fain tails.

 

[grimlykindo]

Jab-tech Rocks! Every order gets to me a day early and when I needed and RMA - it was no problem. I had the money back within a week

Hands down, my favorite online store

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Safeway
How about this you dopes touting SpeedFan as FTW:

Go ahead and plug in 3 120mm Deltas into your board and see how it likes a cold boot. I am betting your on board fan connections wouldn't survive. Plugging in alot of 120mm fans to mobo headers is continually advised against!

Buy a fanbus if you want to use alot of fans, especially 120mm fans.

Use as many fans as you want, just keep each header under 8 watts (conservative estimate) and your fine. 120mm L1As only draw 2.16 watts; you can easily run several of them off one fan header.

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Operandi
Another SpeedFan vote. Fan controllers are so 20th century .

only works when you hook up the fans to the mobo right?

Right.

I have my both my CPU and exhuast fans controlled by SpeedFan. The Sanyo Denki on my Alpha has a range of 1400-2500RPM. The two L1A exhuast fans have equlivlent range of about 4-7v, I never let them ramp up to 100%. The two L1A intakes run a a fixed 50%.

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: Safeway
How about this you dopes touting SpeedFan as FTW:

Go ahead and plug in 3 120mm Deltas into your board and see how it likes a cold boot. I am betting your on board fan connections wouldn't survive. Plugging in alot of 120mm fans to mobo headers is continually advised against!

Buy a fanbus if you want to use alot of fans, especially 120mm fans.

Dopes...hmmm....what board you got? Advised against by whom? Thats kewl if you like to manually control your fans via knobs, just giving the OP other options. Is your scenario the standard? More open-minded options are always welcome here.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: grimlykindo

Originally posted by: Safeway
Why the Sunbeam Rheobus over the Vantec Nexus? Link to your Sunbeam.

http://www.jab-tech.com/customer/product.php?productid=2529&cat=42&page=1

I haven't researched the Vantec Nexus yet - is it much different then the Sunbeam? They look pretty similar to me, I will look futher into it

I have the Vantec Nexus. It only goes down to 7V. Well made, good construction, I like the LEDs. Sunbeam has annoyingly bright LEDs (you can pull them out easily though), and their voltage control is REALLY nice 0 - 12V. I played with one at the store while I was picking up my Nexus. It took a while to decide but I decided in the end to get the Nexus.

Originally posted by: Operandi

Use as many fans as you want, just keep each header under 8 watts (conservative estimate) and your fine. 120mm L1As only draw 2.16 watts; you can easily run several of them off one fan header.

Well my Vantec Nexus gives a good 18W PER CHANNEL. 8W is far too conservative. If you're running Deltas, you'll easily pass 8W.

That said, I have a Panaflo Medium. That does about 3.3 watts or so.

There's really no need to run 5 fans off 1 header unless you have header shortages, so feel free to use as many as you can first then worry about trying to consolidate

 

[cnjmorris]

I'm looking to cool my case and I'm wondering the best way. I don't want to plug them into the mainboard cause I've had problems with the board on booting. I like the idea of the controller but I'd probably forget to adjust it so I'm wondering on software to control it. If I want to go with software to adjust my fans is there a way to use fans without plugging into main board?

Also, I'm looking at the 80mm Panflo (sp?) medium speed fans and I'm wondering what I need as far as wires. The current junk fan I have has a real short cord on it, now ay it reashes a controler if I go that route.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: cnjmorris
I'm looking to cool my case and I'm wondering the best way. I don't want to plug them into the mainboard cause I've had problems with the board on booting. I like the idea of the controller but I'd probably forget to adjust it so I'm wondering on software to control it. If I want to go with software to adjust my fans is there a way to use fans without plugging into main board?

Also, I'm looking at the 80mm Panflo (sp?) medium speed fans and I'm wondering what I need as far as wires. The current junk fan I have has a real short cord on it, now ay it reashes a controler if I go that route.

I use the MB fan headers for every system I build, you shouldn't have any problems if your board is working properly.

And no you can't control fans with software without plugging them into the MB fan headers.