which fan controller?

[TitusTroy]

can someone recommend a good fan controller to use...I have 5 S-FLEX SFF21F 1600 RPM fans currently in my case and the noise can get a bit high...I've always used the motherboard fan controllers but I don't want to have to keep going into the BIOS each time I want to change my fan settings

what's the best fan controller out or at least a very good one?

 

[zagood]

cheap: Sunbeam Rheobus.
not cheap: Scythe Kaze Server

Rheobus cons: Decals on the front. Max power is about 11-11.5v per channel.

Scythe cons: You can't completely turn the fans off, minimum voltage is around 3v.

 

[Rich3077]

cheap: Sunbeam Rheobus.
not cheap: Scythe Kaze Server

Rheobus cons: Decals on the front. Max power is about 11-11.5v per channel.

Scythe cons: You can't completely turn the fans off, minimum voltage is around 3v.

One of those Sunbeams caught on fire while in my case. damn lucky thing I was sitting next to the PC with the case open when it happened. A Google search reviled that I am not the only one this has happened to. My vote is ANYTHING but Sunbeam. You're entire house and belongings is worth more than a few bucks.

 

[TitusTroy]

I read some good reviews on the NZXT Sentry 2...anyone have any experience with it?

 

[Tsumi]

I have an NZXT Sentry 2, and it's treated me pretty well so far. Powers two Aerocool 140mm Silver Lightning fans (73 CFM) on one channel without a problem. I have two 110 CFM Koolance 120mm fans on another channel, and that one also is working just fine. The other channels have one fan each. So my setup has 7 fans running off the Sentry 2. My cons would be that you can't go below 40% voltage (which I kind of want to do to see if my fans would spin at say 30% voltage), and that it's made of plastic, which bends easily in my Cosmos 1000 case, since I can't screw in the other side.

 

[nitromullet]

One of those Sunbeams caught on fire while in my case. damn lucky thing I was sitting next to the PC with the case open when it happened. A Google search reviled that I am not the only one this has happened to. My vote is ANYTHING but Sunbeam. You're entire house and belongings is worth more than a few bucks.

Glad I found this thread. I just put in a Sunbeam about two weeks ago. ...even got rid of the annoying LEDs and faced it with a lian li drive bay cover so it would match my case. Spent about 3 hours or so wiring and messing with this thing, and it looked pretty good.

It's gone now... I'll deal with the 1600rpm fans (all 8 of them)... Mrs. Mullet would be pissed if I burned down the house. :\

 

[Meghan54]

With the Sunbeam and the "caught fire" one.....stuff happens. Psu's fail, mb's fail, but the failure doesn't mean the whole brand is crap, just a failure of that unit, just like with your Sunbeam. Fortunate for you that you were there to catch it.

On the other hand, thousands of them are in use with no problems. I've got a couple of years on one running constantly with no issues.

That said, Lamptron makes a nice lineup of controllers, too. I'd investigate them as an option.

 

[TitusTroy]

I have an NZXT Sentry 2, and it's treated me pretty well so far. Powers two Aerocool 140mm Silver Lightning fans (73 CFM) on one channel without a problem. I have two 110 CFM Koolance 120mm fans on another channel, and that one also is working just fine. The other channels have one fan each. So my setup has 7 fans running off the Sentry 2. My cons would be that you can't go below 40% voltage (which I kind of want to do to see if my fans would spin at say 30% voltage), and that it's made of plastic, which bends easily in my Cosmos 1000 case, since I can't screw in the other side.

how many fans can you put on each channel?...I thought each channel only has 10 watts of power...10 watts per channel is not gonna work with multiple fans will it?

 

[aigomorla]

lamptron FC5 if u can spend some money on it.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=26486

After Cheap then, sunbeam rheobus.

 

[BadOmen]

I used a Rheobus for 2 years, and now my brother uses it. No fire at all, quite sturdy unit and being able to turn the fans off was a great pro.

Before buying it, I read somewhere that the fire issue had really happened in the past, but it was totally solved. I think I spent the first year never leaving the computer unattended while on. Anyway, have never seen anything odd.

 

[daw123]

A good fan controller is the mCubed T-Balancer bigNG, although it is a PITA mixing and matching software and drivers to get it to work in Windows 7 64bit.

The manual is also a POS. The manual for the analogue extension set, showed an earlier revision of the unit I was using, so working out what connected where became trial and error.

Once you get it working it is a dream and very controllable (through s/w) including having options for automated fan speed control, temperature monitoring, flow meters, automatic shutdown, etc (although you will need extension sets to accomplish the latter two).

http://www.t-balancer.com/english/produkt_tban_bigng.htm

It is expensive, although you do not lose a drive bay and you can mount it pretty much anywhere in your case (it can connect directly to the USB header on your MB).

If you are wanting something more budget orientated, then other posters have given you better options.

Edit: To give you an idea of cost, in the UK the T-balancer and Analogue Extension set cost me £100 (or ~$150). I wanted the monitoring capabilities for my water cooling set up. I also found it difficult to find suppliers selling it in the UK (it may be the same in the US).