Fan Control Question

Dan8118

Baseband Member
Messages
44
I just ordered the parts for my first build im so excited all I can do is read installation instructions ...

From what I'm reading/youtube videos...

You can control (chassis) fan speeds as long as the power of that fan is connected directly on the MoBo, but if you run out of fan control power slots on the MoBo you will can connect them stright into the PSU, but not control their speeds.

Need some clarification please =)
 
There are things called fanbuses that will do this for you as well. There's a lot of great fanbus controllers out there, and while it's nice being able to control them on the motherboard, I find that having a fine grained control over them on the chassis itself is great when I need that extra blast of air, or want to quiet a PC down in the middle of the night.

Do you have a preference? Do you want them all to be on the motherboard? There's nothing wrong with that, and when you run out of spaces, you can, as you asked, put them directly on to the power supply, but the main drawback to this is that unless the fan has a PWM module (air temperature sensor) or an in-line fan speed switch, it'll run at full speed for whatever voltage it is being supplied, so you lose that fine grained control.

That's fine for lower speed or low noise fans, but sometimes you need a high CFM fan to get the case to the temp or airflow that you want, so plan ahead when possible.

If you'd like to see some fanbus modules, I can dig some up and post, as I'm sure others will as well if you're interested. One of the benefits to a fanbus is that it only requires one connector to your power supply, but can have up to 8 connections (so I've seen) for you to attach fans that it will both monitor and control.
 
Okay so I think my cassis fans come with a controller..

Should I connect these to the MoBo or to the PSU since they have a switch control?
(Antec 900)
• 1 top 200mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
• 1 rear 120mm TriCool fan with 3-speed switch control
• 2 front 120mm special black TriCool blue LED fans with 3-speed switch control to cool HDDs


(Havn't gotten GPU so i dont know what it looks like)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130563
Does the fan on my GPU need to be connected to the fan controllers on the MoBo as well or does the GPU power handle this on its own?

bump
 
The fan on the GPU will be controlled by the video card - you'll want it to do this, as controlling the fan on your GPU is probably best left to the GPU because of the demands on the cooling system on a video card.

As for the other fans, if they have an inline switch for fan speed, this is up to you - I haven't heard of any cases where the fan couldn't be used with a fanbus controller, but sometimes lowering the input voltage when a fan has a switch module can ruin the module and cause the fan to stop working - this is just a guess, like I said, I haven't heard of any issues where this might become a problem.

If you strategically place the fans in the case, say, put the fans with the controllers on them in a spot where you can put the little switches on the outside of the case to control them yourself, you can bypass the fanbus controller. If that isn't possible, use them in a location where you know a constant fan speed will be ok, like a low air flow portion of the case (near hard drives for example) and then use the fans on the fanbus for more intense areas like the rear exhaust area, or as an intake fan on the front of the case.
 
the fans in the antec 900 MUST be connected directly to the PSU. All of them have knobs that regulate speed though
 
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