Understanding Fans, Splitters, & PWM

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scotthew

scotthew

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Dec 11, 2011
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Building my second PC over Christmas vacation. I have nearly everything ordered, but I do have questions about fan management.

There are 5 sections that I would like to control independently:
-Front Case In: 2x Phanteks PH-F140SP
-Bottom Rad In: 3x Phanteks PH-F120MP (PWM)
-Top Rad Out: 3x Phanteks PH-F140SP
-Rear Case Out: 1x Corsair AF140
-Water Pump: Alphacool VPP655 (PWM)

The case itself (Phanteks Enthoo Primo) comes with a large splitter/hub in the back. If I understand correctly though, any fans connected to it will all run at the same speed.
My mobo (MSI Z170A Krait) has, I believe, two PWM fan headers and three 3-pin fan headers.

So the questions is: what's my best option for being able to control each of the 5 sections?
Seems to me I would attached the water pump to one CPU header, the 3 PWM bottom radiator fans to the other CPU header (via the supplied case splitter), and then buy splitter cables to attach the other fans to the 3-pin fan headers. But I'm not certain what all I should be aware of when setting this up. My current build I didn't really mess with fan control at all.

Thanks for any info you can provide!
 
Solution
O
Be careful using splitters. Your motherboard fan headers can only supply so much power. Double check the max power output and compare it to the power needed by 3 fans.

"what's my best option for being able to control each of the 5 sections?" This depends on what your definition of control is. Do you just want the fans to run on a moderate speed? or do you want to precisely control the fan speeds? I would recommend a fan controller for your case, as you have so many fans. In my water-cooling setup, I got a fan controller to run my fans at the lowest they can go, so its silent, and also be able to monitor water temp and case internal temp easily.
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getochkn

getochkn

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Jul 2, 2006
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Usually if there are 2 CPU headers, they are controlled at the same time, and then usually any other case/system fans are controlled at the same time, so even though you have 5 headers, you only have 2 controls, and the control of them is usually controlled by CPU temps. This is the way most MB's are done.
 
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oczdude8

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Oct 18, 2009
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Be careful using splitters. Your motherboard fan headers can only supply so much power. Double check the max power output and compare it to the power needed by 3 fans.

"what's my best option for being able to control each of the 5 sections?" This depends on what your definition of control is. Do you just want the fans to run on a moderate speed? or do you want to precisely control the fan speeds? I would recommend a fan controller for your case, as you have so many fans. In my water-cooling setup, I got a fan controller to run my fans at the lowest they can go, so its silent, and also be able to monitor water temp and case internal temp easily.
 
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Solution
scotthew

scotthew

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Dec 11, 2011
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So a fan controller being my best option, I started looking for one I liked. What I turned up is there seems to be a major lack of controllers that support PWM fans and pumps. Does anyone know of a good controller with around 5 channels, that can handle 30W per channel, and can be used to control PWM devices?

Unless I can find one, it seems I'll have to use the two PWM CPU headers on my board to run the D5 pump and the 3 intake radiator fans. If getochkn is right, that also means I won't be able to set them separately from each other. It seems awkward to have my water pump and fans stuck at the same pulse.
 
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