Automatic Fan Controllers for my PC

I have been looking into automatic fan controllers for the PC that I am building.

Ideally, I would want a fan controller that would set the fan to half (or slightly above half) of its full speed when the temperature in its zone is low. As the temperature rises in a zone, I would want the fan controller to increase the RPM of the fan or fans in that zone. I want the trigger temperature and the shutdown temperatures to be far enough apart that the fan didn't stutter. I want a display that shows temperature by zone. That display should also show me RPM by individual fan. Going further, I would like to see the temperature of each core in my Intel Quad core i7 CPU. I would like the CPU, NB, and memory temperatures to come from the MOBO itself instead of independent sensors. Looking down at my case's front 5.25'' for a display with a 30 degree viewing angle is awkward. Rather, I would like the display to be a window on my Linux/Windows desktop.

Ah, to dream.

Here is the reality. My first place pick is the Aerocool Modern-V

Here is the product home page. Not much information. There is a manual but very brief. Nice colors though.
http://www.aerocool.com.tw/periphe [...] dern-V.htm

Here is a review. Pretty positive.
http://www.3dxtreme.net/index.php? [...] -modernvp1

I have a HAF 932 case. Fortunately the wattage of each of the three HAF 932's 230mm fans is less than the 0.5 amp @ 12v (6 watts) per fan limit of the
Aerocool Modern-V. But this means one fan per channel. This limit could prove awkward.

Another decent pick is the NZXT Sentry LX. Here is a nice review: http://icrontic.com/articles/nzxt-sentry-lx-review
The Sentry LX can handle 4 watts per channel which might be pushing it. This could be why the reviewer couldn't get the controller to reduce the fan speed.

What about the community? What have you guys and gals found that works?

Mike Ramsey

I have been researching the ASUS Rampage II Extreme MOBO to see how well it handles temperature control. This MOBO has:

• 1 CPU fan connector
• 3 Chasis fan connectors
• 1 Power fan connector
• 3 Optional fan connectors

Digging into the fan control I was pleasently surprized to find that the ASUS Rampage II Extreme MOBO comes with three optional temperature sensors. These are in addition to the built in temperature sensors that most modern MOBOs have for CPU, northbridge, southbridge, motherboard, and power.

The Q-Fan Plus function uses these optional temperature measurements to control, via the three corresponding fan sockets, fans that you have placed close to each sensor.

Fan Xpert allows the user to adjust both the one CPU fan speed and (collectively) the three chassis fan speeds using preset patterns. For the chassis fans, the allowed patterns are silent, standard, and turbo. The CPU fan adds the intelligent and stable patterns.

With this MOBO, I wouldn't need to purchase additional fan control devices. Hmmm, $375 at Newegg.