Questions about fans

[robbversion1]

Just have a few questions regarding water cooling and fans.

I plan on getting 360mm radiator, fan controller and 6x 120mm in push/pull config.

First question, with a fan controller, do the fans need to be variable speed, or will the controller just lower the voltage of the fans to the desired speed?

Second question, the fan controllers i've been looking at normally have 4-5 fan channels, how many fans can be hooked up to one channel? I was thinking of hooking all six fans to one channel so they blow at the same speed. Is this possible at all, or will there not be enough voltage coming through that one channel?

 

[toolmaker_03]

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/15645/bus-308/G-VANS_30W_-_4_Channel_Aluminum_Rheobus_w_Multi_Color_Backlit_LED_-_Version_3_Ultra_Voltage_Edition_-_Black_GV2FC-5.html?tl=g34c17s817&id=FN9TIFaI

Something like this would most likely handle all 6 of your fans on one channel but it needs to be a high wattage per channel to handle that many fans

 

[inzone]

You don't really have to hook all 6 fans to one channel since a fan controller will have notches on the dial so you can line them all up at the same level or most fan controllers will have a rpm read out so you can see that the fans would be running at the same speed. You would need a 30w pew channel controller in order to have all 6 fans connected to onr channel. I have water cooling with a radiator that has 6 fans on it and there is a fan controller that has two fans connected to each channel. It really only matters that you have the same two fans that are facing each other connected on the same channel so that they are both running at the same speed.

 

[robbversion1]

thanks for the responses guys.

@toolmaker i must have been looking at fan controllers for hours now and never noticed the max wattage per channel.

@inzone thanks for the info. i wanted to hook those 6 together to save room for my other fans. I was going to have a radiator in the back, as well as one at the bottom of the case. those would take up three channels, plus wanted to setup a fan on my harddrive bay.

 

[toolmaker_03]

So what type of fans are you using I have a couple of fan controllers and 23 fans running on my system now so I might be able to help with configuration of the fans and how much you really need to control all of it.

 

[toolmaker_03]

there are only Two ways of controlling fans today 1)voltage control, that will work with any type of fan 2)PWM control, only works with 4 pin fans and controllers that are designed to control fans in this manner, but as I have stated, even this type of fan can be controlled with a voltage style controller.

 

[inzone]

This fan controller could be one way to solve your problem since it is a 12 channel fan controller.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=36_48&products_id=31118

This next controller is a 30w per channel and would serve to connect multiple fans to each controller , however if this one is used you would then have to find a way to connect multiple fans to each controller as there will only be the one 3 pin connector on the controller so you would either have to use a lot of splitters which could end up being messy or some kind of multiple connection wire splitter.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=36_48&products_id=34293

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34_82&products_id=33092

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34_82&products_id=29694

 

[toolmaker_03]

Yea, that is why I am asking how many fans altogether, it is because I have other systems, and I do not need a fan controller at all for them. Some mother boards have 6 or more fan headers on them and can handle all of the fans in the case as well as the fans for the water system but it depends on the type of fans the total load and that sort of stuff.

 

[rubix_1011]

Fan controller is nice if you run faster fans, or just get slower speed fans and there is no need for a controller.

 

[robbversion1]

I dont have any fans as of yet. I was waiting to get some more info before I made the purchases.

I plan on running a total of about 11 fans

1. 6 for the top radiator (360mm) push/pull
2. 2 for back radiator (140mm) push/pull
3. 2 for bottom radiator (240 mm) pull
4. 1 for the HDD bay.

I wanted to control the speed of the rad fans. The HDD fan one i could care less about.


So lets say that each fan uses about 1.3 watts (seems to be the avg from what i've seen)

Zone 1 would use about 7.8 watts
Zone 2 would use about 2.6 watts
Zone 3 would use about 2.6 watts
Zone 4 would use about 1.3 watts

I think I want to go the fan controller route since I can adjust real quick on the fly if i'm playing a game for instance. I also like the fact that some of them have temp gauges on them as well.

 

[rubix_1011]

What are you cooling that you have a 360, 240 and a 140?

 

[robbversion1]

Yea, might be a little overkill but have a i7 3770k and 3x gtx 680s

*edit* might cool the memory too down the road.

 

[inzone]

The 360 will cool the three 680's and the 240 will cool the cpu and the memory down the raod so that leaves an extra radiator taking up space. Unless your going to do some heavy overclocking the thing you have to remember is that they are making components to use less and less watts and that means less heat. The cpu has a TDP of 77w and the 680's while impressive with a performance increase over the 580 does not use as much power so they also will give off less heat.
Before you go spending money and finding out that you have bought parts that you don't need you should add up the watts that will be consumed just like you did with the fans. It is your money that you will be saving. The good thing about a cutom water cooling system is that at any point in time you can add to it so if you did find out that you need that extra radiator then you could add it later on.

 

[robbversion1]

Thats good to know =D saves me money lol. now i have to figure out if i'm going to put the 240 at the back (outside) or bottom of the case. I have a 800d so i know that the bottom has to be modded to get the 240 to fit.

 

[robbversion1]

Best answer selected by robbversion1.