How to hook up a Bahzillion Fans?

Design1stcode2nd

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I’m going to be switching to a new case which has room for a bazillion fans (3 of which will be more for show than anything else) anyway I have 6-SYS Fan headers but will likely have 12 fans, 6 of which will be TT Riing fans so there will be two lighting controllers as well.

My question is how do you hook up all of those fans? Run several through a fan hub and the rest to the Mobo? Get a couple of NZXT fan controllers for most of them?

How would you all configure them?
 

rwoody

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Well, I'm not going to harp on it too much, but you know there's no need for that many fans right? If you want them for aesthetics that's fine, but I hope you aren't of the impression that more fans equals more airflow. At a certain point, more fans does nothing. Of course this depends on a few factors like the case and surrounding environment.

But yeah, you've already got the right idea. One or more fan hubs would work just fine. I would recommend looking into a powered hub though, like the NZXT Grid/Grid V2.

Here's a video from LTT about case fan optimization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OmkmluAYAQ&index=55&list=LLAUTNFSJxjxD_vGEqBq6EPA
 
You could always hook them up to the psu directly.
But, they will run at full speed always.
If you want some to have motherboard control, they need to be powered by the motherboard.
You can probably use a splitter for two fans. Cut the speed sensing wire on one and both will be controlled the same way by the motherboard.

For static speed control, use a front panel fan controller.
I doubt that 12 fan controllers are available, but you could use a pair.

FWIW I would spend my money elsewhere.
 

Design1stcode2nd

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Oh I know it's overkill, I already have 6 in my existing build, I may only end up with running 10. The case is a ThermalTake Core X5 so it's big.

I was thinking of a NZXT Sentry 3 and a Silverstone hub maybe 2 Sentry 3s. Never heard of the Grid before so I'll research that.

Is there any issue with running LED fans with a controller through a fan controller? So if you lower the speed does it dim the light/cause it to flicker or is the lighting and fan speed separate? I've never used a fan controller before.
 

rwoody

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Is there any issue with running LED fans with a controller through a fan controller? So if you lower the speed does it dim the light/cause it to flicker or is the lighting and fan speed separate? I've never used a fan controller before.

Yeah unfortunately the LED's would dim if you turn down the speed of the fans. Your only options would be to rewire the fans so the LED is running to the PSU (which is a lot of hassle) or just run separate LED's through the case. Or you could just deal with the dimming LED's when the fans are turned down, but running fans at top speed all the time isn't a great idea. The noise alone would be annoying enough.

In my build, I NEVER have my fans turned all the way up, but my LED's are also separate from my fans. There's just no need to keep them running at top speed even when I'm on full load. My fans can run around 800rpm and my case will stay at a decent temp throughout.
 

Design1stcode2nd

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Thanks I was afraid of that, I think I'll hook up the 3 "display" fans directly to the mobo and the rest to the Grid.

Even in a large case I know you don't need so many fans and there are diminishing returns but its an aesthetic thing.

Similar to some custom water loops, the cost doesn't really justify the performance (at least to me) but they do look fantastic!
 

rwoody

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Thanks I was afraid of that, I think I'll hook up the 3 "display" fans directly to the mobo and the rest to the Grid.

Even in a large case I know you don't need so many fans and there are diminishing returns but its an aesthetic thing.

Similar to some custom water loops, the cost doesn't really justify the performance (at least to me) but they do look fantastic!

Yeah, I feel ya there. My build has lots of aesthetic-minded parts. You could use a front-panel fan controller, but I just recommended the Grid because you can tuck it away inside your case and control it via software. If you'd rather have physical controls on the outside though, the front panel controller would work too.
 

Design1stcode2nd

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I think the grid would be fine, I like the look of the Cam software with the various profiles and it looks like it would suit my needs. It's also a few dollars cheaper than the Sentry 3 which only controls 5 fans (sans splitters).