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Can anyone recommend a good quality fan controller, preferebly showing current temps/fan speed and preferebly profiles so you can make the pc overall quieter at night.
I have a coolermaster cosmos 1000 case so I need one that doesnt have knobs stciking out the front too far.
I like the look/specs on this but im not sure how reliable they are, since ive not used any fan controllers I'm not sure what would be good or not spec wise.
A2349 HardCano SE
Regards
BS
I seem to remember that the Zalman ZM-MFC2 is highly rated
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
also the Scythe Kama-Meter
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
EDIT: Although that's got some knobs on it so might be out.
another would be the SilverStone FP52B
Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
don't know what it's like, best bet would be to find some reviews of it.
Did you check to see what your own motherboard BIOS and utilities will do? Most motherboards come with a monitoring utility, some allow you to control fan speeds. And if you are using any motherboard fan headers, check the BIOS.
Thanks for the recommendations Pob255 and for taking the trouble to provide linkies, Ill have a looksy at those. Thanks also Bill, I dont actually have the Motherboard yet, wasnt really aware they had too much on them nowadays, my last MB is 3years old now. Im not sure which MB ill be getting, atm my ideas are the Asus rampage formula x48 or the DFI x48 (if either ever see the daylight).
Hopefully my new cpu will arrive early next week and luckily im away a week so not tortured by having a cpu and no MB, hopefully they'll be out when I get back.
Bit fedup of having shiney things in boxes whilst my Vista nags me about activation till I can get the new MB fitted for that.
Kind regards,
BS
If you have not made your motherboard purchase yet then you have many options. That said, the better boards have more options - but you can certainly check the board websites to see what comes with each board. If you stick with a major maker (Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI, BIOStar, DFI, Intel, and others, and stay away from the very basic models, you should get a nice temperature and fan speed monitor, and controller.
Of course, using large, quality fans makes a huge difference too.
If you buy an Abit board, invest in a uGuru clock, then you can monitor fan speeds, temps & more. Or use a utility like SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer.
I recommend CoreTemp for newer Intel and AMD64 CPUs. I also like Speedfan, or you can try Motherboard Monitor. Unfortunately, I have found that these programs often have problems properly identifying and labeling the sensor they are reading. The temperatures shown are as accurate as the inexpensive, low-tech sensors will allow, but it may say System Fan instead of CPU Fan. Fortunately, the programs do allow you to edit the labels, so I use Everest to verify the temperatures (as it is able to put sensor to label correctly), then edit the label in the monitoring program. In Everest, look under Computer > Sensor, then wait a couple seconds for the readings to appear. Unfortunately, Everest does not minimize to the system tray to show real-time temperatures, otherwise, you could use Everest instead of the others.
That said, the program that comes with your motherboard will likely be able to properly identify and label the sensors.
Thanks for the info Oid/Bill, havnt actualy heard of an abit x48 board yet, havnt especially looked at abit since my last abit board blew a cap and splashed all over the board taking the processor with it. Although now I think most use more durable ones now.
I'd forgotten about the everest application so ill grab a new version as build the new system, although I think most overclockers now use Realtemp or somthing to monitor the temp on wolf/yorkies since the sensor changed on these processors causing lot of apps like speedfan and coretemp to read it incorrectly.
Regards
BS
I'd agree with bill here, get a good motherboard (ie not one of the low cost ones) and some decent fans.
Quite a few of the more expensive ones have some good BIOS setting for auto fan control (where as the cheaper versions often only have auto cpu fan control) and more fan headers
something like the Abit IP-35 Pro or Asus P5K Premium
Both of these have setting in the BIOS to automatically control the system fan speeds (they change the fan speed based on a given % to try to acheive a target temp, same as the CPU auto speed control) they also have software utilities at can alter the fan speeds or BIOS settings from within windows (Asus's one is called AI, ABit's is called uGuru)
Speedfan while nice isn't too accurate/helpful at times, trying to change the speed of my fans with it did nothing and pulls up some rather odd numbers (eg on my system, temp3 is -128c)
I'd definately agree on good fans, no need to go crazy here but advoid the real bargin basement ones.
1000 rpm (or less) 120mm fans tend to be as near slient as makes no odds, however they don't tend to push much air.
The Scythe S-FLEX are very nice but cost just over £10 a go, where as the Sharkoon system fans still work quite well while only being just over £5.
The main thing to remember is speed = air flow = noise
I have an Scythe s-flex 800rpm and a sharkoon system (power) fan 2400rpm
Yes the sharkoon at full wack is loud but puts out a heck of a lot of air.
I turn it down to minimum on my fan controller (no idea on rpm speedfan says 5049 but it says 4886 at max speed :rolleyes: ) it's still just louder than my sflex but it still seems to be putting out more air than the sflex.
Also look for a cpu cooler with a 120mm fan ;)
Sharkoon silent eagles are available from scan, push a fair bit of air and are quiet. Get 2000rpm ones (nearly inaudible!) and get a fan controller on them, even if it's just the little zalman ones on the inside of your case.