Flat Fan Controller needed

[Alloneword]

I run an Fractal Design XL R2 case all with fans my switch on my case will only do 5 & 7v right now and i feel in this weather they should be ruuning 12v as i have 3 SSD's in there and 8 spinner ranging from 2TB to 8TB and want to keep them cool so looking at a fan controller However they have shot up in price since i last looked at them, I run 4 x Noctua NF-A14 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM 140mm, 2 sucking in over the 8 HDD, one on the floor sucking in, and the last one is sucking out at the back.

The MB is an Asus Z87 Deluxe running an i7 4770k (Haswell, never O/C) 16GB, no video card it runs of CPU, the CPU cooler is a Noctua NH-C12P SE14 Top-Down CPU Heatpipe Heatsink with NF-P14 Fan that just runs at full speed all the time, I have a 850W Corsair PSU, Adaptec SAS Adapter 7805H card with 4 of the spinners running of that, i think that should give you enough info about the machine.

So i'm looking for a fan controller that will be flat as i like to keep case door shut, i have found these 3 and wanted your thoughts on what i have found or anything i have missed that you think i should consider looking at
Kaze Master Flat II
Kaze Master II
Gelid Solutions Speed Touch 6 LCD Fan Speed Controller

I like the idea of Scythe's as the safety aspect of shutting of PSU if no fan movement and they spin up at 12v to start as they say some fans have issues at low voltage, but have not made my final choice as of yet, your input is more than welcome.

All1

 

[Jamin280672]

I run an Fractal Design XL R2 case all with fans my switch on my case will only do 5 & 7v right now and i feel in this weather they should be ruuning 12v as i have 3 SSD's in there and 8 spinner ranging from 2TB to 8TB and want to keep them cool so looking at a fan controller However they have shot up in price since i last looked at them, I run 4 x Noctua NF-A14 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM 140mm, 2 sucking in over the 8 HDD, one on the floor sucking in, and the last one is sucking out at the back.

The MB is an Asus Z87 Deluxe running an i7 4770k (Haswell, never O/C) 16GB, no video card it runs of CPU, the CPU cooler is a Noctua NH-C12P SE14 Top-Down CPU Heatpipe Heatsink with NF-P14 Fan that just runs at full speed all the time, I have a 850W Corsair PSU, Adaptec SAS Adapter 7805H card with 4 of the spinners running of that, i think that should give you enough info about the machine.

So i'm looking for a fan controller that will be flat as i like to keep case door shut, i have found these 3 and wanted your thoughts on what i have found or anything i have missed that you think i should consider looking at
Kaze Master Flat II
Kaze Master II
Gelid Solutions Speed Touch 6 LCD Fan Speed Controller

I like the idea of Scythe's as the safety aspect of shutting of PSU if no fan movement and they spin up at 12v to start as they say some fans have issues at low voltage, but have not made my final choice as of yet, your input is more than welcome.

All1

Why not just use one of these: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/xspc-8-way-pwm-splitter-hub-sata-powered-black-v2-fg-009-xs.html

I recently brought one, they are tiny and discrete, can be placed anywhere, plug upto 8 pwm fans into it, power is supplied to all the fans via an sata connector, then just connect the other end to the CPU fan header, or any headerr to be honest, the speed of the fans can then be controlled by your motherboards bios or software ie easytune for instance, you can set a curve, so as everything get warmer, they auto speed up.

As for shutting the system down, you can also set that in the bios, shutdown on CPU fan fail.

 

[Alloneword]

Thanks for the suggestion but it's not my cup of tea, I don't like installing any more software then i need to that is why i want the fan controller option but an intresting bit of kit.

All1

 

[EsaT]

I run 4 x Noctua NF-A14 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM 140mm, 2 sucking in over the 8 HDD

Those two fans would be sensible to put into one channel using splitter cable.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-cable-y-splitter-2-fan-pwm-10cm-wc-551-ek.html
That would leave one channel out of four free, if you would like to attach CPU heatsink fan into it.

Scythe fan controllers have long time had good designs.
Ones using linear regulators like Kaze Master II, having actual heatsinks on them to give backing to promised output power per channel.
And those with "digital regulator" like Kaze Master Flat II having clearly output filtering to clean dirty output waveform of digital regulator.
Start up boost is also certainly useful, because some fans can run at lower voltage than their starting voltage.
And while it would be relatively easy to check that fans start at chosen voltages, accumulation of dust and wear might later change that.

Scythes also have cables which would fit four pin connector of PWM fan for voltage control, which are now sleeved in Kaze Master Flat II if that's important for you.
https://proclockers.com/reviews/cooling/scythe-kaze-master-flat-ii-fan-controller-review/page/0/1

That Gelid is again curious.
While it has components needed for digital regulator output filtering, those components are haphazardly positioned like if having no connection to fan channels.
And lack of fan failure alarm can be considered disappointing.


If you think these expensive you don't want to check price of Aquaero.
(that's microprocessor controlled programmable fan controller)

 

[ttaskmaster]

Lamptron do some flat ones. Usually reasonable prices...

 

[doyll]

Too bad you are against using any software, because the aquaero fan controllers are the best in the world, no exaggeration. But the best way to use them is with their software to set it all up. After that you don't need the software unless you want to change something. There are 2 basic types, aquaero 5 and aquaero 6 with 6 being newer and better with more PWM channels and digital variable voltage control so no heat buildup when variable fans are used at low speeds. The basic using in both is their LT model which is not too expensive and does not use a 5.25" bay but mounts inside of case. Aquaero 5 LT is £49.99 and newer / better aquaero 6 LT is £89.99 but out of stock. There are other models using 5.25" bay but they use same basic LT units in the plus front panel features.

Here is link to aquaero controllers and accessories:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/search?sSearch=aquaero+lt

Here is link to long thread of aquaero owners:
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/aqua-computer-aquaero-owners-thread.18629551/

 

[LePhuronn]

Thanks for the suggestion but it's not my cup of tea, I don't like installing any more software then i need to that is why i want the fan controller option but an intresting bit of kit.

All1

That PCB splitter doesn't require software. It's just a splitter.

 

[doyll]

I run an Fractal Design XL R2 case all with fans my switch on my case will only do 5 & 7v right now and i feel in this weather they should be ruuning 12v as i have 3 SSD's in there and 8 spinner ranging from 2TB to 8TB and want to keep them cool so looking at a fan controller However they have shot up in price since i last looked at them, I run 4 x Noctua NF-A14 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM 140mm, 2 sucking in over the 8 HDD, one on the floor sucking in, and the last one is sucking out at the back.

The MB is an Asus Z87 Deluxe running an i7 4770k (Haswell, never O/C) 16GB, no video card it runs of CPU, the CPU cooler is a Noctua NH-C12P SE14 Top-Down CPU Heatpipe Heatsink with NF-P14 Fan that just runs at full speed all the time, I have a 850W Corsair PSU, Adaptec SAS Adapter 7805H card with 4 of the spinners running of that, i think that should give you enough info about the machine.

So i'm looking for a fan controller that will be flat as i like to keep case door shut, i have found these 3 and wanted your thoughts on what i have found or anything i have missed that you think i should consider looking at
Kaze Master Flat II
Kaze Master II
Gelid Solutions Speed Touch 6 LCD Fan Speed Controller

I like the idea of Scythe's as the safety aspect of shutting of PSU if no fan movement and they spin up at 12v to start as they say some fans have issues at low voltage, but have not made my final choice as of yet, your input is more than welcome.

All1

Your motherboard has 6 fan headers (2x CPU and 4x chassis) with Bios control. Or you can use Asus Fan Xpert 2 to setup Bios controlled fan curves from windows, then Fan Xpert 2 can be removed so there is no software is involved. I would keep Fan Xpert 2 installed for a month or so to be sure you have fan curves setup the way you want them for year around use. It does not need ot be running except to change fan curves.