Fan controller (delta T. of air) for case fans!

[ryanmmax]

Ok, so most fan controllers i see are based on the temps of a specific component. However this method is less then ideal for use on a case fan. DOES THIS EXIST???

Ideally I the controller would have 2-4 sensors.
1. sensor on the supply for the case (this would act as a baseline or minimum temp)
2. sensor on the exhaust for the case (if temp difference between 1-2 is greater then X fan speed would need to increase)
3. sensor on the supply for the CPU heat sink (if temp difference between 1-3 is greater then Y fan speed would need to increase)
4. sensor on the supply for theGPU heat sink (if temp difference between 1-4 is greater then Z fan speed would need to increase)

Basically even if CPU/GPU temps were spiking case fans would only react if air temps change. This is important because increasing case speed only helps if the air temp in the case is rising.


I am building a custom case into a piece of furniture. I will have minimal case fans with a simple flow path. I want to be able to control my fans based on relevant data.

 

[hwc1954]

The Aquaero fan controller will do that. It has four fan headers, inputs for 8 thermistor sensors, and it will take real time data from the onboard sensors from AIDA64, OpenHardwareMonitor apps, etc. So you can get any temp you want as a control signal.

In addition, you can set "virtual sensors" such as the exhaust temp minus intake/ambient temp which gives you Delta.

I have mine set up with Delta controlling a fan curve for two sets of case fans. The exhaust thermister is mounted on the intake of an exhaust fan. For ambient, I have a sensor mounted on the grill of the bottom front intake fan.

I have a Northbridge fan controlled by a thermistor on the bottom of the northbridge heatsink. I have the power supply fan controlled by a thermistor sensor taped to one of the large PSU power mosfet chips.

There are versions of the Aquaterra that have touch panels for programming them when mounted in a drive bay, but I got the basic LT model that is just a circuit board. It communicates with the computer and is powered by a USB connection. I use the Aquasuite software to set it up. Software control from the computer is SO much easier than programming from a tiny touch screen panel that it seemed kind of stupid to pay $100 more for the fancy touch screen version.

Here's a screen cap of the display page I use in Aquasuite: Temps for all the sensors, CPU core usage, five guages for the key temps I look at, and five guages for fan speed. All of the fans are controlled by fan curves in the Aquaero except the CPU fans. Those are connected to the MB and controlled with a temp curve set in the BIOS. I simply read the fan speed and CPU temps from OpenHardwareMonitor and display in in Aquasuite.

 

[hwc1954]

BTW, as a practical matter, you don't need a DELTA over ambient for stuff like CPU and GPU temps as those temps will always be higher than any air temp in the computer and will be higher within seconds of booting the computer. You could easily set DELTAs for all of them using the Aquaero if you wanted to (you can have up to four virtual sensors), but it won't buy you anything over just using the chip temp to control those fans. The Delta is really only useful for air temp readings. It theoretically keeps you from having to change your case fan profiles for summer and winter.

You can also set the minimum temp for a fan to kick on in the fan curve. So, if I don't want my northbridge fan to start running until the northbridge temp hits 30C, I could do that. You can also set a "kickstart" speed for each fan, so it starts at a higher speed (you specify) for a number of seconds (you specify) before dropping down to a minimum speed below the speed required to start the fan. It is a very complete control software package.

 

[hwc1954]

Here's one of the versions with the touch screen:

The version I got is exactly the same circuit board, same everything, but minus the touch screen front panel. it's designed to be mounted with standoffs in the case or with optional brackets in a 5.25 inch bay, but covered by case front panel.