[SOLVED] Lian Li Lancool II Mesh performance fan controller question

[MikeyMarin]

this may be a stupid question. I've never used a fan controller before (been a while since I upgraded my last PC) and I have the Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Performance in (that's a mouthful of a case name). It has a fan controller on it with 6 ports...3 of them filled with the 3 case fans (2 140 mm fronts, 1 120 mm rear exhaust). I grabbed a pair of NF-A14 PWM 140 mm fans for the top of the case, and a single NF-F12 for the psu shroud.

my question is. Being that I'm using a different brand fans for the final 3 case fans from the ones that the Lancool II perf comes with, is there any conflict using the fan controller for those 3 added fans or should I connect them to the motherboard? The reason I ask is because I found out when building a buddies PC that if you used different types of RGB fans on a corsair RGB controller they wouldn't work right unless they were in a certain order and all the same brand.... I know a fan controller isn't an RGB controller, but since I'm new to fan controllers I wanted to see if there would be any conflicts adding different fans to run with the Lian Li fans on the fan controller before I installed everything (I have all the parts, just waiting on the thermal paste to come in so I haven't started building yet)

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

I wanted to see if there would be any conflicts

it really depends on how the fan hub is being controlled.

if it reads from a motherboard PWM header for motherboard fan curve control then having different model fans will screw up their RPM synchronization.

if it just being controlled by a front panel switch then the different settings will just be a % of the maximum RPM and shouldn't make any difference.

is there any conflict using the fan controller for those 3 added fans or should I connect them to the motherboard?

if you plan on using custom fan curves then use the fan hub for a single type of fan that will all share the same curve profile.

if you plan on having separate fan curves for different locations then you want those controlled via motherboard headers.

 

[MikeyMarin]

gotcha, the controller is controlled by a switch on the front panel, but also has a "passthrough" mode where it's controlled by the motherboard header too

I won't have any super duper custom fan curves really. All I've done in the past is create a custom fan mode on the "manual " setting for the fans for my personal taste, but all the fans share the same custom fan curve, and don't have custom unique ones based on location (I just made one profile and had all the fans mirror that)

sounds like my usage doesn't make that a problem. either way, something to think about when I set it up. at the very least I'll keep the ones that came with the case on the controller and put the PSU shroud fan that's blowing up on it's own mother board header cuz that one will probably be a bit unique. Possibly the two top exhaust fans on their own or I might keep it on the controller. Just wanted to make sure the controller wouldn't stop working or something if I added different fans on there lol

 

[Kona45primo]

Different fans shouldn't be an issue. I have the same case. Only issue I had to re enable pwm fan control in bios. Great case btw, I'm loving mine. Really like the switch on top, love the spots for 2 120mm GPU fans on the bottom.

The front 140mm fans on mine did have some audible ticking. That was unfortunate, but I swapped em out for some Noctua 140's to match the rest in the case... It's fully loaded with fans now, total overkill but whatever.... I'll keep this case for a long long time .

 

[MikeyMarin]

Different fans shouldn't be an issue. I have the same case. Only issue I had to re enable pwm fan control in bios. Great case btw, I'm loving mine. Really like the switch on top, love the spots for 2 120mm GPU fans on the bottom.

The front 140mm fans on mine did have some audible ticking. That was unfortunate, but I swapped em out for some Noctua 140's to match the rest in the case... It's fully loaded with fans now, total overkill but whatever.... I'll keep this case for a long long time .

yeah, I heard by SEVERAL people across different forums that the bearings on the Lian Li fans do tick and creak a bit. as long as they WORK I'm ok with that, but I'll keep a couple of Noctua 140's on hand as spares (the redux 140s probably would be better than the lian li ones and are dirt cheap).... not the end of the world as I usually replace a fan or so after a few years anyways as MOST pre-provided case fans just don't have the longevity to be left on 24/7 like mine are