PWM Fan Controller Help

Help Plz · Mar 2, 2015

I'm looking for a fan controller that supports PWM fans, can provide less than 40% power to fans (many don't, and I have very high rpm fans), and rests in a single 5.25 in bay or inside the case (however I would prefer if it sat inside the case). I am looking for a hardware solution as Speedway doesn't support my motherboard and my motherboard can't supply less than 40% to my fans.

Thanks!

EagleDesignInc · Mar 2, 2015

NZXT Sentry-2 5.25" Touch Screen Fan Controller
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811992005&cm_re=fan_controller-_-11-992-005-_-Product

AeroCool Touch 2000 Controller, Panel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999198&cm_re=fan_controller-_-11-999-198-_-Product

JackNaylorPE · Mar 2, 2015

They are going away fast .....

The latest technology has moved in another direction. Manual Fan control is kinda eschewed these days and MoBos now come with so many headers that fan controllers have become unnecessary. If you don't have enough headers, you can use this:

http://www.swiftech.com/8-WayPWMsplitter.aspx

While PWM offers greater and lower range speed control.... it also has downsides namely cost and low speed ticking or humming. The atest technology provides for PWM control over 3 pin DCV fans giving you a best of both worlds scenario.

The Phanteks Fan Hub provides for either PWM or DCV control of 3 pin DCV fans. It operates in one of 2 ways:

PWM - Connect to PWM header and you can control up to one amp's worth of fans from a MoBo PWM Header or connect the provided power cable and you can control up to 11 fans.

DCV - Connect to DCV header and you can control up to one amp's worth of fans from a MoBo DCV Header

Note that just because a header nhas 4 pins, that does NOT mean it is PWM..... most Z87 boards had (2) PWM headers and several 4 pin chassis headers but the CHA headers were DCV.

I'm using 3 of the Phanteks Hubs to control 15 fans in my rig.

http://www.phanteksusa.com/products/phanteks-fan-hub

Newegg had a helluva markup on these things last few eeeks pricing them at $60 but they now down to $20 w/ free shipping. IIRC, Phanteks charges $7 for shipping on top of the $15 price tag.

As far as I know, both the Aerocool and NZXT fan controllers above are not true PWM and use DCV control. Newgg says that the Aerocool has only 3 pin connectors.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1958264/nzxt-sentry-pwm-controller.html

When you use the NZXT Sentry II ( I had one), the fan controller use the voltage control method, it is not the PWM.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1541944/pwm-fans-4-pin-with-nzxt-sentry-mix-2-fan-controller

4-pin fans have Positive, Negative, RPM Sense, and PWM control pins.
3-pin fans have Positive, Negative, PRM Sense

You can use a 4-pin fan on a 3-pin header, but it will run a 100% speed because there's no PWM control pin. That's actually a good thing, because it means you can control a PWM fan with either PWM -or- by reducing the voltage to the fan. Naturally, 3-pin fans can only be controlled by reducing the voltage.

If you're going to be using a simple 3-pin fan controller, you're typically wasting your money by buying 4-pin fans because they cost more and you won't be using the 4th pin/PWM for anything. But, they'll work fine.

Fan Controllers provide some bling which is fun for a few days, but I think you will soon tire of having to manually adjust 4-5 channels of fans every time your CPU / GPU load increases or decreases. The Hub based method .... for either PWM or DCV fans is all automatic .... set it, tweak it, forget it. Today's MoBo Software (i.e. Asus FanXpert) is phenomenal.

hwc1954 · Mar 2, 2015

The simple way to control a bunch of PWM fans is one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DYQRFY6

The PWM signal the TACH/RPM lead hook up to a 4-pin PWM header on the MB. The +12 V and GROUND wired connect to a power supply molex. You can control four (or more) fans from a single fan header, usually in sync with your CPU fan.

For something more elaborate, the Aquaero 5 LT mounts inside the case and has three voltage controlled 3-pin headers and one 4-pin PWM header. All can be set to 20% or lower. The Aquaaero 6 mounts in a drive bay and has four PWM 4-pin headers. The Aquaero can be manually controlled, or set to automatically control fan speeds based on thermal sensors or temp readings from the MB. They are best controlled with the included Windows software.

JackNaylorPE · Mar 2, 2015

I have 3 of those splitter cables around here somewhere ....one custom sleeved. None worked on my air coolers. Had another one that worked which I used for a while but the PWM fans hummed so I switched them out for 3 pin and sold the splitter with the fans. The cables were messy tho.

The Swiftech unit works great .... and a lot less messy especially on rads. One wire from MoBo to rad and then 8 short hidden cables to the hub

hwc1954 · Mar 2, 2015

The Swiftech is fine if you need to connect 8 PWM fans. The sleeved splitter is a lot cheaper if you only need to connect four fans. Functionally, they are the same thing. I ran two PWM air cooler fans and two PWM case fans with the splitter version. No problem.

As a bonus, you can always connect a 3-pin fan to either of these splitters and it will run at 100% speed. It's basically just connecting the 3 pin fan to the PSU.

JackNaylorPE · Mar 2, 2015

There are several significant differences, cost isn't one of them.

1. Cable splitters are limited by the header's amperage. So let's say you connected 4 of these fans.... your MoBo header is toast.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608048

The MoBo header typically has a max voltage rating of 1 amp .... so two of the above fans can kill it.

The hub pulls power from the PSU, not the Header. The reason it costs more than the cable splitter is it provided auxillary power, does 8 fans and its a high quality unit.

2. If you don't need 8 fans, don't need the power cable, or aren't looking for the best quality units, then the ModMyToys Hubs will work for ya.... and at less cost than your cable splitter

4 fans ($5/50) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/23519/ele-1299/4-Pin_PWM_Power_Distribution_PCB_4x_Way_Block_MMT-PCB-4P-44P.html?tl=c121s424b214

6 fans ($5.99) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/23518/ele-1300/4-Pin_PWM_Power_Distribution_PCB_6x_Way_Block_MMT-PCB-4P-64P.html?tl=c121s424b214

8 fans ($6.50) http://www.frozencpu.com/products/23517/ele-1301/4-Pin_PWM_Power_Distribution_PCB_8x_Way_Block_MMT-PCB-8P-44P.html?tl=c121s424b214

3. When ya use a cable splitter, the individual cables start just a fer inches away from the MoBo header....leaving you with a web of cables to deal with. With the hub, you run just one cable to point out of view and then run the cable to individual fans "behind the scenes".

hwc1954 · Mar 2, 2015

The splitter I linked is not powered by the motherboard fan header. It is powered by a Molex connected to the PSU, exactly like the Swiftech. It only grabs the PWM control signal (and TACH wire connection) from the 4 pin header -- exactly like the Swiftech. In fact, it is exactly the same thing as the Swifttech, just 4 fans instead of 8.

It doesn't have to be any closer to the 4-pin header than the Swiftech. Just one connection goes to the fan header and that's about 8 inches long. The wire with the Molex connector is about 8 inches long. The four fan connectors split off from that junction and are about 6 inches long.

I tucked the whole thing in an empty HDD bay and the only thing going to the MB was a single sleeved wire to the CPU fan header.

The MOD MY TOYS hubs you linked are not the same. They don't have a molex connection. They are powered by the USB fan header's +12V and, thus, have the potential to overload the fan header. The splitter I linked is like the Swifttech -- the +12V power does not come from the fan header.

JackNaylorPE · Mar 4, 2015

The differences with the modmytoys units were plainly stated " If you don't need 8 fans, don't need the power cable, or aren't looking for the best quality units

1200 rpm 140mm typically comes in at 0.14 amps leaving capacity for 6
1500 rpm 140mm typically comes in at 0.18 amps leaving capacity for 5
2400 rpm 120mm typically comes in at 0.18 amps leaving capacity for 5

So unless you have 3000 rpm fans, and presumable have puter in next room for noise abatement, don't see much use for a power cable until 6 - fans. I used the Phanteks Hub (no power cable) on a single header with 8 1200 rpm (0.14 amp) fans for about 8 months.

My bad on missing the power connector in the image..... but for (6) 1200 rpm fans (typically 0.14 volts) , the power cable is redundant

Looking at your image, the single MoBo cable looks about 12" long with the split in the middle. Three of mine were about that size, the 1 of the 4 that worked was only 6". Depending on where ya header is, that can be problematic. In my build for example, the two CPU Headers controlling the two pumps, allow a short run to a grommeted opening so no problem.

However, I have three other channels, the most problematic of which runs horizontally across the MoBo at a level just above the top GFX card. That would put the split into the 4 cables dead center in my case window .... and that also requires routing the power cable for that feed in full view.

You can see the location in the image below. The fan header is just to the left of the Republic of Gamers logo and I tucked the 18" feeder cable between the GPU Water Block baseplate and the MoBo.... had it 'split" into 5 wires, i couldn't have done that. The feeder cable goes around the board's right end and behind the MoBo to one of the screwed in Hub mounts. All other wiring is behind the MoBo tray.

I'm not saying a cable splitter can't work; I'm saying:

1. Hubs works in more instances
2. Hubs are in fact cheaper for 4 and even 5 typical rpm fans.
3. Hubs do result in less clutter, even if it's not visible. This is the same reason why peeps like having modular PSUs.
4. If ya use the Phanteks hubs, ya can save a ton on fans and eliminate low speed PWM clicking / humming

I used 3 of the MoBos Chassis headers to provide 3 channels of control:

CHA 1 => Hub => (6) rad fans on 420
CHA 2 => Hub => (4) rad fans on 280
CHA 3 => Hub => (5) case fans

If ya haven't guessed, the max is 6 so as to eliminate the need for yet another 3 power cables. I got two with the case, and bought a 3rd for that reason as well as the ability to control each separately.

And no, I still haven't sleeved the GFX cables.

The Original Ralph · Mar 4, 2015

JackNaylorPE :

i assume that swiftech unit mounts somewhere on the inside of the case? or does it have a back cover allowing you to mount it outside the case?

JackNaylorPE · Mar 4, 2015

Personally, I use the Phanteks hubs to save on the need to spend $5 extra per fan for PWM fans .... still leaves me with PWM control but eliminates the low speed hum / clicking noises. The Phanteks hubs screw on when installed in Phanteks cases or you otherwise use the provided velcro mount inside the case, usually on the back of the MoBo tray.

The link above shows the unit as the ability to be attached w/ screws and nuts. If doing that, it is recommended that you drill the appropriate holes in your case at a convenient location. If it's me tho, I'd use velcro available at any local hardware or crafts store.

Specifications

Junction housing including: (8) Males 4-pin connectors - Channel 1 carries RPM signal
(1) Female 4-pin mini-connector
(1) Males Molex 4-pin connector
Peel-off sticker
Mounting screws
RoHS compliant

hwc1954 · Mar 4, 2015

I tried two Phantek hubs. Neither worked as advertised. As reviews have shown, the range of control over the fans connected to them is miniscule. For all intents and purposes, the Phantek hub is just a 3-pin splitter. Piece of junk, IMO.

http://forums.vr-zone.com/hardware-depot/3167542-phanteks-pwm-fan-controller-hub-review.html

Results?

Not very encouraging. After fiddling around in SpeedFan I discovered the lowest voltage you can get the pwm fan hub to at 5% is about 9V and 20% is about 10.6V.

.....I would love if they could revise it could to be something like 5V @ 20% and not 9V @ 5%

Whether you power it from a 4-pin header or from a PSU connection, the 3-pin fans connect to it run at 90%+ speed. Or, as reviews have shown, 10.6 volts with a 20% PWM signal. It's a shame. If it worked, it would be a fantastic product. But, a control range of +10V to +11 volts is useless. Might as well just plug your fans into a molex.

JackNaylorPE · Mar 4, 2015

hwc1954 :

More than 1 reviewer has embarrassed himself reviewing this thing. Reviewing something and starting with preconceived notions oft leads to erroneous conclusions. Helps to read more than the press release before starting.

1. Common Error No. 1 - I connected it to a 4 pin chassis hub on my Z87 MoBo and connected the power cable and all my fans run at full speed all the time. Z87 Boards don't have PWM Chassis headers. They have 4 pin headers, and some (i.e. Asus) even say they are PWM in the manuals but in fact, as per Asus Tech Support, they are not PWM headers and only offer DC Voltage control.

2. On another Z97 box I trouble shot, the Asus board has PWM capable CHA headers but in the BIOS they were set to DC Voltage control.

First, dump speedfan, this is a new millenium..... it's too limited for modern enthusiast motherboards

I have 15 fans on three channels on a Z87 board as shown above.

I have full and gradual speed control and i'm not even using PWM. The FanXpert utility tests each fan individually and set up it's own curve. I'd give you all the data points but I can't open the utility w/o messing up a test I am running. But basically, the stall point of the 1250 rpm fans is 301 rpm. The system, adds a safety margin and sets minimum control point of 325 rpm. The curve is created automatically by looking at the data points for 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% .... 100%.

Each fan is tested individually and the utility creates a separate fan curve for each channel. It works perfectly. I also set the ramp up and ramp down times so as not to have the system chasing itself, whiring up and down. Rather than have them spin at 325 rpm, I check a box to turn the fans off when it calls for min. rpm.

I'm running a CPU stress test at the moment.... it has the fans at 797 rpm with core temps from 58 - 65C at 4.5 GHz, 42 cache multiplier. When it ends, the fans will continue to run at 750, 650... etc until they eventually hover around 350 or so until they hit 325 and shut off.

Pop over to overclock.net and see hundreds of users happily using the Hub w/ no problems whatsoever. There's quite a few shots taken at the reviewers for the misapplications.

Let's look at his picture:

We see from the orientation that he has set up, that he has the fan connected in the upper left. According to the image he posted of the instructions, the input to the left on the side is supposed to b the PWM input.

Now if we follow that cable around, he connects that to a white splitter cable which is plugged into a 12 Volt Molex ! Now unless there's a wire cross i can't see somewhere, I don't know how he was expecting to get a variable voltage signal from a 12 Volt molex connector. Don't blame the product when the user doesn't read the instructions.

Again, hard to track the black wires against the black case so I could be wrong .... but so far no one in the 8,532 post thread has had this reviewer's problem.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1418637/official-case-phanteks-club-enthoo-primo-enthoo-luxe-enthoo-pro-lovers-owners/8530

I have three of them, all delivering 325 to 1250 rpm ..... bringing speeds up and down, remaining perfectly silent, providing a 12 second buffer before ramping down, shutting off at low speeds when not needed to reduce wear and tear

hwc1954 · Mar 4, 2015

So you aren't using the Phantek hub as intended? You are hooking it up to voltage controlled headers and using it as a dumb splitter? With Fan Xpert you don't even need something like the Phantek.

I did hook it up to a true PWM CPU header, on two different MBs. Did not control fan speeds of 3-pin fans connected to it. Simply doesn't work as it is intended to work. It's an expensive 3-pin splitter, that's it. That's not what it is sold as and not as it is supposed to work. It is supposed to adjust the speeds of 3-pin fans based on a PWM control signal from a PWM header.

JackNaylorPE · Mar 4, 2015

As who intended ? You or Phanteks ? According to Phanteks, and I have had extensive discussions with them. it is designed to provide a singe solution to several possibilities. If Corsair designs a case with mounting for it's H series coolers and you don't use a CLC,

It is capable of being used either with PWM or DCV signals.... that's what has makes it unique, that's what makes it successful. Use it on a Z87 WC build using the available DCV CHA headers and then moving to a Z97 WC build and using it on PWM CHA headers. Nothing else on the market can do that.

On my Z87 water cooling build, I'm using it in the only way possible. The two CPU PWM headers are already taken by the two pumps. Using one pump, the CPU_OPT is linked to the CPU header and I don't think there's anyone who wants their pump following the same curve as their fans.

So how would you suggest I use it ? Throw away the two free hubs and buy 3 more from ModMyToys because, in your view, it's "not intended" to be used that way ? How would you power 15 fans off 3 available headers without spending more than the $15 I paid for the one Phanteks Hub ? The question I am most interested in hearing tho is how you would use FanXpert all by itself to control 15 fans off 3 headers.

On Z97 builds I use it on PWM CHA headers though I have almost never needed the power cable. On one Z97 build we took this route with an Asus M7F as it required no extra purchases:

CPU and CPU_OPT - Twin pumps

CHA_1 => Case Fan No.1
CHA_2 => Case Fan No.2
same for CHA_3 thru CHA_5
CHA_6 => Hub => 10 radiator fans for 420 + 280 in push / pull with power cable

Otherwise, to date, as I have had no cause to use more than 6 fans on a single channel.... tho I have run as many as 8 with no power cable. Why add the cable clutter of an extra power cable (or 3) when it 's not necessary ? Why would Phanteks or anyone else "intend" that you do ?

I have been involved in over a dozen Phanteks case builds... starting two next week and not one single instance of "your apparently unique problem". That should put me close 100 fans .... all under perfect speed control

Brian from Phanteks is active in the OCN thread and several of the early adopters worked with him providing feedback on the hub and other case features. In fact the 2nd "free one" was a "thank you" for those efforts. It had not occurred to them to release the hub as an accessory but many of us urged them to release this as an individual product..... took about 8 months but now it's here.

OK, you couldn't get it to work, and you found a reviewer who hooked it up wrong who you feel supports your case. Just cause this guy spammed his review to dozens of sites, doesn't count as multiple reviews. But how do you explain all the other reviewers and the 100s of actual users in the 8,000 post thread on OCN with not one duplicating your problem ? How do you explain all the other reviewers who didn't have this issue ?

As for your difficulties, what motherboards and specifically what header ? What was connected to each header ? How did you "verify" that it was a "true PWM header". I can't count the number of posts I have answered where people insisted it was a true PWM header "because it had 4 pins". Every Z87 CHA header I have encountered is 4 pin DCV, many of which actually implied they were PWM in the manual. Yes, they can control either 4 pin PWM or 3 pin DCV fans but they do it via voltage control.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=66283p=575840

Here's a quick way to check:

1. Connect header to hub ... connect fans. Run FanXpert, select rpm mode and set to 500 rpm
2. Connect Power cable, if fans speed up, it's not a PWM header.

http://www.overclockers.com/phanteks-enthoo-primo-full-tower-case-review/

I tested the PWM hub with the stock fans, running my motherboard PWM controller from a nominal 10% to 100% PWM duty. At 10% PWM duty, I measured less than 4 V – perhaps around 3.5 V (my multimeter is an old analog device and isn’t very accurate at that range). I could get the fans to run as low as 378 RPM. Below that, they stopped spinning. As an interesting side note, the front LED’s blinked when the fans did not get enough Voltage to spin. With speed control disabled, the index fan ran at 1278 RPM with the fan hub putting out around 11.8 Volts.

Interesting .... his experience is the exact same as mine.... I went a bit lower 325 - 1238 rpm. There's some tricks you can play there....FanXpert found slightly different sets of data points depending on whether 1 fan or 6 fans were connected..... understandable since different loads were present.

hwc1954 · Mar 5, 2015

It's pretty easy to test for a true PWM header. Hook up a 4-pin PWM fan, adjust the fan temp speed profile to run the fan at low speed. Remove the PWM wire. If it's a true PWM header, the fan will speed up to 100%, just as the Intel PWM spec mandates.

Both of the motherboards I used have true PWM CPU fan headers. I hooked up both the Phanteks I tried (I assumed the first was defective and ordered a second) to the 4-pin PWM header using a simple 4-pin splitter. One side of the simple 4-pin splitter when to the PWM CPU fan. The other side went to the 4-pin PWM input of the Phantek.

I did not use the phantek molex at all. All power supplied by the MB 4-pin header.

The CPU fans went up in down in speed through the entire range (efffectively 25% through 100% with my fan control settings). The 3-pin fan (or fans) connected to the phantek hub stayed at or near max speed -- essentially no speed control.

If you read through the thread you linked, you'll see dozens and dozens of people with the same experience. I didn't want to believe them. I wanted it to work. I wanted to believe your previous assurances here that it actually worked. I wanted it to control the speed of 3-pin fans with the same control curve as the PWM CPU header I connected it to. That's why I bought it. That's why I ordered a second one when the first must have been "defective". That's why I tried it on two different motherboards. Alas, both units failed to work as advertised.

It certainly works as you are using it -- as a simple 3-pin fan splitter (although an overpriced one). It just does not work as advertised. The range of control, when controlled by a 4-pin PWM header as designed, is useless.

But, hey, if anyone wants to try one, be my guest.

hwc1954 · Mar 5, 2015

BTW, the review you linked is a review of the disconintued Phantek Fan Hub, not the current model, the Phantek Fan Hub 2. Note that the reviewer doesn't not say how fast his fans turned or the voltage at any setting above 10% PWM signal. I'm not sure why he would even test at 10% since the Intel spec for PWM fan headers only goes down to 20% duty cycle. The problem at the Fan Hub 2 is that it runs the 3-pin fans at or near 100% speed at all PWM duty cycles between 20% and 100%.

JackNaylorPE · Mar 5, 2015

hwc1954 :

As I closely followed the development of the Fan Hub 2 as an accessory, and exchanged ideas with the Phanteks reps, I can tell you exactly what the differences are:

1. Since it does not have the advantage of the Phanteks case mount with pre-drilled holes on a platform mount (which prevents the back of the PCB from touching metal), to be sold as an accessory, it has the option of the Velcro strip mount.

2. Since most cases don't have the advantage of the 1+ inches of space between the MoBo tray and the case side, the plastic cover was added to prevent the case cover from potentially touching a contact point.

3. The input power connector was changed from Molex to SATA. There were NO functional differences between the two. I have two of the "coverless" design, and one with the cover (which I took off ). All fans connected to each header spin at the exact same speed. This happens on the DCV chassis fan headerss on the Z87 build w/ M6F via DCV and it happens on the PWM chassis fan headers via PWM on the Z97 M7F.

There's actually a 3rd version with PWM input and power on the same side.

The CPU fans went up in down in speed through the entire range (efffectively 25% through 100% with my fan control settings). The 3-pin fan (or fans) connected to the phantek hub stayed at or near max speed -- essentially no speed control.

I have seen many "it's not working posts" Like your reviewer, I or someone else pointed out that it was connected wrong. So far, I have found three instances of it not working.

1. The review you linked to which said he couldn't get it to work, which was directly refuted by the one I linked to where they guy wired it correctly.

2. Your two as yet unnamed motherboards.

3. One fella who was using it on Corsair PWM fans. Corsair PWM fans don't do PWM when ganged in quantity even on a PWM controller.

Both of the motherboards I used have true PWM CPU fan headers. I hooked up both the Phanteks I tried (I assumed the first was defective and ordered a second) to the 4-pin PWM header using a simple 4-pin splitter. One side of the simple 4-pin splitter when to the PWM CPU fan. The other side went to the 4-pin PWM input of the Phantek.

I wanted it to control the speed of 3-pin fans with the same control curve as the PWM CPU header I connected it to. That's why I bought it. That's why I ordered a second one when the first must have been "defective". That's why I tried it on two different motherboards. Alas, both units failed to work as advertised.

BINGO: this type of connection is not supported. It needs to be wired correctly.

Your splitter is the problem.

1. I have had four PWM cable splitters in my day, 1 worked.

2. Here's why it didn't work....The MoBo doesn't know what to do. For the hub to work correctly as per the Phanteks manual, it must send an rpm signal back from Port No. 1 on the hub.

3. A properly fabricated 4 PWM splitter cable does not have a wire to send back an rpm signal on any but the 1st cable out of the 4. If it did it wouldn't know what to do with 4 signals.

4. Using the 4 way cable splitter can result in sending no signal back to the MoBo and hence no control if neither of the two selected cable ends have the rpm wire. If you have the one with the wire connected to the CPU Cooler, the hub is receiving no instruction what to do. From the Phanteks Manual

Important Note:
motherboard connector can only read 1 RPM signal. Therefore, the motherboard will only read the RPM signal from 1 device connected to Fan 1. The RPM form all other devices will be regulated according to FAN 1. Y-splitter should not be connected to FAN 1.

Your header is getting a signal from "Fan1" and a signal from your cooler.

5. CPU and Case fans should be on separate channels.

One more thing, take a look at the fan connected to the hub in your reviewers ..... er.... "test"

It would appear to be 4 wire PWM fan....not the 3 pin fans that the hub was designed to control

hwc1954 · Mar 5, 2015

You keep trying, but I already know all that. I studied the phantek extensively before I bought it and even more extensively trying to get the damn thing to work.

Your header is getting a signal from "Fan1" and a signal from your cooler.

Nope. The Noctua 2-way 4-pin splitters are properly wired. They only return a RPM/TACH lead from one side. The 3rd pin is missing on all Noctua splitters. I actually didn't even have a fan plugged into the Fan 1 on the Phantek for one of my many tests. I tried it with a fan plugged into the phantek FAN 1 and with no fan plugged into it, just to be sure.

The CPU_fan 4-pin PWM header was getting the RPM signal from the CPU fan connected directly to it. It knew exactly what to do. The RPMS of the CPU fan has always worked perfectly. It's the Phantek hub that doesn't work.

One motherboard was a Dell XPS 7100. The other was an ASUS, both with properly implemented perfectly functional PWM 4-pin headers for the CPU fan (the one's I tried). All of my fans are Noctua fans. I have some 4-pin PWM versions and some 3-pin versions. I bought the Phantek because it was supposed to be able to vary the speed of the 3-pin fans based on the PWM signal of the 4-pin header it was plugged into.

Also disconnected the CPU fan and plugged it into the phantek so that just the phantek was plugged into the CPU fan header by itself. Still didn't work.

Try it for yourself. Not using the Phantek as a dumb splitter plugged into a variable voltage header. Try it plugged into a true PWM header. Tell me what fan speeds you get at, say, a 40% PWM signal. Those fans will be wailing.

But, like I say. It's only $20. If someone thinks it will actually control the speed of 3-pin fans when it is plugged into a proper 4-pin PWM header on the MB, they should buy one and try it for themselves. I did. I bought two and finally sent them both back.

Now, I run two PWM CPU fans from the PWM CPU fan header with a temp/speed curve set in BIOS and four channels of fans (3 channels of 3-pin fans and one channel of PWM chassis fans) from an Aquaero LT fan controller. CPU fans are based on CPU socket temp. Chassis fans are based on Delta (case exhaust temp minus intake temp). Power supply fan is based on the temp of the one of the MOSFETS heat sinks in the PSU. Northbridge fan is based on temp of the northbridge heat sink.

JackNaylorPE · Mar 5, 2015

I'm having trouble keeping up with the rewrites.

Try it for yourself. Not using the Phantek as a dumb splitter plugged into a variable voltage header. Try it plugged into a true PWM header. Tell me what fan speeds you get at, say, a 40% PWM signal. Those fans will be wailing.

I don't know how many times I can repeat the same thing and have you ignore it.

1st Time:

On Z97 builds I use it on PWM CHA headers though I have almost never needed the power cable. On one Z97 build we took this route with an Asus M7F as it required no extra purchases:

CPU and CPU_OPT - Twin pumps

CHA_1 => Case Fan No.1
CHA_2 => Case Fan No.2
same for CHA_3 thru CHA_5
CHA_6 => Hub => 10 radiator fans for 420 + 280 in push / pull with power cable

2nd Time:

This happens on the DCV chassis fan headess on the Z87 build w/ M6F via DCV and it happens on the PWM chassis fan headers via PWM on the Z97 M7F

3rd Time:

Build No 1 - Z87 M6F:

CPU (PWM) => Pump No. 1
CPU_OPT (PWM) => Pump No.2

CHA_1 (DCV) => Hub 1 (Version 1) => (6) 140mm Fans
CHA_2 (DCV) => Hub 2 (Version 1) => (4) 140mm Fans
CHA_3 (DCV) => Hub 3 (Version 3) => (5) 140mm Fans

Build No. 2 - Z97 M7F

CPU (PWM) => Pump No. 1
CPU_OPT (PWM) => Pump No.2

CHA_1 (PWM) => (1) 140mm Fan
CHA_2 (PWM) => (1) 140mm Fan
CHA_3 (PWM) => (1) 140mm Fan
CHA_4 (PWM) => (1) 140mm Fan
CHA_5 (PWM) => (1) 140mm Fan
CHA_6 (PWM) => Hub => 10 radiator fans for 420 + 280 in push / pull with power cable

Both working under Asus FanXpert perfectly, no issues.... as are the other builds.

It's important to follow the manual and not use PWM fans or connect a 12v signal to the PWM input as in the review.

Question:

As you only had 4 fans.... if you couldn't get it working under PWM, why not use it off a DCV chassis header ?

hwc1954 · Mar 6, 2015

It's important to follow the manual and not use PWM fans or connect a 12v signal to the PWM input as in the review.

Thanks for the tip. I am, apparently, too stupid to follow a one-page Phantek manual.

As you only had 4 fans.... if you couldn't get it working under PWM, why not use it off a DCV chassis header ?

Why would I waste $20 on a Phantek hub to use use it as a passive splitter on a 3-pin header? I bought it because Phanteks adverstises it as controlling 3-pin fans from a PWM signal. Since it does not actually do that in any useful way, I returned both units.

I actually kind of blame you. It was partially your posts that made be believe it actually worked despite widespread indications that it didn't. Turns out that it doesn't actually work. You were so convincing that everyone who found it didn't work must be an idiot who can't hook it up "properly".

EagleDesignInc · Mar 6, 2015

What software or app is this?

hwc1954 · Mar 7, 2015

It's the custom page I set up in the AquaSuite software that comes with the ridiculously powerful Aquaero fan controller. You can display anything from temps to fan speeds to fan control curves to pumps, etc. Anything that can be display in HW Monitor or collected by the sensors connected to the Aquaero itself.

The temps in the green boxes are all the temps it displays for my system, except for a couple more HDD temps that I don't really need to monitor. It's supposed to give me Southbridge and CPU cooler temps, too, but I ended up with two dud thermistor temp sensors.

Not worth pulling everything apart to replace them!

JackNaylorPE · Mar 9, 2015

hwc1954 :

You already had two units bought and paid for.... paid to ship them back and you are asking my why not use it ? How bout "cause it works" ? 304 to 1304 rpm control.... you would receive absolutely no benefit using it on a PWM header anyway....well except for the elimination of potential low speed hum / clicking. The only advantage to using it on a PWM header is you can connect the auxillary power cable and use more than 8 fans.

Look at the reviwers "proof" you submitted:
-connected a 12 volt signal to the PWM input
-has a 4 pin fan connected to it....it controls 3 pin fans

It most certainly does do it in a useful way .... both using PWM and using DCV control.

I am not saying that there are no problems...

-No doubt a defective unit arrives now and then
-No doubt it can have issues with certain MoBos or Utilities
-No doubt it won't wok with certain fans.... for example Corsair PWM fans don't work with any PWM Splitter

But that doesn't change the fact that it is working for the vast majority of folks.

It's working on my M6F build with 3 hubs on 3 DCV header
It's working in the M7F build with PWM Header

Just bought anothyer one....for a build next week.

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