zm-mfc1 should i buy this fan controller?

johnnq · Post by **johnnq** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:46 pm

i'm definitely going to buy a fan controller soon, but i'm not sure which one. i know i can't go wrong with the zalman, but i was really looking for something that: can control many fans like the zalman (i have a p180), has knobs like the zalman, but also checks temps. are there none out there? from what i've found the temperature checking fan controllers are all digital with buttons to control the fans, or they just flat out suck...should i just go with the zalman and trust my asus probe (and not have a northbridge monitor)?

should i just buy it at the cheapest place i can find it? (along with 1 yate loon

)

Steve Mac · Post by **Steve Mac** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:14 pm

I have an Enermax that I bought a couple of years ago. It controls 6 fans and has two temperature sensors. It won't turn a fan down until it stops, but it goes pretty darn low. It also has the ability to sense your fan RPM and can alarm for that or for temperature.

It might be worth consideration...

Steve

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:36 pm

If you have a use for the 12/5/0v switches, then that'll be a nice extra feature. Otherwise, it's pretty much just a plain rheostat fan controller, and the knobs aren't even very intuitive(their position doesn't directly correspond with voltage). Although they do include a decent amount of extension cables, and the lights act as a bit of an indicator of fan speeds.

You shouldn't worry too much about how low the voltage can go, if you need to reduce it further, you could just add a resistor between the fan and the fan controller.

nici · Post by **nici** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:48 pm

AKASA has one similar to the zalman, with pots to adjust the speeds and IIRC it has three temp probes. Now the only bad thing about this thing is that is has a very loud warning noise if a fan goes under 600rpm. Though you could just remove the buzzer from the pcb i suppose. I have one but the display went bonkers so i bought the zalman. Though i really would like some temp probes..

datapappan · Post by **datapappan** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:48 am

I have the Zalman, and as per above, it only adjusts down to 50%, and the feedback on rpm is not very good (flickering LEDs). But, it's rigid and has several cables, among which two have an extra wire for the rpm signal, which you can plug in to your MB.

I have two suggestions:

1. This has four knobs and two temp probes: Q-tec 543t Usb2 Multi Control Hub

2. Buy the Zalman plus a temp display, e.g. Lian Li TR-3A (actually a fan controller, but it uses non-optional temp/rpm values, but it was pretty cheap)

/datapappan