Electronic/software fan controllers

[Gh()st]

Looking for relative options.

As far as fan controllers go, there's always the ubiquitous 3.5/5.25 analog bay controllers. (name your brand with/without flashy LED lit knobs) You can manually dial up/down the voltage. The problem with most of these is you have no real true indication of actual voltage applied to the fan. (without making other modifications, or changes)

Yeah, some can provide fan RPM rather than actual voltage applied, *cough* Scythe *cough*, but is there a non-dial knob/analog alternative?

(heh, hehhehhehheh,heh, He said Knob)

Ok, had to get that out of the way.

I know of 2 that kinda hit the mark, but both have very apparent limitations.

Silverstone Commander 01 ESA
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=137&products_id=23449

Which needs a ESA certified mobo to work. aka you need a relatively newer Nvidia chipset mobo. (My IP35 Pro board is a no go)

mCubed T-Balancer bigNG
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=48&products_id=20837

Once again, close but with only 4 fan control capacity. I need 5 (at least, 8+ would be nice) Plus, paying $200 to control 5 fans that cost me apprx $14 (120mm Yates) seems a little askew.

Are there any decent DIY rheobus controllers out there? Maybe something pre-fab other than the 2 listed?

 

[mellojoe]

Do you want something that is internal only, with no "ugly" knobs sticking out of the case? Or do you just want something that you can PRECISELY control the voltage?

Personally, I almost got the Sunbeam rheobus controller. I was going to mount it on a Lian-Li bay cover with no lights or anything, just the silver knob showing. Kind of a subtle, under-emphasized look.

Only 4 knobs, but 20W per channel means you can run 2 fans per knob to hit your 8 that you need. Like this. But, remove the led lights.

 

[Gh()st]

Internal is preferred, but not necessarily an absolute. My only issue with knobs is that they don't really give you a true/accurate control factor. Yeah, a mfg may say the dial can control voltage from 0-12v, but are you really sure at the dial's midway point (which without some sort of click/stop is at best a rough guess) you're getting true 6v, 3/4 point 9v, and anything in-between?

Toss in the ones that do something like 3.7v-12v, or some other beginning voltage/ending voltage, and now you're really just guessing at what's being applied to the fan(s). (Why would I pay $40+ for a "best guess"?)

Some sort of RPM monitor might help clue you in on what's going on with the fan, but then you'll need to do the math to figure out what voltage is being applied at that RPM. (once again, more work than necessary IMO.)

I'm just surprised that with all the resources in the DIY computer after-market that no one has developed a software based control app, that via a small hardware platform install can give very good monitoring/control capacity. The Silverstone is real close to what I'm looking for, but the fact that it's locked to only being able to work on 1 particular platform is a poo-poo decision by the designers.(Once again, IMO. Why cut potentially half the available target customer base out of the equation?)

I actually do have 2, 3.5 bay, 4 fan controllers. 1 Vantec, and 1 whose original mfg escapes me. While they would work from a basic control perspective, I'm still back to "guessing" about what's really going on with the fans.