Fan and fan controller questions...

Richdog · Post by **Richdog** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 4:27 am

Hi guys, just found this excellent forum so thought it's be rude not to post.

Basically i've just bought a Silverstone TJ09, and while I know it's not a favourite on this forum, it's going to suit my needs perfectly whn it arrives next week. I'm planning on loading it with 5x 120mm Akasa Ambers and am just wondering if anyone knows roughly how loud this would be presuming they're all on full speed?

Secondly, I was curious as to whether there is a fan controller on the market that can handle up to 6x 120mm fans, as nearly all I see seem only for 3 or 4 fans. Any suggestions for this? I'm based in the UK.

Thanks in advance,

Rich.

J. Sparrow · Post by **J. Sparrow** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:01 am

The Zalman MFC-1 controls 6 fans, two of those have 0/5/12V switches, the others have knobs for 5-11 V (control is not very accurate however)

Otherwise you just buy a 4-fan controller and some Y-cables and put two fans on the same channel. You can control even more than 8 fans with Y-cables as long as you don't exceed the channel power rating of the controller.

sitalchauhan · Post by **sitalchauhan** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:45 am

Hi, I also live in the UK and had to search very hard over many days to find the best fan controller available in the UK.

In my opinion, the best fan controller available that is in another league compared to others is the Sunbeam Rheobus. The Rheobus actually lowers the voltage to each fan, which is much better than the method which most other controllers used which is called PWM. Each channel can handle a massive load, so you can run multiple fans of the one channel. You should have no problem running over 10 fans off 1 sunbeam rheobus. Just use splitter cables. You can even run lighting off the fan controller such as cold cathodes, so you can turn them on and off from the controller on the front of the case.
Here is a link to the splitter cables that allow you to run 2 fans of each channel, and you can daisy-chain the splitters to run more than 2 fans off each channel:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0098517544

One of the only shops selling the Rheobus' in the UK are KustomPCs who if you search around for reviews, are one of the best computer retailers in the UK. They may not be as big as some, but their service and customer support is unrivalled, RMAing faulty products immediately no questions asked. I ordered a case and 2 of these sunbeam rheobuses from them for a very reasonable price and they arrived the next day excellently packaged against damage, some would even say excessively

.

Here is the Sunbeam Rheobus is black:
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_2848.html

And in silver:
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_2847.html

Once undervolted, the akasa ambers sould not be too loud as you do not seem overly obsessive about noise, but as you get used to your pc being quieter and quieter, you will keep trying to make it even more quiet and it becomes an addiction

The best fans available which are much better than the Akasa's are the Nexus real silent fans (also available at KustomPCs) and the yate Loon D12SL-12. The Nexus fans and Yate Loon fans are identical, but the Nexus fans run at a slower speed at full speed. As you are buying a fan controller, I recommend you get Yate Loons as they are cheaper and when undervolted run identically to the Nexus'.

I am planning to import some Yate Loons from the USA as it is MUCH cheaper than buying in the UK. You can buy 6 yate loon's from jabtech for a total including shipping to the UK of 42USD which is Â£21. However, if you dont like importing, definately get the Nexus fans as they are way better than the akasa amber's at the same price.

Yate Loon's at jabtech:
http://www.jab-tech.com/YATE-LOON-120mm ... -3472.html

Nexus Black+White At KustomPCs:
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_2576.html

Nexus Orange:
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_2578.html

If you have any more questions or are find it hard to find any products in the UK, just message me or post here. I have managed to find UK retailers for the majority of the popular components on these forums, where the retailers that are reputable, but hard to initially find

EDIT: Oh and nearly forgot, Welcome to SPCR!

Richdog · Post by **Richdog** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 10:31 am

Wow sitalchauhan... I couldn't have asked for a better a reply, top man! You're right in that i'm not after a silent system... but just a quiet one hehe. I've always got a lot of ambient noise in my room so I tend not to be TOO fussy about the computer... as long as it's not interfering with DVD's etc.

I've looked at that Sunbeam before and totally forgot about it... but now I think about it the LED's are supposed to be crazily bright... so I guess i'd have to try to figure out a way to mod them dimmer.

The links to the power splitters... you diamond, that's exactly what i'm looking for and I just bought 3 of them, that will easily sort me out for all my fans! Just out of interest... how much of the 20A will a single 120mm Amber/Yateloon/Nexus use when running @ 12v?

Can you just tell me what makes those Yate loons so much better than the Ambers... their dba spec is higher... so i'm guessing egneral motor noise etc is much reduced?

Thanks again man.

EDIT - Just noticed I have2 of those Yate loons right here in my room... lol.

EDIT EDIT - Just ordered the Sunbeam.

SockToy · Post by **SockToy** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:38 pm

Just to note the Sunbeam isnt the only non PWM controller - the zalman is DC too, for example. QuietPC.com is good for UK delivery, I've had my S-Flex's from there, and they're pretty helpful via email.

sitalchauhan · Post by **sitalchauhan** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:15 pm

The LED can easily be pushed out of their sockets behind the hole so that the light becomes very dim, and then they can be pushed back into the socket without any damage at all. Also, I believe that they can be turned off completely, it was in the small manual that came in the box. I think it said to remove the middle stick from the LED connection or something, cant remember exactly but know for sure it is mentioned somewhere in these forums. You may want to search it if you find they are too bright, but I dont find them too bad so have left them at full.

Fans draw very little current at all, so you dont really need to worry about overloading each channel, but dont go too crazy. Make sure that you spread the fans evenly over all 4 channels. As a reference, the Scythe S-Flex SFF21F fan uses 0.20A when at full speed so you can see how small the current draw of a fan is.

The yate loons/Nexus' run much quieter than the Akasa ambers because they have very little bearning and motor noise at all. When running a nexus at 7V, which is equivalent to a yate loon at 5V, I personally cannot hear anything at all when I have put the side-pannel back on my case.

If you have 2 of the yate loons in your room, make sure that they are the D12SL-12. There are others such as the D12SM-12 which look identical, but run faster and therefore produce a bit more noise.

If you want, you could buy one akasa amber and then when you receive the fan controller, you can personally compare the noise each products when they are pushing roughtly the same amount of air. I think you will find that they yate loon runs much quieter.

If you dont want to import the yate loons, definately get the nexus fans from KustomPCs (EDIT: See Novatech link below for very cheap Nexus fans) instead of the akasa ambers as they are the same price/cheaper but much better. I personally prefer the yate loons because they are cheaper, run the same noise at the same speed as Nexus', but run faster at full speed, so I know that I can always turn them up to full if I need and they will push a lot of air.

EDIT:
Just found that this retailer is also selling yate loons in the UK and is getting some more in stock Tuesday 03 April, but is more expensive than importing from jabtech:

http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/index.p ... 99fe35776c

This shop is selling the Nexus fans for very cheap and has 27 in stock currently.:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... s12cmf&P=1

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:15 pm

Richdog wrote:I've looked at that Sunbeam before and totally forgot about it... but now I think about it the LED's are supposed to be crazily bright... so I guess i'd have to try to figure out a way to mod them dimmer.

The Rheostat LEDs have three leads which plug into 3-pin sockets. Pull the middle lead out of each socket, and the LEDs are disabled. Anytime you want to get a suntan while computing, you can always plug them back in!

kater · Post by **kater** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 2:13 am

Another controller which uses simple voltage regulation (not PWM) is Akasa Fan Control Jr AK-FC-06.

Good thing about this one is that it fits the 3,5" bay. Only 3 fans can be controlled, but you can use splitters. And no LEDs whatsoever

Works great for me and nicely matches the P150.

Oh, and those Ambers - avoid them. Much louder than S-Flex

Cheap, but of no use for SPCR readers.

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:58 am

sitalchauhan wrote: This shop is selling the Nexus fans for very cheap and has 27 in stock currently.:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... s12cmf&P=1

Very good price for the Nexus.

By the way, hello Richdog

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:56 pm

kater wrote:Another controller which uses simple voltage regulation (not PWM) is Akasa Fan Control Jr AK-FC-06.

I know of only one source in the US of A: Sidewinders.com - $22-23$??

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:46 pm

Felger Carbon wrote:
kater wrote:Another controller which uses simple voltage regulation (not PWM) is Akasa Fan Control Jr AK-FC-06.

I know of only one source in the US of A: Sidewinders.com - $22-23$??

This may be one of the few items we can buy cheaper in the UK - only checked one place - Â£8.44 (around $17)

Is there any particular reason you want this over the Sunbeam?

Edit: oooops

, the Akasa fits in the floppy bay whereas the Sunbeam doesn't.

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:26 am

amjedm wrote:Is there any particular reason you want this over the Sunbeam?

Edit: oooops , the Akasa fits in the floppy bay whereas the Sunbeam doesn't.

Besides that, the Akasa cannot accidently be dialed to (or near) 0V by either you or a toddler. That's the big problem with the Sunbeam.

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:29 am

Felger Carbon wrote:
amjedm wrote:Is there any particular reason you want this over the Sunbeam?

Edit: oooops , the Akasa fits in the floppy bay whereas the Sunbeam doesn't.
Besides that, the Akasa cannot accidently be dialed to (or near) 0V by either you or a toddler. That's the big problem with the Sunbeam.

Good point.

That's the reason I've switched to a Zalman (can't remember model) - lowest is 5v. Only problem is the LED won't come on if the fan doesn't have rpm wire

.

I have an Aerogate II as well - good controller IMO. Only problems were lowest it will go is 7v and the alarm when you start up.

Richdog · Post by **Richdog** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:12 am

sitalchauhan wrote:The LED can easily be pushed out of their sockets behind the hole so that the light becomes very dim, and then they can be pushed back into the socket without any damage at all. Also, I believe that they can be turned off completely, it was in the small manual that came in the box. I think it said to remove the middle stick from the LED connection or something, cant remember exactly but know for sure it is mentioned somewhere in these forums. You may want to search it if you find they are too bright, but I dont find them too bad so have left them at full.

Hmm, do you know if it would be possible to replace the blue LED's with purple/violet ones? I ordered a purple/violet cathode with my TJ09 and would really like the sunbeam to match. Don't suppose you know where in the hells name I would get LED's of that colour that would fit the Sunbeam do you? Yeah I know... long shot lol.

kater wrote:Another controller which uses simple voltage regulation (not PWM) is Akasa Fan Control Jr AK-FC-06.

Good thing about this one is that it fits the 3,5" bay. Only 3 fans can be controlled, but you can use splitters. And no LEDs whatsoever Works great for me and nicely matches the P150.

Unfortunately i'll only have a single 3.5" bay in my TJ09, and that is going to a memory card reader I use extensively for photography, quick and easy data transfer etc etc. I like the SUnbeam, and the 4 channels will give me more room for future expansion should I ever need it (maybe watercooling rad fans etc etc.

Oh, and those Ambers - avoid them. Much louder than S-Flex Cheap, but of no use for SPCR readers.

Ambers are being sold and will be replaced by black Yate Loon D12SL-12's!

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:18 am

Richdog wrote: Ambers are being sold and will be replaced by black Yate Loon D12SL-12's!

Where are you getting the Yate Loons from?

I was going to recommend the BLUE LED D12SL but you've gone for purple cathodes

Richdog · Post by **Richdog** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:37 am

amjedm wrote:I was going to recommend the BLUE LED D12SL but you've gone for purple cathodes

I love the purple colour, much better than blue.

Where are you getting the Yate Loons from?

Probably imported from jabtech, as suggested above.

Richdog · Post by **Richdog** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:58 am

Just had a thought guys, what sound dampening products would you reccommend getitng form this page? http://www.jab-tech.com/Noise-dampening-c-209.html

Maybe this sound-proofing kit? http://www.jab-tech.com/Noise-Reduction ... -3671.html

These rubber fan mounts? http://www.jab-tech.com/4-Pack-Anti-Vib ... -3269.html

They're cheap enough that if it's worth it i'll buy a fair few.

sitalchauhan · Post by **sitalchauhan** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:11 am

When I order my fans from jabtech, I am also going to purchase a few of each of these. They are so cheap that I can order quite a few spare for the future aswell.

http://www.jab-tech.com/4-Pack-Anti-Vib ... -3269.html

http://www.jab-tech.com/120mm-Anti-Vibr ... -3268.html

I am going to see if you can use both the gasket and the fan mounts at the same time. Even if you cant, I can just see whcih works best and I wouldnt have lost much money at all.

Richdog · Post by **Richdog** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:31 am

sitalchauhan wrote:When I order my fans from jabtech, I am also going to purchase a few of each of these. They are so cheap that I can order quite a few spare for the future aswell.

http://www.jab-tech.com/4-Pack-Anti-Vib ... -3269.html

http://www.jab-tech.com/120mm-Anti-Vibr ... -3268.html

I am going to see if you can use both the gasket and the fan mounts at the same time. Even if you cant, I can just see whcih works best and I wouldnt have lost much money at all.

Mate, do you want to combine shipping on the stuff anhd order togather maybe? My email/MSN is richardwaterhouse1980atyahoodotcodotuk if you're interested.

Regards,

Rich.

sitalchauhan · Post by **sitalchauhan** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:47 am

Sorry, but I would prefer to order it myself. I just checked shipping prices and I dont think we would save much because they dont charge much for shipping anyway, and what we save would just be used to post the other person's items to their address.
Also, I'm not quite sure about import duty and that kind of stuff and if we will get charged, but even if they do charge it shouldnt be much anyway.

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:36 pm

Guys (sitalchauhan & Richdog)

IMO you would be better off ordering separately (as sitalchauhan advised) as you may get hit for VAT/import duty etc. if order comes to over Â£18. I'm not sure how strict Customs & Excise are so you may get away with another couple of quid.

My very cheap and cheerful alternative solution to anti vibration mounts is UHU White Tack - Â£1 from Poundland. Have been using it for over a year and no problems (thank God). For added security you can feed a couple of cable ties through fan holes

Richdog · Post by **Richdog** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:24 am

Well, built the new case and by god its a beauty!

Currently waiting on the adapters to run 2 fans on one channel and then I can crank it all down a bit... but the fan making the worst nois3e was the single Akasa Amber I have in the HD bay. Cranked it down to 7v and the harsh rattling noise it made is now gone, replaced by the whooshing of the stock Silverstone fans, 2x Yate Loons as top exhausts, and a Panaflo 120mm NMB-MAT RB-12025-L on the CPU.

As soon as the Yate Loons are on 7v this rig will be pretty damn quiet... the stock silverstone fans are very quiet and the Panaflo is too.

The Sunbeam LED's were ludicrously bright so I bent the LED's upwards and it's made a world of difference (pic above was taken before I did this)... I just wish I could change the LED's for a mix of purple and red but I guess I can settle for blue.

So glad I chose this case, airflow seems fantastic and it looks so sexy!

Oh by the way, do you think the Sunbeam could manage 3x 120mm fans on a single channel or would that be pushing it?

sitalchauhan · Post by **sitalchauhan** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:08 am

Wow that case looks great!

Th official spec page for the rheobus is:

http://www.sunbeamtech.com/PRODUCTS/RHEOBUS.HTML

It says it can handle 20W per channel.
I am not 100% sure if I am calculating this correctly so if somebody could confirm, it would be great.

Current = Power / Voltage
Assuming fans funning at 12V:
Current = 20 / 12 = 1.67A
(Official specs also list saying "Output current: up to 1.67 A", so I guess I calculated this right)

Each 120mm fan uses approximately 0.35A
1.67 / 0.35 = 4.7

Therefore, according to my calculations each channel on the rheobus should be able to power 4 fans.

If you can, it would be best to spread the number of fans equally over all 4 channels instead of having the majority on one channel.

Please post back with the number of fans that you were able to run off one channel as I would also be quite interested

Richdog · Post by **Richdog** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:23 pm

Well, just ordered the following from Jab...

6x Yate Loons (Black)
6x 3-pin Y connectors
4x 12v-7v converters.

Total Â£25 inc!

And as a seperate package I ordered:

6x 18" Sata II Cable with one end 90Â° - Black https://www.jab-tech.com/18-Sata-II-Cab ... -3512.html

Total for those, Â£15 inc!

Love it!

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:42 pm

Please post back about service.

Why do you need the 12v-7v adaptors when you have the Sunbeam or are they for another case?

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 4:37 pm

Total Â£25 inc!

It will be interesting to see if they levy customs duty on this.

Richdog · Post by **Richdog** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:43 pm

amjedm wrote:Why do you need the 12v-7v adaptors when you have the Sunbeam or are they for another case?

I might need them in future... and I don't want all fans on the sunbeam (like the HD fan maybe).

jaganath wrote:
Total Â£25 inc!
It will be interesting to see if they levy customs duty on this.

Thats including shipping, so stated total should only be Â£15.

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 12:29 am

Richdog wrote:
amjedm wrote:Why do you need the 12v-7v adaptors when you have the Sunbeam or are they for another case?
I might need them in future... and I don't want all fans on the sunbeam (like the HD fan maybe).

jaganath wrote:
Total Â£25 inc!
It will be interesting to see if they levy customs duty on this.
Thats including shipping, so stated total should only be Â£15.

AFAIK they charge duty on shipping

Richdog · Post by **Richdog** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:24 am

Well, received the Y-splitters I got from Ebay this morning and I have the top 2 fans and the back fan all running off a single channel with no issues whatsoever (unsurprisingly really). Probably going to swap the back stock silverstone exhaust fan for a Yate Loon though when I receive them from Jab. Hmm, maybe the internal mid-intake fan too if it's not too tricky to get out of the casing... i'll look into that.

Also going to swap my OCZ GameXtream 700w out for a Corsair HX620 for the silence and excellent wafer-thin modular cables and then try and see about changing my heatsink for one that is more efficient with a lower speed fan.

And then start the cable-fu when everythings installed... *sigh*

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:27 am

Richdog wrote:
And then start the cable-fu when everythings installed... *sigh*

Was going to ask for pics, but after the above will wait...