This thread again

Control: management of fans, temp/rpm monitoring via soft/hardware

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Brando
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This thread again

Post by Brando » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:00 pm

Hi all first post ever on the forum. I tried this on ocforums but they don't seem as into it over there so hopefully you don't mind giving some advice. I have a sunbeamtech rheosmart 3 fan controller http://www.sunbeamtech.com/PRODUCTS/Rheosmart/3.html that reads the pwm signal off the motherboard and uses it to decide how much voltage to send to the non pwm case fans. It works well but my thermalright fans make low knocking noises at low speed which defeats the purpose. The starting voltage is 7v which I assume is too high for the rheosmart because sometimes one of the front fans struggles to come on until the cpu heats up a bit. What I need are 3 140mm fans and a single 120mm that will sit around 500rpm or so at idle and ramp up to around 1000 rpm when the cpu is hot. They need low start up voltage, long life, and to be able to stay quiet when they're at low speed without clicking or whining or anything else. The 2 front 140mm's will be pulling air through a filter in a vertical position, the top 140mm will be blowing upwards in a horizontal position, and the rear fan will be blowing backwards without resistance from a filter.

This is my case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811112307

And these are my fans
140mm http://www.thermalright.com/products/in ... =16&id=112
120mm http://www.thermalright.com/products/in ... =17&id=113

I was looking at noiseblocker 1100rpm fans but I came across a post or 2 about how it's bad to have sleeve bearing fans facing up? Here's the 140mm I'm considering
http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/noiseblo ... t-fan.html

but if there's a better choice please let me know. I usually just plug fans into a molex and run full speed so all this is new to me. Your help is appreciated.

Das_Saunamies
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Re: This thread again

Post by Das_Saunamies » Wed Jun 13, 2012 10:56 pm

"Knocking" sounds like busted or poor quality bearings. Starting voltage at 7 V suggests poor parts.

Judging by the case and previous fans, I take it that looks matter? Clear plastic is usually frowned upon as brittle and hence prone to unfavourable acoustics, but if you gotta have it, then Noiseblocker is where I would go. I wouldn't worry too much about putting modern sleeve bearing fans in a horizontal position, I've run a few of them just fine like that, even cheap ones like Arctic Cooling. I've heard no complaints from the people I assembled rigs for either.

If you can pull yourself away from aesthetics, the "poo brown" Noctuas with their SSO bearings have been good low-voltage operators and come with a 6 year warranty that suggests real confidence in the product. Quiet too, as evidenced by SPCR reviews, admittedly of 120 mm models. However, I have no doubt in my mind the 140 mm will match the 120 mm ones as Noctua's quality has been quite consistent. Early models had some trouble with backpressure, but that seems to have been rectified in the modern iterations.

How's that sound?

PS. Scythe, another SPCR favourite with a good track record, also has a 140 mm model based on a successful 120 mm design, http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/1 ... etail.html. However the sample variance at Scythe seems to be bigger than at Noctua, so I do not personally feel as confident about recommending this as I do the Noctua(s).

ces
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Re: This thread again

Post by ces » Thu Jun 14, 2012 5:23 am

See, How to Oil a Fan:
viewtopic.php?p=541788#p541788

Brando
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Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:40 pm

Re: This thread again

Post by Brando » Thu Jun 14, 2012 6:50 am

It's not bad bearings because I just bought the fans a couple weeks ago and they all do it (the 140mm,s). Looks don't really matter because I don't have a case window. I sent an email to noiseblocker asking about horizontal mounting and they told me to get a black silent series for that. I don't really get it because it looks like they also have sleeve bearings even if they're made of a higher grade material. That was basically my response to them and I'm curious how he responds to my response. As for the scythe I didn't really consider them because of the low mtbf but I do have some kama flex pwm 120mm's on my cpu heatsink with the fluid dynamic bearings and I have no complaints. I went ahead and got the noiseblocker fans (in op) on a whim so I guess I'll be a guinea pig for the horizontal mounting. Will post results.

ces
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Re: This thread again

Post by ces » Thu Jun 14, 2012 8:48 am

Brando wrote:It's not bad bearings because I just bought the fans a couple weeks ago and they all do it (the 140mm,s).
You might want to still try it and see what happens

Das_Saunamies
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Re: This thread again

Post by Das_Saunamies » Thu Jun 14, 2012 9:54 am

Option #2 is poor drive (re: knocking), meaning the fan "jerks" instead of spinning smoothly. If the knocking happens even at 12 V then I doubt it would be the drive. Lubrication is a cheap and efficient way to bring a fan to life, but if it's a cheap unit like that... I can see why one wouldn't bother.

Brando
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Re: This thread again

Post by Brando » Thu Jun 14, 2012 1:10 pm

It doesn't happen at full speed. Just when they're going slow.

Das_Saunamies
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Re: This thread again

Post by Das_Saunamies » Thu Jun 14, 2012 2:40 pm

Alright. Let's hope the Noiseblockers are better quality then.

Brando
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Re: This thread again

Post by Brando » Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:13 am

For horizontal mounting of noiseblocker fans, noiseblocker says

"You are right, but they have different bearings.
The BlackSilentPro fans you can mount horizontal.

Beste Grüße / best regards

Niels Polenz"




So I guess the blacksilent "pro" series have something special about the sleeve bearing that he can't say?

Brando
Posts: 13
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Re: This thread again

Post by Brando » Fri Jun 15, 2012 6:02 pm

The noiseblockers came in and I tried them out. They act similarly to the thermalright fans. Not the same sound but still annoying. I think it's something about the way the rheosmart 3 controls the fans in auto mode because I tried manual control and the thermalrights are quiet as a mouse. Moral of the story is that sunbeamtech sucks. And they don't respond to email. I've decided to try to live with a slightly slower constant speed which should be a good happy medium. Oh well. Lesson learned. Thank you all for the advice.

Das_Saunamies
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Re: This thread again

Post by Das_Saunamies » Sat Jun 16, 2012 2:06 am

Brando wrote:The noiseblockers came in and I tried them out. They act similarly to the thermalright fans. Not the same sound but still annoying. I think it's something about the way the rheosmart 3 controls the fans in auto mode because I tried manual control and the thermalrights are quiet as a mouse. Moral of the story is that sunbeamtech sucks. And they don't respond to email. I've decided to try to live with a slightly slower constant speed which should be a good happy medium. Oh well. Lesson learned. Thank you all for the advice.
Damn, that sucks. Didn't even think to suspect the controller since it only came up in passing - guess it's back to the "is it plugged in" routine when responding.

What's your plan for control now? If it's not too late, you could send the new fans back and get PWM fans instead, using a splitter cable to drive them via the mobo PWM header. I can recommend this setup from personal experience (link).

Brando
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Re: This thread again

Post by Brando » Sat Jun 16, 2012 6:45 am

I think I'm going to run at constant speed for awhile with the thermalright fans until I upgrade to an ivy bridge setup with an asus motherboard that has fan xpert 2. I just watched a video of it and it looks pretty customizable. The fans they used in the video made no clicking noises or anything like that and I think asus may have done it properly.

Das_Saunamies
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Re: This thread again

Post by Das_Saunamies » Sat Jun 16, 2012 8:23 am

In case you've already read the SPCR article on that, don't miss its discussion thread: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=64339. Good testing as well as plain info in there.

Asus is indeed finally getting there. "There" being a point Abit reached with µGuru in 2006 or 2007. Better late than never!

Brando
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Re: This thread again

Post by Brando » Sat Jun 16, 2012 4:50 pm

Looks good. Newegg has a pretty nice deal right now for a 3570k for $220 and the asus board you linked me to in a combo for $30 off in addition to the cpu and motherboard both being on sale already. Along with 8gb of ddr3-1866 it came out to $474.97. I decided to go for it and I suggest you jump on it! Will post results.

Das_Saunamies
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Re: This thread again

Post by Das_Saunamies » Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:54 pm

Oh I thought you had seen that article! Most people seem to miss the discussion threads, so I just linked you there for info. I'm sure the mobo won't disappoint though; I'm personally recommending mATX to folks these days, as I find them nicer to work and live with. :wink:

Brando
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Re: This thread again

Post by Brando » Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:49 am

I can see the appeal of a small case but I like having room to work and for lots of big fans that I can run slow while still keeping temps low with a performance system. If I ever made a tiny rig I'd probably use this

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/pr ... dex=64&g=f

Brando
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Re: This thread again

Post by Brando » Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:13 am

After messing around with it some I think I can say that fan xpert 2 is a dream come true. I haven't tried everything it can do but my pc is quiet with no knocking or clicking on standard mode. I don't think I really even need the software installed because the default bios settings seem good enough. I'm still not sure what the deal is with the rheosmart 3 in auto mode. My fans don't have the same issue with fan xpert 2.

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