Fan controllers, AQUAERO VS mCubed T-Balancer (updated)

[Brodholm]

This is an old thread. There is some new info here about the Aquaero with powerboster. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...light=brodholm

I updated the thread because I have already got the answer I was looking for. But now I'm having issues deciding if im going to get a mCubed T-Balancer or a AC aquaero 4.00 USB - white/blue.

aquaero costs 125$
And Mcubed goes for 90$

mCubed T-Balancer BigNG Can handle many fans on one channel but I haven't seen any info on the aquaero. How many watts per channel can it take?

I am also wondering about switching the pump from a Laing D5 Vario/Swiftech MCP655 if I am going to get the aquaero. I'm thinking about the AC aquastream XT USB 12V Pump. They cost about the same (the aquastream is 30 dollars more if you get the ultra version). But is the Aquastream any good? I cant find any infos on noise, connection size, pressure, flow etc.

I haven't bought my watercooling system yet so I am very flexible but It is close now

This is the old question but I just uppdated the thread so i would not have to create another. I hope its ok But if it's not then just delete the thread.

Hello, I'm just wondering if you can shut-down some of the fans in a radiator when the computer is going idle and I'm going to sleep or something?

Im thinking of going 6 yate loon fans (YATE LOON D12SL-12) on two thermochills PA120.3. So can you shut-down one or 2 fans in each radiator when the computer is just going to be idle over the night? Or will the temps rise to high?

And how low will the yate loon fans go in rpm? I'm thinking of going a Kaze Master and that goes all the way down to 3.7 volts. Some fans I have tested just stops at the lowest speed. And if they work at 3,7v what is the rpm like then? Maybe it even works lower than that. I don't know

Regards, Brodhollm

[TheGanG]

Min. 6.5V for D12SL-12, it works silent. RPM: 1350 +/- 10% 13.8V max.

It's a good idea to shut down the fans except one for each rad, but would u please list your rig and whole loop here?

Also look for this: http://www.aqua-pcs.co.uk/temprature-alarm-1326-p.asp
and that: http://www.t-balancer.com/english/index.htm

[Bobly]

Personally I'd rather pay a couple quid more and have something that can a: Speed up the fans automatically rather than hope I wake up when I hear a beeping sound, and b: shut down the computer if the problem doesn't resolve itself from speeding up the fans. :/

[Extigy]

If you get an intelligent fan controller like an Aquastream Aquereo or mcubed, You can set it to control the fan speeds based on the temperature.

For example. if cpu temp is less than 40oc, turn off fans. If temp is greater than 40oc, turn on fans.

[Brodholm]

hmm okay... I have been thinking about the Mcubed before but I thought it was a bit pricey but maybe it is worth it. The Aquastream and aquero is way to expensive for me but I think I can afford the mcubed if I want. But can you accualy shutdown the fans if the temps are good with the t-big from mcubed?

But they say that you only can connect 1 fan per channel or is this just gibberish? I mean it can handle 20w per channel and up to 40w if you use pwm. And fans like yate loon uses like 3w or something. Because if it only handles 4 fans I will need that expansion kit they are talking about. And can you connect any temperature sensor like This one? Is there anything more than the mCubed T-Balancer BigNG that I need if I'm going to control my system?


About the rig...
I don't have a watercooled system right now. But I am planing on ordering at the end of the week. I have been reading here for awhile now and I think I'm ready to buy all the stuff soon Anyway this is what I am going to buy:
Pump: Swiftech MCP655 (Now I'm thinking one loop but maybe I need another pump and loop if I'm going to cool mosfets later on)
Radiator#1: Thermochill PA120.3
Radiator#2: Thermochill PA120.3 (or a PA120.2)
And shrouds to the thermochills.
CPU block: D-TEK FuZion v2
GPU block: XSPC Full Cover Razor HD 4870 X2
Reservoirs: EK Multioption RES 150 Rev2
Tubing: Tygon R3603 7/16in. ID11/16
Misc: Fillports, Temperature sensor, fittings, Yate loon fans, sleving and so on.
If you see anything that is wrong or bad please say so

[NaMcO]

Or maybe get an AQUAERO fan controller, and let it control the fan speeds depending on your water/cpu/gpu temperatures... This image below is from the software that controls it, you can see my Harddisk fan shut down as the Harddisks are under 25ºC which is the temperature that triggers it.

The radiator fans are currently at 27% speed, driven by how hot/cold the water is. They range from 0% to 100% and are triggered by that sensor. Just thought it might be a solution, hope it helps.

EDIT: I only read your last post about the price being too high after posting this, sorry :P

[Brodholm]

EDIT: I only read your last post about the price being too high after posting this, sorry :P

Hmm, but where is the cheepest place to buy a aquaero? Store is best placed within europe or the US. And what is a normal price for a Aquaero and how many watts does it support to each channel?

A Mcubed costs about 90$ or 60£.

[Jim Morbid]

Was just about to say - Mcubed is not quite cheap in my books :-/

JM

[Extigy]

you can actually shut down fans with both mcubed and aquareo, yes. When using these controllers, you want to splice fans together, just make sure you dont exceed the channels rating. So for an mcubed, you could have 6 fans rated at 3 watts with some overhead.

Now if you wanted to shut down 1 or 2 fans on each rad, you would need splice like so:
channel 1: Fan 1a, 2a
Channel 2: Fan 1b,1c,2b,2c,
(where 1/2 = rad and abc = fans)

this way you could set one channel to turn off when temp is lower than say 27oc.

[Sparky]

I ran only 2 fans on my triple rad for a while when one broke and it did OK, I was overclocked and running games too. Of course temps weren't as good but it was OK. Don't try and run them at 4 volts though, even if they do spin they won't move enough air to be worth much. Yate lows at 7V is going to be really quiet so I'd just do that and keep all the fans on.

[Polizei]

I ran only 2 fans on my triple rad for a while when one broke and it did OK, I was overclocked and running games too. Of course temps weren't as good but it was OK. Don't try and run them at 4 volts though, even if they do spin they won't move enough air to be worth much. Yate lows at 7V is going to be really quiet so I'd just do that and keep all the fans on.

Quiet? How do you know what quiet is? You have a leaf blower in your closet!

[LonghornN]

It wont mind, the noise with the same frequency and dBa on 1000 fans is equal to the noise of 10 of them because its a logarithmic scale, not decimal.

[NaMcO]

Aquaero goes for around 100 eur in a local shop in Portugal. I guess the price is the same all around Europe but check out www.aquacomputer.de i think they sell those.

[gxavier]

Sometimes I run my Swiftech 320's with only one fan on and at <1000 rpms... no biggie. I'll even play games with it like that. A couple degrees higher on your water isn't going to hurt much unless you're right on the edge of instability with your OC.

[Brodholm]

Hmm okay, Thanks for all the answers.

But is aquaero > Mcubed or vice versa.

aquaero is about 125$
And Mcubed goes for 90$

And how many fans can you connect to a aquaero?

Im also looking at the Aquastream XT USB 12V Pumpe - Ultra Version

Is that any good? Quiet and stuff?

Its vs the Laing D5 Vario/Swiftech MCP655

[Eddie3dfx]

Aquero LT For $80.
You do need to have an rpm yellow cable, otherwise it won't work
If it's a simple black/red wire fan, it's incompatible.

[Sparky]

Quiet? How do you know what quiet is? You have a leaf blower in your closet!

When I was at home over winter break last year the only thing in my room was my PC

I'm actually a quiet nut, but I deal with the noise from the closet until I can afford to quiet them down too And it isn't a leafblower, just a dull roar

[Brodholm]

Is the Aquastream XT USB 12V a Pump better than the Swiftech MCP655?


I still haven't decided if I'm going to get mcubed or the aquaero

[Bob101]

I'm currently looking for a fan controller also, though price is not such a limiting factor.

Taking a look at the aquaero manual p48 it states the load capacity per fan channel is 5W.

I'm busy trying to find out "normal" currents for different fans but I doubt you'll be able to put more than 1 or maybe 2 fans per channel if I've understood the manual correctly and if 3W is reasonable power consumption for a fan.

In comparison some of the mcubed options seem to support 20W per channel though I have no experience with them.

Hope this helps.

[Brodholm]

I'm currently looking for a fan controller also, though price is not such a limiting factor.

Taking a look at the aquaero manual p48 it states the load capacity per fan channel is 5W.

I'm busy trying to find out "normal" currents for different fans but I doubt you'll be able to put more than 1 or maybe 2 fans per channel if I've understood the manual correctly and if 3W is reasonable power consumption for a fan.

In comparison some of the mcubed options seem to support 20W per channel though I have no experience with them.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, I'm thinking the same. Just 4 fans will not cut it for me :\ I need to control 6 fans in just the radiators.

max. current: 7A
max. power: 80W (PWM)/20W (analogue)
power per channel: 40W (PWM)/20W (analogue)

With 20W you can even have 6 fans on one channel... Aquaero does not even come close to this :\

I have heard many good things about the BigNG and have been close to buy one but I never did. I had no reason for it then. But now when I'm going to cool my system with water it is much more interesting. The Mcubed BigNG can even control pumps because it is so powerful. And you can attach flowmeters, temperature probes etc. I think I am going to go with the Mcubed.

[Shoggy]

Taking a look at the aquaero manual p48 it states the load capacity per fan channel is 5W.

Forget this manual. It is outdated to the max

Each channel can handle a load of 10W while the total load of all channels combined should not exceed 30W. Of course you can use y-adapters to connect more fans to one channel.

[TedShred]

Isn't it also the case that, unlike the aquero, the Mcubed is no longer supported by its manufacturer for updates and stuff?

[Bobly]

Isn't it also the case that, unlike the aquero, the Mcubed is no longer supported by its manufacturer for updates and stuff?

Exactly that was my issue with it, if I remember right the last software/driver update is over a year old, could even be more... :/

[Henrik Pejer]

<THIS_IS_WRONG!>Another difference is that the bigng needs to have software running in order to function properly while the aquaero does not. It's software is only for settings and monitoring but you do not need it running in order for aquaero to work: once set it will work all by itself.

That to me says that the aquaero is a smarter and better engineered product and though it might cost more is worth the money.</THIS_IS_WRONG!>

If you need more power then check out fanamp from mcubed. The fanamp will give you plenty of power to run fans and pumps. You connect the fanamp to one of the 3-pin fan connectors on the aquaero, then connect your fans to the fanamp and you can then control more fans with one channel, or even a pump if you want to.

Finally good luck with your build. Soon I will have all my stuff and I'll start my worklog... Wonderful!

[CyberDruid]

Last SW for mCubed is 2006. I would never reccomend it to anyone. It's a royal pain in the ass.

I'm pretty handy at learning SW and configuring HW but the mCubed just won't play nice. You have to do a lot of weird stuff to get it to work in Vista64...not fun at all.

In theory the mCubed stuff is way cool...in practice it's not worth it IMO.