What the best off-shelf fan controller that can handle 2 or more fans per channel?

[hokiealumnus]

+1 for the Rheobus Extreme. Love mine. I run 2x Ultra High Speed Panaflos off of channel #1 without any problems. While it is rated for the load, I didn't want to push it, so the third is on the second channel (all three on my radiator, just got an MCR320 for father's day), but it should handle all three (they're 7.8W/ea).

[Waterlogged]

1600rpm ones, F- I believe

OK, those I have myself and they are .2A each so your looking at 4.8W for both. Any controller that can handle 1A per channel should work well for you.

For every person I heard say how "great" the San Ace's are, I've heard an equal number of ppl say they aren't so great. They don't dispute the airflow but rather the noise, it seems rather inconsistent when under volting them. Some get grinding noise while others get clicks.

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

I've got major clickage on my sanaces under 60% speed.... it sucks because I would like them to be 45-50%

[Navanod]

OK, those I have myself and they are .2A each so your looking at 4.8W for both. Any controller that can handle 1A per channel should work well for you.

For every person I heard say how "great" the San Ace's are, I've heard an equal number of ppl say they aren't so great. They don't dispute the airflow but rather the noise, it seems rather inconsistent when under volting them. Some get grinding noise while others get clicks.

I get the scrapping grinding noise on one of my 3 san aces. Not sure why...prob just a bad lemon

Was happily running 3 san aces (0.52A each) and a Zalman LED red off a Kaze Master (1 per channel) and all was well until I noticed a plastic smell and found the front panel of the KM to be hot.

The San Aces were undervolted to 1300rpm, about 1/2 of the 2600rpm they can pull at full power...that means (I think) about 0.78A was "absorbed" by the KM and hence, starting to burn it out.
The lack of any heatsinks (eg, those on the Sunbeams) probably caused the overheat and I'm sure its not good for any extended use so I switched them to a normal 20W per channel Sunbeam Rheobus. The sinks on it gets slightly warm running all the 4 fans at 7V but otherwise hums along happily.

Ironically, the KM is now powering the 4 intake/exhaust fans on the rig, which are quiet anyway, and 2 of the temp sensors are monitoring itself and the Sunbeam Rheobus!

KM is a fantasic controller in terms of looks and features. But fails horribly in dealing with heat...just because it doesn't short out at 1A per channel, doesn't mean it can deal with the heat of running 1A per channel.

Am I right to say that that less I undervolt, the less heat is generated by the KM?

[twwen2]

my san aces killed my kaze master.

1 per channel too.. LOL....

Interesting, switch8 had the same problem with some ultra kaze 3000, just one per channel was playing up.

[Blizzy]

Interesting, switch8 had the same problem with some ultra kaze 3000, just one per channel was playing up.

I have scythe UK 3000, one on each channel, its been runing like this for months and no problem at all

[Waterlogged]

Am I right to say that that less I undervolt, the less heat is generated by the KM?

Yep, the less you undervolt, the less heat dissipation the components need to do.

[Navanod]

I have scythe UK 3000, one on each channel, its been runing like this for months and no problem at all

How much are the UKs undervolted? I think that's the deciding factor, minus the lemons that some of the early adopters got

Yep, the less you undervolt, the less heat dissipation the components need to do.

thanks for confirming that. I'm seriously considering slapping some small ram heatsinks to the Kaze master...I think the 4 black rectangular thingies next to the fan headers get pretty hot, but I was just wondering if anyone had any luck cooling other parts since the entire panel got pretty hot in my case

[*|T2D|*PopovS]

That is interesting. I was under impression that San Aces are particularly good for under-volting (no clicks and etc.) So it seems is not guaranteed....

Myself I played with NZXT LX controller to under-volt Shythe Flex 1600rpm, Koolance 2600rpm, some YLs and GELID Wing fans all are with great success in terms of additional noise. Although I had only one fan per channel.

[Blizzy]

How much are the UKs undervolted? I think that's the deciding factor, minus the lemons that some of the early adopters got

My PC stays on 24/7
All UKs are undervolted to reach 1000~1200rpm most of the day, when im playing, i´ll raise them up to 2000rpm. But most of the time, it stays at 1000~1200rpm

[Stvwndr219]

how many watts do the yate loon mediums/highs put out?

[wez3570]

Slightly off topic but.....does anyone know where the San Aces are in stock?

[NaeKuh]

I've got major clickage on my sanaces under 60% speed.... it sucks because I would like them to be 45-50%

shroud them.

then the noise will go down to about 45-50% mark while keeping a higher static on them.

i said this many many times... san aces need shrouds.

[madmaxx]

love my sunbeam rheobus

san ace's need the bearing lubed every so often and the noise should go away

[xTKxhom3r]

does crystalfontz have software logging like the koolance one?

[Navanod]

I think I'm really OT'ing but just to update on how the Kaze master's doing...

With the following 4 fans (1 on each channel)
02 x 0.15A
02 x 0.3A

and without any undervolting, temp went up from 29C to 41C within 15 mins and more or less stayed there. The temp sensor is inserted here:



But once the 4 fans were undervolted to 75% rpm, the heat climbed rapidly past 60C and I had to step in to avoid burning it.
I can imagine how hot it was when it was undervolting 3 san aces and a Zalman F3

I then slap some alum and smaller copper sinks on it



Temp falls to 35C without undervolting and about 50C at 75% undervolt.

I also noticed that the central heatsink covering the chip just above the temp sensors pins was warm even when all the fans are off, about 40C even with a decent alum sink on it...thats probably the display panel's heat.

Anyone using a Kaze master or Ace would probably benefit from having some sinks on it, or even a small fan, although thats probably defeating the purpose of undervolting fans to reduce noise, then adding a small noisy fan