Blogs Do modern EFIs make physical fan controllers pointless?

But you can just use a splitter and have one board slot control multiple fans - it's not like you need each individual fan going a different speed. That's what I've been doing since my core 2 duo (asus something deluxe mb). One for the cpu which controls the heatsink fan(s). Two for the case fans. Then I just link them to whatever monitored temp I like (cpu/northbridge/even gpu) and they all automatically ramp up and down. Much better then anything external where you have to manually turn dials or insert temperature probes or whatever.

 

"Do modern EFIs make physical fan controllers pointless?"

Not yet, I use an aquaero to control my fans and can adjust all based on readings through software monitors that don't exist in EFI BIOS like DRAM and SSD temps where I wouldn't want to be routing probes etc as it's all register on chip, so why would I want to.

Modern boards are good though, much better than they used to be, I am probably a fringe case to be fair, I could get away with using mobo in a pinch, my motherboard even has pretty good pump control.

 

One of the most underrated features of Asus Strix cards (might be on other models, I just know it from personal use) is the inclusion of a fan header that can directly control fan speed based on GPU load - if your case has an intake mounted directly under or in front of the GPU, it's a no-brainer to use that and free up one of the motherboard headers.

 

Personally, for general usage, no we don't need them anymore. Most folks only have a handful of fans that can be easily served by even lower end motherboards.

For niche use I'd say yes, but only if fan hubs are also lumped in with controllers. I've had an Aquaero 6 stuck on the shelf for what 4 years now and to date still never been tempted to use it, which I feel speaks volumes about how things have changed. Full motherboard control has so many issues with large numbers of fans though I've found, hubs at least still feel essential to me if you're using more than 6 fans, which is surprisingly common nowadays thanks to watercooling becoming so popular.

 

I use these for powering / controlling the fans on the rads:
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/aka...-splitter-cable-with-sata-power-black-braided

 

I'd say we never "needed" fan controllers. Most of the ones I saw in the day were definitely in the "nerd bling" category, and most of what WASN'T there just for looks was wildly over-engineered.

I'd also say the popularity of case doors kinda put the kibosh on fan controllers worth having, since any protruding switches or knobs in your drive bay blocked the door.

 

I mean that's essentially a cable clutter version of the same thing yeah. One handy thing about hubs nowadays at least is many also control lighting

 

My last fan controller went when I stopped building mutil-radiator loops, which was when I moved from Nehalem ~ 7 years ago?

Since then, onboard control has been sufficient.

 

The death of external drive bays also killed that type of fan controller.

 

blast from the past, always had to have a couple of knobs mounted in a spare drive bay (or in a later case on the side of case itself) to turn down main fans when watching something on my old old pcs but not even thought about these in years. guess that answers that rhetorical question - i doubt it's the demise of physical bays in cases so much as the built-in motherboard controllers doing all the monitoring and automatically adjusting. Used to be a right faff with sticky temperature probes on those expensive led screen fan controllers and running wires back and forth, don't miss them one bit.

 

I got 2 x 6 channel fan controllers in my case. All 12 fans are individually controlled. Love tweaking those fan speeds

 

I agree with the general consensus. Most of the time not required. But there will always be a MOD that will need the extra control options or needs it just for the cool factor. ...er seriously not a planned pun.

 

Had fan controllers on several cases, wired them up fiddled a bit then never touched them again, I personally wouldn't bother these days.

 

The dearth of external drive bays certainly put the final nails in the coffin(I miss cases with a half-dozen punch-outs on the front), but ... I'd argue that they were basically dead before that happened.

 

This is the case for me. (ha)

I've still got the same case I bought ~8 years ago. I have an automatic fan controller programmed up, it's hidden inside a HDD bay, it uses temperature probes for auto fan control and its profile is saved onboard. I have changed motherboard and reinstalled Windows, never had to touch the fan controller, it just works.

Without any plan to change my case, I hope I'll continue to not worry about cooling for the foreseeable future.

 

Chassis fans? What are those? [/SFF]

 

Sounds interesting...what is this piece of wizardry?

 

Check out my write up here: https://forums.bit-tech.net/index.p...automatic-fan-controller-bigng-review.227452/
(2012, wow, time really flies)

Only thing I haven't changed over the years is the controller, HDD and case. But I haven't re-configurered it all those years. Now I do a bit of cryptomining using solar power, the original setting still works well.

 

What's with the Phtobucket stuff (new to me on here)? Safe to open?

Intrigued!