July 1, 200719 yr Controls four fan speeds, shows four temps (via four temp sensors), shows total wattage used by the computer, and looks way bitchin' cool (pun intended). http://zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=274&code=017 The device installs in a 5.25" external bay. Three of my fans (the stock ones) don't come with the proper three-pin connector for me to route it through the device, but the optional one I installed to cool my second drive bay does. I will replace the stock fans with aftermarket (Yate Loon) soon. I am keeping the CPU fan connected directly to the mobo since my board auto-adjusts the fan speed based on reported CPU temp. I may leave the main case fans hooked to the mobo since it will adjust them as well. I hooked my temp sensors to the CPU (wedged between CPU and heatsink), PS cage, and both of the two drive cages. Other than the CPU, I glued them on with ArcticSilver thermal adhesive - they are not coming off, thus why I didn't attach them directly to the PS or drives. Got it all hooked up, very very nifty little device. First key result: total power shown upon startup is ~215W for five 300GB drives. Once it boots, it settles down to ~180W. It measures wattage through a pass through device which reports wattage via a USB-like connector. Computer to device, device to wall socket. Usefulness factor: 5 Geek factor: 9 Cost: not bad, $60. Bill
July 1, 200719 yr Looks great. But it is unclear to me, if it adjusts the fans based on the temp measurements. ? If so, can it stop the fans if the temp is below a threshold. ? /rene
July 1, 200719 yr Author It is not perfect, thus my "5" rating for usefulness. The Zalman box does NOT adjust the fan speeds based on temp - it only reports temps and lets you manually adjust the speeds. This is why I have left the CPU fan hooked up to the mobo since it will adjust the speed automagically. It will, however, set off an alarm if a fan stops working. Bill
July 1, 200719 yr Author To add a bit why fan buses are nice ... Other than the "I can control yet more more aspect of my computer", adjusting the voltage to your fans is useful because the following relationships are not linear: * fan speed and case temps * fan speed and perceived noise Thus you can often lower fan speeds a little, with very little increase in case temp, while significantly lowering noise. Part of the reason is because at some point the fan noise sinks below the level of ambient room noise. So the objective seems to be to run the fan at whatever speed is necessary to make the SPL just below that which is detectable. As long as this means the box stays reasonably cool, you win. Of course, none of this matters if either the box is in a separate room or your fans are inherently loud. Location matters and gear selection trumps tweaking. Bill
July 2, 200719 yr Author I just found out one fatal flow ... The display's range of visibility is horrible. Above perhaps 20 degrees vertical, all of the panels light up, so for a server sitting on the ground, even getting on my knees doesn't allow me to read the display. I may remount it vertically by poking out the top of the case. Sigh! Bill
July 4, 200719 yr Author What are the specs of your system. Antec P180 case, UltraXfinity 600W power supply, Asus P5B-E mobo, Intel PentiumD 820 dualcore, 1GB of matched Corsair memory, five Seagate 7200.10 300GB SATA/300 hard drives, eVGA nVidia 7600GT (way overkill) graphics card, a Corsair 1GB USB memory card, Zalman ZM-MFC2 fanbus.
July 4, 200719 yr Have you ever encountered one of those fan controllers which also has a system power & reset switch?
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.