What is a case fan controller?
Think of a PC case fan controller as a central hub for all the cooling devices in your system. From this one device you can control, measure, and monitor things in your system. Some of the best fan controllers have LCD screens built into them that feed back temperature ratings, fan RPM measurements, power draw, etc. so that you will have full visibility of what is going on with your cooling at any time.
What is a 5.25" fan controller?
A 5.25" fan controller is the most common size you'll find on the market. The 5.25 number is simply the measurement of the width of the fan controller panel - 5.25 inches. This lets you know that it will fit into an open 5.25" drive bay in your computer case.
Who makes the best fan controllers?
We are big fans of the NZXT Sentry line and Lamptrons offerings. Each manufacturer has a wide range of options so you can pick the one that will suit your needs and budget the best.
How many case fans can I connect to a single controller?
This will vary depending on the model you go with. You'll see 5 or 6 fan controller products on the market. These are fairly common. You will also see controllers that support as few as 2-channels or as many as 10+.
What does a fan controller do?
A pc fan controller gives you control over the case fans, water cooling hardware, or other similar cooling devices in your system. With a fan controller you get a series of switches, knobs, or dials that let you control the speed of your computer's fan speeds to adjust the airflow in your system. Recently a lot of fan controllers have also gone digital with really neat interfaces that take advantage of touch capabilities. Oftentimes you'll also be able to turn fans off completely to reduce the noise level in your case when you don't need the cooling. Fan controllers are typically mounted externally or fit into a 3.5 inch of 5.25 inch bay.
When you hook up a PWM fan to a PWM capable fan controller (PWM compatible controllers are the ones that don't simply turn ON/OFF but give you variable control through a knob or dial for example) you can change the RPM spin rate of a fan to match your specific needs.
One cool feature of some fan controllers is that they can feed you back valuable data. Depending on the capabilities of your fan controller you may get things like internal temperatures, fan spin rates, etc.
Do you have to have a fan controller to control individual fans in your system? In a lot of cases you will but sometimes motherboards can support fan controlling via the BIOS interface or through fan controlling software (like Speedfan, SmcFanControl, etc.)
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