NZXT Grid+

[RadeonHDx]

So at the moment I feel I have somewhat of a problem in terms of my fans. In my case I have 7 fans and each fan is running on ~4v because of the 5v splitter that I made and I have added a small resistor to take it down to about 4v meaning that, in theory, my fans should be running pretty much silently. In reality, however this is definitely not the case. I sleep next to my PC so it's pretty much impossible to get to sleep some nights when all I can hear is my rig with its pretty constant whur.

In my rig I have:
4 AF120 QE LED white fans
3 SP120 QE LED white fans
a vario D5 pump on speed 1
the air cooler on my Sapphire R9 290

Basically I have eliminated all of the other sources of noise as I have tried manually stopping the fans on my 290 and I know that it can't be the pump as I cant actually hear it when my head is more than 5cm away (2 1/2 inches for our american friends ). I have also disconnected all of the fans just to check that they actually were the loudest thing in my rig and found a considerable difference when compared to having them connected.

Now to my question, will an automatic/static fan controller sort my problem? I was thinking of something such as the Grid+ as I'm pretty sure I can turn off the fans completely until they need to be turned on. I no longer have any front bay slots left so a fan controller for there would be useless to me so I'm kind of stuck with something like a Grid+.

Thanks for any advice you guys can give on the situation.

 

[andrewmchugh]

Are you folding on that while its on over night ? is that the reason its left on? does it use the GPU for folding or is it just CPU?

I'm guessing that the SP are one a 3x120 worth of rads and afs on the case? - im not familier with your set up if you have a link to a gallery or case setup could you post that please?

sorry for not answering your questions I just want a little more context.

 

[RadeonHDx]

Are you folding on that while its on over night ? is that the reason its left on? does it use the GPU for folding or is it just CPU?

I'm guessing that the SP are one a 3x120 rad and afs on the case? - im not familier with your set up

sorry for not answering your questions I just want a little more context.

Yea, sorry I'm assuming too much and forgetting how many new (or returned) people there are on the forum.

Yes I am usually folding which actually makes it so that the GPU gets much louder however I am talking about the usual case where the rig is sat idle when browsing the forum for example or when downloading a large file. I plan to add a waterblock for my 290 very soon and it appears I have the funds for that now .

And, as I may have already answered, I am running a full loop with a 360 rad in the roof with 3 AF's in the front and 1 AF in the back all as intake.

Hope this helps .

*EDIT*

I only fold on my GPU as doing so on my CPU makes it hard to use my rig for certain tasks aswell as it eating power.

 

[andrewmchugh]

Is it just the AFs you need to control? SPs are on the motherboard PWM?

 

[RadeonHDx]

Is it just the AFs you need to control? SPs are on the motherboard PWM?

Actually all of them are 3 pin and I want to control them all (I was thinking when buying them that 5v would be 'silent').

 

[andrewmchugh]

Actually all of them are 3 pin and I want to control them all (I was thinking when buying them that 5v would be 'silent').

Oh ok, I was looking at the GRID+ for a little while when I ordered my fans the other day. I was sort of hoping that I could have got something that could take a PWM signal and drive some fans I thought thats what the grid was at first, I hate have additional software and hardware like that so I was put off.

I looked at this review and I'm not sure if you can get the fans below 40% or what happens if you give the grid less than 12v I would imagine that it would shit itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrZX-lovH2A

 

[RadeonHDx]

Oh ok, I was looking at the GRID+ for a little while when I ordered my fans the other day. I was sort of hoping that I could have got something that could take a PWM signal and drive some fans I thought thats what the grid was at first, I hate have additional software and hardware like that so I was put off.

I looked at this review and I'm not sure if you can get the fans below 40% or what happens if you give the grid less than 12v I would imagine that it would shit itself.

I actually watched that video last night and asked myself the same question. The Grid+ takes a 3 pin fan and makes it so that it is controlled by DC power change so that it can change the speed of the fan without the fan having a PWM functionality to it.

 

[JR23]

Seriously get an Aquaero 5 LT, they are cheap enough now and well worth it. I must admit I don't use mine to it's full potential as I run the fans at a static speed but every fan i've plugged into it just bows down and does exactly what you tell it.

There is just a voltage slider from 0-12v or you can switch to PWM and have duty cycle 0-100%. Although it only has 4 channels each one is easily good for two fans, I got worried and bought two Aquearo's and two heatsinks for my 13 fans. Undervolting the fans massively they stay at 46°C with no airflow, they can operate at up to 80°C so excessive headroom. If they hit 80°C the fans just speed up a bit afaik, obviously it's the undervolting which generates heat.

JR

 

[RadeonHDx]

Seriously get an Aquaero 5 LT, they are cheap enough now and well worth it. I must admit I don't use mine to it's full potential as I run the fans at a static speed but every fan i've plugged into it just bows down and does exactly what you tell it.

There is just a voltage slider from 0-12v or you can switch to PWM and have duty cycle 0-100%. Although it only has 4 channels each one is easily good for two fans, I got worried and bought two Aquearo's and two heatsinks for my 13 fans. Undervolting the fans massively they stay at 46°C with no airflow, they can operate at up to 80°C so excessive headroom. If they hit 80°C the fans just speed up a bit afaik, obviously it's the undervolting which generates heat.

JR

I actually saw that in somebody's build log (might be yours :lol but unfortunately I really cant justify spending £60 on a fan controller for the main reason that I don't think I'd use it for very much. As you said, you just left it static and that's probably something I would end up doing.

Are we sure that the Grid+ is limited to only 40% fan speed?

 

[andrewmchugh]

I actually saw that in somebody's build log (might be yours :lol but unfortunately I really cant justify spending £60 on a fan controller for the main reason that I don't think I'd use it for very much. As you said, you just left it static and that's probably something I would end up doing.

Are we sure that the Grid+ is limited to only 40% fan speed?

im not sure, I just saw the guy on the video go down to 40% twice.

The spec says output 5-12v and 40% of 12v is about 5v

 

[RadeonHDx]

Ahh, looks like i'm out of luck then doesn't it .

 

[andrewmchugh]

Not fancy buying it and giving it a try? - tbh I dunno how can hear the ap120s on 5v.. I've just tried mine and they seem silient.. I work in a car plant I guess I'm used to noise or deaf!