Reddit mentions of Zalman Fan Speed Controller FANMATE-2

I thought I would share my cheap HTPC build. It was made mostly from parts I had sitting around.

Basically, it is:

• A Lenovo M90P PC, but is not the SFF (Small Form Factor) version. Mine has an i5 Core 650 with 8GB of RAM. Note that this is a BTX motherboard, so it's not compatible with ATX parts.
  
  
• 128GB Samsung Pro 840 SSD for the OS.
  
  
• Two WD Red 4TB drives, setup in a Storage Pool under Windows 10. I also sync my library to a backup server and to a second external HDD. (I previously only had one, but it overheated and died, I did not have backups, and I lost my entire library! That is why I am doing this again.)
  
  
• A CPU fan controller.
  
  
• A HDD cooling fan added to each WD drive. The fans keep the HDDs around 87F - 93F degrees, which is acceptable considering this is in the same small cabinet with my stereo receiver, Tivo, and PS3, which all get pretty warm when running.
  
  
• Added a Lian Li MF-699 3-fan bay cooler to add air flow.
  
  
• Asus Xonar sound card
  
  
• EVGA GeForce GT 610 video card with an HDMI output
  
  
• This little wireless keyboard
  
  
• One of these power adapters which allowed me to plug in the two HDD fans with MOLEX connectors (as the Lenovo only has SATA power connectors)
  
  
• Passmark disk checkup utility to monitor the temps of the HDDs. This is required because using Storage Pools prevents most HDD monitoring software from working. Passmark actually monitors the drives at the system level, not at the "Drive letter" level.
  
  And that's it.
  
  It is running Windows 10, a Plex media server and media player, and a PlayOn server.
  
  I use the sound card because the built-in one either didn't support 5.1 or did not support 5.1 through Plex. It connects to my AVR.
  
  I use the video card to get an HDMI output, which goes through a 5-port HDMI switcher (my 3 other devices, including a Steam Link plus one spare port), and then to my projector (which only has 2 HDMI inputs and obviously doesn't have sound, hence the AVR).
  
  I hope this is inspiration that you don't have to spend a lot to get a fully functional HTPC.

If it's actually for a computer, motherboards these days always have several extra fan controller channels, you just need to get 3-pin fans (or a suitable adapter).

Otherwise, just get

http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Fan-Speed-Controller-FANMATE-2/dp/B000292DO0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1417494478&sr=8-6&keywords=fan+controller

or

http://www.amazon.com/HDE%C2%AE-3-5-Panel-Speed-Controller/dp/B006UFMH3W/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1417494562&sr=8-14&keywords=fan+controller

or something similar.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000292DO0/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The cables are pretty long but i was able to zip tie them good enough. I used this to slow down my HTPC fans.

If you've tried several Mac fan-speed controllers and non of them are able to reduce the speed. You might be able to use something like this to manually adjust the fan speed hardware wise.

You'll have to check whether or not the Mac CPU fan will connect to that though before buying it. It might be the case that the CPU fan is a 4-pin fan connector, which won't work with that device (the device only has 3-pin connectors).

You'd probably be best off heading to a Mac specialist forum really, I couldn't find anywhere that actually had the basic hardware specifications on the cooling system.

Well if you're plugging your fans directly into your PSU, then you're probably running at 100%. If you plug them into your motherboard you can typically speed control them in the BIOS.

Typically if you want to plug the fans directly into the PSU, you'll need an inline resistor on the fans themselves to limit their voltage, or use a seperate fan controller. Some fans come with these adapters in their retail packages like these:

http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NA-SRC10-Accessory-Low-Noise-Adaptors/dp/B00KG3KELQ

You can also buy a cheapo fan controller like this zalman one that works pretty well.

http://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Fan-Speed-Controller-FANMATE-2/dp/B000292DO0/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1427050723&sr=1-8&keywords=fan+controller

Here r some fan controlers.

Zalman Fan Speed Controller FANMATE-2
https://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Fan-Speed-Controller-FANMATE-2/dp/B000292DO0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Fan Variable Speed Controller
https://www.moddiy.com/products/Fan-Variable-Speed-Controller.html

Sunbeam 20W Rheosmart PCI Slot Smart Fan Controller - (PL-RS-PCI)
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12489/bus-249/Sunbeam_20W_Rheosmart_PCI_Slot_Smart_Fan_Controller_-_PL-RS-PCI.html?tl=g34c17

Manual 12V Variable Speed Controller - 4-Pin Molex Connector to Dual 3-Pin Fan Connector
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9389/bus-202/Manual_12V_Variable_Speed_Controller_-_4-Pin_Molex_Connector_to_Dual_3-Pin_Fan_Connector.html?tl=g34c17
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6433/bus-114/FrozenCPU_FC1_External_Fan_Controller.html?tl=g34c17
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g34/c17/list/p1/Bay_Devices-Fan_Controllers.html

Swiftech 8-Way PWM Cable Splitter - SATA Power (8W-PWM-SPL-ST)
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g/c121/s424/list/p1/b33/Swiftech-Fan_Accessories-Multi_Fan_Ports-Page1.html

Something like this https://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Fan-Speed-Controller-FANMATE-2/dp/B000292DO0/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1549830079&sr=8-7&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=pc+fan+speed+controller&dpPl=1&dpID=41hdSSpX5vL&ref=plSrch ?

As Chilton82 said, I got one on Amazon for $4 w/Free Shipping.


This exact one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008AJSDJS/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I bought a speed controller on Amazon also. In the pictures its that really tiny knob to the right of the on/off switch.


This is the speed controller I bought:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000292DO0/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Well that's a good question. I currently use http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553002 for my desktop and NAS and they are the quietest fans I have tried so far, but they aren't dead silent at max speed.

If you are able to plug them all into the motherboard then they would be perfect as you could get them to run at like 50-70% speed were they barely make any noise, but I couldn't so they would ran max speed all the time. Which I had it in my room and I wanted it a bit quieter when I slept, so I just bought a couple http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000292DO0/ and put it on a bit lower speed and now they are perfect.

So it really depends if you want totally inaudible or not.

This manipulation will make your laptop a bit more bumpy chassis-wise and I won't take any responsibility if something goes wrong :P (Don’t forget to think about the warranty)

I am a lurker but I can really understand your feelings since I was in the same situation (same laptop) before however, I was able to fix this, let me explain How to avoid TDP-downs:

After dealing with multiple slim laptops and also thanks Reddit for some data, I have concluded that these are the main types of throttling linked with the thermals:

• CPU throttling (duh), however my laptop goes to 10W whereas the CPU was only around at the early eighties °C at 15W, and the laptop itself has another more powerful fan state at this temperature, so I think it is supposed to handle that CPU heat (these fans suck tbh).
  My laptop was not thermal throttling but power limiting (except at TDP-high but that’s not the issue) so I skipped it.
  
  
• software throttling, setting at High performance plan and removing + disabling the reinstallation of the Intel Dynamic Platform & Thermal Framework Driver should be enough (no, it won’t wreck your PC, but staying at High Performance will make your laptop uncomfortable because of the heat).
  
  
• VRM throttling, now this one is a little bit more implicit, but it is also very important, I am not an electronic expert and feel free to correct me, but I think that when it overheats, the component won’t be able to deliver as much power to the CPU thus the TDP-down. (Did Intel specified a TDP-down for mobile processors because slim laptops have generally a hard time cooling the CPU and VRMs at the same time?)
  
  To begin the fix you will need to buy these thermal pads (personally I bought two):
  https://www.amazon.com/Thermal-Grizzly-Minus-High-Performance/dp/B00ZJS8RWQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526667081&sr=8-1&keywords=TG-MP8-120-20-10-1R
  
  So, I have sacrificed my laptop to check it, and after removing the black foil there are indeed some VRMs that are not under the heat sink. I have a very empirical way to find them (I don’t have a thermal camera unfortunately).
  Launch TS Bench from ThrottleStop and then on the back of the computer, near the CPU, try to find very hot components (the ones that are barely too hot to touch) then place 3-4 thermal pads on them so that it can reach the chassis of the laptop.
  
  Of course this is not enough, and that’s where the cooler joins in, I found two coolers that are really useful:
  
  
• a cross-flow fan:
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F3971YK/ref=twister_B01F3971X6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
  
  https://i.imgur.com/8IpUd4b.jpg
  
  The cross-flow fan is easier and cheaper to use however it is not as efficient as the next one, the laptop will be able to, at long term and at least, use 14W at 24°C ambient temperature. However, I would still buy it for travels etc.
  
  
• a DIY powerful fan stand:
  
  This one is not hard to do but requires some money but I suppose that budget won’t be your issue since the laptop itself is quite expensive already.
  
  For this you will need:
  
  
• a 3-pin 12V fan with good air pressure:
  https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-A14-industrialPPC-2000-140x140x25mm-2000rpm/dp/B00KESSI2A/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1526667148&sr=1-1&keywords=B00KESSI2A
  
  
• fan grills:
  https://www.amazon.com/140mm-Black-Grill-Guard-screws/dp/B01M2YI7BM/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1526667587&sr=1-3&keywords=fan+grill+140mm
  
  
• 5V to 12V USB to 3-pin:
  https://www.amazon.com/FAN2USB-12V-USB-Converting-Adapter/dp/B00MNB40ZU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1526667190&sr=8-1&keywords=FAN2USB
  
  
• a stand with hole:
  https://www.amazon.com/Urbo-Adjustable-Heat-Vent-Elevate-Notebooks/dp/B01I0KN91I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526667370&sr=8-2&keywords=urbo+stand
  
  The hole is where we are going to place the fan and the height will help the fan to get more air, so that is very important.
  
  
• a cable tie set to attach the fan on the stand:
  https://www.amazon.com/Uxcell-Nylon-Resistant-Cable-White/dp/B00UJ95URU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526667534&sr=8-1&keywords=Cable+Tie+Set+400
  
  Optionally you can also buy a voltage regulator to turn it off but yeah unplugging the USB do the work too haha:
  https://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Fan-Speed-Controller-FANMATE-2/dp/B000292DO0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1526667258&sr=1-1&keywords=FANMATE2
  
  After it is done and placed your laptop on it, you should be able to play all night without seeing the laptop throttling.
  
  I tried to exceed the 15W, but this step is probably impossible, with the cooling I was able to stay a few more seconds at almost 30W but even after dealing with max TDP via Throttlestop, it throttles down. I just think that HP has limited its device to 15W for long term state (no matter the thermals or power) which is quite understandable but still it would be nice to unlock it.
  I have for instance set the TDP max at 16W with ThrottleStop (so just a little bit more) and it still throttles after around 30 seconds to 15W with the cooler, I don’t know if I will give up but with -100mV undervolting I am able to reach STABLE 2.8ghz at full load, at 15W, so it is not that bad for a convertible 13-inch laptop.
  
  I would like to post more photos however I am on a trip for months, so I can't right now.
  
  Feel free to ask me any questions!
  
  EDIT: formatting because 1st post
  
  EDIT 2:
  
  Here is how I placed my thermal pads:
  https://i.imgur.com/0fHQTIl.jpg
  
  I have also stressed my laptop for almost 15min non-stop with my cross-flow fan, here are the results showing a stable performance:
  
  
• Start:
  https://i.imgur.com/h9Tq2fU.png
  
  
• End:
  https://i.imgur.com/j5P8osg.png

Case fan speed controllers are available for under $10.

Here

Hows this look for a parts list?
(I have amazon prime as a side note)

• Spray on sound Dampener - $10.20
  
  
• Rubber feet - $3.99
  
  
  
• Scythe Slipstream Low Profile Case Fan - $6.95
  
  
• Zalman Fan Mate 2 - $6.33
  
  
• Lime Green Coolant - $12.99
  
  
• Talismoon Whisper Legacy - $14.99
  
  
  
• Alphacool 90 Degree Fitting x5 - $25 ($4.99 a piece)
  
  
• Bitspower Water Tank + Pump
  
  
• Xbox 360 Water Block -$49.99
  
  
• 120MM Radiator -$23.66
  
  Total = $200
  I can't figure out any way to bring the price down, any ideas? and not sure what kind of tubing to look for
  
  

the cable you linked is a fan splitter.

you plug one end onto the mobo 4 pin, and plug up to 4 fans on the other end. the molex is for additional power incase the 4 pin cannot provide enough.

this will work. depending on your mobo, the pwm in bios may not work very well, so i like to use a fan controller such as this.

https://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Fan-Speed-Controller-FANMATE-2/dp/B000292DO0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482355852&sr=8-1&keywords=fan+controller+zalman

you will still need a fan splitter as well.

I don't know about the capabilities of the board.

But if you really want to you can ALWAYS control fan speeds, even if the board has no control:

https://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Fan-Speed-Controller-FANMATE-2/dp/B000292DO0/

I had a pulse width modulation circuit around so I just soldered fan connectors to it(note PWM in blue and soldering work in red). It's between the molex power and the fan-in. I put it on minimum (around 5V) and the highest temperature I get in games is about 58 degrees.

Unfortunately most of the small in-line voltage reducers are only rated for about 1 or 2 fans. I think you can get separate units online for not much

Howdy. I'm not a buildsmith, so I'll defer to /u/transam617's expertise. Just some additional food for thought here: I noticed you mentioned that you'd like a quiet build. The strength of your preference, your definition of quiet, and the background noise in your environment will all play a part in how relevant the following advice is.

The fans in the case that /u/transam617 specified will run at 1200 RPM, and the ASRock motherboard may or may not have the ability to control their speed. They're three-pin voltage-only fans. Other fans have a fourth PWM pin (pulse-width modulation) that allows very fine control of fan speed, which is what almost all motherboards support on their four-pin fan headers for speed control. Some motherboard manufacturers support voltage speed control of three-pin fans, but the ASRock manual doesn't make it clear that they can do this. They say vaguely that you can set "fan speed and voltage" which hopefully is true. ASUS definitely supports voltage speed control and will even automatically calculate the voltage range by lowering voltage and measuring fan speed until it cuts out, and then setting a threshold so you don't stall the fans. Unfortunately ASUS' B350 board has some pretty gnarly reviews out there at the moment, there seem to be a lot of firmware/BIOS related issues with the board, so it's a bit hard to recommend for the moment.

So, with the ASRock board, if you find that the case fans are too loud for you consider a fan speed controller like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zalman-Fan-Speed-Controller-FANMATE-2/dp/B000292DO0/ - Just mount it with some foam tape internally and dial in the speed you want. Or, mount it through / onto the rear of the case. It's not pretty, but it's cheap!

Couple that with a fan splitter and you'll have speed control over your case fans so you can scale them back to 700-800 RPM where they will be virtually inaudible.

I also noticed that transam617 recommended a 7200 RPM HDD. That drive is a great value, but 7200 RPM drives can be a bit noisy. If you're very noise sensitive, consider a 5400RPM drive instead. You can get a WD Blue drive for an extra 4 quid. The drive will be slower, but you'll be keeping the games you play on the SSD and the speed hit isn't that noticeable for your mass storage tasks (dormant games, photos, videos, etc). The noise reduction is definitely worth it.

Last, the PSU. That model has a fan that can peak out above 2000 RPM, which would be loud. It does have fan control, and should idle at a much lower speed. The reviews I see for the unit don't discuss fan speed, so it's probably not an issue at normal loads. As a fan with a 2000 RPM peak it may not be capable of going much slower that 800-1000 RPM, which is still noticeable. TBD.

In my most recent silent build, the HDDs were the loudest item in the whole build after I got all my fans under control.

So, all this considered, if I wanted to take the other build and make it silent, I'd swap the HDD and PSU and add a CPU cooler as follows. I'd then be above your budget, but this is just for your consideration so you can see where you might be headed if you want extreme quiet. If you build Transam's build and find something is noisy, we can easily help you determine which part it is that you can hear and we can provide guidance to help you achieve the sound level you desire.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor | £190.83 @ Ebuyer
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | £25.66 @ Novatech
Motherboard | ASRock - AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | £64.38 @ CCL Computers
Memory | *Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | £124.58 @ Aria PC
Storage | *Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | £76.80 @ Amazon UK
Storage | Western Digital - Blue 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive | £44.55 @ Eclipse Computers
Video Card | Asus - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Dual Video Card | £235.09 @ More Computers
Case | Fractal Design - Define C ATX Mid Tower Case | £63.39 @ CCL Computers
Power Supply | EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | £83.99 @ Ebuyer
Operating System | Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro Full - USB 32/64-bit | £39.00 @ Amazon UK
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £948.27
| *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-14 11:09 BST+0100 |

-ITX

Oh gosh thanks for that! Ugh that sucks. Hey, what if I got something like this and put it between the hub and the mobo?

Will this even cut down voltage or will they stay at full rpm because the hub is hooked up to SATA?

That's right.

One of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CN3NLE
and about eight 1-inch holes around the bottom of the bucket will give great airflow.

You can control the fan speed with one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Zalman-Fan-Speed-Controller-FANMATE-2/dp/B000292DO0/

This will also guarantee negative pressure if you want to use a carbon filter attached to the fan. That fan is also rated for 9mmH2O meaning it will have no problem pushing through a carbon filter without bogging down like most CPU fans. I use one myself.