fan controller or not?

[belveder]

Most of the fans (listed below) in my computer have the choice of either flat speed or using a controller so I bought a Thermaltake X-Controller to run 4 of the fans speed manually.

The problem is that now I can't tell the temperatures or fan speed etc without the fans being plugged into the motherboard.

My question is, which is better for cooling, using the X-Contoller manually or having the fans plugged into the motherboard and using a program like speedfan?

Any advice would be appreciated

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K8n NEO Platinum Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64+ 3200 CPU with Thermaltake Venus12 fan
2 gig DDR400 memory
MSI NX6600GT Video Card
160 GIG Western Digital SATA HD
200 GIG Western Digital SATA HD
80 gig WD IDE External HD for backups
NEC ND 3520A DVD Burner
Pioneer 110 DVD Burner
SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS soundcard
Topower TOP-500PS 500W PSU
1 12cm Thermaltake Smart Fan 2 in front of case
1 12cm Thermaltake Smart Fan 2 in rear for exhaust
8 cm Thermaltake Smart Fan 2 in top of case - exhaust
Thermaltake UFO fan in side panel facing cpu
8 cm Thermaltake Smart Fan 2 in top of case facing video card
Mini Server Case
Logitech Elite Keyboard
Logitech Optical Mouse
Altec Lansing 5100 5.1 speaker system

[iviuz]

Do you get a reading for your cpu fan ?

[matm347]

Well, when used with the manual control, you know when you are going to need the extra cooling...like when you are starting up a game, you know you'll need the extra air so you just crank the fans up.
Personally I don't like background programs running while I play games, but that's just me.

My coolermaster aerogate III works well for what I need and would also solve your problem. It has 4 chanels with a temp probe and RPM readings for each.

[wayout44]

If you do it right you will have the speed monitoring cable (usually yellow, definately not red or black anyway) spliced into 2 so not only does the controller pick up the speed but the mainboard can as well, but you certainly shouldn't power any fans from the mainboard (most especially high powered fans) as this can overtax the mainboard resulting in random errors being generated or burnout the fan headers all together.

[RenascentMisanthropy]

Why do you need to know your fan speed?

[jose123]

Got an Aerogate 2 for several years now. It's seen 4 cases (modded & new), 3 mainboards, 3 cpu's (from Duron 900 up to a Sempron 3000+), 2 monitors, 3 vid cards, etc. It works fine. Loud its like a jet, slowed down its way quiet. Used FanSpeed on a MSI K8N Neo 3 to control the CPU fan. Aerogate controlls everything else