Zalman computer products have been advertising the silencing factor of their products for many years. Most of their heatsinks are even packaged with their “Fanmate” to let the user adjust the fan’s RPMs, thereby reducing the noise the fan produces.
To achieve a virtually silent computer, some users have used several Fanmates or other rheostats to reduce noise, but since these devices are inside your computer they cannot be easily accessed to dynamically adjust.
This is where Fan Controllers come in, as they allow you to control several different fans from the front of your computer, and usually have an indicator of their performance. Zalman has released their ZM-MFC2 Multi Fan Controller, which is the evolution of their previous fan controller the ZM-MFC 1 (reviewed here).
Zalman’s has updated everything about this Fan Controller for the 21st century. The device not only supports 4 seperate fans and temperature sensors, but also tells you how much power your PC is using, and displays it all on a very bright, multi-colored LCD display, and each fan is controlled digitally via a jog dial and buttons!
Features
- Real time display of power consumption
- Four sensors for temperature monitoring and display
- Monitoring and control of one PWM fan and three standard fans
- Alarm system to notify non-operation of any of the fans
- Fan’s operation status indicated with animated propeller images
Specifications
| Dimensions | 147(L) x 87(W) x 42(H) mm | |
| Power & Temperature Display | 30~800W/ -9 °C~+99 °C | |
| Fan Compatibility | 1 X 4-Pin (Supports fans with PWM function) | |
| 3 X 3-Pin (Supports fans with RPM output function) | ||
| Fan RPM Control | 60~5940rpm | PWM Regulation Method (Fan No.4) |
| Voltage Control Method (Fan No.1~3) | ||
| Output Current | 0.7A | |
| Output Voltage | +4~11VDC | |
| Input Voltage | +12VDC/+5VDC | |
Front Panel
- Graphic Power Load Meter: Displays power between 30 to 800W in 4 stages.
- Numeric Power Load Display: Numerically displays power between 30 and 800W (will display “LLL” when overflow occurs)
- Fan Status Display
- Fan Channels
- RPM Display: During RPM Setting, RPM is displayed in units of 60RPM, and actual operational RPM is displayed in units of 10RPM
- Temperature Display: Displays temperature readings between -9 °C and +99 °C
- Jog Wheel: Used for adjusting Fan RPM. RPM can be set from 1000 to 5940RPM in units of 60 RPM
- Mode Button: Used for selecting a Fan Channel and saving the Fan RPM setting
Opening the box to the Zalman ZM-MFC2 multi fan controller reveals the main unit, a small folded installation booklet, and a white box with all the cables and screws needed for installation, along with the external power voltage sensor. There are four temperature sensors included, but they are all connected to a single 8-pin plug.
There are also several fan extension cables to help you customize your installation. Some of these cables support 3-pin fans, and other support 4-pin fans, and others are Y-cables, allowing the motherboard to detect the fan’s rotation speed.
The front of the display looks rather simple with the power off. The face is shiny acrylic and on the right is a large job wheel and small button, which are used to make adjustments to each fan’s channel. When the unit is turned on, the multi-colored LCD comes alive with all sorts of information.
The way the LCD is implemented makes it look almost like a VFD, which would make the unit much more expensive. The giveaway that this is an LCD is the extremely shallow viewing angle, due to a cheap polarizing filter.
On the front panel is a power load meter, which displays a bar graph of your system’s power consumption in real time. Next to that is a numerical power load display, which shows the exact number of watts your PSU is using. Underneath that are four animated “fan status” icons, which spin when that fan’s channel is spinning. Each fan channel has a label (fan 1, fan 2, fan 3 and fan 4), an RPM display, and a corresponding temperature display.
The back of the unit is where all of the wires are connected. On the back are four fan plugs (three 3-pin and one 4-pin), an 8-pin temperature sensor connector, a CVS in port, and a standard 4-pin molex power connector.
The CVS unit is a black box that sits between your power outlet and power supply and measures the real-time consumption of your system. The unit has a female power plug, and a permanently attached male power plug (which is inserted into your computer’s PSU).
Another cable is permanantly attached to the CVS which looks like a USB cable, but is the data cable that connects to the “CVS in” on the back of the display.
There is an included backplate with a female USB connector, which connects the external data cable to the internal display. There is a label on both the cable and backplate stating that “this is not a USB cable”, but they should have made the connection proprietary to avoid any inevitable confusion.
If you are enough of a computer enthusiast to purchase a nifty device such as this, then you’re meaning to show it off, which means you already have a windowed case… which means you’ll probably take the extra time to route the fan extensions and temperature probes so they can’t be easily seen. If this is you, thenpractice your Zen chants before attempting installation, becuase it will likely take several hours to do properly.
It is helpful to prepare all cable routing while you’re installing the fan controller, which means temporarially removing any bulky cables that will get in your way. Minimize what is not absolutely essential to make snaking the fan leads through your system easier. Detach any fan leads from your motherboard and put on the appropriate fan extension cable (use a 4-pin cable if you have a 4-pin fan, 3-pin cable for 3-pin fans, etc). You can also use a Y-cable to allow your motherboard to still monitor that particular fan’s RPMs (helpful to avoid “CPU fan” errors on POST).
After your extension cables are attached, snake them aound, tucking them out of sight wherever possible, eventually leading to the empty drive bay you have reserved for the display unit. You may even want to put a paper label on each fan lead so you know that “fan 1” is your air intake, for example. Fan 4 will probably be your CPU fan, as that is the only 4-pin port. You should also route the CVS cable to the display unit as well, and poke it through the front of your case. It’s a good idea to route the thermal sensors at this time, as well.
Now that all the leads are poking out the front, attach them to the back of the display unit. Load the display unit into your free drive bay and attach with the four included screws. Attach a molex connector to the back of the unit.
Now place the CVS unit between the wall outlet (or power strip) and the power supply. Just plug your normal power cable into the CVS, and then insert the tethered male power cable into your computer’s power supply. Connect the “non-USB” cable to the “non-USB” port and you should be all set to power up! Your system should come on and the Fan Controller’s front panel should illuminate a “test pattern” before showing real readouts.
At this point it is very easy to toggle through each fan channel and adjust its setting. Just click the “mode” button and one of the fan channels will start blinking, starting with “fan 1”. Use the jog dial to adjust the RPMs up or down, depending on your noise/performance preferences. It takes a few minutes for the actual RPMs to catch up, and they do not necessarially reflect the RPMs you’ve dialed to. For example, if I change one of my fans to 50000 RPM, the fan may not actually go that high, so our test fan topped out at 1440 RPM. When we wanted to adjust this channel again, it was set at 5000 RPM, so we had to unnecessarially dial down to reach the fan’s maximum before we could actually lower the fan’s RPM. If a fan goes too low then it will idle (and that threshold depends on the fan). The RPM setting is saved when it is changed, your fan settings will be just as you left them when you power up again.
There is a good amount of adjustment to get your fans tweaked to your liking, and you cannot depend on the dialed setting. A fan may stall if too little power is applied, and the unit beeps an alarm and flashes the afflicted channel. A tiny bar graph showing the amount of voltage applied would be a much better visual, in my opinion.
You can also put a particular channel in “standby mode” by toggling to the fan channel you want to alter, and then press the Jog Dial. The fan icon for that channel turns off, which also silences any alarm on that channel. You can also go back to “default settings” (1500RPM on all channels) by pressing the Mode button for 3 seconds.
The power usage gauge is pretty much spot-on, as it agreed with our independent power consumption meter. It is very interesting to see the effects of turning things on and off to see their real power consumption, although it takes a few seconds for the gauge to adjust. For example, using this gauge we found out that our Coolit Beverage Chiller consumed between 10 to 12 watts, way beyong what USB was meant to deliver (which is why the Chiller needs a strong source to power it). Most overclockers will use this tool to determine the power effects of overclocking their processor and memory.
Even though the power gauge only goes up to 800 W, this should be enough for even the power user, as we confirmed that even a modern PC doesn’t consume as much as you might think. Our test rig is no slouch (Intel E6600 with 8GB of RAM and 8800GT) and only consumes 210 Watts at idle and 270 Watts with both the CPU and video card under full load. It must also be noted that the temperature readout is in Celsius only, and cannot be changed to Fahrenheit
The ZM-MFC2 Multi Fan Controller has changed with the times, and is a vast improvement over the previous model. This fan bus has a digital interface, digital readout, and high contrast LCD that really makes your case hard to overlook. In addition to the useful fan bus, you also get a real-time gauge of your computer’s power consumption. Unfortunately, the power consumption measured is the electricity used from the wall outlet, and not what your power supply is outputting… which is helpful when calculating your power supply’s efficiency.
Overall this product is a mix of extreme highs and extreme lows, which yield a very average product. On one hand you get great functionality and killer visuals, and the fanbus is an extreme improvement over their previous version. On the other hand the display is downright unreadable.
If you need a great fanbus, then this is one to look at, but if you’re going to be constantly adjusting your fans, then you might want to look for one you can actually read. Installation can take a long time (if you do it properly), and the viewing angle of the LCD is impossible to read except from a straight-on angle. Being able to adjust the display’s brightness would help immensely.
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