Travel Technology - Tech question: Computer fan monitoring

Admittedly somewhat off topic as it's not about travel:

I'm getting nowhere on this, every search comes up with fan controllers, not simply monitors.

All I want to know is whether the fans are spinning or not. I don't care about slowing them, I don't care about the exact RPM.

The motherboard headers are nowhere near adequate.

Ideally this would mount in a 5 1/4" bay.

Wouldn't software like speedfan be good enough for you?

If not, the kind of hardware you're looking for would exist in a fan controller. If you insist on not having fan control capability, I'm sure you could make your own monitor with some sort of simple circuit (some sort of sensor that monitors movement of the fan blades, an LED that shows green when they're moving or red when they are not). Surely that'll be more involved than buying a cheap fan controller though.

The motherboard headers are nowhere near adequate.Can you clarify what this means?

Wouldn't software like speedfan be good enough for you?


One more vote for Speedfan. Great little tool.

Wouldn't software like speedfan be good enough for you?

If not, the kind of hardware you're looking for would exist in a fan controller. If you insist on not having fan control capability, I'm sure you could make your own monitor with some sort of simple circuit (some sort of sensor that monitors movement of the fan blades, an LED that shows green when they're moving or red when they are not). Surely that'll be more involved than buying a cheap fan controller though.

I would tolerate a controller if it had the monitoring. When I examine the listings it's generally unclear if they do or not, though.

Can you clarify what this means?

There are a lot more fans than headers on the motherboard.

As for Speedfan--it reports PRMs if you have the fan on the motherboard. It can't tell you anything about a fan that isn't connected to a monitor circuit.

Ok, I take back what I said about it being cheaper :D

I'd suggest browsing the fan controllers @ Newegg. Each part links directly to the manufacturer's page, so you can easily jump to the manual or see other specs. Here's what I found with a quick peek:

http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/fan_control/sentry_lx
Looks like it gives you a real time view of up to 6 fans.

http://www.aerocool.us/peripheral/touch2000/touch2000_feature.htm
That one does 4 fans.

http://scythe-usa.com/product/acc/077/km03_detail.html
http://www.scythe-eu.com/en/products/pc-accessory/kaze-master-pro-ace.html

I see that the Kaze Master Pro has a feature that will sound an alarm if one of the fans stops.

scythe fan controller manuals - ftp://ftp.scythe-eu.com/Manuals/Fan-Controller/

Ok, I take back what I said about it being cheaper :D

I'd suggest browsing the fan controllers @ Newegg. Each part links directly to the manufacturer's page, so you can easily jump to the manual or see other specs. Here's what I found with a quick peek:

http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/fan_control/sentry_lx
Looks like it gives you a real time view of up to 6 fans.

http://www.aerocool.us/peripheral/touch2000/touch2000_feature.htm
That one does 4 fans.

http://scythe-usa.com/product/acc/077/km03_detail.html
http://www.scythe-eu.com/en/products/pc-accessory/kaze-master-pro-ace.html

I see that the Kaze Master Pro has a feature that will sound an alarm if one of the fans stops.

scythe fan controller manuals - ftp://ftp.scythe-eu.com/Manuals/Fan-Controller/

Now we're getting somewhere. The first is out as it uses a double-height bay but the rest seem to be on target. I had looked at Kaze Master and it didn't seem to include monitoring but the ones you're linking do. The RPM display is overkill but it would do the job.

Thanks!