I'm planning to install 10 PWM case fans in my PC and am considering the ARCTIC Case Fan Hub. Can I still control the fans through my motherboard's BIOS, including setting a PWM fan curve, as well as through FanControl in Windows? I'm fine with all 10 fans following the same curve and don't need separate control for each fan. Does this hub handle that reliably, and are there any features or alternative hubs I should consider?
2 Answers
Since you don’t need separate control, a basic PWM hub should be enough; there’s no need to pay extra for per-fan management. Just check the hub’s total power limit and make sure the combined startup and operating current of the 10 fans stays within it. If you might want independent control later, look for a powered hub or controller that supports multiple channels instead.
If all the fans are 4-pin PWM models, the hub should work for this setup. You connect the hub to one PWM fan header on the motherboard, and the hub passes that control signal to every connected fan. BIOS and FanControl will treat the group as one fan, so you can set a shared speed curve, but you won’t get individual fan control.
That makes sense. I’ll check the combined power draw and compare a simple hub with a multi-channel controller before deciding.