Aquacomputer OCTO Fan Controller for PWM Fans

I was hesitant to buy this at first as I was having trouble justifying spending over $80 on a fan controller but I was having trouble finding a Linux compatible USB fan hub other than the corsair commander which you can no longer buy. So I bit the bullet and bought this. WOW. I am amazed. Its physical build is super nice and the PCB definitely took a lot of design packing in all the features to its relatively small body. There is no official Linux app but it has had no problem working with CoolerControl and was picked up no issue. Not just that they are working on a Bluetooth android app that could make it even easier to setup fan curves (unfortunately my android version is too new so I could not test it). Also even cooler is that I you are dual booting like me you can setup fan curves on the windows app and the board has memory to keep your fan curves stored. Its definitely a premium price but you are getting a premium product. I love it.

As expected, anything that is aquacomputer is absolutely top notch. Worth every penny for the type of control this gives you. Its packaged in a premium way and is small enough to fit anywhere without being noticeable.

Can't comment yet about the quality of the product because my board fried itself on first install. I requested an RMA from Aquacomputer and got an email back within hours with technical details and pictures on how to diagnose the board. They are sending a replacement board for a small fee as the over-voltage damage isn't covered under warranty. Despite the cost of replacement and inconvenience of having to wait for a new board, I am really happy about the level of service I received. Their website is a little difficult to navigate because it's mostly in German but the rep communicated directly with me in English and was surprisingly knowledgeable about the technical details of the product. I will update further when I receive the replacement board. Update: Been using the board for quite some time now and very pleased with its performance and versatility. It took some time to understand the controls because there are just so many. For anyone planning on custom water-cooling, I would highly recommend getting this or the quadro as a controller. The controllers built-in to motherboards are unreliable and inferior. They air designed for simple air cooled setups and have very limited options despite their claims. For example, my Asus Maximus Z370 Hero motherboard has a dedicated "water pump header" but it is locked with the CPU Fan headers and can only be controlled by CPU temperature. Since my loop includes the GPU, I want to be able to control the pump speed based on other inputs such as coolant temps and GPU temps. The Octo controller gives me the ability to use whatever input signal I wish and even create virtual signals through software. If I want my fans to spin based on the difference between the air temp and liquid temp, I can create a virtual senor that calculates the delta and use that as the input for fan control.

If you need this many fan headers, this is a great product because it comes with Aquasuite software. I'm using my OCTO to drive four groups of fans and a water pump. I have this device velcro taped to the back compartment of my case; there was no need to screw mount it as it is lightweight. In addition to the fan/pumps, I have a coolant temperature probe hooked up. This device came with another temperature probe, and I did not use it. I wanted it simple. The software is great, and if you have an engineering background you can get into controller logic with shaping fan response curves. I have 3 radiator groups and an additional case fan, so I just have each group set for a slightly different coolant temperature. The quietest one spins up first, then the next quietest, and I have exhaust fans going last. It's a tinkerer's delight and I have a really quiet PC build. I gave this device four stars, because their RGB headers are a strange and unusual type. I would have loved to have had real and standard, per-light addressable control (ie 5 volt aRGB). These headers would require an adapter or else use Aquacomputer's proprietary stuff. A minor ding but this wasn't a cheap device and I felt teased by the presence of an RGB controller I couldn't use out of the box (I ended up using the motherboard headers which is always suboptimal).

I love aqua suite fan controllers. You set the configuration once in Windows and then it maintains that in the future. I do wish Aquasuite worked on other platforms but maintaining the configuration is sufficient. Silent fans under Linux or Unix makes it worthwhile.

Once you use Octo, nothing else comes close in comparison. This coming from someone who used for years NZXT CAM, Lian Li L-Connect, Corsair I cue, etc… Nothing compares to the depth of what Aquasuite can do. Not even close. It might look extensive when you first look at it, but it will become a hobby, given all the possibilities it allows. If not, the Octo and Aquasuite are worth it just for the stability of the platform, no bugs like the others insist on having every time an update happens, be it windows, softwares or hardware related. It just works.

Most people may buy this as a way to run more fans or add temperature sensors to their system, and it's great for that, but with the AquaSuite software, you can completely offload control of your water cooling system to this little guy. While AquaSuite is famous for it's bells and whistles, you can kind of reverse that and just use it to upload water temperature based pump/fan curves to this thing and never run cooling software on your system again. That also means that, even if you system hangs, your cooling loop will appropriately ramp up and prevent overheating if you aren't there to address it. If you just want a fan hub, save your money, but if you're going to use it appropriately, it's worth every penny.