SilverStone Eudemon Fan Controller

Supplied by SilverStone Technology

There have been many fan control devices; simple and programmable. The SilverStone Technology Eudemon SST-FP52 is a “set it and forget it” device to monitor and control cooling fans within the PC. The SST-FP52 Eudemon monitors and controls up to 3 independent fan sources, displays temperature, hard drive activity, system power, time and date.

Cooling is top of mind with any enthusiast. A cool PC lasts longer, operates with less errors and overclocks better. The first two points are applicable to any computer user.

Specifications

Automatic Temperature Gradient

The SST-FP52 Eudemon controls fan speed by a permanent range of voltage to sensor temperature. Voltage to the fan increases as the thermistor reading increases. The rising voltage to the fan lead increases RPM and with it CFM. As the fan cools the computer the temperature will drop and with it fan RPM.

A closer look

The SST-FP52 Eudemon is a 5.25″ device with a brushed aluminum face available in black or silver. The front grills are decorative.

The rear connections for the fan header, power, hdd/system power and power are removable.

The battery backup is an odd feature. The Eudemon draws power from the PC power supply. If the PC power supply fails then the PC shuts down. Cooling is no longer the main concern. The odds are astronomically against only the 12 volt lead that powers the Eudemon failing. If it does then the fans would shut down and bigger problems would arise very quickly.

Short-Media Recommendation: Never operate heatsink fans off any source except the motherboard unless the motherboard BIOS has a CPU shut down temperature setting and it is active.

The PCB has space for 3 fan headers, thermistor inputs and HDD/System power inputs.

This is an improvement over the early fan control units which had bare wire connections.

There are three marked fan leads which are approximately 2 feet in length.

It’s important to note that on each lead is a removable cap. Since the leads on the fans themselves are female then the fan control leads must be male. Bare pins could easily cause a system short and it’s nice to see SilverStone provides covers.

Each of the 3 leads has a corresponding thermistor on at the end of a 2 foot lead (approximate).

The thermistors are shipped inside a protective tube which slides off.

SilverStone brings hard drive activity and system power from the motherboard to the unit via two leads. Each lead has a connection for the motherboard and a connection, again with a removable cap, to allow for the bezel activity LEDs to remain functional. It’s like a Y-splitter.

Hard drive activity on the LCD display is a welcome feature but system power monitoring is seems redundant as the Eudemon comes on with main system power regardless.

The SST-FP52 is a 5.25″ bay device and must be mounted with screws which are included. The following image shows the two mounting holes.

Installation and operation

Installation is simple. Insert the cables and Eudemon into an open 5.25″ bay. Screw it into place. Run the leads and plug power in.

The SST-FP52 Eudemon is straight-forward to operate. There are only two buttons. Press the left MODE button to cycle through the three sources; system, CPU or hard drive. Press the SET button to activate or deactivate the built in alarm clock. (We’ll get to that in a moment.) Press and hold the MODE button for 3 seconds to activate the programming mode. Press the MODE button to move onto the next setting when in program mode. Press the SET button to change the setting when in program mode.

The LCD display has several features.

Note the “Lo” display. This will change to read “Hi” when the thermistor reads a temperature in the range from 32 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius. The fan symbol will only display when a fan is hooked up to a lead. Alarm warning temperatures are only in 5 degree increments. Under normal lighting conditions the SilverStone Eudemon appears as in the following image.

In order to show a more accurate representation of the LCD the following image was enhanced which changed the color of the faceplate.

Conclusion

The SilverStone Eudemon SST-FP52 is a great addition to any PC case. SilverStone would prefer if it were a SilverStone PC case of course. Is the Eudemon better than other fan controllers? Yes and no.

• The Eudemon has three individual fan headers while most manual rheobus units support four.
• The Eudemon is automatic and a rheobus fan controller is manual.
• A manual rheobus does not have a backlit LCD display. The SilverStone Eudemon does.
• The manual rheobus has the advantage of manually setting fan voltage via a rotating knob anywhere in the minimum to maxi um voltage range.
• A manual rheobus has no display of temperature, time, date or hard drive activity. The SilverStone Eudemon does.
• A manual rheobus does not have a battery backup. The SilverStone Eudemon does.
• A manual rheobus does not have a temperature alarm system. The SilverStone Eudemon does.

There are one or two hints to get the most from the SilverStone Eudemon SST-FP52. The most important is thermistor placement. The instructions dictate thermistor placement which will be enough for the novice but for those who want to experiment then the CPU thermistor requires the most amount of attention. First the control. Place the CPU thermistor gently into the fins of the heatsink. Remember that thermistors can be crushed. It will quickly be seen that idle temperatures will be above 40 degrees celsius on the heatsink. This places the CPU fan power near the highest range. The point of having a fan controller to back down fan speed (and noise) is moot. Experiment with thermistor placement to give a wider minimum/maximum temperature range thus effectively utilizing the capability of the Eudemon. This will be true of the system thermistor as well except in reverse. The system thermistor will most likely always show a low temperature and the fans will not kick in to vent warm air from the case. The hard drive thermistor, which would probably control a front intake fan, will most likely provide the best utilization of the Eudemon.

The Short-Media ultimate fan controller

If Short-Media were to create the ultimate fan controller it would be a black box concept. There are several reasons for this design. First is the LCD. An LCD display is almost impossible to see from a seated position with a PC tower on the floor in all LCD equipped fan controllers. The LCD display is only truly visible when the viewed straight-on. The second is programming functions and the third is amount of headers.

The Short-Media fan controller would feature 6 fan headers as we enthusiasts love our fans. The black box could also be daisy-chained to add another 6. There would also be a thermistor for each header.

The black box would be USB capable. A USB interface would be used to bring up a GUI on-screen and therefore control over the programmable black box. The display could be configured to display the fan speed and temperature of any fan header. The display could also be configured to display any combination of readings simultaneously. A minimum and maximum temperature could be set for each thermistor and the voltage would increase or decrease incrementally across that range. Other features could be added such as hard drive usage, activity and percentage used by partition and/or entire drive. Alarm messages could be set to display in the task bar or in an adjustable font and message to appear on-screen on the top window.

The GUI would be skin-able and configurable.

But for now there is the SilverStone Eudemon SST-FP52. Is it better than a manual Rheobus? That depends on personal preference. The Eudemon delivers more features and information than the competition but at a greater price. If the thermistors are properly placed then the fans will spin up and down in relation to temperature. The temperature-voltage relation could be a broader range for the CPU lead and less for the other leads. It also could have a fourth lead. As far as the user programmable alarm? Perhaps it’s there to go off as a reminder for the next Windows Update.

Our thanks to SilverStone Technology for
their support of this and many other sites.