Super-Flower Fan Master (SF-609)

Company: Super-Flower
Product: Super-Flower Fan Master (SF-609)
Street Price: $35 USD
Date Reviewed: October 7, 2003
Reviewed By: Gary Shrum

Setup and Installation:

You can see that hooking the Super-Flower Fan Master up is really easy. All you have to do is install the fan extension cables and the Temperature sensor wires to the back of the unit like we have shown in the above pictures. These slide on really easily and the included temperature sensor wires are labeled for ease of setup (CPU, HD, Case and a blank one). The multifunction front panel has a display for each temperature sensor, so make sure to get them plugged into the back of the Super-Flower Fan Master in the right order. If you are looking at the back of the unit they will go from right to left CPU, HD, Case and PSU (power supply unit), We used the PSU temperature sensor to monitor the temperature of the video card.

Placement of the sensors is critical for an accurate reading on the front panel. For a CPU sensor make sure to place it under the HSF (Heat Sink & Fan), but not on top of the core. It should be setup so that the tip of the sensor is just touching the side of the CPU core. If you interfere with the contact of the HSF and CPU it could result in a fried CPU. You can either use the application tape that is included, or a drop of super glue to hold the sensor in place.

The next sensor is the HD sensor. This sensor should be placed on the motor which is on the bottom of the HD. Use a piece of the tape included with the kit to apply the sensor to the chip. The picture above shows good positioning of the sensor wire.

Next is the case sensor, that should be located near the middle top of the case for the best overall case temperature reading. You do not want it in a direct path of any of the intake fans, That would cause an error in reading  the actual case temperatures since the ambient air outside of the case is usually much cooler that the air inside the case.

The last sensor is the unlabeled one. The multifunction display has it labeled as power supply.  If that is where you want to put it, you could apply it near the intake of the PSU inside the case. You could also apply it to the outside of the case where the exhaust fan is, so you will get a reading of the exhausted temperature of the PSU.  If you are an extreme overclocker or have experience with PSU's, placing it inside the PSU would be the best placement, since the temperature of the inside of the PSU will effect the wattage the PSU supplies.

We have chosen to place our last sensor on the back side of the video card.  That way we can monitor the actual temperature of the video card under load situations. The above picture shows you where we have placed it.  To get the most accurate reading from the video card, you should place the sensor on the opposite side of the card, just above where the GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) is located.

Here are some other places where you could also connect the temperature probes:

• System Ram
• Another hard drive
• North Bridge
• South Bridge
• Outside the case for ambient air temperature
• Inside of a bay or system reservoir for water temperature
• A Second CPU on a Dual CPU setup