NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller
Enough Talk- How does it WORK? |
OK, so the few wires you need to hook are done, and it is the moment of truth. You’ve zip-tied the stragglers (wires) and made everything look nice and tidy. You put the side panels back on and fire your rig up. How exciting!!! Well, what do you have? A subtle white LED to show you that theNZXT Sentry Mesh is on call and doing it’s job. It’s tiny, but the correct brightness- just enough and just right.
Popping on the front panel again shows the clean looks. It is a very nice look- a real credit to those who veered from the sometimes over the top “multi-plasma super touch screen” versions that function the same when it comes down to it. In the street rod world, this is the “sleeper”. Always respect the sleeper.
BUT- and it really pains me to say this, all is not perfect. Granted, this is a $25- $30 piece of hardware and concessions obviously need to be made here and there, but some easy fixes could be made to make it perfect. Sorry NZXT, but I have to tell you…
Looking at the pic below, you see the light of the LED through the slider immediately adjacent to it and this is a very bright light- brighter than the LED surface itself. If I could show you a picture of it in the dark I would. It spoils an otherwise perfect product. I’ll probably open the case back up and try to throw in a piece of electrical tape to try to shield the light emitting from the side of the LED. So easy to take care of- someone should have caught this… The other thing I’d like to see is a way to label which slider is for which fan- either a space above the slider with a couple of decals (LF- left front, RF- right front, etc.) or some other way to correspond the sliders to which fan they are controlling. With the distance they slide, there is granted not a lot of room, but something (somehow) would be nice- just not sure what the easiest way to do it would be. But, that is nitpicking. The LED casting light oddly though the slider spaces should be addressed- it has got to be a simple fix.
OK, that is the only bad news- this controller works great, looks great, and the price is amazing. How good does it work? The screen shot below shows my hard drive temperatures with the fans running at full speed (they are Noise Blockers, but at full speed you can most definitely hear them). My temps were right in line with what I had without the controller- a nice comfy 23 degrees Celsius.
Moving the sliders to the lowest position (all the way down) the fans became utterly and completely silent, and my temps only increased by 2 degrees (NICE!). 25 degrees Celsius is a great temperature for total and complete silence!
So, other than not being able to label the sliders and the light emitting from the side of the panels LED, the NZXT Sentry Mesh simply ROCKS!! You HAVE to consider the price here- $25- $30? Most DEFINITELY well worth the money! A GREAT product from a company who understands!
Truer words couldn’t have been said about this fan controller. It is a very nice piece of work again from NZXT, and I applaud them for coming out with a product that may not scream “LOOK AT ME”, but does its job without all the fuss. At a price that doesn’t break the bank, it is well worth your hard earned cash.
As Such the NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller is money well spent and as a result earns a “MUST HAVE”!
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| Pros
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Cons
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| Super easy to install Awesome clean “OEM looking” uncluttered looks Works perfectly 5 channels on 1 controller Price, Price, Price |
LED that casts too much light from the side through adjacent sliders **(picky here)** No provision to label which slider is for which fan |
