The one thing that the enthusiast
components we cover have in common is that they nearly universally get hot.
There’s no sense in packing your system with an overclocked CPU, redlined GPU,
and aggressively-timed XMP memory if you aren’t going to address the problem of
having to cool all that gear. Doing so is like strapping a bomb to your PC and
setting the timer to “very soon.”
Aerocool
Strike-X X-1000
Here to help disarm the heat bomb is
Aerocool, with its five-channel Strike-X X-1000 fan controller. This peripheral
slips into one of your case’s external 5.25-inch drive bays and lets you
control the speed (and noise output) of up to five fans. It also doubles as a
USB 3.0 hub and comes with audio I/O ports. If your motherboard doesn’t have an
USB 3.0 header, you can connect the included USB 2.0 plug to your motherboard’s
corresponding USB 2.0 header. The faceplate is black plastic with red and white
labels near the analog knobs, the Aerocool logo in the lower-left corner, and a
Strike-X X-1000 logo in the lower-right corner. Each of the knobs is adorned
with a raised “X” design to help keep your fingers from slipping off while
making adjustments.
The Strike-X X-1000 features a blue LED on
the front, which glows solid when the fans are all operating normally but
flashes when a fan has stopped working. The integrated Piezo buzzer sounds a
pattern of beeps to indicate which fan has failed, one short beep for the
number of the failed fan. For instance, if the fourth fan failed, you’ll hear
four short beeps.
The knobs all have an Offsetting, though
we’d caution anyone against disabling their case fans completely. This fan
controller’s lowest setting runs the fans at 50% of their rated speed. The
Strike-X X-1000 supports up to 25 watts per channel. There’s also a built-in
fuse to protect the fan controller from a power surge. Turning the knobs to the
right slowly raises the voltage applied to the fan from 5V to 12V. As you’d
expect, there are a ton of wires bundled with this fan controller, but we liked
that Aerocool labeled the fan cabling so you’ll know which fan corresponds to
each knob.
At its lowest setting, the case fans we
tested the Strike-X X-1000 with didn’t have enough juice to light the LEDs, and
it was practically silent. At 75% of its full power, the fan remained fairly
quiet, but it still pushed a good deal of air. We’d recommend keeping the front
and rear panel fans at least at 75% power and only dropping the more optional
fans, such as side and top panel fans, below 75% when not gaming or otherwise
stressing your system.
Aerocool’s Strike-X X-1000 is a solid fan
controller and front panel I/O for anyone who wants more manual control over
their system’s noise and cooling performance.
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Information
Price: $49.99
Website: www.aerocool.us
Specs: Form factor: 1 5.25-inch external
bay; Fan cables: 5; Ports: 2 USB 3.0, audio I/O
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