Sunbeam Rheobus Review
Test me!
Now it’s time to plug it in and see how well this baby works!
First problem I encountered while installing the rheobus was the
tight fit in my Antec SLK 3700-AMB. My case has those rails that allow
you to screw it onto the 5.25 bay device and slide it in and out for
easy installation and removal. Well, it wasn’t exactly an easy
installation with this fan controller.
After installing both the rails onto the device, I had a hard time
getting the rails to snap into place on my case. It got half way in and
I had to force it the rest of the way in. After that I haven’t dared to
remove it. Also, if your case has a door on the front panel, you
should still be able to close the door fully. I know this is true for
the Antec, Chieftec, Chenming and other cases with similar front panel
designs. As for the Coolermaster, Silverstone and other cases with an
awkward front panel door, I am not sure. With that aside, it was time to
plug the fans in.
Before installing the device into the 5.25 bay, I would recommend
connecting the fans to the device first as it will be hard to do so if
your case is crowded inside, like mine. The following are the fans that
I connected to the rheobus:
- 1 92mm Vantec Tornado
- 1 92mm Zalman ZM-F2
- 1 120mm Antec Fan
- 1 120mm Generic Fan
Before I got this rheobus, I would constantly have all 4 fans running
at full speed and with the fans I have, it would get really loud. I
could not stand the noise. It was hard for me to keep my PC on at night
because of the noise. After installing the rheobus, I quickly tried it
out by turning all the fans to 7v. “Ahh the silence!” was my first
response. This was the first time that I could hear the radio in my room
without having to turn the volume to max. It was amazing.
Now your probably wondering, won’t turning the fans down affect your
performance? Well, before when I had all my fans at 12v, I would idle at
around 41c and 48c load. After turning them down to 7v, I idled at
around 43c-45c idle and less than 50c load depending on the ambient
temp. This is perfect for when you need to leave your PC on overnight to
finish downloading all the MP3’s =P
Another great thing about this rheobus is the ability to turn the
fans off. For example, the 92mm Zalman fan I have in my case is for
cooling my video card. I usually don’t need the fan on since I rarely
overclock my video card. So I can turn it off to eliminate even more
noise in the case. |
