Xoxide Digital Fan Controller Review

Introduction

When it comes to overclocking, the load and idle temperature of the overclocked “party” is critical when it comes to success or failure. Unfortunately, because they are based off a mathematical formula derived in controlled conditions, the temperatures reported from the “stock” thermal sensors are often inaccurate, The temperature readouts coming from Abit boards are lower then the readouts from Asus boards; showing an anomaly in the derivation of the temperature. So solve this problem, many overclockers buy separate digital thermometers, resulting in a more accurate readout.

Along with temperature monitors, fan controllers are becoming more popular. Under a load, an overclocker will need the fan to spin faster, but at idle, the fan does not need to spin as fast. The Xoxide 3.5” Digital Fan Controller takes care of both problems with its ability to adjust the speed of the fan according to temperature.

Packaging

The Xoxide 3.5” Fan controller came in a nice beige box with a logo of CaseArts stamped on it; apparently, Xoxide does not manufacture the controller, CaseArts does. Xoxide does its usual excellent job of packing the fan controller.

(Gotta love my table cloth :D)

Whats Included/Special Features

With the 3.5” digital fan controller, you get all the necessary parts for installation and usage.

• The unit itself
• A manual
• Extra battery (for clock) and tape for the sensors.
• Three pin wire extender with RPM monitoring.
• Three Sensors
  
  • There are three types of sensors. (Each sensor has the same labeling to their corresponding fan.
    
    • CPU
    • System F
    • System R

The Xoxide 3.5” digital fan controller has the ability to display the time, display temperature in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. It also has an alarm that sounds when the fan RPM drops below 600 RPM.

(The fan controller itself, the manual, on top of the box)

(Extra battery, tape to hold down sensors)

(There are three of these sensors that are included)

(The three pin wire extender – allows you to have the unit monitor the RPM and control the speed while allowing you to plug the RPM sensor into the motherboard.)

Installation

Installation of the Xoxide 3.5”digital fan controller is extremely simple and can be completed in a seven step process

1. Unpack the Xoxide 3.5” digital fan controller and put it in any available 3.5” drive bay


Note: notice how only one of the screws fit. I am starting to believe that it is Antec’s fault as my Vantec Nexus would not fit either.)


(Installed in an Antec drive cage. Notice the excessive amount of wires)

2. Install the included sensors on three different devices
   
   1. The CPU sensor was taped on the processor in a “puddle” of AS5 leading up to the core.

   

   2. The System F sensor was installed on my hard drive since it is not actively connected and I wanted to know at what temperature it operates.
   3. Most people put a thermal sensor on their video card, but I chose not to because frankly put, I don’t care how hot my video card runs. But, I did care hot my ram was getting, so I installed the System R sensor on the ram (since I would be overclocking it extremely high)

   

    

3. Next, connect the fan headers to the corresponding fans (ie. CPU fan to the CPU fan header). In my case, I decided to plug the header that would correspond to the CPU fan into one of my radiator fans. The fan header what would correspond to the ram was also plugged into one of the fans on the radiator. The fan header corresponding to the sensor on the hard drive was plugged into the mosfet fan.

Basically

· CPU Sensor à Radiator fan

· Ram Sensor à Radiator fan

· Hard drive Sensor à Mosfet fan

 

4. Next, plug in the hard drive indicator (the two pin wire) where the hard drive activity light would go on your motherboard
   

   

5. Configuring everything is also easy, but takes some more work

*Note: there are two buttons on the fan controller; A and B*

“Map” of the Digital Fan Controller Screen

1. Starting from the left if the temperature of the system-r sensor

2. The part of the LCD that currently displays “0000” is the fan RPM sensor. It is based on the RPM (and temperature) in which the alarm will go off
3. Next to that, is the time, which is displayed in 0-24 hours (army time)
4. Next to the clock is the hard drive indicator. When the hard drive is being used, there is a graphic of a hard drive platter spinning.
5. The last and final part of the LCD displays the power indicator. Personally I don’t think it is needed because if there was no power, the device would not “post”

1. The Xoxide 3.5” Digital Fan Controller can display temperatures in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. To change the output, simply press buttons A and B at the same time

2. Configuring the maximum threshold temperature

1. Press and hold A

2. There will be a maximum temperature setting for each temperature sensor (the maximum threshold temperature will blink when you are increasing or decreasing it). Press A to increase the maximum temperature and B to lower the maximum temperature setting

1. Setting the clock

1. To set the clock, simply press and hold B. Wait for the time to start blinking and increase the hour by pressing A to increase the hour or B to decrease it.

2. After the hour indicator stops blinking, the minute indicator will start blinking. Adjust accordingly using A to increase the time and B for decreasing it.

1. Viewing other temperatures

1. Although the unit will automatically cycle through the temperatures, press A to manually cycle through them

Testing:

Testing will be done comparing the sensor embedded in the NF7-S motherboard vs. the thermal probe taped to the processor. I will also be measuring fan speed as the temperatures increase. Load temperatures were taken after running prime95 for 10 minutes. For hard drive testing, I will be running HD Tach.

Test Rig

· AthlonXP-M 2600 @ 2.7 GHz · 1.25 GB DDR324 (wont run at DDR 333 or DDR400 L) · (3) 80 GB 7200 RPM Western Digital Hard drives · (1) 120 GB 5400 RPM Maxtor Hard Drive · Two Aluminum Evercool 120 mm fans · Thermaltake 60 MM (off of a Volcano 6 à 32 CFM)

As you can see, the digital fan controller reports a 12-17 difference in temperature. While I’m all happy because of that, there are some considerations to take into.

1. The Abit thermal probe (which us used by MBM 5) like other “stock” thermal probes are programmed in an controlled environment which would explain the higher temperatures

2. The 3.5” Digital Fan Controller’s thermal sensor is touching the die, but there can be a degree of error; small but it might still be there.

Notice how when the CPU got hotter, the fan spun faster showing that the 3.5” Digital Fan Controller really does monitor temperatures and increases the fan speed accordingly. In my tests, I found that when temperature was higher then the maximum threshold level, the unit would beep and the fan would spin faster. Another thing that I noticed is that when a fan stopped spinning, the unit would beep and the rest of the fans would spin faster in an attempt to keep the temperatures low. Every time I did this, one of the fans spun up to 2222 RPM (max speed) Hard Drive Temps were somewhat strange. For some reason, the hard drive temperature only went up two degrees Fahrenheit on load. Keep in mind that this hard drive is not being actively cooled! Feeling the back of the hard drive, it was cool to the touch even under load. My guess is that this hard drive runs cool at default.

Conclusion:

The Xoxide 3.5” Digital Fan controller is an excellent product allowing the user to set the maximum temperature threshold for three sensors. Another bonus is the alarm which beeps when the maximum temperature threshold is reached and or when the fan stops spinning. In both instances, the two remaining fans spin up to keep the rest of the computer cool

Pros:

· Looks great!

· Cheap ($29.99)

· Fits in a 3.5” drive bay

· Ability to control three different fans and beep to alert the user of a non spinning fan and extreme temperatures

· Includes a clock

Cons

· A lot of wires! (this is a personal thing)

· Can only display the time in 24 hour time (again, personal)

· Does not specify the maximum watt fan that can be used.

This product is an excellent product. Because of the looks, great design and efficiency, I give it a 9 out of 10.