Thermaltake XTunner Review

Intro

When installing fans, you can never seem to find the sweet spot between “cool” and “quiet” that is why they invented this nifty little thing called the fan speed controller. And so, nowadays, you can scarcely find a modded case without one. The problem is most people have found that it is way too much of a strain to reach all the way over to your tower, so Thermaltake found a solution. Now the extent of your fan-adjusting strain is to push a button on a handy little remote (which any of you capable of using a mouse should be able to do without stretching a muscle in your forefinger).

The Receiver

The receiver for the remote fits neatly into a five and a half inch drive bay and should blend nicely into and case with a silver and/or black color scheme. The drive bay device features six LEDs (to represent the six variable fan speeds). The device is simple to install and any entry-level modder could do it. First you remove the drive bay cover and slide in the device. Next you screw it in, plug in a few devices (CPU fan, VGA fan, system fans, etc.), and connect it to your power supply by way of a four-pin 12v Molex connector and you’re all set. You can plug in up to four fans at once, all of which are controlled at the same time from the remote or from the device itself.

The Remote

The first thing I noticed when looking at the XTunner remote was how nice the size of the remote was, you can’t tell very well from the pictures but it fits very nicely into your hand. The remote works from up to 12 meters away (that’s about 39 feet for all you Americans out there) and the battery is included (its one of those expensive coin cell batteries). The remote is very thin and also features a key chain ring attachment for all you people who have everything but keys hanging off their key rings.

The Idea

The only fault I can see in this product is that I don’t know how many people would actually use it that often. I mean how often do you want to turn down your fans from 39 feet away (chances are your answer would be never since I doubt you can even hear how loud your fans are from that distance). There is one situation in which you might use it, if you have a wireless keyboard and mouse set and you enjoy controlling your computer from your bed then you could use this remote to control your fans in addition. The only thing is 99% of the time that you want to control your fans you’re probably gaming in which case you are right in front of the monitor, and unless your tower is beyond arms reach (unlikely) you don’t really need a remote.

Pros:

- Remote works from quite a distance away

- Receiver is easy to install

- Remote fits nicely into your hand

- Controls up to four devices at once

- All the pieces are good quality

Cons:

- Doesn’t have much of a use except for the extremely lazy

- Coin cell batteries are usually difficult to find and expensive to buy

- Doesn’t have the option to control fans separately (some fans may be louder and/or less effective than others)

The bottom line: Cool in theory, but not very useful in reality.