Product Description

NZXT, a company built on realizing the dreams of gamers worldwide, is proud to announce the Sentry LX, a high-performance aluminum fan controller. Sentry LX boasts a robust feature set providing gamers and PC enthusiasts with the optimal setup for monitoring and adjusting temperatures throughout the PC.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2724 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Black
• Brand: Nzxt
• Model: SENTRY LX FAN CONTROLLER
• Dimensions: 6.50" h x 4.50" w x 7.00" l, .40 pounds

Features

• Simple Installation. Sentry LX slides easily into any dual 5.25-Inch drive bay
• Complete Control. 5 Temperature Probes keep tabs on all areas of your system while the 5 Fan controllers adjust the fans RPM speed
• Auto/Manual Modes. Allows users to automatically adjust the fan speeds to correspond to a specific temperature.
• Temperature Alarm. Instant notification if temps rise above a designated point
• Intuitive Interface and LCD Display NZXT's ergonomic interface design allows you to customize your airflow on the fly

Customer Reviews

Not quite what I wanted, but close
I am using this product a little differently than it was designed for. Instead of cooling a PC, I actually wanted something to help control the heat in my entertainment cabinet. It houses a fire-breathing stereo receiver and an XBOX, among other things, and I wanted it to be a little cooler inside.

I purchased a number of 120mm fans which I mounted to the back of the cabinet, and I wanted something I could use to control them. My goal was a system that I could always leave turned on, but would spin up the fans when things got too hot. I mounted this controller along with a power supply underneath one shelf, and it looks pretty good. The end result is that I have a solution, although not as automatic as I had hoped, for cooling my entertainment rack. Total cost: 5 fans- $30. Power supply: scrounged. A switch, an outlet, some screws, etc: scrounged.. Connectors: $10 This controller: $30. Done for about $70.
I am sort of happy with the result.

The good points:
It looks pretty slick.
Controls 5 fans.
Temperature readout
Simple to operate

The not-so-good points
You can not actually program the temperatures you want. Rather (I think) it works by comparing the temps on all 5 probes. As a result, it
never really powers down the fans in my application- meaning I ended up with an on/off switch for the whole fan system, which is what I was trying to avoid.

The fan speeds also seem a bit random. One channel, which the thermocouple always shows as being the coolest, consistently runs the fan the fastest. Curiously, that fan is from a different manufacturer than all the others. Not sure what is going on, and given what I use it for, don't really care. Still, it might bother someone else.

I have the display mounted underneath the lowest shelf, and it is just about impossible to read when looking down at it

Within a few days, one of the speed bar displays stopped working, as did one of the fan outputs. I assume both would have been covered under warranty, but I have too much work wrapped up in the thing to uninstall it and return it.


Overall
It does look cool, and that is probably its primary purpose in life. It controls the fans, and actually changes their RPM in response to temperature near individual components on my entertainment rack. I wish it had a few more features (like set points) and the ability to turn off all fans when temperatures were under a set minimum, but what do you want for the price?

Not sure what I would have rated it for in its actual intended use- hard to say how big a deal set points would have been in a PC case.

Dying at 6 weeeks
While this product looks great on the front of my machine, one of the fan controllers just died (I have only had it for about 6-8 wks), leaving my mobo without a running fan. Clock only kept the right time for about 8 weeks. Also plugs are not compatible with most fans so beware. Temp sensors are good but you will have a mess of wires everywhere. I wish I could give it more starts but it currently is just taking up space in my case.

Important!
Be careful that your case has three pin fan connectors! This does not work correctly with the 4 pin connector fans! Even if you have an adapter it will not work accurately. Other than that, great product. Screen is beautiful and very eye-catchy, but can be a little hard to read at certain angles.