Hardware Bistro

Product: FC-2
Manufacturer: Lamptron
Supplied by: Lamptron
Price: 34.95USD/RM127
Launch Date: Aug 2008

 

Noise is one of the major concern especially for those are having high end components which requires extreme cooling in order to work perfectly. Today we will bring you a solution if you are having noise problem; fan controller. Fan controller is used to adjust the fan speed according to users need and today we're going to review Lamptron FC-2 which is a six channels fan speed controller.

 

Company Profile

Lamptron develops and markets the next generation of high performance computer peripherals using the latest technology that enables a new level of interaction between the end-user and their personal computer. Products developed are through a combination of proprietary technology, innovation and ergonomic industrial design. There are three principal business sectors: PC Gaming products, PC Silence products and PC Modding products.

Products are designed and developed by our experienced Reseach and Development Department.Our engineering and R&D staffs specialize in user analysis, material control and industry design. Lamptron not only has expertise in product easy-to-use and product design, but we also plays a vital role in the enhancement of production efficiency and marketing analysis. We are constantly developing new products and technology to meet market demands and to generate new markets for our innovation products.

 

Features

- CNC milled from blocks of 3/4" thick solid aluminum
- Normal output 45 Watt each channel
- 6 fan adjustable function
- Various brightness knob design,the brigthness control by Knob

 

Specifications

 

Package & Contents

 

Lamptron FC-2 comes with a sealed rectangular box in black color. Description, features and specification of Lamptron FC-2 are stated on the packaging box which gives a clearer picture for customer before purchase.

 

On top of the packaging box, there is a transparent window to display the Lamptron FC-2. This is good for user to confirm the exact model or color they are going to purchase as Lamptron has few fan controllers and switch baybus which look quite similar. As you can see, FC-2 modular is packed very well by Lamptron which gives pretty good protection for it against shock and vibration.

 

Basically besides the FC-2 modular and six 3-pin extension cables, there is nothing else is included for Lamptron FC-2. User's manual is not really necessary but it will be useful for computer newbie. The 3-pins extension cable is provided which is very useful as most of the fans will hardly reach the FC-2 module at 5.25" bay with its original cable length.

 

Lamptron FC-2

Lamptron has total three fan controller; FC, FC-2 and FC-3. FC-2 and FC-3 were just released recently and FC-2 is more for enthusiasts as it has better features than FC-3 such as six 45watts channels over four 30watts channels. Lamptron has two colors for FC-2; silver and black which are the common colors as most of the cases are either in silver or black color.

What is fan controller? Basically it is a module to control the fan speed so that users can get the balance between performance and noise all the time. Fan speed controller is merely a voltage regulator where the resistance is being controlled so that the current flow to the fan can be controlled as well which will directly impact the fan performance; lesser current flows to the fan, it will cause the fan spins slower.

 

Lamptron FC-2 is a six channels fan controller which is absolutely fabulous as this will be definitely enough even for a giant tower casing with plenty of fans. When comes to fan controller selection, please take note on the wattage support per channel as this is important by not overloading the voltage regulator from being damaged/burned. Lamptron FC-2 can support up to 45W per channel which is more than sufficient as the powerful fans like delta, Vantec Tornado only requires ~15W.

 

Lamptron FC-2 is an analog controller which is much cheaper and has longer life span than digital controller. The panel of Lamptron FC-2 has six knobs for all the six channels. The knobs have minimum and maximum point and there is a blue LED around each of the knob. The LED brightness will light up accordingly to the fan speed; maximum fan speed will have most brightness LED display. This is a good reminder for users to know the fan speed straightaway without much thinking by just looking at the LED brightness.

 

Lamptron FC-2 is a 5.25" module where users need to install it on the 5.25" drive bay of the casing. In order to power up the fans through FC-2, users need to connect the FC-2 Molex connectors to PSU. There are total three Molex connectors of FC-2. If powerful fans are being used on Lamptron FC-2, it will be better for users to connect all these three Molex connectors to avoid overloading the current flows through the PSU cable.

 

Here are the voltage regulator chipsets which are attached with the heatsink. Voltage regulator requires heatsink to dissipate the excess current/power in heat form. The big and huge round components which are attached to the knobs are the adjustable resistors. It will be easy to make a fan controller if you want to DIY where you just need some basic electronic components like voltage regulator chip & heatsink, adjustable resistor, resistor, capacitors and the circuit can be get from online easily.

 

Installation, Testing & Performance

Test Bed
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8300
Memory: 4GB 800MHz DDR2 Memory
Hard Drive: 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Seagate HDD
Graphic Card: OEM Nvidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Optical Drive: 16x DVD RW
System BIOS: F7
Operating System: Microsoft Window XP SP2
Benchmark Software: Gigabyte Easy Tune 6
Ambient Temperature: 27 Degree Celsius

 

For the installation, if you have installed an optical drive on a desktop PC before then it shouldn't any problem to install this Lamptrom FC-2 as it has the same installation with ODD. However for those casing have very unique ODD installation by using special clips then you need to check probably whether Lamptron FC-2 can be installed on such case or not. For the testing, we have used a 120mm LED fan to show the result clearer of Lamptron FC-2. As you can see even at the lowest setting, there is small amount of current flows to the fan as dim LEDs are lighted up.

 

The blue LEDs are light up accordingly to its fan speed setting. However even without any fan, the LED still will light up if users set the knob greater than minimum condition. The blue LEDs are quite charming and most of the people will like it especially case modders.

 

Conclusion

Overall FC-2 from Lamptron is a very good fan controller device as it can support up to six channels and 45W per channel which is important as most of the users choose to use fan controller is due to the loud noise which is mostly generated by the powerful fan else no point to have a fan controller. The price of this Lamptron FC-2 is not really cheap but if you are suffering noise problem then you may consider this product which can help you to solve the noise issue instantly without impacting your PC performance during idle load condition.

Pros:
* 6 Channels fan controller
* Support up to 45W per channel
* Blue LED indicator accordingly to its fan speed

Cons:
* None

Thanks to Lamptron for providing this sample for us to review.

 

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