# Review: NZXT Sentry LXE Fan Controller (Touch Screen)



## Sid_gamer (Aug 20, 2012)

Hey everyone,

Some days back (actually a long time back now) I bought the NZXT Sentry  LXE Fan controller, I was searching for a good fan controller from some  time and later I stumbled on to this one by NZXT. So I thought to review  this particular fan controller as it's review was overdue from some  time.
Firstly I have shot and included an Un-boxing video of the NZXT Sentry LXE Fan Controller which you can find below:




*The Review:-*​*Introduction:-*

Most of us may have experienced noise from our PC's due to the fans  inside it. It happens as they are running at the highest RPM(Rotation  Per Minute) even when our PC's are idle so that's where we use a Fan  controller. The main purpose of a Fan controller is to control the fan  speed by adjusting it's voltage in order to bring the Fan speed up or  down, thereby resulting in low noise when we decrease the fan speed. So  today fan controllers are available in many forms, like some include  normal knobs or sliders, some include buttons, some are also touch  screen. Most of the fan controllers these days are made in such a way  that they fit inside the cabinet's 5.25" drive bays making them internal  fan controllers or maybe they are pre-installed in some way on a  cabinet itself.
But the NZXT Sentry LXE is an external Touch-Screen fan controller which  is made in such a way that all it's necessary components like an  internal control card, fan headers, temperature diodes etc., reside  inside the cabinet but the main touch screen control stays out of the  cabinet and can be placed on the computer table or on a desk.


*Specifications of the NZXT Sentry LXE Fan Controller:
*
Fan Adjustment Range ----> 3.7V to 12V
Fan Channel ----> 5
Max watt per channel ----> 10W
Temperature Module Channel ----> 5
Temperature Range ----> 0 ~ 99℃ / 32 ~ 199.9℉
Measurement Frequency ----> Every 2 Seconds
Temperature Alarm Range ----> 30℃ to 90℃
(AUTO) ----> Min 50%, Under 0-25℃，fan RPM 50%
(MANUAL) ----> Min 40%
Screen Size  ----> 5.27 inches


*Box Contents and First Look:-*

The NZXT Sentry LXE comes in a normal cardboard box with a photo of itself along with some of it's main features.

Front:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3112.jpg


Backside of a box we have a more detailed list of specifications about this fan controller.

Back:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3117.jpg

Side:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3118.jpg


Inside the box we find that everything is very neatly and protectively packed.

Opening:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3140.jpg

Packaging:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3156.jpg


Firstly the Main touch screen controller unit is kept between two pieces of styrofoam; 

Main Unit:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3158.jpg


The controller card of this unit comes packed in an ESD Safe bag.

Controller Card (pic 1):
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3142.jpg


Controller Card (pic 2):
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3148.jpg


The  box contains some more important stuff such as a user manual,2 Screws, a  3V battery, tapes for the temperature probes and some of the required  set of cables.

Manual:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3141.jpg


Battery, Screws and Tape Stickers:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3155.jpg


NZXT  gives us the power cable, the fan cable and the temperature cables  connected to the controller card itself so you don't need to figure out  where to connect them (but it's easy to connect them anyway).

Controller card and pre-connected cables:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3152.jpg


Completely Unboxed:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3163.jpg

Looking at the individual set of cables that we get with the NZXT Sentry  LXE, we can see that NZXT has provided very good quality cables and  most of them are labelled for ease of use.

Five fan connector cables are included with the NZXT Sentry LXE, each of  which are numbered on a sticker which has a label on it stating the fan  number (nice job here). Also each of these 3 pin fan cables would  easily connect most of the fans available in the market.

Five flat Temperature Probes are also included with the NZXT Sentry LXE,  All of these probes are labelled with the temperature probe number as  well.

Temperature Probes:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3154.jpg

A Molex connector based cable has been provided to power the internal controller card and the entire Fan controller unit.
A good 7 feet long ribbon like connector cable has been included for the  external touch screen unit to connect to the internal card with the use  of which we can put the screen unit anywhere easily on our desk.

Interface Cable:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3146.jpg


The internal control card provided with the NZXT Sentry LXE is to be  installed in one of the empty PCI Expansion slots within our computer  case.
The 3V battery is to be mounted onto the control card as with the help  of this battery, the fan controller unit is able to save our settings  even when our computer is off. (Please note that this control card is  not connected to the motherboard in any way, as it simply mounts on an  empty PCI expansion slot).


*The Touch Screen Unit:*

The main touch screen unit of the NZXT Sentry LXE comes very neatly  packed in between Styrofoam blocks and is enclosed within a Pink Plastic  cover. 

Styrofoam:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3158.jpg

Pink Package:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3159.jpg

Once  we take this unit out of the box, we can see that this unit is well  designed with an impressive finish on it. This main touch screen unit is  a piece of Brushed Aluminium in black.
There is also a logo of NZXT on this unit's front part giving it a cool look.

Touch Unit:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3160-1.jpg


The bottom part of this unit comes pre-installed with two rubber strips  for allowing the touch screen unit a better grip on the table or desk  thus preventing it to move (A small but nice feature).
At the back of this touch screen unit of the NZXT Sentry LXE we find a  port for connecting the lengthy interface cable which is connected to  the control card behind our computer case.


*Installing and Configuring the NZXT Sentry LXE Fan Controller:-*

Installing the NZXT Sentry LXE Fan Controller is an easy task.
I installed it by starting to connect all of my fans to the fan cables  provided and also applying the temperature probes to the areas whose  temperatures I needed to monitor. These temperature probes are easy to  apply onto the surface where we want to put them by using the small  pieces of tape provided with the controller itself. You just need to  make sure that the surface onto which these tapes are applied should be  dust free as it will provide for a much better contact and a long  lasting bond with the surface.

Then we fix the 3V battery on the control card and mount the control  card of this fan controller unit on an empty PCI expansion slot. We also  need to connect the Molex connector for powering the fan controller  unit.
After which the ribbon-like interface cable must be connected to the  back of the control card behind the Case and the Touch-Screen unit; and  we're done installing the NZXT Sentry LXE Fan Controller.

You can also install it the other way i.e., by mounting the control card  first and then connecting all the other cables such as the fan  connectors and the temperature probes to their respective places but  It's easier to route the cables in the case by installing the way I have  done as seen below.

Installed card:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3166.jpg


Finally we can power our system on and we hear a beep sound coming out from the controller and the touch screen is lit-up.

On Desk 1:
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3215.jpg

On Desk 2 (Front)...Pardon the Gloss 
*i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy296/sid_gamer/My%20Rig/IMG_3222.jpg


*Configuring the controller:*

We can easily configure the fan controller by using the touch-screen as  shown in the manual, although the manual isn't detailed that well but  most of the information on it is enough for a hassle free configuration  for example; we can touch the places on the screen which display the  time and date and use the *+* or *-* parts of the screen to increase or decrease values on them.
As for the fan control configuration, we can press on the respective fan  number on the screen and increase or decrease the particular fan's  speed by pressing the + or - areas. By this we can let the fans run at  their full speed or let them run a lesser speed or shut them down when  not required.

The NZXT Sentry LXE has two modes of operation which are the Automatic mode and the Manual Mode.
We can select any one of these modes for ease of use and functioning.  There is also an Alarm feature provided in this fan controller by the  use of which we can set temperature threshold alarms for the particular  temperature monitoring places if the temperature crosses a particular  barrier.
We can use the power button on the touch screen to shut down the screen  (Please note that this only shuts off the screen so the fan controlling  is still done by the control card of this fan controller; A useful  feature I must say).
The entire controller can be reset by pressing and holding the reset  button on the touch screen which sets the controller to it's default  values and Automatic mode.
Fan RPM's are accurately shown on the screen of this fan controller.
Also whenever we make any changes or touch the screen of this fan  controller a beep sound arises notifying us about the said touch.


*Using the NZXT Sentry LXE:*

I used this fan controller on my PC which has the following configuration :

Intel Core i7 - 920 Processor,
DFI Lanparty DK-X58 T3eH6 Motherboard,
G.Skill  RAM 12800-CL9T 6GB NQ i.e., 3 x 2Gb at 1600 Mhz,
Zotac GeForce GTX 260 Amp ! edition GPU,
Corsair Hydro H70 Liquid Cooler,
Cooler Master Silent Pro M600 - 600 Watts PSU.

Altogether 4 fans were connected by me for controlling them with this  unit (A Maximum of 5 Fans can be connected to this controller).

I must say that using this fan controller is easy as the Touch- Screen  is amazingly bright and lists out all of the required information  necessary for fan controlling.


*Conclusion:-*

NZXT has had this fan controller in the market for quite a long time now  and I must say that I am very much impressed by this particular product  from them. Mostly because it's an non-traditional fan controller as it  is an external fan controller rather than the usual controllers we see  in the market which are housed inside the cabinet itself. It's touch  screen is a focal point of it's uniqueness.
It's screen is bright and shows us everything we need to know about fan controlling and temperature monitoring.
On  the same note the screen has a good Horizontal viewing angle but not a  good vertical viewing angle (particularly when seeing from down). Also  as the touch screen is resistive in nature and it tends to be a bit less  responsive but it gets the job done pretty well. Also the screen could  have been designed to have a more easy to use layout (But we can't ask  for everything; can we ?!).

As far as looks are concerned, the NZXT Sentry LXE looks very professional indeed thanks to it's brushed aluminium finishing.
This product is costing at around 3.6k and is a great choice for people  with performance based systems with mid to high-end configurations and I  give it my thumbs-up .


*Some Positives and Negatives:*

*Pros:-*

> Good Design
> Touch Screen
> Screen Brightness
> Great Build quality
> Alarm and Temperature system
> Ability to turn of fans
> Enough wattage per Fan power channel
> Screen can be turned off

*Cons:-*

> Vertical viewing angle could have been better
> Satisfactory touch response (Resistive Touch Screen so Understandable)


*In all a very Recommended product.*


Thanks for reading , please do comment.

Cheers and e-peace ,
*sid_gamer*


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## ashintomson (Aug 20, 2012)

great review  and it looks so sexy


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## Sid_gamer (Aug 20, 2012)

^^
Thanks a lot bro....


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## Incrediable (Sep 18, 2012)

Indeed very comprehensive review. really appreciated.


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## Sid_gamer (Sep 24, 2012)

^^
Thanks man..


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## nginx (Sep 24, 2012)

Great review but I think its way too fancy for a fan controller. I doubt I will ever invest in a fan controller for my PC, just doesn't seem all that useful.


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## arvindrao15 (Sep 24, 2012)

Awesome review indeed!
Thats really too much detail! Just the way i like 

@nginx-Have a look at his profile picture! You will understand how useful it is for him!


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## Skud (Sep 24, 2012)

Nice review. Would like a shot of the controller running in complete darkness.


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## Sid_gamer (Sep 26, 2012)

nginx said:


> Great review but I think its way too fancy for a fan controller. I doubt I will ever invest in a fan controller for my PC, just doesn't seem all that useful.



Yeah the review is big, but i wanted to write a completely covered review so I went full guns with it..
And it completely depends on your rig and it's usage whether you want to use a fan controller in it or not.
I have got 5 x 120 mm High RPM (loud) fans in my rig so this controller is obviously very useful for me.




arvindrao15 said:


> Awesome review indeed!
> Thats really too much detail! Just the way i like
> 
> @nginx-Have a look at his profile picture! You will understand how useful it is for him!



Thanks mate..
And yeah this fan controller is proving to be very useful for me.



Skud said:


> Nice review. Would like a shot of the controller running in complete darkness.



Thanks alot..
Product shot in darkness coming up soon..

Cheers and e-peace,
sid_gamer


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