| Sunbeamtech Chromatic Windmill Control Panel - Page 3 of 3 |
Testing:
From the previous pictures you can see that 6 fans were installed on the Sunbeamtech Chromatic Windmill for testing. The following fans were installed and evaluated for minimum and maximum speed, and compared to the information reported by a Cooler Master Cool Drive IV control panel.
• Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120mm
• AcoustiFan Ultra Quiet 120mm
• Evercool Ice Man HPC-925 92mm
• Titan Vanessa 92mm
• Freezer 64 80mm
• Wisetech Phantom Robot 40mm
The graph below shows the comparison of the minimum speeds achieved with the Chromatic Windmill and the Cool Drive IV. As you can see, the fan speeds varied a great deal. Anywhere from 15% to 60% speed differences! I verified each of these speeds several times to confirm the readings.
The graph below shows the comparison of the maximum speeds achieved with the Chromatic Windmill and the Cool Drive IV. Sometimes the speeds were pretty close (within 2%), other times there was a large difference in reported speeds (up to 50%). The Chromatic Windmill doesn't seem to have as much of a fan speed range as the Cooler Master Cool Drive IV.
As for the temperature readings, they were always within +/- 1C of the Cooler Master Cool Drive IV and the Gigabyte K8NXP-SLI Easy Tune 5 reporting software.
Conclusion:
I was surprised at how nice the Chromatic Windmill looks. I'm not into windmills, so at first I was turned off because of the windmill icon in the corner, I can't pass up using this in my case, the pictures do not do it justice! I equate the Windmill as being a big fan, and it's much easier to enjoy.
Controlling seven (7) fans has almost become a necessity. Counting the fans in my systems, I average six (6) fans (2 front, 2 rear, 1 side case, CPU), more if I include fans on the power supply or hard drives. Setting the speeds of each of the fans can be a daunting task with other fan controllers, and if you move the controller, change the power supply, or lose power, you can potentially be back at square one setting up the configuration. Sunbeamtech had this in mind when they included a battery back-up for your configuration settings!
Since I evaluate many items including fans, I need to be able to find out the lowest and highest speed they can achieve. Unfortunately the Sunbeamtech Chromatic Windmill doesn't have as wide of a speed range as the Cool Drive IV. For the average person that wants to control fans, this shouldn't be an issue. As I said, I test many fans and need to get the true lowest speed possible (i.e. just before they stop working from lack of power).
The second issue I had with the Chromatic Windmill was that you could not adjust the fan speeds on the fly. You had to go into the fan settings to adjust them, which can be a little annoying. I'd like to be able to turn the speed dial to adjust fan speed at a moment's notice, rather than having to go through all of configuration settings for them.
Other than the two fan speed issues, this unit operates flawlessly. It offers an excellent balance of style and functionality.
The price to performance ratio scores big, but points are lost due to the fan speed issues, especially not being able to adjust the fan speed without entering the configuration. Overall I have to give the Sunbeamtech Chromatic Windmill a final score of 4 out of 5... "Recommended".
Final Rating (4 out of 5 stars): 
Pros:
• Long, Wrapped cables
• Easy to configure
• Cables securely connected
• Looks great!
Cons:
• Does not allow full range of fan speeds
• No on-the-fly fan speed adjustment - Have to change the configuration
Special thanks to Sunbeamtech for providing the Chromatic Windmill Control Panel to Bigbruin.com for review!
Please drop by the Bigbruin.com Forum and feel free to discuss this review.
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