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Cobalt3 Pyramid V Fan Controller |
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Written by Mikhail Ivanenkov
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Wednesday, 13 June 2007 |
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Page 3 of 3
I then decided to fire up Motherboard Monitor 5 to confirm my suspicions. First I ran the control, i.e. the fan hooked up directly to the PSU. After 100 readings at 5 second intervals I got an average of 7679rpms, with a low of 7670 and a high of 7848. Now I know that software monitoring isn't the most accurate thing in the world; after all for some reason I got a one-time high of 67,500rpm for my CPU fan. But generally speaking it works. At any rate, step two was hooking it up to the Pyramid V to see if I was right.
And right I was. Apparently, my uber-fan has a low of 1480rpms and a high of 337,500. I don't know about you, but that kind of spin is more powerful than a jet engine thrust. Get your Y.S.Tech's now and build yourself a space shuttle. In other words, monitoring fan speed with anything hooked up to the Pyramid for power is useless. As pointed out by a reader, the reason for this is because unlike other fan controllers which directly change the voltage, the Pyramid uses pulse width modulation like the FanStorm Deluxe.
What this does is send out bursts of 12V at a variable frequency. That would explain why the readings are all messed up. On the upside, this increases fan and device life because there's no voltage drop and therefore almost no heat generation to account for the difference. Another claim is upheld somewhat: unlike a lot of temperature sensors, it's more sensitive (though still a far cry from how it "should be") and does allow fans to reach full speed. A few more improvements in the next generation and we might have a winner.
As I mentioned earlier, the LED on the underside is there solely for looks, and with the thickness of the plastic base not a lot of light gets out. It's not something that'll brighten up your case alone, but it is a nice accent. Unfortunately, the blue isn't really blue but aquamarine. It's not as easy to tell from the pictures, but there's a good deal of green in there. The Pyramid V is also available in red, green, white, and yellow, though I haven't seen the latter two for sale.
Beware though, the colors might not be the same you'd get when trying to match LED fans with CCFLs or other forms of illumination. There should be a standard. On an upside, the entire contraption is incredibly lightweight and features a soft adhesive pad on the underside for attachment anywhere in your case. It would even stay if mounted upside down on the belly of a power supply. At least it doesn't heat up like some other fan controllers. And it doesn't take up any drive bays either.
Pros
- Very innovative idea
- Expansive, up to 48 watts of total control
- LED and pyramid shape look nice
- Lightweight; included adhesive will hold it even upside down
- Alarm at critical temperature
- Pulse width modulation for extended fan life and less heat generation
- Decent value (compared to a rheobus), $25
Cons
- RPM monitoring not possible
- Temperature probe not sensitive enough
- "Blue" light is actually aquamarine
If you ask me, what Cobalt3 has going for them is a good idea. But like many new ideas, it's one that's in the prime and needs to be improved upon, something they're doing as I write this. Just like Serial ATA and the newest video card technology, it's promising, but it'll be a while before it fully matures. The Pyramid V works, and works better than a lot of temperature controlled fans, but the probe needs to be more sensitive for the claims to be valid and the inability to consistently monitor RPMs is something I'd like to see addressed as well, though it may not be possible using said pulse width modulation. All in all, it's a product in the works. And it needs some work. I'd like to thank Crazy PC once again for sending over the Pyramid V and if interested you can get yours here. Thanks for reading and enjoy the site!
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Last Updated ( Friday, 15 June 2007 )
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