Intro:
All, ok, most of us, hate PC noise. Many companies have gone
forth and initiated some sort of fan noise lowering scheme. By far the most
popular hardware for quieting down an already noisy system is the rheobus. You
may think a rheobus is a rheobus, but this one brings something very cool to the
table. Two on/off switches! You can use those for additional fans, CCFL's,
bubble lights, you name it. Continue on as I take a peep at this new 5 1/4"
rheobus from
ADPmods...
The box and packaging:
While not the worst box I have ever received, the corners of the shipping box suffered some good toss into the back
of the Canadian Post/USPS trucks. While you may not care if your box
gets damaged, you care about what is inside, right? If that same box wasn't so
well packed with packing peanuts, it probably would have been an aluminum rheobus
disaster. So before we move on, thank you ADPmods for packing the rheobus so
well.
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| (1) The box |
(2) Retail packaging |
(3) Back of packaging |
In pictures 2 and 3, you can plainly see the retail packaging
for this rheobus. It looks quite nice with the window showing the front
face of the unit. On the back are the pertinent specifications which I
will summarize for you below. Notice the switch on the left (picture 2).
There is a large nut holding the casing around the switch on the back of the
unit. It seems as though someone didn't tighten it. Oops. No matter. I stuck my
finger in there and spun it around after I removed the rheobus from the
packaging. Someone must have had liquid lunch at the factory that day. Maybe
even a seven course meal. (6 pack and a bag of chips. One of my personal
favorites!)
Specifications:
Pulse width modulation fan speed
control module
12V DC input
12V DC output x 2 (3A/12V DC power)
20W per fan speed control channel
3 channels controlling up to 6 fans
7-12 volt adjustable
Two on/off switches
What's inside?:
Now what rheobus would be user-friendly without cables? Below
well look at what is included. The momentary (On/Off) switches need a strange
kind of cable (picture 4). One is included with the kit; however, mine came with
two so I could utilize the second switch also. It is PERFECT for me with my Lian
Li 6010 with aquarium side panel. One switch to shut off the CCFL without having to go
around to the back of the PC, and one to shut off the dang air pump. So I'd
recommend that you pick up the extra cable to use the other switch right off the
bat. Skilled people could probably make their own, but is your time worth it?
Picture 5 shows the ever popular 4 pin Molex Y splitter.
Perfect for hooking up the rheobus and not losing one of your Molex
connections. Picture 6 shows the two included 3 pin fan extensions. They are
12" long, and should help you get that fan at the back, or top of your case, to
the rheobus. They even have some foam stuck over the male end of the cables to
prevent them from possibly poking out through the plastic. The last picture
shows that even mounting screws are included. Maybe you already have 3,000
screws laying around if you work on PC's a lot, but a few more isn't going to
hurt. (And that's 3,000 in metric too for those of you not in the USA. Ok, that
was a failed attempt at humor...) Regardless, I think the out of box experience
is much more appealing, and should be to others when everything you need is in
the box.
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| (4) For on/off switches |
(5) Molex Y |
(6) 2x 3 pin extensions |
(7) Mounting screws |
PWM:
If you saw the "PWM" above in the title, and didn't know what
that is, it is short for Pulse Width Modulation. In short, instead of lowering
the voltage to your fans at a steady stream of, for example, 7 volts, the
voltage is pulsed on and off (digitally) at the full 12 volts, but done quickly
enough that the fan reacts like it is getting 7 volts. Why PMW? Lowering voltage
to a fan in a rheobus without PWM causes a by-product when lowering the voltage
via analog means. Heat. With PWM, heat is not created. Hence, you aren't
sticking another little heater, so to speak, inside your case.
The good stuff - The Rheobus:
My review sample came in silver. Black is also available from
ADPmods. There is a blue version also, but that version is not available from
ADPmods at this time. Below you can see the rheobus nice and clear, so you know
exactly what you are getting. I've also included a close up, so you can tell the
texture of it also. It is not a brushed finish, but it would looks great in my
case, and would I'm sure in any silver toned case, or any silver aluminum case
for that matter. You'll notice the knobs do have a nice round circles in them.
Why? Well, these are metal knobs and switches. The metal, round of course, is
curt and further machined from a round bar on a lathe. Ok, maybe you don't care,
but these are metal ones. I appreciate that. I hope you would too.
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| (8) Front |
(9) Close up |
A closer look at the back:
Everything is labeled nicely in the back as you can see in
picture 10. Note that the three knobs control two 3 pin fans each. From the
above specifications, each of the 3 channels can support 20 watts per channel.
Ok, if you have 3 super high output fans in your case, I'd suggest you get a
girlfriend to tell you beforehand how obnoxious the whirr is from those
already... In most cases, having a few LED fans, and even splicing some together
probably will not pose a problem IMHO. Pictures 11 and 12 are merely for giggles,
but they do give you a better idea what makes this thing tick. I'd like to
point out in picture 12 that there are two blue LED's behind the clear plastic
casing that surrounds the knobs. Those change intensity with the
voltage change to your fans. It shouldn't be too hard for you modders to
unsolder those, and turn them red, or whatever color you need to suit your
fancy. I guess from the whole pre-modded standpoint, blue seems to be the most
popular color. I think it should be red, but what do I know?
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| (10) Back of unit |
(11) Top down |
(12) Bottom up |
I had to remove the front of the Lian Li before I could mount the rheobus. I'm sure it's just specific to the Lian Li, but the
rheobus is a somewhat tighter fit than I am used to seeing for a 5 1/4" bay
device. It fit well in another case I tried it in, so you shouldn't have any
real worries.
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| (13) Mounted - Lian Li PC-6010
- PERFECT!!! |
(14) Lit up on the bench |
Use and thoughts:
I had to manually adjust the exposure on the bottom two shots
in the camera. Without being able to adjust the shutter speed, the 12 volt and 7 volt shots looked
identical. Trust me, I tried like 10 different shots... Those are as close to
true life as I could get in person. To better illustrate the point that this rheobus does work, and work well, I made a little movie below. It seems my web
cam could use some exposure compensation also, but oh well. I haven't done a
movie in a while, and it gives me that illusionary feeling of being productive
too, so, anyway...
The rheobus I tested does go down to a little below 7 volts
on low. That is perfectly fine with me. I really don't care to turn my fans any
lower, or off, when using a product such as this. Once you hit 6 or so volts,
most fans will stop rotating, or will not spin up. If you really want to turn a
fan off, use the two provided on/off switches. I always thought turning off CCFL's via a switch was silly. But now, I do see the point. I'm sure you would
too if you had a PC in your bedroom, and didn't want that eternal hell fire red
glow coming out of your windowed case.
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| (15) 12 Volt |
(16) 7 volt |
While not the greatest web cam movie I have done, it clearly shows
the rheobus from afar and up close action. As usual, we'll use
Windows Media Format, and clocks in at
around 1.6 megs. It's zipped also, just so you know. If the thought of watching
my hand turn dials and pushing buttons doesn't float your boat, please skip to
the summary now. Before it is too late! :-)
I've seen four different rheobuses come across my
desk so far. I'd personally like to see this in a 3 1/2" version too. But just about everyone should have a free 5 1/4" bay free.
Unless
of course, you've jumped the bandwagon on LCD's and other control or display devices. So I'll
ask myself a question and wait for an answer. "Is this your favorite rheobus
you've seen so far?" David exclaims, "Yes it is!" The only weird
note, or
complaint really, is when your momentary
switch is off, the LED glows green. When it's on, it's red. Now you can call me
Al, but that seems backwards to me.
