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Product:
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Sunbeam Chromatic Windmill & Theta TB 101 Fan Controller |
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Price:
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$36 (CAN) / $31 (U.S)
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Supplied By:
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Sunbeam Technology
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Author:
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clsGrinder
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Date:
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November 7th, 2005
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Rating:
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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Installation of the Theta TP-101 is pretty simple. With the card secured in a vacant PCI slot, plug the
fans you want controlled into any of the 8 available 3-pin headers. The headers are marked in
succession from FAN1 to FAN8 starting from the Molex side of the card. Thermal sensor headers are
marked in succession from T1-T8, also starting from the Molex side of the card. All this wire being
centralized onto a PCI card could pose some challenges if you like the inside of your case neat and
tidy. Overall, I am very pleased at how accessible the fan, thermal, and power plugs are, making
installation very convenient.
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Click image for larger view
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It is disappointing that yet another internal USB device depends on an outside connection. Here is a
product shot of the rear of the case with the Theta TP-101 installed.
Software installation is a 2 step process. On windows startup, the OS alerts you that new hardware has
been found, and you must point the Wizard to a driver location on the bundled CD-ROM. After driver
installation, you may proceed with the Sunbeam SoftTheta v1.0 control software.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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The main window to the top of the SoftTheta program shows the fan RPM, Temperature, Connection Status
and Alarm Status. The 8 different toggle’s to the right (CPU, Case, HDD, VGA, CH1, CH2, CH3 and CH4)
trigger a display on the main window, as well as software options on the "Soft Control" window below.
CPU will display Fan status from the FAN1 header and temperature status from the T1 header. This
pattern continues thru to the FAN8 header and T8 header. SoftControl allows independent control of all
8 fan headers with 3 modes of operation available which include Light, Manual and Auto.
Manual Mode:
This mode allows you to set the fan at a comfortable speed, while programming a warning temperature for
when things get hot. This setting disappointed me for 2 reasons. First, you MUST use a fan that has an
RPM cable or the alarm will go off. An override would be nice as stock case fans exist with only 2 pins.
Second, the Theta software does nothing more than pop up an alarm dialogue when the Warning Temperature
is reached. At the very least, I would have expected the Theta to throttle up the speed of the attached fan.
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