Aerocool Strike-X X-1000 Fan Controller Review

To some, this section may seem redundant because surely if a fan controls fans then it does its job, right? Well no, not entirely. There is a little bit more to it than that. So I will go through each key aspect of this fan controller and then explain how I think it performs. Obviously my opinion can only ever be subjective, I can’t quantify it with numbers so you will just have to take that my word is written in the interest of the consumer – which it is and if you’ve read any of my other reviews you will know that I’m certainly not an award-giving machine.

The Controls

The knobs on the Aerocool Strike-X X-1000 move very easily as they feel lightweight and nimble. This is probably due to the fact they are made from plastic, they certainly do not feel cheap, but they do lack a degree of solidity that you would find with metal switches for example. As you turn between the minimum and maximum the fan knobs move freely, once you reach the far left hand-side switch you get some very tactile clicking-feedback to let you know the fan switch has been turned off. Turn entirely to the right and eventually it will stop when the maximum is reached, it is obvious when the maximum is reached so there is no chance of you breaking anything. As far as I can tell there is minimal time-lag between changing the fan controller and the fan speeds changing, approximately 1.5 seconds. All the fans we tested turned on at the minimum speed so my guess is that the minimum speed is probably delivered at least 5 volts which is good. More broadly speaking the ability to turn the fans off is a nice touch as a lot of fan controllers often only let you turn them down very low, sometimes you just want to turn them off, the Aerocool Strike-X X-1000 lets you do exactly that.

I did also find it necessary to test the “fan fail alarm” so naturally the best way of doing this was to stop the fan with my finger. The Aerocool Strike-X X-1000 delivered exactly as it was supposed to and the alarm went off. I guess this is a useful function to have because it informs you when a fan turns off but it is still receiving power – which means it is probably broken or stalled which could cause your system to overheat and turn off. It will not beep if you turn the fans off with the control knobs.

Edit: After continuing to use the fan controller for another 3 weeks after reviewing it, problems did start to arise. The fan fail alarm would stay on constantly for no reason even when the connected fans were all spinning fine. This did not stop until you reset the unit by unplugging the power cable from it. 

Functionality of Fan Connections

As mentioned previously you can control five fans from this fan controller, of which only one can be 4 pin. In terms of functionality this has quite a big implication for anyone with two or more 4 pin fans because to control these you’d need to be innovation and use “y-splitters” or control them via your motherboard instead. I think Aerocool, as a means of improvement, could have made all of the fan connections 4 pins because it just gives you more flexibility to work with – or at least have open ended 3 pin connections. In terms of cable lengths, each of the five fan connection cables is approximately 50cm long meaning they should be long enough to reach the front, bottom, side and top fans of most cases. The rear-most fans may be a bit of a stretch so Aerocool have provided two extension cables which are useful.

Front USB 3.0 Ports and Audio Ports

The integrated connections on the Strike-X X-1000 are all just “pass-throughs” in the sense that they do not actually process anything directly. The USB 3.0 ports have a USB 3.0 header which fits into your motherboard. Consequently the performance of these ports will depend on your USB 3.0 controllers on your motherboard, or if you don’t have USB 3.0 then your USB 2.0 controllers. The audio implementation is the same, the two audio jacks use a standard HD Audio header connection on your motherboard where the sound quality will be reflective of the integrated audio on your motherboard not the fan controller. I did test all the ports to make sure they worked and there were no compatibility problems, indeed there were none and everything worked fine.