Lamptron FC5V3 Six Channel Fan Controller Review

Lamptron’s FC5V3 is going to cost $89.99, €69.99 which translates into roughly £60~ for the UK market. These prices include VAT and sales taxes (to find specific retailers selling in your country see here). If you are already cringing at this price you are probably not Lamptron’s target market. It is clear from using this fan controller that Lamptron do not do anything by halves, they go all out to ensure that the quality is there in every aspect of the product. For the price you’ve got something that has been carefully crafted and every aspect has been thought about very carefully.

The main thing I liked about the FC5V3, other than Lamptron’s trademark superior build quality, is the fact it has an LCD panel that can be tweaked and tuned to whatever colour you want. This may only be a small touch but it makes the world of difference if you have a case that is a particular colour or running some coloured LED fans at the front. This fan controller is ideal for someone with a lot of fans in their system. With support for 30W per channel you could easily buy a pack of y-splitters and run 2 to 3 fans per channel depending on the total wattage of each fan. There is a price premium here, but for what you get it is justified. Much like Noctua products Lamptron products are premium for a reason, because they are best in class, and best in class has a price point to match because it uses better quality materials and has better research and development put into it. Lamptron do have a wide range of fan controllers to choose from these days so if you are looking for a best in class fan controller then you need not limit yourself to only this Lamptron fan controller as they have many others that are equally as good. Though this is the latest and greatest fan controller for air cooled systems, that includes AIO closed loop liquid coolers too, and themed builds.

(Update: Lamptron have informed us that both PCBs will be black and that the green PCB on our sample was just due to it being an early production sample)

Pros

• Clear matte non-glare LCD display
• Clear instructions on how to operate
• Simple to use
• High build quality – aluminium front bezel
• 1 year free replacement Lamptron warranty
• Customisable colours
• Sturdy rotary dials
• Clean aesthetics
• 30W per channel
• Stable voltages, rapid input response
• Speaker On/off option
• Start Boost voltage, with on/off option
• Good quality cables and sleeving

Cons

• High absolute price
• No temperature target + response setting mechanisms
• No additional extension cables, all uniform 60cm

eTeknix says: With the FC5V3 fan controller Lamptron introduce the ultimate fan controller for customising your system. The ability to change colours makes fully themed builds possible and easy, while the rest of the fan controller is up to Lamptron’s usual high standards that earned them their fantastic reputation as a premium brand. If you are looking for a top-of-the-range fan controller to tune an air cooled system full of fans, and you don’t mind paying a premium, then the FC5V3 will not disappoint one bit.

Thank you to Lamptron for providing this review sample.