Lamptron FC9 Fan Controller Review

The FC9 fan controller has certainly shown that it is more than upto the job of controlling everything in your system – all off of one controller! The extra molex connections on the rear ensure that there are no power shortages and the throttle style controls on the front make sure the power is delivered as smoothly as possible.

To test the load capability of the FC9 we connected fans and our H80 water cooling systems to draw as near to 50W of power as we could off each channel. With a channel fully loaded there was no indication of any power shortage on each of the channels showing the controller can indeed run with such a heavy workload.

I was not sure whether to expect a ‘jumpy’ operation from the controls as the power was raised and lowered, however the robust control allowed for very precise adjustment, so much so that you could have a fan just about turning right the way upto full speed with a smooth gradient inbetween.

Some will argue that having only four channels to work with is a downside, but when you think about it, this is more than enough considering you can connect more than one fan to each control with more than enough headroom for more. In this example you could have inlet fans on one channel, exhaust on another, CPU fans to another and still have a fourth channel free for lighting control – more than enough for a typical system.

The CNC milled aluminium panel on the front makes a huge change to the plastic that is normally seen on a fan controller and thus would compliment any black metal chassis out there very well.

The only downfall that I can see from the controller is the seven colour spectrum that it can display. Due to the RGB design of the lighting, the white output comes out with a blue tint to it – almost similar to the cyan. The yellow output is also in the same boat as the white, where its not really yellow but a lot closer to the green.

So where does this leave us? Back at the start we mentioned that quite rightly the market is full of various fan controller types and arrangements, but the majority of them were either looks or performance.  The FC9 from Lamptron has followed in its predecessors footsteps with is looks and performance with the ability of holding a whopping 50W of power per channel. Retailing for around £30 the Lamptron FC9 is very well priced with its second to none looks and extreme power handling capabilities, and would with out a doubt appeal to the gaming and modding communities for both of these reasons.