Reviewed by Barry Little - January 28, 2008

Manufacturer: Lamptron

Model Number: FC1

Price: $6.99 (U.S.)

Fan controllers are a popular, “best-of-both-worlds” solution, which allow you to keep fan noise to reasonable levels while maintaining adequate cooling, with the ability to ramp fan speeds up to the max for overclocking and gaming. Available in a wide range of designs and prices, today we’re going to look at an economical little unit from a company named Lamptron that allows you to control a CPU fan plus an additional fan—the Lamptron Fan Controller FC1.

About Lamptron

Lamptron develops and markets the next generation of high performance computer peripherals using the latest technology that enables a new level of interaction between the end-user and their personal computer. Products developed are through a combination of proprietary technology, innovation and ergonomic industrial design. There are three principal business sectors:

   1. PC Gaming products

   2. PC Silence products

   3. PC Modding products

Products are designed and developed by our experienced Research and Development Department. Our engineering and R&D staffs specialize in user analysis, material control and industry design. Lamptron not only has expertise in product easy-to-use and product design, but we also plays a vital role in the enhancement of production efficiency and marketing analysis. We are constantly developing new products and technology to meet market demands and to generate new markets for our innovation products.

Feature Overview

Packaging

You won't find  Sci-Fi characters, medieval warriors, Anime babes or any other pop culture icons usually found on products marketed for the gaming community, gracing the blister pack for the Lamptron Fan Controller FC1. The clean, simple black and silver design is accented by Lamptron's bright blue company logo. On the front, you'll find an illustrated summary of the FC1's features. The simple, illustrated directions for installing and using the Lamptron FC1, the unit's specifications, are on the back—along with a cautionary reminder to check the wattage of the CPU fan on the motherboard as well as the rated wattage of the fan to be used. The Lamptron FC1 should not be used with a fan that has a start of voltage of more than 5V—something you should confirm before purchasing it.

Unlike most accessories sold in blister packs, the Lamptron Fan Controller FC1’s blister pack requires no sharp instruments or cuss words to open. Simply spread the edges on the back of the blister pack slightly with your thumbs, and slide the cardboard backing out. Unlike the review sample I received directly from Lamptron, the only other step you might possibly have to take, would be if you purchased the FC1 in a brick-and-mortar retail store, where the edges of the blister pack will probably be stapled shut to prevent tampering or theft of the contents. Still, removing a couple staples is a lot easier than hacking and cutting your way through layers of thick plastic. Once you've opened the package you'll find the Lamptron FC1 with its mounting bracket already attached, and the cable for connecting the FC1 to a CPU and additional fan.

What you won't find, is an adhesive strip on the back of the mounting bracket to attach it to your case—or the expansion slot bracket with the necessary cut-out for routing the cable from the inside to the outside of your case, as illustrated on the back of the blister pack’s insert. Mounting the bracket should be easy enough with double-sided tape or Velcro found in any office supply store, assuming you that you don’t have either handy. As for routing the FC1’s cable to the outside of your rig, you’ll need to either leave off an available expansion slot cover and run it through the opening; or mod an expansion slot bracket so that it can remain in place while allowing the FC1’s cable through.

The Lamptron Fan Controller FC1

At 72 x 29 x 13mm (2.9 x 1.6 x 0.5”), the Lamptron Fan Controller FC1 is a little larger than similar units supplied with some CPU coolers. Available in either white or black, it’s equipped with a thumb control knob with a blue LED and a cradle-style mounting bracket that gives the unit an almost “mini-iPod” appearance—particularly with the ventilation holes around the bottom. The supplied 813mm (32-inch) ribbon cable for connecting the FC1 to your processor fan plus one additional fan, should be long enough for almost any size case, and is flat enough to route underneath a motherboard. You might also be able to snake it out behind the motherboard as well, between the back edge of the motherboard and expansion slots, but that depends on the design of your case. Obviously, you don’t want to pinch the cable either. The Lamptron FC1 will support any pair of 5-volt fans rated at 6 watts or less. If you choose to use fans that exceed 5V and 6W, you do so at your own peril—or more accurately, your hardware’s peril. Check the fan’s specifications on the box, with any included instructions or via Google, before you start plugging them in to the FC1.

Turning the speed control knob clockwise towards the “-“ actually increases the speed of connected fans. Turning it counter-clockwise towards the “+” decreases fan speed. While this is clearly stated in Directions For Use on the back of the package insert, it doesn’t take much to see how easily someone could get the fan speeds reversed by making the more logical assumption that turning the dial towards the “+” would increase fan speeds while turning it to “-“ would reduce them—especially if they’ve not seen the directions.

Installation and Testing

Following the instructions printed on back of the package insert, installing the Lamptron Fan Controller FC1 is pretty straightforward. First, make sure that your PC is turned off and unplugged before you start disconnecting anything on the motherboard.

Locate and disconnect the CPU fan from the motherboard. Next, plug the 3-pin fan connector from the FC1’s fan cable (the one with the red, orange and yellow wires), the CPU fan header on the motherboard. Now take the fan connector from the CPU fan, and plug it into either of the 3-pin male fan connectors on the FC1’s cable (it doesn't matter which one). If you wish to connect another 3-pin fan to the Lamptron Fan Controller FC1, go ahead and do so now, plugging it into the other 3-pin connector on the cable. Plug-in and turn on your PC. The LED on the fan speed knob on the FC1 should light up. You'll also notice that the LED also illuminates most of the FC1, giving it a soft, pleasing blue glow.

The quickest and easiest way to see if the Lamptron FC1 is working properly, is to increase and decrease the speed of the connected fans by turning the knob. You should hear the fans speed up and slow down, depending how loud they are to begin with. A more accurate way is to go into your system’s CMOS and check the CPU fan speed (you may need to consult your motherboard’s manual to locate it). If you have the other fan plugged into an auxiliary fan connection on the motherboard, you’ll probably see it on the same screen as the CPU fan, but the CPU fan is most important, obviously. As you turn the dial on the FC1 up or down, the CPU fan speed should increase and decrease on the CMOS screen appropriately. If it doesn’t, consult your motherboard manual. There may be another setting in the CMOS you’ll have to change.

Although every motherboard and CMOS are different, they display CPU temperatures in real-time on the same screen as CPU RPMs. The fans on most CPU coolers automatically adjust their speed to keep the CPU’s temperature within safe operating limits (there are exceptions). Using a fan controller like the Lamptron FC1 eliminates the automatic fan speed control and places it in your hands (or fingertips, to be exact). Most motherboards come with software that allow you to monitor CPU temperatures and alert you when something’s amiss, and there are a number of free programs that do the same. Pay close attention to your CPU temperatures whenever you adjust fan speeds, especially if you overclock—you don’t want to sacrifice proper cooling for lower noise levels. Otherwise, you’ll have a very quiet system—permanently.

I tested the Lamptron FC1 on a test system on one of HighSpeed PC’s Top Deck Tech Stations with the following “Oldie but Goodie” hardware:

And the following software:

After getting the Lamptron Fan Controller FC1 set up, I went into the motherboard’s CMOS to verify that raising and lowering the speed on the FC1 raised and lowered the speed on the Scythe Samurai’s fan—which it did. I also used EVEREST Ultimate Edition under XP and did the same.

I ran two Stress Prime 2004 sessions—one with the Scythe Samurai’s fan dialed down to the absolute minimum in the neighborhood of 1400 RPM. And one with the fan ramped up at over 1700 RPM. For both tests, I unplugged the 120mm cooling fan on the side of the Top Deck Tech Station, which blows air across the CPU and motherboard. I monitored and recorded temperatures with EVEREST while each Stress Prime session ran for a half hour.

Click Here for Non-Flash Version

We can see a slight increase in processor temperatures as we reduce the fan speed of the Lamptron FC1. If this processor was overclocked, or a hotter-running processor , the changes in temperature would be much more dramatic—which illustrates why you need to keep an eye on temperatures when manually adjusting fan speeds with any fan controller.

Click to Enlarge

I also used a Galaxy Audio CM-130 SPL Meter to record fan noise during the two test sessions, holding the meter 12 inches away from the Scythe Samurai’s fan. Keep in mind that although I took every reasonable step to insure that extraneous noise was eliminated, the following readings are influenced by the fan on the video card and the power supply.

Click Here for Non-Flash Version

The Scythe Samurai’s fan is fairly quiet to begin with; hence, we don't see such a dramatic change in the decibel level as we would if this were a CPU cooler with a much louder fan that might easily drown out fan noise from other components inside the system.

Final Impressions and Conclusion

Obviously, the results you get will vary depending on the hardware used, but overall the Lamptron Fan Controller FC1 works as advertised. The speed control knob works smoothly, but it is possible to waste motion by pushing it past the “+” and “-“ indicators on the unit, which has no effect on fan speed either way. It would have been better if stops had been implemented to prevent the thumb wheel from going beyond the “+” and “-“ indicators.

Then there’s the indicators themselves. When everyone recognizes that the plus sign means more, and the minus sign means less, I can’t imagine why a device would be created with these operations reversed. If the Lamptron FC1 were installed on a PC, and someone who has not seen the instructions which explicitly state that the “+” and “-“ symbols had the opposite expected effect—unless they could see or hear the change in fan speed, how would they know that the fan operation was working opposite of what they'd normally expect? Assuming that there is a technical reason why the FC1 was created this way, why not reverse the “+” and “-“ on the case to represent that? Who knows—maybe Lamptron thought that the “+” would look better at the top of the case…

Unless you spent some time experimenting with the setting that gives you just the right balance between noise and cooling for your particular system, you probably wouldn’t want to mount the Lamptron FC1 inside the case. After all, who wants to keep taking the cover off just to adjust their fan speed? Most people will want to mount the FC1 outside their case. However, they shouldn’t have to cobble an existing expansion slot bracket or leave it open to do so. How much more would it add to the cost of the FC1 to include a pre-modded bracket expansion slot bracket for the cable, so that it could be run to the outside of the case without an unsightly hole left from an uncovered expansion slot that will only allow more dust and debris inside the case? Come to think of it, how much would a small strip of 3M double-sided tape on the mounting bracket add to the cost of the Lamptron FC1?

Most enthusiasts who want more power, flexibility and clean installation when it comes to managing the fans in their rigs will undoubtedly opt for fan controllers that mount in a drive bay. For the enthusiast on the tightest of budgets who may lack a spare drive bay; doesn’t mind doing a bit of cobbling for a clean install outside their case, or experimenting to find the noise vs. heat sweet-spot for an inside case installation, who can also overlook the bizarre, reversed controls, it doesn’t get any cheaper—or better—than the Lamptron Fan Controller FC1. 

Barry’s Rigs ‘n Reviews would like to thank Rita at Lamptron for providing the sample for this review!