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Sentry 2 Closer Look and Testing Page 2 of 2
Closer Look:
The NZXT Sentry 2 looks a little cheaper than the aluminum Sentry LX controller, and wired and ready for installation out of the box.
It comes with the fan wires and thermal probes attached and ready to add a new level of clutter (or cable management challenges) to your system. Just like the Sentry LX, the Sentry 2 also promises to save your fan and alarm
settings when you power off the system. There is also a little speaker
that serves to beep annoyingly if your temperature exceeds the maximum
you've set for that particular channel.
Backside Of Controller
Below is a picture of the connections provided with the Sentry 2. There are
five fan headers and five thermal probes - all clearly labeled and it
would make sense to match up Fan 1 with Temp 1. Thankfully the Sentry 2 wasn't designed by politicians and it works very well and yes, Temp
1 corresponds to Fan 1.
The images below show the fan controller in "Auto" mode displaying Fan/Temp 1, in "Manual" mode displaying Fan/Temp 3, and adjusting the temperature limit on Fan 2.
Auto Speed
Manual Speed
Temperature Limit
Testing:
I've used the Sentry 2 for a couple of weeks and it's been a
great addition to the NZXT Panzerbox (review pending). The NZXT Panzerbox has a couple of large fans and they aren't super quiet. The Sentry 2 takes any noisy case and puts
it into a quiet HTPC category. The best way to run the Sentry 2 is to
put the temperature sensors into the general area of where the fans
will blow. If you hook up Fan 1 to the area where Temp 1 sensor is
located, the fan will speed up if the temperature reaches your
specified setting. A beautiful application for this is on your HDDs or
your graphics card. Attach one of the five probes to these items and
set your fans at an average temperature setting - 40C for your HDD and 65C for your graphics card. The fans will run nice and quiet 95% of
the time, but when the temperature of the hot-spots increases, they will
spin up the fans gradually to take care of the extra heat. It works
beautifully.
The fans can be set in
a manual setting or full automatic. When the fan setting is manual,
you can easily set the fan speed to your predetermined setting. On the
other hand, when you choose the automatic mode the fan speed is dynamic
and the fan will adjust speed according to the temperature of the probe. My beef with the manual mode is that is sets all fans into manual mode. I would like to see each fan either set to auto or manual independently. Fan power is displayed at 40%, 50% and upwards in increments of 10%. I took a multi-meter to measure the output voltage at each increment.
- 40% = 7.52v
- 50% = 7.98v
- 60% = 8.57v
- 70% = 9.3v
- 80% = 9.95v
- 90% = 10.72v
- 100% = 11.43v
- Off = 1.89v
A couple of things surprised me when taking these measurements. Even when the fan is listed as "off" there is still some voltage leaking - a bit under 2v. Also at 100% speed, the output voltage is not quite 12v. There seems to be some inefficiency though the Sentry 2. For 99.6% of people that won't matter, but if you're trying to get the absolute most out of your fans, the Sentry 2 leaves you a little over half a volt short at the high end.
Final Thoughts:
The Sentry 2 is a slimmer, cheaper version of the Sentry LX fan controller. The Sentry 2 is made from plastic, lacks RPM monitoring and sits in a single 5,25" bay. It still can monitor five temperatures and control five fans, but it feels a bit cheaper than the Sentry LX. The fan control is great as it doesn't require rpm monitored fans and can work with 3-pin fans as well as standard 4-pin Molex fans. While not as slick as the Sentry LX, the Sentry 2 gets the job done and does it very well. It has almost the same feature set and costs about half the price. For $30 you really can't go wrong with this controller.
Pros:
- Automatic and Manual modes
- Easy and quick to install
- Supports five temp probes and controls five fans
- Extra thermal probes included
- For $30 - it's great value
Cons:
- No support for 4-pin PWM fans
- Plastic looks a little cheap - not classy like the Sentry LX
Thanks to the low price of the unit and it's nice list of features, the Sentry 2 manages to squeak in to our "Editor's Choice".
I'd like to thank NZXT
for sending the Sentry 2 our way for a review. Please feel free to
post your thoughts, comments and questions in the forum at the
"Comments" link below.
 (2) Comments
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