NZXT Sentry Mesh 30W Fan Controller Review

Introduction

The Sentry name has hosted quite a few fan controllers from NZXT. From what I can recall, the Sentry 1 was pretty hip for its time. It had an LCD display and some shiny chrome buttons, but only controlled two fans. As time went on, there came the Sentry 2. This time the LCD was touch sensitive and accommodated five fans. Both of these units were made to fit a single 5.25" bay and offer users plenty of fan control behind the solid steel face plates. There was a dual bay model, the Sentry LX, and the stand alone LXE that both offered aluminum faces and large LCD displays. It seems they have all your fan cooling options covered for a clean looking fit in any case, or do they?

NZXT says no and offers up yet another variation on bay mounted fan control. This time NZXT takes good things from all the other controllers, minus the LCD screen, and gives us a new controller with a facade more fitting to chassis designs that have been showing up across the board from many manufacturers. NZXT made sure not to miss out on the opportunity to fill the void and offer a well priced and attractive looking solution to users with cases with mostly mesh front bezels.

The controller in question is the NZXT Sentry Mesh five channel fan controller that we are just about to take a look at. NZXT offers simpler looks and functionality than the last submission of the Sentry LXE. Gone is the LCD screen, gone is the brushed aluminum front plate; it has been substituted for a mesh front with small round holes to match a lot of the newer cases out today. On top of that, this controller can handle an astounding 30 Watts across the entire unit; much more than any of the previous releases.

So, not only did NZXT come up with a stylish addition to mesh fronted cases, they also deliver a ton of power and all in a very user friendly and easily manageable system.