NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller

There are all sorts of ways to tame the noisy array of fans within your PC case.  Some of them are rather fancy, but have a higher learning curve.  Some cases come with very basic fan rheostats that control all of your fans at once.  Sometimes you want a no-nonsense direct way to control each fan individually, but you still want it to be worthy of your modded PC case.

The NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller may be just what you’re looking for.  Instead of complicated touch-screens, it offers a direct way to control up to five fans in your case with variable resistance.  This device mounts in any available 5¼” drive bay and features black metal mesh, which will blend in quite well with many pre-modded cases, especially those from NZXT.

Features Mesh design to camouflage with mesh facade Five 30W Controls Easy-to-use sliders

Specifications Installation 5.25″ ODD Color Black Material Plastic & Mesh Panel Scroll Fan Channels 5 Connections 3-pin Manual Min 40% Control Voltage

On the next page we take a look at what Fine Mesh we’ve gotten ourselves into…

The NZXT Sentry Mesh itself is very unassuming, as it doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles. The product comes in a brown cardboard box and has four mounting screws and a paper installation leaflet.  No cable ties or other cable management accessories are included.

It is designed to fit into any standard 5¼” drive bay and is secured with four screws and the left and right sides of the tray.  You can, of course use your case’s tool-less options, but I always prefer to secure things down with screws to prevent any vibrations.

The front of the fan controller is covered with black metal mesh and has five plastic sliders, with each one controlling a different potentiometer.  Each slider varies the voltage output between 40% and 100%, so if the slider is at its lowest point then your fan won’t zero out, stall, or (in the case of LED fans) start blinking.

If you want more background as to why the 40% low-end is important, then read our article “How PC Fans Work“.  The gist is that if the voltage goes too low then the fan will stall, and that won’t happen with the NZXT Sentry Mesh.

You can use each slider to set the right amount of cooling-to-noise ratio that you prefer.  If you’re in your home office then you can set everything very low to keep things quiet.  If you’re at a hot and noisy LAN party, then crank everything up to tray and keep your overclocked hardware within safe ranges.

Each potentiometer can control an amazing 30 watts, which is many times more than any case fan (or other accessory) you’ll encounter.  You could in theory control the voltage of other devices, such as the spin of a disco-ball ornament or other electronic devices to decorate your case.  I wouldn’t recommend controlling LED or cold cathode case lighting, though… those don’t tolerate voltage variation very well and will start pulsing.

The fan controller is powered by a single 4-pin Molex connector, and has both male and female ends so it can fit in-line with a strand inside your case.

On the next page we dive into deeper analysis…

The fan leads themselves are very thin, colored black, and 18-inches long (no adult jokes, please).  The cables do not come with any braided sleeving, but are labeled 1 through 5 so you can visually assign fans to the appropriate slider.

I’m not enthusiastic about classic Molex power connectors for fans, but fan controllers are an entirely different matter.  You only have to use one plug, and it drives up to 5 devices with up to 30 watts each.

Once plugged in, a small white LED turns on to the right of the sliders, just underneath the NZXT logo.  This light is very bright, and actually bleeds through the nearest slider, which can be distracting if your case is at eye level.

The NZXT Sentry Mesh fan controller may not have a lot of bells and whistles, but sometimes you just want a direct way to quickly silence your case fans.  The aethetics of the Mesh fit in with just about any modern PC case, especially if it is colored black and already uses black mesh in its design.  If your case doesn’t have any mesh, you can easily add it, just read how to add mesh to your case here.

The slider design is very good, the product is very sturdy, and more importantly it can handle five indepentant 30-watt channels.  With this much power you can control just about any variable-voltage device you could fit in your case, including Christmas light bulbs or strands.

There are no front labels or any other indicator that lets you know which slider controls what device, and the power LED is a bit bright.  Other than that the NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller is a great-looking fanbus, and can be yours for around $25.

REPORT CARD : NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller
category rating comments Quality 4 Just like other NZXT products, very well built Innovation 4 Minimalist design gets the job done.  Less is more. Performance 5 Can easily handle any device you throw at it, and keeps the voltage from dropping too low. Installation 3 Cables are not grouped or braided, and no cable-management accessories are included. Value 4 One of the cheapest fan controllers you can get, and it doesn’t suck!
FINAL VERDICT: 4 out of 5 stars