NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller

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…