Installation

Installation of the unit is a piece of cake, just like installing any other drives. Although there's one quirk for owners of cases with drive rails, especially the Chieftec/Antec. One screw that's securing the PCB to the housing is blocking the drive rails. This results in the unit not being able to be installed properly into the case. It's a simple matter of removing that particular screw from both sides of the housing though. Once you got the rails installed, simply push the whole assembly into the desired 5.25" drive bay. And in case you're wondering, the knobs are not protruding out far enuff to cause any problems to the door closing. Definitely good news to Chieftec/Antec woners out there...

Unit with drive rails installed

Screw blocking drive rail

Unit installed in case

No blocking of door here... :O)

UPDATE!

I just got an email today (11 December) from VantecUSA and it seems that they've noticed the mounting screw issues and have a new housing done and this will be in the retail product, so you guys need not worry about that!! Kudos to them for that!

New housing (right)

Fire her up!

Connected and turned on.

Once I got the fans connected, I turned on the unit. The first thing that catches the attention is how nice and bright the LED backlight are, even in bright conditions. You can see from the from the pictures below how the 5 3mm LEDs lightens up the unit up front and also from the PCB area. Very nice indeed. However, the PWM circuit emits a slight whining or clicking sound. At first I thought it was one of my fans giving way but even after disconnecting the fans, the sounds persists. And sure enough, upon close inspection, the sound's coming from the circuitry and it only appears when the knob is set to it's minimum setting. And I have to put my ear to the unit in order to hear it. This is a known effect of PWM circuits but it could've been eliminated with use of higher quality components or circuitry. Now, with all those fans in your case, you wouldn't even notice this slight shining/clicking sound but some of us are very particular, especially about minor details like this.

Nice!!

Damn that's bright!

Money shot!!!

Money shot!!

Money shot on back!!

BTW, if you're thinking of making your own faceplate or housing, the PCB assembly can be easily removed from the original housing by removing the 4 side screws. The knobs could also be removed from the pots although some of them seem to be super-glued or something!! LOL! I had to pull hard on one of it to take it off the pot!

PCB Removed...

Knob removed.... tough though!

Conclusion

With the Nexus NXP-201 Fan Controller, VantecUSA has a potentially awesome product at hand. Competition is stiff in the control device market with so many choices out there for the end-user so being unique and competitively-priced is definitely an advantage. While other units comes with plain housings and LEDs mounted in front, VantecUSA adds stylish markings and uses the LEDs as backlit to give a nice cool glow from the back. The knobs looks great too! The whole kit if ready to go out of the box since it's mounted on a aluminium "U" type housing. No drilling of faceplates required here. Extension cables are also included to help with the fan installation. And the PWM circuit is another great choice as it's more efficient than voltage regulator circuits. And 18Watts per channel? More than you could ever wanted! All this great features at a retail price of just US$29.00!

VantecUSA could however use a little more research on the circuitry. Using better components which operates at an inaudible frequency, the clicking sound could be eliminated once and for all. Of course, like I've mentioned, you'll have to put your ear to the unit in order to hear the sound but still, it could've been prevented from the very start. And one of the mounting screws have to be removed if you're mounting drive rails onto the unit. Not a biggie though.

Pros

• Ready to use out of the box
• No drilling of faceplates required
• Available in black or silver
• PWM Circuit, better than voltage regulators
• Cool blue LED backlight
• 18Watts per channel
• Extension cables provided (retail unit)
• Competitively priced at US$29.00

Cons

• Slight whine or clicking sound at minimum setting
• One of mounting screws might interfered with drive rails

Big thanks goes out to Clare Liu from VantecUSA for providing us with the sample units of the Nexus NXP-201 Fan Controller for review. You can find it at any of the stores listed on Vantec's website. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

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