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Features
Where
the NXP101 scores big with me compared to similar
products is they've not wasted a pile of space. Throwing
a couple of USB ports on a unit and asking me to sacrifice
a 5.25" bay for the privilege has always sat
uncomfortably. If I'm giving up my valuable expansion
acreage I want it to be for something that makes good
use of it and fortunately the NXP101 does. Not only
do you get dual USB ports, you also get a Firewire
port, a fan speed controller and a side lit LCD panel
offering fan speed readout along with a selectable
temperature reading from any of three connected probes.
Finally there's a small high pitch audible alarm which
according to the documentation sounds on fan failure
or overheating. There's no mention of what CPU temperature
needs to be reached before the alarm sounds but I'm
guessing it's 70C as this is the upper temperature
specified for the LCD while the actual probes are
rated to 90C. Somebody please correct me if I'm off
track.
1/
Connects NXP101 to motherboard
2/ Connects NXP101 to CPU cooling fan
3/ Three temperature probes connect here
4/ Alarm
Two
extension cables are supplied with three pin Molex
connectors. One connects the fan to the NXP101 (2
above) while the other connects the NXP101 to the
motherboard (1 above). This is to allow fan RPM monitoring
assuming your fan is capable.
Below
are the two headers for the USB and Firewire cables.
The
LCD is a surprisingly clear little unit though like
the rest of them you have to be fairly square on to
read it. It's side lit in green though a nice blue
EL glow would have been icing on the cake :) To the
right of the LCD is the button used to cycle through
the three temperature readouts from the three supplied
temperature probes. Temperatures are only available
in degrees Celsius which might be annoying to those
of you who work in Fahrenheit still but it is the
21st century after all!
By
far the biggest feature on the front of the NXP101
is the large chrome effect fan speed controller dial.
I don't pretend to be an electronics whizz but I'm
assuming that the NXP101 uses PWM fan speed control
rather than a traditional analogue rheostat. I say
this because there's a definite delay between turning
the dial and the fan speed changing. A regular rheostat
works by feeding the normal voltage through a coiled
variable resistor. The downside to this approach is
that heat is created as the resistance increases.
PWM on the other hand reduces the fan speed by supplying
the full voltage to the fan but in pulses of varying
lengths and/or intervals. This creates no heat at
all and despite some claims doesn't seem to have any
real negative effects on the fan windings or life
expectancy.
After
our recent article on digital video editing I finally
bit the bullet and got myself a MiniDV camcorder and
on that score I was thrilled to see Vantec offered
a Firewire port on the NXP001. Most people will have
absolutely no use for this port at the moment but
as the need for faster data transfers grows no doubt
we'll see more and more uses for both USB and Firewire.
Certainly anyone with digital video editing in mind
will be glad to see it there and we'll no doubt see
its uses expanded to cover things like networking.
The
cables needed to hook up your USB and Firewire ports
are a bit of a compromise it has to be said but despite
my initial reaction I have to concede that it's probably
a sensible compromise. My first reaction was to want
cables that plugged directly into my motherboard rather
than hooking up to the external ports on the rear
of the PC but obviously this would limit use of the
NXP101 to only those people with USB and Firewire
capable motherboards thus ruling out anyone who has
added these ports to older boards with add-in PCI
cards. No, I might not like it but cables that hook
up to actual ports was probably the sensible choice
here. What I can moan about however is the fact that
the USB cable requires connection to TWO USB
ports. The advantage of USB is its ability to "daisy
chain" so I see no reason why both of the NXP101's
USB ports couldn't have been connected through a single
existing port. As it is now anyone with only two rear
USB ports who's also running a hub or perhaps a USB
mouse or keyboard will probably end up connecting
only one of the two USB ports on the NXP101 itself.
The
cables themselves are of good quality and should be
plenty long enough for most people to route effectively.
The
temperature probes are of the flat type which makes
sense and as each has a corresponding LCD readout
and connector it was good to see Vantec had labeled
each one individually to save confusion. Not only
are the probes flat they're also quite long which
helps when you have to fix one under your HSF for
CPU temperatures. Recorded temperatures seem right
on the money and all three probes gave a reading within
1C of each other when tested on the desktop. Each
probe comes with a small self adhesive patch to fix
it in place.
Conclusion
If
you haven't already guessed I'm really very impressed
with the NXP101. That's not to say I wouldn't like
to see a few new features on the next version, for
example the audible alarm for fan failure and CPU
overheat may be a valuable function if you're at the
desk but it's not a whole lot of use if you're out
of the building. A great idea would be if the PC could
actually be shut down too so saving any long term
damage. I'd also like to see an opaque black and an
aluminium face plate made available as an accessory.
Although you can use the NXP101 with no face plate
installed and get an aluminium look that way you lose
the markings which makes it seem rather plain while
putting the markings on the unit itself would spoil
the effect when a face plate is fitted. Lastly I'd
prefer to see just a single USB port required for
the hook-up.
There's
lots of fan controllers and port replicators on the
market, some are tacky and poorly put together, others
are good quality but too expensive. The NXP101 seems
to offer near faultless performance with flexible
good looks and a quality build and is actually worth
sacrificing a 5.25" bay for and at around $33-40
on the street the price is good too. It's a winner
in my book!
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