The Sunbeamtech Rheosmart 6:
The Rheosmart 6 freshly un-boxed! Take a look below to see what you can expect from this new unit from Sunbeamtech.
The Rheosmart 6 comes with a great looking black mesh front panel that will help it fit seamlessly into a vast amount of cases on the market. There are green and red LED’s above each knob to help you keep track of which mode that channel is in, auto or manual. Below each knob is a button you press to select which mode you would like to use, indicated by the color of the LED. On the back of the Rheosmart 6 you have your power connection, six fan connections, and your PWM connection aligned along the far back for easy wire installation. The 4-pin PWM connection can connect to two different areas of the motherboard, the “CPU_FAN” connection or the “SYS_FAN” connection, if applicable. Once connected, all of the fans with red LED’s above that channels knob will be on auto and speed up or slow down depending upon the reading from the motherboard.
Installation:
Installation was extremely easy, just like any other 5 1/4″ device. You now get your first glimpse of the red and green LED’s lit up and in action. As you can see, the mesh front of the Rheosmart 6 fits in great with our test case.
30W test:
Formula used: Power = voltage times amperage.
The Rheosmart 6 easily passed the 30w per channel test. In the pictures above, our test was loading channel 1 with 39.62w and it kept on kicking. We were going to go higher, but we finally ran out of connections we could use with our fans with all of their various types of connections. We cannot say how long it could possibly run at that wattage before dying, but it ran fine for the length of our testing, which was about 10 minutes.
Conclusion:
The Rheosmart 6 met and exceeded our expectations! The great looking mesh front bezel will help it fit seamlessly into the majority of cases on the market. The PWM function with your motherboard is a great addition to the fan controller as it makes you have one less thing to worry about. Now you will no longer have to watch your temperatures and adjust your fan speeds accordingly. The Rheosmart 6 blew away the 30w per channel test, boasting a total wattage load of 39.62 watts without dying on us. The connection alignment on the far back of the PCB helps make connecting and disconnecting wires extremely easy, especially after installing it into your case.
We tested to see if there would be a whine problem at low fan voltages in manual mode, and we could not hear anything, which is excellent. Unlike a few fan controllers we have tested in the past, for the first time, we really do not have anything bad to say at all. That should tell you everything you need to know about this top notch fan controller from Sunbeamtech!
The Sunbeam Rheosmart 6 fan controller receives the TechREACTION.net Gold Silicon Award!
Be sure to check out Sunbeam’s product page for more information.
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11 Comments
@Ken,
It appears that function is expected. Read the review below, they mention the exact same behavior was seen when using non CPU fans in Auto mode:
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sunbeamtech_rheosmart_6/6.htm
[...] Posted by Spawne32 havent heard anything about this yet? details? http://www.techreaction.net/2010/12/…an-controller/ Basically you connect all the fans to the controller; then you connect a PWM cable to your [...]
@ Ken
It is suppose to, are you sure it is on auto and not manual? Each control can be ran at either setting. It is not an all or none type deal.
I am running four fans off the Rheosmart 6. My three pinn Noctua CPU coooler fan regulates with temp. but the other fans run full speed all the time in Auto mode. My understanding is the voltage via temp is suposed to passed through the device to regulate all fans connected to the device.
Am I wrong here?
I don’t think Alex or the others understand wattage, voltage and amps, or how this device works. On the Rheosmart 6 there is six 3-pin fan connections and one 4-pin(motherboard connection) not including the 4-pin power input that connects via your psu. I have my cpu cooler fan(4-pin) connected via the motherboard adapter(4-pin) then running to the 4-pin on the Rheosmart, this adapter comes with the Rheosmart. This allows the cpu cooler fan to be controlled by the motherboard, this is what the 4-pin connection is for, it’s not for a regular fan. I have my remaining six case fans going to each 3-pin on the Rheosmart and I have turned them all up at full power and let them go for many hours, no problems. I have all 120mm LED fans, and the average wattage max for these are maybe 2.5. With 30watts per channel it’s IMPOSSIBLE to fry the Rheosmart.
To miahallen and The Duke, one CANNOT control the wattage by turning the speed knobs up, this only makes the fan higher rpm(voltage) and it never exceeds the fans max watt rating. I can’t even find fans that run at 30watt max, and this is what you’d need to do to burn out the Rheosmart, you’d need six fans rated at 30watts max each all going full bore at the same time. It’s not possible!
To Alex, the molex 4-pin input is rated for the max wattage, which is 180W, but under no circumstance would that ever be necessary or even possible. Even at your claimed but incorrect rating of 60-80w, a six fan setup using the most powerful 80-200mm fans would only draw a max of 24W total, well below 60-80W.
People really need to learn their stuff before commenting.
[...] can't be passed back to the MB…. Such a set-up would be close to 'Fan-control Nirvana' IMO…. This 'kinda' comes close, cept that it has manual control & hence requires a bay, which I don't [...]
@miahallen, the input 4-pin molex connection is only suited for about 60-80W. So even running 2 channels at full capacity would get dangerous.
[...] I found one quick little review: http://www.techreaction.net/2010/12/…-controller/2/ __________________ 120mm Radiator Fans Database & [...]
[...] Heatsink @ Frostytech- NZXT Sentry LXE Fan Controller @ Vortez UK- Sunbeam Rheosmart 6 Controller @ Tech Reaction- CoolIT Vantage A.L.C. CPU Water Cooler @ Legit [...]
I have wondered that too. Just never felt the urge to go spend like $100 on fans just to test it out, haha.
I’ve always wondered what would happen when you attempt to run all 6 channels at 30W each simultaneously….I think the input voltage wire might melt :-/