bit-tech Shopping: Zalman ZM-MFC2 Multi Fan Controller

The Zalman MFC2 Multi Fan Controller is a 5.25" drive bay device used for monitoring and controlling fans and temperature readings. The MFC2 can connect to up to four fans (of which one can be a 4 pin PWM fan). From these four fans you can monitor and control the fan speed with the use of a jog dial. The fans can be dialed up to a maximum of 5490 RPM and a minimum of 1000 RPM. Animated pin wheels show the fan operation. In addition, the MFC2 can alarm and indicate when a fan fails. Four temperature sensors can also display temp readings and a power load meter displays the power usage of your system.

bit-tech Review

"After the initial “OMG that's so cool!” reaction, the novelty wears off pretty quickly after we had used it for a while – it looks fantastic but any long term usability is destroyed by the fact we simply couldn’t read it! It got extremely frustrating to continually have to contort myself every time I wanted to read it, as I had to have my eyes directly in front of it to make any sense of what was on screen.

For £35 I was all set to recommend it to everyone after seeing it at i31, but this fundamental problem makes it almost useless – I ended up resenting to have to lean over and stretch my neck out yet again just to read it. So does not wanting to actually use it make money well spent? It can just sit there looking cool, which is fine if all you do is show off your PC to others, but not if you want to use it yourself.

It really, really kills me that Zalman just needs to sort this one major issue to make it a product absolutely worth purchasing, but until then it’s not worth the cardboard it comes in." - 25th November 2007

Read the full Zalman ZM-MFC2 Multi Fan Controller review