'It's full of stars', whispers Nathan Davis.
The volume control on this decidedly large panel isn't for controlling the decibel rating of your farm of fans. Rather, with a pass-through audio line plugged in, it provides an additional control for your volume altering fantasies. Not a shabby addition, but this is restricted to basic audio, using one 3.5mm plug.
Literally on top of that is a sound level meter - three of them, even. These serve as a great reminder of how loud your PC truly is, with an inbuilt microphone, ready to suck in the waves of noise rippling from your 'vortex of loudness' beast and spit it out in liquid crystal form.
It comes programmed with two modes, one being automatic and the other manual. Manual is a little obvious - it's for the superior hacksaw - but when set to auto, the GateWatch takes control of the fan speeds and adjusts according to the associated component temperatures. It's an ancestor to HAL 9000 - it even has the looks. Not yet powerful enough to take over an entire space station, but certainly quite capable of monitoring and controlling fan speeds. To remember the time and all of your settings, it comes packed with a DC3V battery.
When it comes to silencing the alarm, minus the wraithlike Douglas Rain voiceover, it's a case of 'sorry Dave, I can't let you do that'. When activated, due to a high temperature warning, the unit bleeps, flashes red and won't stop until either the temperature decreases or you bump up the warning temperature. No STFU button.
Aerocool have pumped out a quality unit that goes beyond the norm and if you can spare the high casualty 5 1/4 inch bay count, it's one of the most impressive. 'Why thankyou, Dave.' Shut up.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012