Aerocool Strike X Fan Controller Review

Installation

The installation of the Strike X is easy. You just need to open two 5.25″ bays on your case, put the panel in place, attach four screws, connect the cables, and install the temperature probes.

Figure 7 presents the product cables. The power cable, shown at the right side, must be connected to the power supply. The temperature sensors (at the left) must be attached to the “hot spots” you want to monitor.

Figure 7: Cables

The fan connectors have three pins, as seen in Figure 7. An exception is the channel one, shown in Figure 8, which is compatible with four-pin fans (however, the PWM control pin is not used). This connector also has an auxiliary connector that allows your motherboard to receive the fan rotation signal, which makes this channel the logical choice for the CPU cooler fan.

Figure 8: Channel one fan connector

Unlike the F6XT fan controller, the Strike X is not compatible with fans that use a four-pin standard peripheral power connector.

You can also install the cables that allow you to use the USB ports at the panel, and/or the audio cable that enables the mic and headphones connectors. It is a great idea to make those cables modular, so if you will not use the USB or audio ports, you can leave the respective cable in the product box, reducing the amount of wires inside your computer. You can also remove the fan cables you are not using, helping to reduce the wire mess inside your case.

The controller also comes with two spare fan cables and two spare temperature probes in case you damage some of them.