Need to add more ports to the front of your desktop? Scythe has the solution for you in the form of the Kama Panel 3.1 which slips right into a single 5.25-inch drive bay. Building on prior models, this latest version even includes a slot for mounting a 2.5-inch HDD or SSD like a huge 9.5-mm (max) SD card right through the front.
In addition to the drive slot, Skythe's new I/O panel features two USB 3.0 ports, a 3.5-mm microphone jack, a 3.5-mm headphone jack, and a card reader spanning three separate slots for (1) Memory Stick Micro aka M2, (2) microSD / microSDHC and (3) SD / SDHC / MMC flash media cards. There's also an HDD activity LED, a power button and a reset button.
On the right side of all this is a dedicated space for controlling and monitoring fan speeds and temperatures. This area contains retractable knobs for Fan1 and Fan2, and a 1.22 x 0.49-inch LCD display showing the speed of each, and the temperature at each fan. There's a button that turns the screen's backlighting on and off, another button that changes the readout from Celsius to Fahrenheit, and a third "mode" button.
"Users are able to connect up to two case fans on the rear side and control them by turning the retractable knobs," the company said. "Supplied connector cables support both 3-pin and 4-pin fan connectors, where the fan speed is only adjusted using voltage regulation. Kama Panel 3.1 is adjusting the voltage in the range between 3.7 and 12 volts. In accordance with the measured temperatures, users are able to set individual alarm temperatures between 40 and 90°C in 1 degree steps."
Overall the I/O panel measures 5.85 x 1.67 x 4.88-inches and weighs 6.98 ounces. The DC input is 5V and 12V, and the DC output is 3.7V (±10%) to 12V (±10%). The fan measurement range is 0 to 9.990 RPM and the temperature range is 32° to 199.9° Fahrenheit (0° to 100° Celsius). Included in the package are two sensor cables, two fan cables, a power cable, audio cable, a USB 3.0 cable and more.
Expect to see the device show up on Amazon and other retailers soon for around $43 USD before tax.
