The T-Balancer comes in a cardboard box containing all the cables and adapters. mCubed even thought of cable ties and sticking elements to help you get down to assembling right away. The whole thing is more akin to an erector set than a fan controller. The manual points to a lot of work too. That is only the beginning, however.

Fans and lighting elements also come into play with the TBAN. But these have to be wired later. And that's when the fiddly work really begins.

We looked at both T-Balancer models and found that assembling the TBAN hardware is easier by either screwing the card to the slot cover or putting the TBAN-XL on the case floor. Then, you must hook up the TBANs to the power with a 5.25" plug connector. Finally, the T-Balancer should be connected with a USB connector as required for signal transmission.

Cabling turned out to be a piece of cake. The individual fan and lighting components are connected directly to one of the port sockets. A mixed operation of LEDs and fans is also possible. The heat sensors have their own data bus that takes four sensors in the standard version. The TBAN-ES expansion package opens the way to eight sensors. Four connection cables send the signal for fan speed to the motherboard's BIOS. One of the cables connects to the TBAN and the other to the board. Once all the hardware is connected and stowed in the case, the second step can be tackled by turning on the computer and installing the software.

Comes with a slew of cables

TBAN-ES assembly kit: expanded by four heat sensors