Replacing its Command Mini, Corsair released its new Command Pro with six PWM fan headers, two channels of lighting control, four temperature sensors, and an internal four-port USB hub. It’s nearly a complete interface center for its recent range of RGB fans, lighting strips, coolers, and power supplies. Furthermore, the Corsair Link 4.7 software also controls the RGB lighting of Corsair’s Vengeance RGB memory. We took a closer look.
The Command Pro itself uses SATA power and a nine-pin internal USB header, and it includes a cable pack with four 12” fan extension cables and four 18” thermal sensor leads. Knowing we needed something to control with the Command Pro, Corsair included a twin pack of its HD140 RGB fans, along with its Lighting Node Pro RGB four-pack of case lighting strips.
The HD140 RGB fans include a push-button controller, but we’ve heard complaints about its scant options, including a lack of brightness control. That won’t be a problem for the Command Pro. The fan kit’s lighting hub is still needed, however, as the fans have four-pin LED connections whereas the controllers have only three pins. Just as the Command Pro supports six fan motors, the HD140 RGB supports six fan LED rings. A cable included in the fan kit that formerly allowed the push-button control to be replaced with the Command Mini now works with the Command Pro.
The Lighting Node Pro RGB includes a mini controller with two channels of output and a USB interface cable. Although you may be able to daisy chain this USB interface through the Command Pro’s hubs, that shouldn’t be necessary because the Command Pro can interface the strips directly.
To shorten the assessment, we connected only the two fans to the Command Pro, with their LED connections going through the LED hub included with the fans. We were pleased to open up the Link console and find proper temperature and RPM reports from motherboard, CPU, SSD, and graphics card sensors. The reports allow Command Pro to adjust fan speed based upon the internal thermal sensors of individual components, in addition to any readings from the included thermistors.
We chose “Sequential” lighting in random color cycles and were pleased to see one color chasing the other from fan to fan. Other effects allow the fans to have the same lighting patterns at the same time.
Between the internal sensors of various components and the external sensors provided with the Command Pro, users should have more information than they truly need in order to keep their systems running at the optimal combination of coolness and quietness.
Other menus allow you to save lighting and color configurations as profiles, alternate between Celsius and Fahrenheit measurements, start the program with Windows, change the shape of the case for better visual analysis, and even change the way Corsair Link appear on your screen.
The Corsair Link log screen always runs in the background, but you can also choose to log this information to a file. This lets you monitor temperatures over time to spot areas that may require additional cooling.
The Commander Pro is available today for $70. The four-strip Lighting Node Pro and HD140 RGB two-fan sets were previously released at $60 and $80, respectively.