Front Mounted Ports: Take a Joy Ride On The Fan Bus

Nexus Fan Controller - NXP-201-BK/NXP-201-SL - Vantec

Vantec submitted the NXP-201-BK and the NXP-201-SL for review. The only difference between the two units is the front bezel color.

Vantec has two standard traditional fan bus offerings: the NXP-201 Series and the NXP-205 Series. The major difference between these two is basically their form factor. The NXP-201 Series uses traditional 5-¼ mounting, while the NXP-205 series uses 3-½ mounting. Vantec shipped us both the NXP-201-BK and the NXP-201-SL. The only difference between these two units is the color of the front bezel. Even after close inspection we found no other differences.

For this review we tested the NXP-201-BK. It can control up to four fans and deliver 15 watts to 18 watts per channel; it is designed for use with the highest speed fans.

The NXP-201-BK is the one to the right of the package. As you can see, the NXP-201-BK does not include much beyond the cables and four screws for mounting it.

The NXP-201 mounts in a 5-¼ bay and offers two mounting holes on either side of the unit. The unit mounted in our test system with no problem, but where the unit must be rail-mounted with only one mounting hole the unit may not be very stable when mounted with only a single screw per side.