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

Get On The Fan Bus

We have talked about front panel devices in several previous articles, including How To Add Front - Mounted Ports To Your Case and All Ports To Front: The FrontX Solution . These articles focused on 5-¼ bay devices that allow transfer of the PC ports in the back of a PC to the front of the PC. With the evolution of many news cases to include these ports in case it self, has left many companies with port transfer type devices "high and dry," unless they open new markets by creating other new front panel devices. In order to supplemental sales many companies have moved in the direction of creating "fan bus" controller devices in addition to other front panel/port that they offer.

While there is apparently some debate over who actually invented and developed fan bus technology for PC applications, there is no mistake that this technology has its point of origin in the world of case modding. Most of the original fan bus controllers were initially developed by case modders, and only after seeing the functional value added by fan bus controllers did large manufacturers begin to realize the importance of these devices and to incorporate them into their product lines.

If you have ever owned or worked with a PC case that is loaded with a lot of fans, you know that the fan noise from inside the case can be so loud that it sounds as though the PC is ready for takeoff at any moment. Using a fan bus controller enables a user to adjust the speed of the fans in order to "dial some of the whine" out of them. By adjusting the speed downward, or even disabling a fan or two altogether, a user can make a significant difference in the level of audible noise coming from their PC case.