Tech Lobby

In-depth Look

First we’ll take a look at the design and the features of the black version of the Rheobus Extreme. Make note that this is the first version, as Sunbeam has recently released a revision that differs in a few areas. We will make note of the differences between the original and revised units throughout our review.

The moment you take the Rheobus Extreme out of the box, you know it’s meant for doing some serious work. All along the back of the unit can be seen large heatsinks to cool the unit when it’s under stress. Unfortunately, the unit we received had some heatsinks that wobbled a bit when pushed on. This is one of the quality issues mentioned earlier as these heatsinks are supposed to be soldered to the PCB. Some of the 3-pin fan connectors were crooked, but probably won’t have an adverse affect on performance. We also noticed that some of the controller knobs were set into the holes further than others which just seems to scream that the product was made cheaply.

Issues aside, one of the interesting features of the Rheobus Extreme is how the knobs light up. In addition, the brightness of the LED lights in the knobs are controlled by what position the knob is in. If it’s set to high, the knob is brightest, whereas when it’s set to low, the knob is the dimmest. This makes for a quick and easy way to tell what the positions are of the knobs even in a dark room.

Included with the fan controller is an assortment of connectors. As with all fan controllers, a main Molex power connector is included. Sunbeam has also decided to include two 3-pin extensions, two 3-pin to Molex connectors, and two of what Sunbeam calls “RPM signal to MB” adapters. The RPM signal adapters allow you to plug an extra end into a fan port on your motherboard so your motherboard will be able to pick up the RPM speeds from your fans. This can be especially helpful if you decide to plug your CPU fan into the Rheobus Extreme as it will allow software to read the speed of your CPU fan.

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