Thermaltake Hardcano 12

Once installed we were very impressed with the aesthetics of the Hardcano 12.  If you run a black case or have all black drives, the Hardcano 12 will add to your case's looks in no small measure.

Fire it up

Under power, the controls are very intuitive.  The controls on the left allow you to set the unit to read in Celsius or Fahrenheit and provide for direct fan control.  "Mode" refers to automatic or manual.  Automatic means just that.  Fan speed for a particular channel is in correlation to the temperature reading on the sensor corresponding to that channel.  (Four power lines and a thermal probe for each.)  In manual mode, you can adjust your fan speed up or down.  Each push of the + or - button raises or lowers the fan speed by 3.125% of the fan's maximum RPMs.  A fan cannot be set to run below 50% of it's maximum speed.

The control buttons on the right of the Hardcano 12 are equally intuitive.  Depressing the buttons labeled Fan 1, 2, 3 or 4 displays data of fan speed and temperature detected on that channel.  The alarm unfortunately only has four presets: 40 C, 50 C, 60 C and 70 C.  The default is 60 degrees Celsius.  If your preset trip temp passes one of these points, a faint but very distinctive alarm goes off.  Not so loud that you will wake the kids but loud enough to get you to jump and run down the hallway.  The alarm also sounds in the event of a fan failure being detected.

After we got everything installed, we ran into a problem.  The Plexiglas cover over the LCD display has a slightly convex shape.  Not much, but noticeable from a standpoint of "nice look."  I didn't think anything of it until it came time to close the bezel door on my LAN box only to find that it would not close.  The problem was that if a Hardcano 12 is installed in the topmost bay of some cases with doors, the outside edge of the door comes into contact with the Hardcano 12, hence the door won't close.  The box we tested in was an Aspire X-Alien which has the same basic Antec/Chenming/Chieftec style door as many other cases.  In the Thermaltake Xaser III, we did not have any problem at all with the door not closing after installation.  This difficulty was easily enough rectified within 30 seconds and my pocket knife.  Troubling all the same.

One last shot of the Hardcano 12 in action. 

Conclusion

The Thermaltake Hardcano 12 performs as good as it looks.  Tt has taken the generic concept of a fan controller/monitoring device that has always provided control via protruding knobs and taken it to a new level.  A primary, if not the primary factor in choosing case accessories of this type has been the aesthetics of the unit in question.  Aesthetics is always a matter of preference but I think it would be difficult to argue that the Hardcano 12 has it competitors beaten hands down in this area.  As far as function; a large back lighted display, control and monitoring for four fans along with a non-annoying alarm function pull the Hardcano 12 to the top of the list.  The only real downside of the unit is its convex front cover that could prevent a case bezel door from closing completely on some cases.  This one fault is easily rectified with minimal effort as we have shown.  I would have also like to have seen an alarm function that could be set in 1 degree increments as opposed to the four preset levels.  Both of these issue are not enough however to wave you away from it.  If you are looking for a fan controller and want something that sets itself apart from the rest of the field look no further, this is it. 

Pros

• Exceptionally sharp looking.

• Blue backlit LCD display makes things easy to make out.

• Thin tip probes

• Sheathed power lines

• Non-obnoxious alarm function

• Very useful device

Cons

• Limited alarm presets.

• Questionable fit on some cases if mounted in top most bay of a case with a bezel door.

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