The Sunbeam Rheobus is about the simplest fan controller there is. Drawbacks: can turn the fans all the way off - can be a damage prevention issue - rig your own stops and use your software temp alarms so you don't burn your CPU/PSU/etc. up; LEDs are very bright but they are socketed so you can change them out for something not so garish if you want - others have added dropping resistors, painted them with translucent nail polish, etc. to dim them; knobs won't fit behind some low-clearance case doors (Wavemaster, Silverstone TJ-05, etc.) unless you recess the unit back a bit; doesn't include any fan extensions and you will likely need some.
. Good stuff: simple as a rock, tells you if you've crossed into the danger zone by the LED changing color at ~7V, handles up to 20W per channel (safely hook several fans up to the same channel if you need/want to), inexpensive, plus it is a linear controller which will work fine with all fans.
. Others use PWM technology - you can generally tell them by the fact that they can't adjust to much below 5V and many can't go below 7V equivalent (PWM changes the power by varying pulse widths, not the voltage which remains at approx 11V at all times). Poorly designed PWM controllers can cause some sleeve bearing fans to buzz and some ball bearing fans to whine. The Coolermaster Aerogate 1 and and the original Zalman Fanmate are among those. Properly designed PWM will either have variable frequency pulses or higher frequency pulses to reduce that problem.
Besides the Aerocool Gatewatch, I have had an Aerogate 1 and I have both a CM Aerogate 3 and a Rheobus on hand. I use the Rheobus all the time for testing fans.
I've seen some manually adjustable controllers that have up to six channels and use roller wheel pots to adjust the fan speeds that can fit behind tight doors. The one I saw had lots of other stuff like front panel I/O ports, Flash card reader, etc. SVC.com, jab-tech.com, newegg, xoxide.com et al. all carry a selection of them. Many of the shallowest fan controllers are digital and you have to push buttons to select the fan you want to adjust and then use one set of up/down buttons to adjust the speed - not too convenient for quick changes IMO. My fan controller from Aerocool has software to adjust the fan speeds but the fans have to have the speed sensor wire for it to work as it won't adjust any fan it can't detect.
Vantec and Thermaltake make some other fan controllers that are linear like the Rheobus and may have some features or appearance that you'd prefer over the Rheobus - most others are PWM.
.bh.
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