Corsair has announced that its Commander Mini control unit has become available in retail, costing £54.99 inc VAT in the UK, or $59.99 in the US. The small gadget resides in your PC case (mounting kit provided) and provides four Corsair Link Digital ports, controls for up to six fans, monitoring of up to four temperature inputs and an LED lighting strip control. Users get to control all these system aspects and monitor the results on their screens using the free Corsair Link Dashboard software. This combination enables you to "take command of your system like never before," says Corsair.
"Corsair Link marks an end to the days of case fans, component fans and case lighting that must be managed manually with hardware switches and dials, while simultaneously offering more advanced control and expansion options than motherboard BIOS settings," wrote the California based performance PC component firm in its press release. "Everything is configurable from the PC’s desktop via the Corsair Link Dashboard software interface."
Installation is said to be a snip. A mounting kit secures the Corsair Commander Mini inside your PC, the device is powered via a spare SATA power connector and an included cable connects it to one of your motherboard's USB 2.0 headers. After this initial hook-up you can start to attach the cables for your fans and temperature monitors etc. Corsair provides four temperature sensors in the kit. Upon starting up your PC you can control and monitor it via the Corsair Link Dashboard software.
Using the software you can both monitor and control your PC very accurately. For instance Corsair suggests that you can monitor coolant temperature, multiple point ambient temperatures and fan speeds "at a glance". For control the software interface allows adjustment of fan speeds individually or programs for the fans to follow depending upon ambient temperatures. Cooling profiles can be saved and loaded. The LED control can be used for either a striking visual temperature warning system or just for good looks.
If you are already an owner of a Corsair i-Series cooler, i-Series power supply or DRAM cooling systems which feature the Corsair Link Digital logo you will be glad to know the Corsair Commander Mini works with those compatible components too.
The Corsair Commander Mini is available immediately at the usual suppliers and comes with a two year warranty.
Package contents: 1 x Corsair Commander Mini, 1 x Corsair Link Digital connection cable, 3 x Fan extension cables, 4 x Thermistor cables, 1 x Mounting Tape
