Think of it as a disco for your computer case! In all seriousness, Tom’s Hardware gives us a look at some great home-made lighting effects. Designed to give your PC a little ’spark’, this is not something that I would likely undertake myself.

To make all of this work, you need to implement a device called a T-Balancer. This allows you control over which fan does what and when. Pretty cool effects can be achieved once you get it all set up.

One glance at the T-Balancer series from mCubed and you know right away that it is different than competing fan controller devices . Adding to its uniqueness in design, the T-Balancer is also available in different form factors. The TBAN-XL is an external device, operated via USB. Another version, the TBAN-SL4 adapter, looks like a normal PCI card, but has no actual contacts for the PCI slot. Both devices have an internal and an external USB connector.

What we missed in the T-Balancer is a display that shows the values without needing to run the software. Reading the sensor is only possible using the tools supplied by T-Balancer. The TBAN fan controller and its lighting effects only work when the software is run in Windows. Connected fans do still run at a default setting to avoid damage to the hardware, however. We recommend starting the application automatically with Windows.