Logisys Remote Multifunction Panel

Examination:

Pulling the unit out of all the plastic it was wrapped during shipping, we found the overall look of the actual multifunction unit to be quite attractive. On one side of the unit was a fair amount of graphics in addition to the two USB 2.0 connectors, one Firewire connector, and the fan speed controller. This fan speed controller simply slides up and down to adjust the fan speed, unfortunately, only one fan can be controlled. To the left of the fan controller are two LEDs for indicating power and reset operations. On the opposite side of these connectors and controller are two temperature gauges. When looking at these gauges, they reminded us of Cooler Master's Musketeer (LLC-U01). Gauges appearing on multifunction panels and different modding projects has almost become a common occurrence these days rather than a standard digital display. On these Logisys gauges, the temperature is displayed in both Fahrenheit and Celsius, although the gauges aren't quite as accurate as an LCD display due to the varying increments on the scale for both readouts.

Turning around the Logisys Remote Multifunction Panel, the power and reset switches along with both temperature probes came already attached with our pre-production model. Unlike many of the multifunction panels which use flat thermal probes, these Logisys probes used the ball-like ends. With these ball-like probes, its near impossible to insert the probe underneath a heatsink or heatspreader without interfering with the thermal dissipation process. Powering the Logisys Remote Multifunction Panel is a 4-pin FDD power connector, which is connected to the 20-pin ATX pass-through connector, Unfortunately, with the number of motherboards that use 24-pin ATX power connectors, its a shame to see Logisys only support the 20-pin connectors. On the right hand side of the unit, are the Firewire and USB headers. Also available from the rear, is simply one 3-pin fan connector. This is quite a disappointment as most multifunction panels support much more than one fan connector. Hopefully, Logisys will add more fan connectors in future revisions. Another flaw was the lack of a pass-through connector for the power and reset switches. Once the Logisys cables are connected to the motherboard's front panel headers, the switches on the case are nonoperational without a pass through connector. We did notice additional headers next to the Logisys switches on the panel's PCB, but due to the short length of cable we were unable to see if the switches from the chassis could be connected on the PCB as a pass-through. Towards the front of the PCB is the 2-pin header for connecting to the receiving antenna.