Introduction:

As overclocking becomes more and more popular, people start to add multiple high performance 120mm fans and screaming deltas to achieve the most out of their system. However, the massive cooling is normally only needed when the system is stressed, so you don't want to be confronted with +40dBa when you're just surfing around. There are two solutions for this: a baybus or a rheobus. A baybus only has some plain switches which allow you to switch your fan on & off. More advanced baybuses use switches with 3 positions: off/7V/12V. Even the more advanced baybuses are fairly easy and cheap to make on your own. A rheobus however is far more complicated: it allows you to use a fan at any voltage between 0 and 12 volt... well a perfect rheobus would. :)

The competitors:

PCmods rheobus (left on pic above) is a well-known and respected competitor. The one I'm testing is version 1.0, but I saw they made some changes on the looks and named it V2, the inside however, remained exactly the same. Their package includes a manual, 4 knobs, a wrench to attach the knobs, a front template to drill the holes, a molex Y splitter and of course the rheobus itself.

Their competitor: the CaseEtc Maelstrom (right). A little cheaper, but on first sight it measures up to PCmods Rheobus... or doesn't it? Their package includes exactly the same.

The contents of the Maelstrom package.

Installation:

Thanks to the front template the installation is mere child's play. You just attach it to a spare 5 1/2" bay, start drilling and it's done. PCmod's template is equipped with some sticky goo, which assures you that the template will stay on its place while drilling the holes. The Maelstrom included some rubber bands to insure it will stay on its place... but I doubt it would (pic below). I strongly prefer PCmods' way.

not the most secure way to attach a template...

The Maelstrom has a more compact design, which is neat but it makes it a bit harder to attach the wires to the unit.

PCmods' is a bit larger, but it's easier to attach fans to. The Maelstrom has a far more solid design though.