(Late night brainstorming session at Ultra headquarters:)

Bob - "Ladies and Gentlemen, we need to develop a new product. Something that is useful, looks good, and will appeal to the performance crowd."
Mary - "Well, we could make something that controls fans electronically instead of using rheostats."
Ted - "Yeah! And instead of controlling four fans, we can have it control five!"
Micky - "Five hell, let's make it control six, or even seven!"
John - "You know what? We could cover all the cables with a Silver braid so they look good inside a case."
Bob - "I am starting to see it. What else?"
Greg - "Instead of lights we could use a super-cool LCD display and have it show RPM and cycle through the fans."
Marge - "Ok, how's this; we also throw in not one, not two, but three temperature probes and have the LCD display that info too."
Ted - "I love it! As a hoot, why don't we jack it into the hard drive access header on the motherboard? If we put in a LCD we might as well use it to display drive access."
Mary - "Since we are looking for stuff to display on the LCD, why don't we have it show the time too? Why not the date also?"
Micky - "If this is going to be all electronic, let's build in temperature points where the fans will automatically get faster after a certain temperature is is reached."
John - "How about interchangeable faces? That way it could be either Silver or Black?"
Bob - "Thank you people. You've got your marching orders, now go build it."
Brad - "Hey! We can have it automatically go out and find naked chick pictures and it could display that too!"
(Silence as everyone slowly turns to look at Brad, except Ted and John who are smiling and nodding their heads...)

That's how I envision the Ultra Products Fan Commander came to fruition. This is a product that wants to do it all for you while still looking cool, kind of like a concierge at a high class hotel. Ultra has broken new ground before with their modular PSU, they are looking to break new ground again with an all in one solution to control your fans, watch your temperatures, and make sure you aren't late for work.

Package

The Ultra arrived in a rather diminutive yet brightly colored package; the theme on the package is in keeping with their other brightly packaged products. When I opened the box I found the contents to be well protected and tightly packed.

Inside the box were the cables, some mounting screws with an Allen wrench, zip ties, a couple batteries, some tape, and the manual. The 3.3V batteries are included to install in the Fan Commander unit so that it can remember the date and time, and the included adhesive tape is for the mounting of the temperature probes. The zip ties are a necessity since there is a butt-load (which equates approximately to 12) of cables that run off the back of the Fan Commander. The manual is in color and is written OK, with the usual Asian to English mistakes made throughout. Still, it will guide you through the many tricks that the Fan Commander can do.

All of the cables that are included with the Fan Commander are Silver braided and covered with a clear plastic which will make them look less unsightly inside a case. They needed to do something because think of it; once everything is installed you will be adding 12 cables to your interior. The braided cables are flexible and because of the Silver braiding they hold their shape well when you bend them. The three temp probes are labeled with the location you should place them, although it doesn't really matter which goes where. I found it amusing that each of the temp probes also have a "Do Not Pull" warning on them. I don't know about ya'll, but nobody except myself is allowed into the interior of my rig and I don't need to be warned about which cables to "Pull". The fan power cables and temperature probes are about 21 inches long, ample length to hit just about any corner of most cases.