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Superior Panel</h2> <p align="left"><b>Description:</b></p> <p align="left">My first thought on the 20 in 1 Superior Panel was, "Wow, what a lot of wires." The panel comes with a ton of features, you probably will not use all of them.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/panel_sunbeam/06.jpg"><img src="atruereview/panel_sunbeam/06th.jpg" width="250" height="203" border="0" alt="Sunbeam 20 In 1 Superior Panel"></a> <br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p align="left">Where to start? Let's go from left to right on the front. Memory card slots are located in the top left section and take up more than half of the upper half's facing. Under the card slots are 2 USB ports, 1 Firewire port, 2 SATA ports, one RCA video, 3 audio ports, and 2 fan controller adjustments dials. In the upper right section is a LED display for temperature and fan RPMs. To the very right of the LCD are Reset and Mode buttons for adjusting the display. I almost forgot, on the very top left are LEDs for hard drive access and power. It's like adding the whole front of a case to your 5 1/4" bay slot!</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/panel_sunbeam/07.jpg"><img src="atruereview/panel_sunbeam/07th.jpg" width="250" height="154" border="0" alt="Sunbeam 20 In 1 Superior Panel"></a> <br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p align="left">The back has a ton of connections as well. Most of these connections are pinned out, so plugging a cable into the wrong spot is hard to do. There is a pretty good instruction manual included, I suggest reading through it.</p> <p align="left">The card reader plugs into to the motherboard's USB pins. Although, a PCI slot bracket is included to allow the rest of the wires to extend out of your case and plug into the rear ports. This is one of the biggest dislikes I have. I wish there were internal connectors for the audio and USB. This would add ports to a system instead of moving them from back to front. At the very least, the device could only use one USB port and give the user an extra one. </p> <p align="left">As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of wires. This is why Sunbeam includes a couple of cable ties and wire labels. Also, included are jumpers to set the settings for the device.</p> <p align="left"><strong>Installation:</strong> </p> <p align="left">Jumper settings are used to set the display and alarms. This is another negative of the 20 in 1 Superior Panel. It would have been better to set these settings with the display. Therefore, if you do not like how you have set the alarm temperatures, you will have to unscrew the device, pull it out, and rejumper it. Don't lose the manual for you will be in a world of hurt trying to figure out the settings.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/panel_sunbeam/10.jpg"><img src="atruereview/panel_sunbeam/10th.jpg" width="250" height="185" border="0" alt="Sunbeam 20 In 1 Superior Panel"></a> <br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p align="left">Other than running wires through your case, the Superior Panel's installation was pretty easy. This is one plus to using the rear computer ports. The wires were long enough to reach from the front of my <a href="atruereview/panel_sunbeam/../lianli_v2000b/index.php">Lian Li V2000B</a> case to the back. Pinning out the audio and USB would have been a bigger hassle.</p> <p align="left"><strong>Usage:</strong></p> <p align="left">Using Sunbeam's panel is fairly straight forward. Windows read my SD and Smart media card without issue. Although, as with every card reader I have seen, it makes a bunch of extra removable drives under Windows Explorer; 4 to be exact. When a card is slid in, the hard drive light turns red; therefore, this is a media card light instead of an all purpose drive light.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/panel_sunbeam/09.jpg"><img src="atruereview/panel_sunbeam/09th.jpg" width="250" height="78" border="0" alt="Sunbeam 20 In 1 Superior Panel"></a> <br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p align="left">The USB ports worked great, as did the audio ports. One scary issue I had was with the fan controller. I had it control my CPU fan, but didn't notice that the dial was set on low. My <a href="http://www.atruereview.com/silentboost/index.php">Thermaltake Silent Boost</a> fan did not start. Of course, I was watching the fans as I powered on the system, and quickly powered it off. </p> <p align="left">The LCD display is not over powering. The Mode button flips through the two different temperature probes and fans. There are not a lot of options here because all settings are done with jumpers. </p> <p align="left">I compared the temperature probes to my digital thermometer. Results were within .2 to .5 degrees. Given that both are inexpensive thermometers, I find the tolerance to be acceptable.</p> <p align="left"><strong>Conclusion:</strong></p> <p align="left">Having something in your computer that allows you to read multiple memory cards can be quite useful, like when having a camera with a Smart Media card and a hand held with a SD card. Sunbeam with their Superior Panel provides a lot of extra functions. Unfortunately, these may not all be needed. Most decent cases come with front audio and USB ports. Therefore, the extra things you get are the SATA ports, which could be quite beneficial when external SATA drives become more popular. This also leaves a fan and temperature display / alarm. While this is a great idea, it is poor execution. Jumpers went out with the Socket 7s. Who wants to remove the panel every time a person wants to switch between Celsius and Fahrenheit?</p> <p align="left"><strong>Pros:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Lots of features</li> <li>Little extras included (wire ties & wire labels)</li> </ul> <p><strong>Cons:</strong></p> <ul> <li>External connection to computer</li> <li>Jumpers to change display</li> <li>Lots of wires</li> </ul> <p align="left"><strong>Ratings:</strong></p> <table width="227" border="0"> <tr> <td width="105">Esthetics:</td> <td width="183">Very Good</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Price:</td> <td> Good</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Compatibility: </td> <td>Excellent</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Installation: </td> <td> Good</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Settings:</td> <td>Bad</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Packaging:</td> <td>Excellent</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Overall: </td> <td>Fair</td> </tr> </table> <p align="left">(Ratings Possible: Terrible, Very Bad, Bad, Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent)</p> <p align="left"><a href="atruereview/panel_sunbeam/index.php"></a> <a href="panel_sunbeam/index.php">Previous (Introduction & Features)</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div id="footer" class="clr"> <div class="rk-1"> <div class="rk-2"> <div id="the-footer">  </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html>