Verdict: Good looker takes 'tuning up' back to its analog roots
The description 'retro upgrade' is not as nonsensical as it first seems. Cooler Master's Musketeer system monitor is perhaps the first accessory that fits this tag. Occupying a 5.25in bay, the Musketeer is a front-panel display with three analog dials. They show fan voltage, the sound pressure level and temperature. Despite being slightly reminiscent of a Spitfire cockpit, the silver-edged dials are brightly backlit in blue and they look fantastic.
Two chrome sliders add to the retro feel. One lets you adjust the fan power (altering its speed and hence noise), while the other adjusts sound pressure. This sounds fancy, but all it does is allow you to set the maximum volume level of your speaker system to a level that won't deafen you.
Installation is easy, thanks to the assortment of cables and screws included. The temperature sensor is a thin probe that ideally needs to be taped to a chip, while the Musketeer can either connect directly to a fan or to both fan and motherboard.
Hooking up the sound pressure monitor feels more like connecting to a phone call in a 1930s telephone exchange than upgrading a PC. One 3.5in lead goes from the Musketeer to a custom back panel that occupies a PCI bracket. This panel has two 3.5in sockets. One loops (via an included wire) to the sound card's line-out socket, and your speakers connect to the line-out socket on the Musketeer's back panel.
The dials have been chosen to maximise visual impact: the voltage needle is constant, the sound needle twitches with every bass sound and the temperature gauge gradually creeps up from startup. It's this fun factor that's the device's saving grace, especially given the relatively limited functionality the Musketeer offers when compared to other front-panel fan controls and temperature sensors that are available.
CONCLUSION
Turning on your PC and watching the needles on the dials of this stylish device leap into life is brilliant. While it may not offer a lot of functionality, for a relatively cheap price the Musketeer is cool and completely unique.
