Today for review I have what is possibly the ultimate fan controller system with temperatures sensors as well. It is the T-Balancer bigNG from mCubed, and it features digital and analogue temperature sensors, fan controllers and an entire software suite to use and calibrate everything perfectly. The bigNG can put out 80Watts of power so it is great for all those fans and for water pumps as well. This could be the hardware enthusiast dream controller, read on to learn more…

mCubed T-Balancer bigNG

Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio AkA Dracos

Sponsor: mCubed

Introduction:

Today for review I have what is possibly the ultimate fan controller system with temperatures sensors as well. It is the T-Balancer bigNG from mCubed, and it features digital and analogue temperature sensors, fan controllers and an entire software suite to use and calibrate everything perfectly. The bigNG can put out 80Watts of power so it is great for all those fans and for water pumps as well. This could be the hardware enthusiast dream controller, read on to learn more…

Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:

M-Cubed T-Balancer bigNG

The T-Balancer bigNG is the first 4-channel controller for air and watercooling with patented Dual Mode Technology (DMT). You can choose whether you want to power each channel analog or with PWM. The T-Balancer bigNG delivers pure analog voltage up to 20W per channel (40W with PWM). This way you can even connect water pumps or Peltiers. An integrated heatsink ensures a cool running.

The bigNG will be delivered by standard with 4 thin analogue sensors and 2 precise digital sensors. Due to the high absolute accuracy of the digital sensors you can calibrate the rest of your system to it. Using all available extension you can control all together 10 analogue sensors, 8 digital sensors and 2 flowmeters.

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Mounting is very flexible: in a free 3.5" bay, in a free chassis slot or anywhere with the orange fluorescent acrylic glass.

What can the T-Balancer bigNG control? The bigNG can read up to 10 analogue sensors, 8 digital sensors, 2 flowmeters and the speed of 4 fans. It can control fans, powerful waterpumps, CCFLs and even Peltiers. It can be connected to the PC with USB. The RPM signals can also be connected. With the Extension Set analogue, the PC can also be shut-off in a case of emergency.

Which extensions exist for the T-Balancer bigNG?

Extension set digital (6 more digital sensors), extension set analogue (6 more analogue sensors, emergency PC power off, connector for 2 flowmeter), 2 T-Balancer miniNG (more fan channels), Waterkit (with flowmeter and water temp probes), filling-leve meter (in development), Multi-IO with 16 In- and Outputs (in development)

The T-Balancer bigNG offers numerous safety systems: overheat protection, acoustic alarm, optic alarm, software alarms, sensor loss control, blockage recognition, self-sustaining system

With Software (via USB2.0) the T-Balancer can be adjusted and configured in an easy way. Many Plug-Ins (iMON, Speedfan, MBM, JaLCD, LCDC, Samurize) are provided for the T-Balancer software. The software also enables long-term monitoring, an integrated USB watch-dog ensures a permanent USB connection.

Package content: 

control unit, 2 digital sensors (address #0-#1), 4 analogue sensors, RPM signal cable, USB cable (internal), acrylic case, slot sheet, 3.5" bay holders, CD with software

Specifications:

dimensions: 88x88x16mm

weight: 150g

max. current: 7A

max. power: 80W (PWM)/20W (analogue)

power per channel: 40W (PWM)/20W (analogue)

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A Better Look at Things

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The mCubed T-Balancer bigNG comes in a white box wrapper in plastic with the manual on the top under the plastic.

We’ve got all kinds of stuff in the box, once you open it you’ll find various bags with assorted parts in them. The reason for all the parts is partially because you can install the bigNG in three ways, external, PCI slot or internal 3.5 bay.

To install the bigNG in the PCI slot of the 3.5 bay mCubed included all the necessary hardware, some of this hardware is also used for the external mounting as well.

Included as well is the software and driver disc, along with two pieces of plexi glass for the external mounting of the bigNG.

In the first bag we find and the temperature sensors, fan sensors, zip ties, tape, usb connection and feet for the external mounting.

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A Better Look at Things

Continued:

There are four analogue sensors and they are the typical kind that you see in most temperature sensing devices, two pin connection with thin sensor at the end.

The digital sensors are an actual mini PCB board that is heat shrink wrapped for protection.

The fan sensors are to be connected to your motherboard headers if need be and they connect from the bigNG to the motherboard headers.

The bigNG itself is it’s own powered PCB board, complete with all sorts of connections and heatsink for the chipset. The bigNG is also expandable to work with other accessories from mCubed like the miniNG. It has an internal USB header and an external USB header but mCubed does not provide the cable for the external connection, why I don’t quite know.

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A Better Look at Things

Continued:

In the following picture on the top of the board is located an optional LED connection if you would like to add one somewhere on your case or use one of the ones that comes with your PC case, like the HDD LED connector. The left side is where the external USB connection block is located.

The first picture below on the right side is where the USB connection and the fan sensor connectors are located, the second picture below is a close up of that connection.

The following picture is of the four fan connectors, the white ones and the temperature sensors connections, the black ones.

The mCubed T-Balancer bigNG is capable of doing a lot of things, I’m not going to re-list everything that I already listed above in the specs section, but with the bigNG you can have total control over a lot of the devices in your system with just one software interface. For the enthusiast this thing is the perfect compliment to their system, but I think the bigNG might be something that the new user might find a bit overwhelming.

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Installation, Testing and Comparison

For my installation I decided to use the PCI bracket setup, for this installation a couple plastic brackets and screws are all that is needed. I used the internal USB connection as well, but the PCI bracket does have a hole to allow the use of an external USB cable if need be.

One observation is that the bigNG adds a lot more wires to your system, once you figure out where you want all the sensors to go and route your fan wires etc, you might want to consider some cable management.

The sensors can be attached various places where you need them, I decided to stick on to the heatsink of my video card, this also allowed me to used my infrared thermometer to test the accuracy of the sensor as well. I stuck the other sensors various places, like on my HDD, in the sticks of ram and the CPU heatsink.

One of the first problems I ran across was the length of my fan wires, my front case fan connection could not reach the bigNG, it would have been nice had mCubed included extensions for this. I can’t see how the bigNG could be mounted externally without the extensions either.

The software interface is what we will take a look at next. The interface does include an ‘installation assistant’ to help you configure everything to make it a bit easier.

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Installation, Testing and Comparison Continued:

I’m not going to go into full details or we will be here for a long time, but the software does allow for many varying configurations and customizations…

Through the software you can adjust fan speeds and temperatures as well.

There is lots of room for expansion with the purchase of additional sensors.

There are calibrations for the temperature sensors as well as advanced fan functions.

You can also enable automatic safety features such as audible and visual alarms and automatic shutdown.

Those who use Motherboard Monitor and Samurize will find that the bigNG is fully compatible with that as well.

The bigNG is on of the most functional and powerful fan controller/temperature sensors I have ever seen. I do own the miniNG myself, and it is great as well, but the bigNG does everything. The addition of the digital sensors is very nice, and the ability to really expand is almost limitless actually, you just need to get more accessories.

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Summary:

All in all there is a lot to take in, but this is just a review of everything and to fully appreciate the power of the bigNG you will need to go and get one. For the average user I believe there is just way to much stuff here, but for the enthusiast and overclocker, they will love all the options and customizations that are available. The bigNG could be perfect but for a few things that it is lacking out of the box, namely the fan extensions and USB cable, why would you sell something with the ability to do something but yet not include the hardware for it? Overall though the mCubed bigNG is a great tool, and something that, if in the right hands can be very powerful and useful.

DragonSteelMods gives the mCubed bigNG a 4 out of 5 score.

Pros:

-Expandability, add more sensors, accessories

-Multiple installation options

-Accurate

-Powerful

-Overall coolness factor

Cons:

-A bit on the technical side for the beginner

-No extensions for fans to reach the bigNG if needed

-No cable for external USB connection

I would like to thank Mcubed for the chance to review the bigNG and for their support of DSM.

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