Cooling

Cooler Master Musketeer System Dynamic Detector

By Miguel Blanco ⋅ April 30, 2008 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

With the advent of overclocking and advanced system cooling, users have begun installing monitoring devices in their souped-up systems. One such device is Cooler Master’s Musketeer System Dynamics Detector. Computer Critics took the Musketeer for a test drive.

The Musketeer is the size of a standard CD/DVD drive which means you must have an empty 5 ¼” bay to install it. It has three VU meters on the front panel which measure voltage, audio, and temperature respectively. Two levers on the front panel control voltage and volume control. The back panel has connectors for temperature monitoring, power, audio monitoring, and fan power.

At first glance the Musketeer is very attractive. Its neon blue VU meters sit nicely within its aluminum chassis (also available in black). It has a sort of retro look that is reminiscent of 70’s analog audio gear. I installed it in an A+GPB CA-AP107 Medium ATX Case and it looked fab.

Installation was a breeze. Everything you need comes in the box. The temperature monitor can be affixed to any surface within your computer case. You can use it to monitor a hard drive, your CPU, or your graphics card. The audio monitoring is done by looping the output of your sound card back into the Musketeer via a PCI slot panel which is included with the kit. The cable that connects your soundcard to the Musketeer is also included. An output from the Musketeer panel can them be attached to your speakers.

Besides just looking great, the Musketeer’s ability to control your case fans while monitoring temperature is a great feature. If you need to quiet down your case temporarily while doing some audio recording, for example, you will love the Musketeer. In addition, since most systems do not have a hardware-based volume control, this add-on is a favorite of mine. It’s nice to just turn down your volume without having to go into your software-based volume control settings.

All in all, I found the musketeer to be killer piece of gear for any high-end system. Its features and coolness factor rate high and its price of only $40 at some online retailers makes it a must-have. If I was Christmas shopping for a tech geek, I would already know what to get him.

Product SpecificationsVoltage (Left) Dial Display: DC 0 to12V
VU (middle) Dial Display: -20 to +3dB
Temperature (right) Dial Display: 10-90 Celsius/ 50-180 Fahrenheit
Voltage Adjustment: DC 6 to approx. 11V (IC controlled)
Sound Pressure: -20 to +3dB (depends on input from sound card)

Requirements

5 ¼” Bay
Empty PCI slot for Audio Monitoring

Conclusion

The Musketeer is a very cool device at a very reasonable price. Although it is not a necessary piece of gear for a high-end computer system, its features, good looks, attractiveness, & price make it worth checking out.

Pros:

Very neat retro-VU look
Hardware-based volume control
Fan control
Temperature monitoring

Cons:

If there are any cons, I couldn’t find them.

Quality: 10 out of 10
Features: 8.9 out of 10
Price: 10 out of 10

Overall: 9.6 out of 10