This picture illustrates everything inside of the box including the extra faceplates and instruction pamphlet.
Scythe have done a great job in the cable department as they actually supply you with enough cables to fill all of it's available fan / temp reading ports.
You get a full set of four 3-pin fan extension cables; a set of four temperature probes, and the 4-pin molex to 4-pin floppy power adapter (the Kama Meter is powered using a floppy style power connector). Also included with the Kama Meter is a PCI audio bracket and audio patch cable which gives you the ability to control your computers speaker/output volume level directly from the Kama Meters front panel.
Something that really impressed me in this area was the fact that Scythe gives you 4 small pieces of tape which can be used to affix the temp probes sensors to your selected monitoring areas. Every other kit I've owned leaves you high and dry trying to figure out your own way to attach the temp probes... Props to Scythe for including these. In the same bag with the tape are the mounting screws as well.
One of the many great features of this monitoring and fan control kit is that it can virtually be used by anyone with any standard color case. Scythe has included a total of three colored faceplates; white (factory installed), black, and silver. The colors are very well matched to brushed aluminum cases such as the Lian Li's in silver and black.
I am still a little confused as why they included a gloss white faceplate at all as I don't know of any white faced cases (none that are popular at least). To be honest I think they would have been better off offering the third color as a gloss black or possibly even beige.
The included black faceplate is a flat black which means it does not match gloss black cases, such as the Antec piano black cases. The faceplates are all constructed from a high quality thick metal; no plastic for the Kama Meter!
Now let's have a look at how hard it is to swap out the faceplates...
You can see from the image above that the faceplate is dead-simple to remove. All that it requires is the removal of the four knobs (which simply pull off) and the removal of two small screws from the side. Voila...the faceplate is able to be changed.
Let's move on and have a further look at the Scythe Kama Meter in a little more detail...
You can see from the above image just how well constructed the Kama Meter is. The electrolytic capacitors on the green pcb seem to be of a very high quality and the other various components equally so. There were no clear markings on the capacitors as to who the manufacturer was, so I have refrained from including a supporting image.
All of the 3-pin fan headers are clearly marked and the power connector is essentially a larger floppy connecter to prevent confusion. For a small and relatively crowded piece of real-estate, the Kama Meter is extremely well laid out and neat. Even the potentiometer (pots) wiring has received the same amount of care and attention, which adds to the overall build quality of this unit. Only the thermal connectors (to the right of the fan headers) are not labeled explicitly, which I have yet to work out why.
The images above illustrate the Scythe Kama Meter's audio controller blanking plate. It has In / Out female sockets to accept the audio out plug coming straight from your motherboard. The 4 pins that you can see on the rear of the card connect directly to the Kama Meter itself and allows for volume adjustment from the front of the unit.
Installation of the
Scythe Kama Meter is an absolute breeze and requires only 4 small screws to fasten it into one of your drive bays. I do have one area to pick here though! In this day and age where end-users and enthusiasts alike are increasingly using case windows to show off their hardware, it would be nice to see a little sleeving on the extension cables instead of the usual yellow/red and black. The last thing 'bling' fanatics would really want is the additional wiring which would stick out like a sore thumb. Admittedly it is a small gripe, but with increasing numbers of fan manufacturers sleeving their cables we have grown to expect a little extra. Plus it makes the product look finished.
I have taken the liberty of not including an image of the installed audio controller in my review setup as I have a rear mounted radiator that won't permit a clean shot worthy of being included in the review. I have however included a shot from my aircooled AMD case which is a little less cluttered at the rear (so you get the idea). If you use onboard sound then you may find this feature useful for adjusting the volume of your music or gaming. But with the majority of people chosing to use a dedicated sound card, the audio controller will not be utilised and would simply provide additional case clutter.
(Please click the above image to see a short video file of the available colours - QuickTime required)
The display of colours avaible with the Kama Meter are as follows - Blue, Purple, Sapphire, Green, Orange-Green, Red and Violet. I have included an image which illustrates perfectly what information the Scythe Kama Meter will report back to you - the owner.
You can see from the above image just how much monitoring information the Kama Meter provides, and the interface is very clean and uncluttered.
Now let's put the Kama Meter through its paces and see how it performs...
