You want to see what this beast looks like when it’s fired up with the lights off, don’t you? Here you go:

Oh wait, that’s only one color. Here are the other six:

Not only can you choose THOSE colors, but you can also have it flash through ALL the colors. Personally, I think it’s kind of annoying, but it was a good idea on their part to add that feature. There have got to be at least a couple people out there that will absolutely love having their Kama Meter flash in a variety of colors 24/7. The Kama Meter also has a memory as to which color you chose before you turned off the computer (along with all other settings), so you don’t have to switch it each time you boot up. Unfortunately, the button to change the colors has to be hit pretty hard to get it to change colors, and is very fussy. It’s also the same button you use to change the temperature reading from Celsius to Fahrenheit, and sometimes I just can’t get it to do what I want. A very minor complaint, but perhaps it’s something they should look into?

Here’s the screen of the Kama Meter, labeling what all the stuff on it is:

On the left of the screen is the temperature gauge. It’s really set up for Celsius measurements, but it will also display the temperature in Fahrenheit. The Kama Meter accurately displays the temperature in the center of the gauge (in digits) up to 194 degF (90 degC), and as low as 32 degF (0 degC). However, using the outside gauge in Fahrenheit is kind of pointless, ’cause anything over 90 degrees fills it up completely. The minimum temperature of 32 degF (0 degC) might be a little too high if you’re doing some below-freezing cooling methods, but it’s perfectly fine for everyone else. If the temperature goes above 90 degC or below 0 degC, then an alarm will sound. My favorite thing about this temperature gauge is that it refreshes about every half-a-second.

In the middle of the screen is the fan speed gauge. It tells you how fast each fan is spinning in RPMs. If the fan speed goes below 400 RPM, an alarm will sound. This gauge also refreshes as regularly as the temperature gauge.

On the right of the screen is the sound gauge for the speaker output. It says it is measured in “db,” which is pretty much meaningless, because a dB alone is ratio, and has no value unless you know what it’s ratio’d agaist, unlike dB(A), which measures sound in pressure. Although this gauge is pointless to me, it still looks cool while you’re using your speakers.

There are four knobs on the Kama Meter. One is to switch which fan you’re controlling and looking at the speed of, one is to change the speed of that fan, one is to change which temperature probe you’re reading, and one is to turn the volume up and down. The fan speed button, as I said earlier, doubles as the color-changing button and to change temperature units. All the knobs work really well, except for the fan speed one, which works well except for when it comes to pushing it, which you shouldn’t have to do ever again after you get the screen color and temperature units that you want.

The fan speed knob goes in each direction (+/- speed) infinitely, but will only run it at a full 12volts or a certain percentage lower. For one of the 80mm fans I use, which runs at 2700 RPMs at 12v, I could turn all the way down to 1880 RPMs, a 30% decrease in speed. I tested it out with a few other fans, and always, the maximum speed drop percentage is right around 30%. Believe me, a 30% decrease in speed quiets down any fan a great deal.

Now is the time to draw some conclusions on this neat contraption.

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