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VIZO Master Panel II Conclusion
Submitted by jwhitakr on Fri, 09/28/2007 - 19:03.
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Installation and Use of the Master Panel II
Installation takes about thirty minutes for a skilled computer tech, depending of course on the amount of working space inside the computer case. The manual that comes with the Master Panel II tells you to install the panel in a 5 ½” drive bay first, attach the cables to the motherboard second and then to attach the cables to the panel.
I would strongly advise attaching the cables to the panel first and feed them into the case as you install the panel into the drive bay. Attaching the cables to the panel after it is installed into the drive bay is very difficult, especially if you have large hands and fingers like I do.
Once the panel was installed I checked out all the functions and everything worked as expected. I am not real happy about having two dead USB ports (the original front panel USB ports on the case had to be disabled in order to install the card reader) but I can live with it. At least I still have two available working front panel USB ports (which is what I had before installing the panel) and now I also have the card reader.
The fan controllers work very well and are simple to use. I can adjust the fans to make minimal noise and still cool efficiently and when I am not playing games or doing anything that requires heavy cooling, I can have an almost silent computer. The front panel video out is a nice touch as well. I can send a composite video signal to my TV, VCR or DVR without having to fish a cable around the back of the computer.
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VIZO Master Panel II
Overall this is a really nice looking panel that gives a lot of accessibility to the front of the computer. The panel is black with silver knobs and white lettering so it fits right in to my black case with my black drives. Having all the features of this panel on the front of the computer make up for the loss of my original front panel USB ports. This is one of the best front I/O panels I have seen and definitely the best I have used so far. The only thing I would have added to it if I had designed it would be an LCD readout with temperature sensors; but then it would also be more expensive too.
Pros: Easy to install and use, multitude of connections, USB 2.0 and 1.1 compatible, nice design.
Cons: No LCD readout for temperature display.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
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