These days there are a ton of accessories you can buy for your case, and drive bay utilities are certainly gaining a lot of popularity amongst the modder and Lan gamer communities.

With a retail price of $53 CDN ($40 US), the CoolerMaster Musketeer features three back-illuminated analog meters that give it a slightly retro look. The analog meters monitor a couple system variables, and the two adjacent sliders allow you to fine tune fan speed and volume.

The first analog display and slider has the ability to control one case fan's voltage. Obviously at minimum voltage (0 volts) the fan stops functioning altogether, and at maximum volts the fan will operate at full speed.

The second analog display and slider, controls audio properties when the Musketeer is plugged into an audio jack (it loops the audio signal from the jack in the back, through the meter, and then back to a PCI slot cover audio jack).

The "VU Meter" looks kind of cool, as the meter swings back and forth to whatever music is playing. The slider allows you to raise or lower the volume, and works quite well. You'll need to use the included PCI expansion bracket slot in order for the Musketeer to work with the audio feature as mentioned above.

The third analog display illustrates the temperature of any given device thanks to a flat thermistor that can be placed pretty much anywhere in the case. Temperature readings are in both Farenheit and Celsius, and the meter has a pretty good range from 20 degrees Celsius, through to 80 degrees.

Installation and setup of the Musketeer is very simple and straight forward. The device slides into any free 5-1/4" drive bay, and screws in like a CD-ROM. The rear of the Musketeer is simple and easy to understand as well.

Starting from left to right, the first port is for the temperature probe, the next is a molex connector to or actual power to the device, next is for audio levels, and lastly there's a three pin fan header. The Musketeer comes with an assortment of cables for connecting fans, audio, and power.

When the Musketeer is powered on, all three analog displays glow blue and the colour is very nice.

One potential problem that may arise with the Musketeer is that it may not fit in all cases with doors. Because the sliders chrome buttons stick out, it might not allow case doors to close all the way, and ironically we experienced that problem with the WaveMaster. With the Musketeer installed properly in any of the drive bays, the WaveMaster case door was always ajar and could never be fully closed.