Conclusions
We still don't know whether the Enthusiast System Architecture will be ratified by the USB-if, but we don't need to wait on a subcommittee to see ESA in action. Certified motherboards, power supplies, chassis, and coolers are already on the market, and more are due out by month's end. Nvidia has stepped up to the software plate, releasing a new nForce System Tools package that takes full advantage of ESA components within an excellent set of system tweaking tools and an all-new hardware monitoring app.

Despite its beta status, nForce System Tools is a surprisingly complete suite of applications with useful and unique features like rule definitions and an extremely flexible monitoring interface. Sure, the 3D monitoring GUI is a little over the top, but with the ability to roll your set of lightweight monitoring displays and log variables silently in the background, there's a little something for everyone. Nvidia is soliciting users for input on new features, as well, so we may see even more functionality built into the System Tools suite moving forward. Personally, I'd like to see display windows that snap together (but don't necessarily combine), graphs that display multiple variables, and in a tribute to Motherboard Monitor, the ability to track a few variables with simple text displays right in the Windows taskbar.

On the hardware front, the first wave of ESA components packed into Nvidia's demo system nicely illustrate the potential the standard holds. The Tagan power supply, Cooler Master chassis, and CoolIt processor cooler all provide meaningful information for hardware monitoring, and some even include a measure of user control for things like fan speeds and target temperatures. However, just because these particular components provide extensive—and more importantly, accurate—information about the system doesn't mean that all ESA-certified parts will. Since certification only requires correct implementation of the communication protocol, it's possible the capabilities of ESA hardware will vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer. We wish the certification process demanded at least a base level of reporting functionality and accuracy from each component type.

That said, the enthusiast community will likely subject even the best ESA implementations to plenty of scrutiny, so it should be relatively easy to research which components make the most of the standard. We can only hope that enough hardware makers embrace the spec to make it the de facto standard for system monitoring. ESA certainly deserves it.