Antec Hard Disk Drive Cooler Review
Reviewed by: Bosco
Reviewed on: October 25, 2002
: Antec
: GF City Computers
Price: $6 USD
Introduction
Cooling is a very important subject, and for some users (especially overclockers), getting the most cooling is a top priority for them. This may even include devices that regular users don't normally consider, such as your hard drive. Why would you cool your hard drive then? Apart from keeping the overall system temperature from becoming too hot, a cooler device also runs for alot longer. Even a few degrees difference will help to maintain the device's integrity over a period of time. With 7200RPM hard drives now running in excess of 40-50°C it gets pretty toasty in there. We're about to see how well the Antec Hard Disk Drive Cooler handles the daunting task of keeping it cool.
Specifications
Just a very simple package, unlike some of the other products from Antec.
The package includes 2 drive rails, a bag of screws, and the fan unit itself, connected to the 4-pin plug. This plug contains a splitter, so you don't have to worry about using up a plug to include this device in your system.
Installation
The installation process is very simple. The hard drive gets attached to the drive rails, and is inserted into a free 5.25" drive bay. It is pushed in far enough, so that when you place the fan module in, it should be flush with the rest of the system. The photos should help explain this.
Hey, it looks pretty cool! Imagine having a stack of them, making it look like an oversized fan shield!
Cooling
Test System:
We let this system cook for about 1 hour using SETI@Home. After that we allowed SETI@Home to continue running while we proceeded to defrag the hard drive and then the results were recorded immediately after.
A 7°C difference... that's commendable. Cooling the air generated by the hard drive will certainly lower the internal ambient temperature, meaning the overall system temperature should drop a bit as well. Judging from the results and by the nature of the unit itself, this cooler is probably for the overclocker who wants to get his ambient system temperature a little bit lower, but if he has several hard drives, then just one these units may not be enough to effectively cool the air above it.
Conclusion
This is a pretty good hard drive cooler, and it does cool the warm air on the of the hard drive very effectively. However, the fact that it requires a 5.25" bay means that some hardcore case modders might have trouble integrating this item into their systems, for these cases will usually have all of their 5.25" bays modified with other toys such as cold cathode switches or fan control dials. While this unit is suited for the overclocker, there are superior hard drive cooling units that can be had for just a tad more money.
Pros
Cons