I love cooling computer hardware that is running too hot (sometimes even when not overclocked) for greater stability, performance (such as when overclocking), and life. On this page, I review some of the greatest, most effective, or most innovative computer cooling devices (fans, heatsinks, etc.)3DCool Twin Turbo Drive Bay Exhaust Fan
The 3DCool drive bay fan is about the size of a CD-ROM drive and blows hot air out the front of your computer at (allegedly) 80CFM. When I first got this fan, it was balky and did not operate reliably; it would even make a grinding noise when I started the computer two out of three times. But after a couple of weeks, it has settled down and now blows lots of air out the front of the computer quietly and reliably. Most reviewers have not had any trouble with it, so I suppose I may have just gotten a lemon. It works fine now. Good for getting some more airflow through your computer, especially nice if you have a lot of hot drives in its vicinity. Of course, it uses up a whole 5.25" drive bay. I installed mine in the top bay in my tower case. Heat rises from the hard drives and gets exhausted by it. The computer stays very cool.Overall, this product performs well; it moves a lot of air quietly. It does use up a 5.25" drive bay, but if you need the extra airflow, it could help a lot. They also now have a 3.5" bay model, which moves 30CFM, and I have not tested. Cost is about $25. Recommended. Manufacturer's Website (look for Turbo Blowers)Rating meter: 3.5/5 good3DCool Super Duper Slot Exhaust Fan
I have tried slot cover exhaust fans in the past. I have encountered ones that were too thick, ones that were thin enough but had sleeve bearings and started rattling after a month or so, and I have tried this one. This 3DCool slot cover exhaust fan is very high airflow, slim-line, quiet, and reliable. I have used it with great success next to hot video cards. Helps keep hot air from building up in the card area. Significantly reduces system temperature - you can feel the warm air coming out of the back of the computer when it is installed.Overall, this product performs extremely well; it moves a lot of air quietly. It does use up a slot cover, but chances are most people will have at least one free. Cost is about $17. Highly recommended. Now, if they had one that replaced your video card's slot holder with an exhauster that fit on the chipset... :-) Manufacturer's WebsiteRating meter: 5/5 excellentTennMax Lasagna Cooler
The TennMax Lasagna cooler is a compact heatsink/fan combo that replaces your stock video card cooling device. The very fine heatsink is made of dozens of stacked layers of thin aluminum, for vast heatsink surface area in a very compact package. Installation is relatively simple; at worse you will have to twist the old heatsink off (if attached with glue), clean off the chipset, and then stick on the Lasagna cooler (if you are using a sticky-tape version on a video card that lacks push-pins), at best you need only unclip the old heatsink and clip on the Lasagna cooler (if using the push-pin version on a video card that supports it, such as the Voodoo3).Models are available that will fit on any PC video card made. I personally have installed Lasagna coolers on a Matrox Millennium G200 (stick-on), Diamond Viper V770 Ultra (the video card's chipset was somewhat concave, but the Lasagna stick-on worked fine with some thermal grease in the center and some sanding of the chipset), and even the chipset on an AMD Athlon motherboard as an experiment (push-pin model). I will be installing a couple on a ASUS V6600 Deluxe and a V6800 Deluxe graphics card in a few days, as well.With a Lasagna cooler, I was able to overclock the G200 from its default 113MHz chipset/memory speed (the two are locked together) to a stable maximum of 130MHz. 135MHz also ran, but with some visual errors. Even overclocked as far as it could go, the video card still ran cooler than with the original heatsink-only cooling solution.The Diamond Viper V770 Ultra performed astoundingly well with the Lasagna cooler. I was able to overclock the system's motherboard to 124MHz FSB (83MHz AGP bus, 17MHz above spec.), and still overclock the video card to a whopping stable 175MHz chipset/200MHz memory (default is 150/183MHz chip/memory). It ran cooler than with the stock cooling solution, too.Overall, this product performs extremely well, and is low-profile (10mm thick), so it fits in next to adjacent cards with no trouble. Cost is about $20. Highly recommended. Manufacturer's WebsiteRating meter: 5/5 outstandingSTEP ThermoDynamics Anchorage peltier cooler
STEP ThermoDynamics bonds large heatsinks with lots of fine pins (great surface area) and quadruple fans to CPUs for very low thermal resistance, and uses good peltiers as well. They believe that running the CPU at about room temperature is optimum for long life and oveclocking. I have had the opportunity to use a Pentium III 450MHz CPU with one of their Anchorage coolers bonded to it. The CPU consistently runs at about 80-90 degrees F (warm room temperature), and I have been able to overclock it to 560MHz (124MHz bus) at 2.0V easily on an ABIT BE6 motherboard, and even 600MHz (133MHz bus) at 2.2V. It moves a lot of air, and can be quite noisy with the case cover off, but drops to a whisper with the case cover on. It also overhangs the 440BX chipset on the ABIT BE6 motherboard, and keeps the chipset cool.
STEP ThermoDynamics also sells CPUs and RAM at cost (no markup) with the purchase of a cooling device. You have to get STEP ThermoDynamics to bond the cooler to the CPU, because they use a process that needs special equipment. It is not an insane sub-zero peltier overclocking cooler with special seals and all to keep condensation from forming, but on the other hand it is a lot more reliable, long-life, and easy to install (and the overclocked performance is pretty great, nonetheless). Comes with a lifetime warranty on the CPU and cooler (which I presume is the life of the owner), regardless of how much you overclock it (no more voided warranties). Overall, this cooler performs exceedingly well, and I recommend it highly. Manufacturer's WebsiteRating meter: 4.5/5 excellentBack to home
