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Product:
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Cremax Icy Dock Bodyguard525 |
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Price:
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$60 (CAN) / $70 (U.S)
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Supplied By:
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Cremax USA Corporation
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Author:
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Shennon
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Date:
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April 16th, 2003
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Rating:
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Icy Dock thermal probes
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Icy Dock hard drive headers
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The Icy Dock Bodyguard525 is capable of monitoring three temperature locations using a flat ribbon style thermal probe.
Each probe measures about 63cm and should be long enough to reach most places in a standard full tower or mid-tower case.
To display hard drive usage, there are two hard drive leads, one to the motherboard, and the other from the front HDD
LED lead. Consumers should refer to their motherboard manual for the location and polarity of the appropriate header.
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The Icy Dock Bodyguard525 is powered via a spare male molex connector from the power supply and has a
pass-through connector for the hard drive. A second two wire connector from the back of the Bodyguard525
powers an additional fan, which is controlled by the fan speed adjustment option located in the front of
the unit. Consumers should note that this product uses 2-pin fan headers and fan rotation monitoring
directly from the LCD display is not possible.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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Installation of the Icy Dock Bodyguard525 is very straightforward and requires one empty 5.25" drive bay
to accommodate the unit. The Bodyguard525 is secured using a series of supplied mounting screws and once
plugged in; consumers will immediately notice a bright easy to read back-light LCD display. During
testing, I did notice about a seven degree drop to about 36C from 43C on my hard drive, with and without
cooling. This was consistent with both the top and bottom of my Quantum Fireball Plus 20.5 Gig hard
drive. The results are equivalent with rival multifunction hard drive products that I have reviewed in
the past. The Icy Dock Bodyguard525 is equipped with an alarm system that will sound if the temperature
of the hard drive exceeds a default temperature setting or if one of the fans fail. With this in mind,
if anything should happen during use, quick action can be taken to troubleshoot hard drive or fan
failure. One interesting feature on the Bodyguard525 is the HUTR (HDD Usage Time Record) option, which
will display the time the hard drive has been in use. While this may not seem important to the average
user, businesses that suffer from hard drive failure will be able to track the performance and of a
hard drive component to see if it needs to be warranted by the manufacturer.
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Conclusion:
There is no doubt that the Cremax Icy Dock Bodyguard525 is a stellar looking device which performs as advertised.
The sliding LCD display panel is a great idea that provides enough statistical information to monitor
HD performance. The temperature probe selector and fan control options define the multifunction asset
of this product by easily being incorporated into other portions of a computer system. The sliding
silver trimmed LCD panel is a nice feature since it hides the temperature probe selector switch and
fan control. The downside to this layout is that a small screw driver or other small object is required
to adjust the fan rotation and probe selection. Unlike other hard drive coolers currently on the market,
the tool-less hard drive install into the Bodyguard525 unit is very painless. Consumers will appreciate
the abundance of features which include the fan failure backup, adjustable temperature alarms, HUTR display and easy
viewing backlit LCD display. The unit does provide constant pertinent information to keep a hard drive in active service,
whether at home or in an office setting. Overall, I am impressed with Cremax’s Icy Dock Bodyguard525 and I am giving
the product a final rating of it a 8 out of 10. I would
recommend this product to those individuals who are concerned with hard drive cooling without the worry of failing fans,
or overheating issues. If you have any questions regarding this review be sure to visit
the Cremax USA Corporation website for more information or discuss
them in our forums.
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Pros:
- Simple tool-less hard drive installation
- Redundant internal cooling fan function
- Hidden control ensures appealing design
- Three set temperature detector
- External fan speed control
- Temperatures readings in both Celsius and Fahrenheit
- Backlight LCD display design
- HUTR (HDD Usage Time Record) display
- Internal Fan fail & Overheat audio alarm and display
- HDD cushion device design
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Cons:
- Temperature probes require thinning to be mounted under CPU
- Small screw driver required to adjust fan speed
- Suited for aluminum or silver coloured cases
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