The front bezel of the Vortex is constructed out of plastic and includes a dust cover door and a LCD
that displays the temperature. Below the LCD is a button that adjusts the fan speed. The fan can be
turned off, set to low or set to high. If you hold the button down for 5 seconds it will switch between
Celsius and Fahrenheit temperature displays. The dust cover door opens up by simply pulling down on the
tab on top of the door. Inside you can see the special crossflow blower as well as another dust filter
which is already installed in the unit.
Click image for larger view
Click image for larger view
The installation of any 3.5" hard drive into the Vortex is very simple. First, attach the temperature
sensor to the bottom of the hard drive, preferably taped near the metal spindle under the drive. The
next step is to insert mounting screws from the bottom of the Vortex screwing into the bottom of the
hard drive. The package includes a set of blue foam pads which help keep the hard drive secure after
installation and also reduces any noise caused by vibration. The cover to the Vortex screws back on
just as it was taken off, and once back on can be installed into a standard 5.25" bay. Finally, plug your IDE
cable into the hard drive; insert the female Molex connector into the hard drive and the male end of
the Molex connector plugs into any free female Molex connector from your PSU. For those of you
worried about the size of the Vortex, you’ll be glad to know that when the drive is assembled and
installed into the case, it actually takes up less space then my Pioneer 106S slot loading DVD drive.
Click image for larger view
Click image for larger view
To test the Vantec Vortex Hard Drive Cooling System, I used my Western Digital Caviar Special Edition
120GB 7200rpm drive. I took some temperatures of the hard drive not mounted or cooled in any way for
comparison using my indoor/outdoor thermometer. For load temps, I ran SiSoftware Sandra Standard 2004’s
Drive Burn-in tests for 30 minutes. The grooved aluminum cover proved not only is attractive looking
but also functional as the idle temps were 1 degree cooler when the drive was mounted in the Vortex.
Turning the fan on to the low setting caused the idle temps to drop another degree and the high speed
setting dropped another 2 degrees putting the temperature at 31 degrees. With the fan set to high you
can hear a slight whine; however it seems to be more mechanical sounding than air movement. After
running the drive through a 30 minute burn-in with the fan on low, there was a 3 degree temperature
difference from running the drive without the fans off. Setting the fan to high with the drive under
load provided the most impressive drop in temperature since the unit dropped 4 more degrees from the
low setting, that’s a difference of 8 degrees compared to a non-cooled hard drive.
Conclusion:
The Vantec Vortex Hard Drive Cooling System represents a product that includes an assortment of excellent
features which offer more than existing hard drive coolers currently on the market. The grooved aluminum
cover, available in either black or sliver, and the smooth subtle curves of the front bezel make this
hard drive cooler not just good looking; but a piece that should be showcased in your computer. Vantec
claims it will lower your temperatures up to 40% and although I did not see a 40% drop (8 degrees off 40 is 20%),
I could easily see the Vortex shaving off a solid 40% off higher RPM drives. The blue rubber mounts in
the drive do help against vibration when compared to mounting the drive directly in to the case. With
the fan on low the Vortex runs silent; however turning the fan to the high setting produces a slight
mechanical whine which may stand out in more quiet systems. Aside from a few minor issues, I'm rating
this product a 9 out of 10. I would strongly
recommend this product to anyone looking for a stylish 5.25" mounted hard drive cooling system. If you
have any questions regarding this review be sure to visit the Vantec
website for more information or discuss them in our forums.
Pros:
Stylish aluminum design
Compatible with any 3.5" drive
Rubber mounts help prevent vibration
Easy installation
Clear and accurate LCD temperature display
Adjustable fan settings
Cons:
High fan setting produces a slight mechanical whine
Pros:
Cons:
