Vantec Vortex Hard Drive Cooling System

Reviews: Cooling

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Bradford Day
Kurtis
Case-Mod
Aug. 4, 2004

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Introduction

We are not cool enough, apparently. Judging from the nearly uncountable masses of computer cooling solutions on the market, none of us are even slightly cool. Our CPUs, video cards, memory and hard drives burn calories faster than Richard Simmons on meth. The solution? Fans, and lots of them. Today we have in front of us another one of Vantec's entries into the cooling biz, the Vortex hard drive cooling system. The Vortex is a 5.25" front bay device meant to house and chill your over-worked hard drive with one innovative and vicious looking fan while an LCD output displays your hard drive's current temperature. Let's see how cool it makes us.

First Looks

The Vantec Vortex (model VTX-COI-BK) is one of four HDD coolers Vantec offers. The VTX model line (available in black or silver) is the only one sold with a "cross flow blower." In other words, the cooling fan on the Vortex isn't your standard run of the mill case fan. No sir, it's a blower fan akin to some of the newer generation of CPU heatsinks and case fans like the Coolermaser Aero 7+ and the Thermaltake X-blower. The advantage of these new styled fans, as you no doubt are aware by now, is that they do away with dead spots which are typical of common case fans with center-mounted motors. Vantec belittles these loathsome case fans saying "Traditional hard drive coolers utilize standard fans, which can result in dead spots - areas of the hard drive that the fan cannot reach." I found this slightly amusing as the other three Vantec hard drive coolers use standard fans. But anyway, back to the describing.

Right away I was impressed with the succinctly designed product packaging and even more impressed with the stylish straight forward design of the unit itself. The Vortex is a sleek looking little black box. The nifty aluminum casing is of high quality and is as sturdy as a hand-crafted Amish table. Vantec has also etched some very sweet graphics on the top of the device, it's a shame you can't actually see these cool designs once the unit is installed.

Inside the product packaging you will find your Vortex lovingly encased in bubble wrap along with a packet of screws, some tape strips and 2 spare foam air filter inserts. Your user manual should fall out of there too. I like the fact that they include dust filters as I noticed a sizeable dust bunny making a nest in my front 120mm case fan filter as I was installing the Vortex. Very useful. (Note to self, buy more Pledge.)

I received a black Vortex and I instantly liked the look of it. A small 25mm x 32mm LCD screen peers at you from the right front of the unit's face. Below it sits a single black plastic button. Between the screen and button are lighted outputs reading "LO" and "HI" for fan speeds as well as "C" and "F" denoting temperature mode. Pressing the button once will cycle between the LO, HI and OFF fan settings. Pressing and holding the button for 5 seconds will swap your temperature readings from Fahrenheit to Celcius or vice versa.

Taking up the majority of the front panel of the Vortex is a metal screened door that can be flipped down to reveal the cold, mechanical heart of the beast...the cross flow blower (cue evil organ music). The blower fan is silver and to me looks like it would happily devour your finger and ask for seconds. The unit that was sent to us had one minor flaw on the door, the "Vantec" logo had been mounted on the door upside-down. No matter, easily rectified and readjusted. There isn't much to this thing, let's see if I can install it without loosing a pinky.

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Page 1: Introduction & First Looks
Page 2: Testing
Page 3: Conclusion

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12 User Comments

1 - Posted by Nick on August 4, 2004 - 6:26 pm

That thing looks pretty nice. Kinda expect to see some screwdown terminals for speaker wires though, has that car amp look to it.

Any chance you could post a pic of the unit in action so I can see the LEDs? I like the blinky blinky :D

2 - Posted by handrail on August 4, 2004 - 10:04 pm

i'll send some action pics Kurtis's way.

3 - Posted by Kurtis on August 4, 2004 - 11:28 pm

thanks :)

4 - Posted by Brian on August 5, 2004 - 12:03 am

I added a pic of the Vortex LED temp display to the review. Page two.

5 - Posted by handrail on August 5, 2004 - 8:20 am

thanx bosses....now, I DEMAND MORE MONKEY CHOW!!!!

CHOW NOW! CHOW NOW! CHOW NOW! CHOW NOW!

viva le singe technique de salle révolution!!!!!!

6 - Posted by Niveksiyag on August 9, 2004 - 7:50 pm

monkey chow. ..
Anyways how much of a diference is there with a harddrive cooler?

7 - Posted by handrail on August 9, 2004 - 10:40 pm

you mean temperature difference? i list my temp readings in the review. it does make about 10C difference with the cooler.

8 - Posted by Kurtis on August 9, 2004 - 11:07 pm

i think he may be referring to performance... in which case there isn't really a difference, but it will help to ensure your hard drive lives a longer, happier, cooler life

9 - Posted by Dyrewolph on August 10, 2004 - 1:36 am

I wonder... do hard drives have emotions?... will they go... for example...

"hmm... I hate brian... he's built me this hard drive cooling cage away from all my other hard drive buddies... why can't he be normal and stick me in a regular case... well I'm gonna pay him back... lets get rid of all his files???"

Only time can tell!

10 - Posted by Brian on August 10, 2004 - 2:28 am

Actually, he will be quite happy in there with two other friends :-P

11 - Posted by Kurtis on August 10, 2004 - 12:02 pm

or maybe they will gang up on him and steal his lunch money?

[queue dramatic background music]

12 - Posted by Guest on October 12, 2004 - 11:44 am

It is in theory an excellent piece of hardware. I have been using mine for roughly a year now, probably a bit less. The downside of course is that when the motor starts to go, beware because it will make you think your drive is damaged. After a while when you are piggybacking the energy from the cooling unit to power your drive, you will hear the motor sllow down and speed up depending on what the drive is doing. My hard drive just crashed lastnight, I was freaking out. Much to my dismay as soon as I plugged the power source for the cooling unit into its own separate cord all together, the drive works fine again.

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