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The Vantec Ultimate Hard Drive cooler

Overview: Vantec HD cooler

Noise	+
Air flow	+
Dust protection	-

++ is best, -- is worst

Advantages
+ Aluminum heatsink for HD, thus provides cooling both "by contact" and "by airflow"
+ 20mm high fans

Disadvantages
- no dust filter
- no interface material provided for heatsink-drive contact area

The Design

The Vantec "Ultimate Hard Drive cooler" consists of a flat heatsink that is in direct contact with the upper side of the hard drive. It is equiped with only two fans, but they are larger than the ones used on other hard drive coolers - Vantec uses 40x20mm fans (ball bearing, made by Evercool), the other competitors use 40x10mm fans.

The flat heatsink is pressed against the hard drive with the aid of four springs. This also provides very vibration-free mounting for the hard drive. Unfortunately, Vantec does not provide any interface material that would improve thermal transfer from the drive to the cooler. If you've got some spare thermal compound, then I'd recommend to apply a very thin layer on the cooler before installing it on the hard drive - this will improve cooling performance.

A face plate is also provided, but without dust filter.

Conclusion
Just like the Cooler Master CoolDrive, the Vantec unit cools the hard drive "by contact" - and that's definately good. The Vantec cooler creates much more airflow across the drive than the CoolDrive, but is also a bit louder. The cooling performance is good - especially if you use thermal compound. Maybe the name "Ultimate Hard Drive cooler" is a bit exaggerated, but nevertheless this is a cooler that I'd recommend.

Installation
Nothing special to say about the installation - simple and straightforward. Install your HDD inside the cooler (using thermal compound, if you've got some), and then install the cooler inside your PC - that's it.

Here's a bigger picture of the entire cooler:

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Coolers

The Vantec Ultimate Hard Drive cooler

Overview: Vantec HD cooler

Noise

+

Air flow

+

Dust protection

-

++ is best, -- is worst

Advantages
+ Aluminum heatsink for HD, thus provides cooling both "by contact" and "by airflow"
+ 20mm high fans

Disadvantages
- no dust filter
- no interface material provided for heatsink-drive contact area

The Design

A face plate is also provided, but without dust filter.

Installation
Nothing special to say about the installation - simple and straightforward. Install your HDD inside the cooler (using thermal compound, if you've got some), and then install the cooler inside your PC - that's it.

Here's a bigger picture of the entire cooler:

Home

News

Coolers

The Vantec Ultimate Hard Drive cooler

Overview: Vantec HD cooler

Noise

+

Air flow

+

Dust protection

-

++ is best, -- is worst

Advantages + Aluminum heatsink for HD, thus provides cooling both "by contact" and "by airflow" + 20mm high fans

Disadvantages - no dust filter - no interface material provided for heatsink-drive contact area

The Design

A face plate is also provided, but without dust filter.

Installation Nothing special to say about the installation - simple and straightforward. Install your HDD inside the cooler (using thermal compound, if you've got some), and then install the cooler inside your PC - that's it.

Here's a bigger picture of the entire cooler:

Advantages
+ Aluminum heatsink for HD, thus provides cooling both "by contact" and "by airflow"
+ 20mm high fans

Disadvantages
- no dust filter
- no interface material provided for heatsink-drive contact area

Installation
Nothing special to say about the installation - simple and straightforward. Install your HDD inside the cooler (using thermal compound, if you've got some), and then install the cooler inside your PC - that's it.