Opinions and experiences with HD coolers?

[MasterMind]

'lo folks,

I'm considering doing some active cooling for my newly built 80GB RAID 0. I've had a look around and there seems to be a handful of choices. I'm interested in what kind of experiences people have had with the various coolers. Did you start running into any PS problems once you started using them? I already have a bunch of stuff on my 300W PS (Athlon XP 1900+, Thermaltake SK6, 2 60mm case fans).

Cheers,
-MasterMind

[klosters64a]

The kind of HDD coolers that mount in a 5.25" bay, and hold a 3.5" drive usually have 2 or 3 40mm fans in them. The current drawn by these fans is no worry. Unless you're teetering on the very edge and your PS is overworked already.

As far as I can tell, the factor that decides the quality of the 5.25" coolers that hold 3.5" HDD's is.... ta daah, money. Sometimes the best simply costs more. Drat it.

[Gravity Man]

I like mine. I unplugged it once, just to see the effect it had, and the temperature around the drive bay increased significantly. They don't use much power at all.

[Blackearth]

i have 2 segate 40 gigs in a raid and they used to get pretty warm (and to the point of hot if left on for longer then about 4 hours). but not anymore thanks to the "ultimate hard drive cooler"
it really works, it mounts your hdd in a 5 in. external bay, has a heatsink, and 2 (expandable to 3) fans on it. relatively simple to install. i recommend it to everybody! and it will set you back about 20 dollars.

also, dont worry about power; i mean, how much can they take, they're not that large a fan. . .

[Thelemac]

You should be fine powerwise, and you can never, *ever* have too many things cooled in your system. :)

I was going to get some coolers in my next computer (which is, of course, some time away)...but then, I'm cooling *everything* in that computer.

I was rather going to try to rig up a watercooling system for them. :D

[funnyperson1]

Originally posted by Thelemac
You should be fine powerwise, and you can never, *ever* have too many things cooled in your system. :)

I was going to get some coolers in my next computer (which is, of course, some time away)...but then, I'm cooling *everything* in that computer.

I was rather going to try to rig up a watercooling system for them. :D

how about putting ln on your NIC:)

[Thelemac]

Originally posted by funnyperson1


how about putting ln on your NIC:)

Depends on if it gets warm or not...and if it's holding my OC back. :D

[FerrariF50]

I have that Antec hard drive cooler....it fits in your 5 1/2 drive bay...It has 3 fans with a filter over them...It's not loud at all now...It used to be when I first got it.