I Received a couple of case coolers and a PIII Heatsink from PCNUT. The coolers are of the “slot” variety. They fit in either an open PCI or ISA slot and are very effective at giving a little extra cooling to your case. We all know that for a successful overclocking project, you need more than the standard cooling offered by most cases. This usually involves cutting holes for more or larger fans. The first two products are an alternative way for that “extra” cooling without performing any sheet metal surgery.
System Exhaust Blower:
The first one is an exhaust blower to remove heat from your case. This fits in a PCI or ISA slot and exhausts 42 CFM of hot air. Placed next to a hot Voodoo 3 or TNT2 Ultra card. This could be a very effective way to remove a large amount of heat from your case. Installation is simple. Remove a slot cover from an open PCI or ISA slot, place the System Exhaust Blower in the open slot, screw it fast, and plug it in. Power is supplied via a 4-pin passthrough connector, which is hooked to one of the power supply plugs.
Vantec PC Air Circulator:
The second is a “twin tube” air circulator. This also installs just as easily in an open PCI or ISA slot using the same methods as above. This unit has two tubes each with a small fan on the end. Out of the box it comes setup as one exhaust and one intake to promote air circulation within the case. The fans are held on the end of the tubes with two screws and can be setup so both exhaust to remove heat or both intake to bring a little more cool air into the case. I installed this in my Kryotech Renegade to bring in cool air and lowered the ambient air temp in my case by 2 degrees F! This was a very simple modification and required NO cutting or metalworking. It is also a very quiet unit.
Vantec P3D 5030 Pentium III Heatsink:
PCNUT also sent me a Vantec P3D 5030 heatsink for the Pentium III. I must say, this is a VERY impressive heatsink for a little over twenty bucks! Performance wise, the Vantec P3D 5030 is second only to the Alpha P3125S at this point in time. And at less than half the price of the Alpha and 2 60mm Fans, you get much more bang for your buck! With a little bit of hacking, as Joe did in his review of this heatsink HERE, you can get even more performance out of it.
I tested this heatsink on a BX6R2 with a PIII 450 overclocked to 558 @ 2.0 volts. With an Alpha P3125S installed. The core temp (measured from the internal diode) after 20 mins of Prime 95 was 91F. I Installed the Vantec and after 20 minutes of Prime 95, the core temp was 97F. With the stock Intel heatsink, the core temp after 20 Mins of Prime 95 was 119F!
Conclusions:
These are just a couple of alternative ways to add a little cooling to your case without totally ripping the system apart and taking the Dremel or Metal Shears to your case. They are all relatively inexpensive and VERY easy to install. The PIII heatsink takes a little more work but compared to the stock Intel Heatsink is a very good performer. This heatsink will handle a moderately overclocked PIII without any problems. For extreme overclocking, the Alpha is still the one to beat.
PCNUT should have the system coolers listed on their website this weekend, the Vantec PIII heatsink is listed now.
This review and comments are just my personal observations and
opinion. As with any products and services, please research throughly
before making any purchases. The reviewer and overclockers.com shall not
and will not be held liable for any damages cause by products reviewed in
this article.
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