Vantec Vortex HDD Cooler Review

Conclusions

This is a great product, far better from other HDD coolers we’ve seen in the past. Everything about it is great: its fan isn’t a regular fan but a crossflow blower, which distributes the air more evenly through the hard disk drive; its digital thermometer is a must-have for all users that are really worried with the hard disk drive temperature; and you can select the fan speed or even disable it to find the perfect balance between noise and performance.

In our tests we installed Vortex on our PC and ran 3DMark03 three times. With its fan turned off, the hard disk drive temperature reached 41º C (105.8º F). With its fan set to “low” the hard disk drive temperature dropped to 33º C (91.4º F), and setting it to “high” the hard disk drive temperature dropped to 29º C (84.2º F), which is a very good result. We were using a DiamondMax Plus 9 hard drive from Maxtor, which runs at 7,200 rpm.

We can only think about two things missing on this product. The first one is the lack of more fan speed options. While Vortex 2 provides this feature, it lacks the digital thermometer. The second one is regarding its material. While its top cover is aluminum-made, its base is steel-made. It would be a far better product if it were entirely made of aluminum. However this would probably increase its price.

Talking about pricing, we think its price is right for what this product is: a HDD cooler with a digital thermometer, a crossflow blower and an aluminum top cover.