No doubt, cooling is important for a PC's components like the CPU, vidcard, etc. especially if you belong to the overclocking and modding crowd. You'll find tons of cooling devices for these components and the numbers keep growing with manufacturers coming out with a new device every other month. These devices helps you achieve a stable overclock and even if you don't overclock, it keeps the CPU, vidcard, etc cool and helps to prolong the life of the component. And like these components, your hard drive is getting faster and hotter as well.

   Now with Parallel ATA (IDE) drives reaching 10,000 rpm, cooling them down becomes essential in prolonging your hard drive life and making sure your valuable data is protected. And today we're gonna take a look at Vantec's Vortex HDD Cooler, a device that will help you do just that.

Specifications

   The Vortex HDD Cooler is Vantec's latest product to come out of their production line and they are constructed of aluminium with a plastic front bezel with a LED display. It's available in either Silver and Black. Here re the specs for the unit;

• Fits in standard 5.25" drive bay

• for 3.5" hard drives

• User manual

• unique mounting design to dampen hard drive vibration

• special crossflow blower fan for superior airflow

• LED display for temperature (°C/°F) and fan speed

• Fan rating = 12V and 0.1A

• 2000 - 3700 RPM

• 16 - 30CFM

• Fan MTBF 30,000 hours

• Ball bearing type

• Noise level 28 - 38dbA

• Removable Dust filters + 3 extra filters

• Mounting screws

   At first glance, the Vortex looks like any other removable hard drive rack but it does not have any connectors behind it. This makes it compatible for Parallel ATA (IDE), Serial ATA and even SCSI hard drives. As always, Vantec provides a well written and illustrated manual that guides you step by step to the installation of your hard drive and the unit into your case.

  Here you see the unit itself with it's stylish minimalist front bezel design. On the left is a large door that hides the filter and the crossflow blower behind it.

   On the right is the LED display and also the button to control the fan speed as well as changing from °C to °F temp display. The Vortex logo is kinda silk screened to the top of the unit but too bad no one's gonna see it.. unless you have a window on top of your case.