Antec SpotCool System Case Fan Review

[COLOR=#000000]When building a system, cooling is always a vital component and has been since the beginning of time. As technology develops, parts get faster and also generate more heat, but manufacturers are working on faster components that use less heat. This is where the likes of Sandy Bridge and Fusion are coming into play in the CPU arena. Other components are also in the same boat, hence we have seen the likes of DDR2 with it's 2.2 + voltages make the transition to the lower voltage DDR3 which operates at a more common 1.6-1.9v. Graphics cards are in the same boat but we could list through every component until the cows come home. The truth is that every component needs cooling in some shape or form, whether it be from a heatsink made from aluminium or copper, or an active solution in the way of a fan. They all have their separate job and some perform better than others. What market leader Antec have created, is a fan designed to cool any component inside your case dependant on where you position it. They've called it the SpotCool, and they've made it so that you can point it at your CPU socket to aid on cooling your processor, or at your memory, Northbridge, Southbridge or many other places. The choices are endless and are completely up to the user, but does it work? Will we see a significant difference by using it? Lets find out shall we! Technical DetailsProduct Description: Antec Spot Cool - case fanProduct Type: Case fanRotation Speed: 2000/2500/3000 rpmAir Flow: 15/18/22 cfmNoise Level: 23 dBAPower Connector: 3-pin plugFeatures: Variable fan speed, blue LEDs[/COLOR]Packaging and Bundle[COLOR=#000000]The front gives a clear view of the product and is the first noticeable thing you'll see, the Antec logo is sported above it and you will see a picture of the SpotCool in action near the bottom. This picture shows how the product lights up with its blue LEDs.[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000]The back of the packaging gives a lot more detail by listing the fans main features including how it is a quiet & flexible 3-speed blue LED fan. We are told this in many different languages and then shown in picture format as to how the fan can be swivelled and bent into different shapes and orientations. It also shows how the fan would be attached to your motherboard with the supplied screw. You will notice that this isn't like your ordinary plastic packaging as the whole casing is riveted together, which seems a bit excessive and other simpler methods could have been used instead. This does cause some problems when opening the packaging as it can lead to the contents being hurled across the room or by hurting yourself. Inside will reveal that the fan comes included with some accessories. We are supplied with a screw for mounting the fan onto your motherboard or chassis as well as a brief instructions guide which details the installation and fitting of the fan including how to connect the power connector to the fan header and how to adjust the fan speed and what outputs in RPM, CFM and dBA the fan has. [/COLOR]A Closer Look[COLOR=#000000][COLOR=#000000]On one side of the fan you will find a plastic style grill to protect the fan. This grill has a swirl style design and will also stop little fingers from going anywhere near the fan blades.[/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000] [/COLOR][COLOR=#000000] [COLOR=#000000]The other side of the fan is not protected by any type of grill but does feature the Antec logo, and also tells us that the fan has 3 speeds. You can see there are 4 LEDs positioned around the center of the fan and where the wires for powering the fan go into the middle. One nice feature of the SpotCool is that the fan can swivel in its casing, allowing for maximum airflow when needed as it enables you to position the airflow to the most needed parts of your system. When overclocking, these are generally your CPU socket area or memory banks. The detachable arm is coiled and can be angled in several positions to enable the fan position to point to the vital components that will benefit from its cooling. The end of the arm has a bracketed section for easily installing it onto your motherboard with the supplied screw. The fan has 3 (red, yellow and black) wires coming from the fan and at the end has a 3-pin fan connector. This can be placed onto your motherboard fan headers of which you will need to refer to your motherboard manual for guidance on. As this fan doesn't sport a 4-pin PWM fan header, and instead only has a 3-pin connector you will find that it has a built in fan speed controller. This has 3 settings of low, medium and high of which each operate at a different speed (RPM), push different amounts of air (CFM) and also have a different noise level (dBA). The various fan settings on the SpotCool are as follows: [TABLE=class: grid, align: center][TR][TD]DC 12V[/TD][TD]Low[/TD][TD]Medium[/TD][TD]High[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]RPM[/TD][TD]2000[/TD][TD]2500[/TD][TD]3000[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]CFM[/TD][TD]15[/TD][TD]18[/TD][TD]22[/TD][/TR][TR][TD]dBA[/TD][TD]23[/TD][TD]27[/TD][TD]33[/TD][/TR][/TABLE] Due to the LEDs that this fan has, we thought that it only be fitting to show you how it looks when in operating in the dark. [/COLOR][/COLOR]Performance Testing[COLOR=#000000][COLOR=#000000][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Tahoma]Test SystemProcessor (CPU)AMD Phenom II X6 1100TMotherboardAsus Crosshair IV FormulaMemory (RAM)4GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1800MHz Graphics CardAMD Radeon HD 6850Heatsink (HSF)CoolerMaster Hyper 212+Primary Hard Drive2 x Kingston V+ Series 64GB SSD(RAID 0)Power SupplyBFG EX Series 1200 Watt Modular Power SupplyChassisCoolerMaster Lab Test BenchOperating SystemWindows 7 Professional Edition 64-bit When testing a fan or similar cooling device, there are plenty of variables that will affect the outcome and final temperatures. To make sure testing is fair and concise, you will firstly need to make sure that the ambient temperature is at a constant rate throughout the testing phase. To combat this, we used an indoor digital temperature reading that showed the ambient room temperature was 21 degrees Celsius throughout our tests. The second part of the testing is to make sure that the same software is used throughout, this includes the temperature monitoring software as well as any software used to simulate 100% load of the testing area. To bring out system to 100% load, we used Prime95 and FurMark. When measuring the idle temperature, the system is left to sit in an idle state for 15 minutes, the temperature is then recorded, the two benchmarking applications are then opened and started for 15 minutes until the temperature is recorded again. This phase is the load state to see how the temperature differs from its idle form. For our tests, we took a look at how the Northbridge temperature is affected by measuring idle and load temperatures with no fan used, the fan at low setting, medium and also high setting to see how the temperature fairs against the different settings as well as to see if the fan is a worthwhile product or if it's unneeded. We also tested the noise level of the fan using a 5-in1 digital multimeter. We tested at low, medium and high settings to give a clear comparison between the different speeds.[/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][COLOR=#000000] [COLOR=#000000][FONT=Tahoma]We started by testing the ambient room noise with the fan switched off which gave us a clear indication to work from. We could then continue to see how many extra decibels the fan created and could then subtract the ambient room noise from this to see how much noise the fan made.[/COLOR][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR]Results[COLOR=#000000]The Northbridge showed slight improvement with the fan, especially when at high speed giving a clear 8-9 degrees cooler as opposed to not using the fan in idle and load states. For every day use, you are most likely to be running on a low or medium setting which still gives 4-5 degrees cooler temperatures than not running the fan at all.[/COLOR] [COLOR=#000000][COLOR=#000000]For cooler temperatures, you will be compensating by extra noise, of which you will find on the lowest setting, the noise is quite minimal but still noticeable whereas the highest setting is very audible at 33.8dBA. If you are going to be using this fan, we do suggest having a strongly built case and possibly using some kind of sound proofing as the high pitched whine could get on your nerves quite easily.[/COLOR][/COLOR] Final Thoughts[COLOR=#000000]Though there isn't a great deal to say that the results didn't already say for themselves, the device is surely going to have a niche market within the modding and enthusiast industry. It's a quirky device that would be perfect as a gift or stocking filler, but we can't see people jumping through hoops to put it on their wish list next to their new Sandy Bridge processor, latest Asus motherboard and GTX 580 graphics card. Whilst the price is relatively low and build quality looks to be sturdy, it will add a certain desired effect in your system, especially in a case with a window, as the blue LEDs give it a certain edge over other similar products on the market. The fact that it's made by Antec is just an added bonus to us, as we all know they are a brand that we know and trust and in this market, that speaks for itself. Pros: [COLOR=green]Good value[/COLOR][COLOR=green]Simple to install[/COLOR][COLOR=green]Fan speed controller[/COLOR][COLOR=green]Looks cool when lit up[/COLOR]Cons:[COLOR=red]Niche market[/COLOR][COLOR=red]Reliable brand[/COLOR]Rating:Design: 7Features: 7Performance: 5Value: 8[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Tahoma] [/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR] Attached files 1.jpg (48.4 KB) 10.jpg (73.9 KB) 2.jpg (53.6 KB) 3.jpg (39.4 KB) 4.jpg (86.6 KB) 5.jpg (92.6 KB) 6.jpg (57.7 KB) 7.jpg (28 KB) 8.jpg (53.4 KB) 9.jpg (62.3 KB) antecspotcool.jpg (28.8 KB) antecspotcoolnoise.jpg (21.9 KB) bronze.jpg (15 KB) multimeter.jpg (48.5 KB) spotcool.jpg (10.1 KB)