BlueSmoke - Review : 2CoolPC Turbo & Plus

		Date	: Jan 17th, 2002
		Category	: Cooling
		Manufacturer	: South Bay Engineering
		Author	: Tom Smith

We all know that HEAT is the number one killer of computer components. So how do we battle this foe that we cannot see but will never actually go away. Add more cooling equipment. What we have on the bench today is the 2CoolPC Turbo and the 2CoolPC Plus. There is no doubt that AMD Athlon/XP/Duron systems run hot, very hot. If the fan should fail or the heatsink should fall off of your processor it would go up in smoke in a matter of seconds.

Stock heatsinks are decent enough for a stock processor clock to the factory speed. With the advent of overclocking we have increased the heat output of the processor, so a stock heatsink no longer will suffice, but with out shelling out 70 to 100 bones for a top notch heat sink there are some alternatives to help combat this situation.

I have to admit after reading all the reviews I was still very skeptical about the performance of this new contraption. It has a 92 MM fan in front of a soft plastic vent. I was not really sure how it would perform and to be honest I was expecting it to fail, but I quickly and gladly changed my mind after I saw the results. I have three systems that I will be testing this device on. System 1. AMD XP 1800+ with a stock HSF not overclocked. 2. AMD Duron 1.0 GHz Stock HSF overclocked to 1.1 GHz. System 3 Intel Celeron 733 Stock HSF overclocked to 800Mhz. All systems were ran for 3 hours. With the Sandra burn in wizard running. The burn in wizard will run your processor at 100%. That should get it heated up nicely. The room temperature stayed at a constant 70 F.

Lets check out the specs on the 2 devices.

	The Ultimate PC and Server Cooling System Made with a Super High output 50 CFM 92x92x25 mm Double ball bearing fan. 2700 RPM .3 Amp Power Draw. 65,000 Hour life expectancy (Has Y Style Molex Power Connection
	2CoolPC-Turbo 60 CFM Power! Made with a 60 CFM 92x92x25 mm Double ball bearing fan. 2900 RPM .39 Amp Power Draw. 55,000 Hour life expectancy (Has Y Style Molex Power Connection)

So what is the real difference between the two. Here's what South Bay has to say :

"The only difference is the type of fans used in the assembly. The 2COOLPC has a top quality sleeve fan rated at 24,000 hours MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure). This fan pushes about 36 CFM at about 7.8 mph air velocity and has a power draw of .17 amps. The 2COOLPC-PLUS has a server quality, double ball bearing fan that pushes about 50 CFM at about 13.5 mph air velocity and has a .3 amp power draw and a life expectancy of 64,000 hours MTBF (About 7 Years). The 2COOLPC-TURBO has a super high end server quality, double ball bearing fan that pushes over 60 CFM at about 19.7 mph air velocity, with a .39 amp power draw and a life expectancy of 60,000 hours MTBF (About 6.75 Years)."

One of the interesting features of both of these devices is the fan is split by the "vent" allowing airflow behind the the device to cool PCI cards that are in the slots. Works for me. Lets see how these boys perform.

Before

After

105.3	111.9	AMD XP 1800+	98.5	108.3
102.0	107.5	AMD Duron 1.1	97.9	102.8
100.0	103.1	Intel Celeron 733	95.0	99.1

Processor Idle

Processor Load

Processor

Processor Idle

Processor Load

Before

After

85.6	88.5	AMD XP 1800+	82.8	83.9
83.0	85.1	AMD Duron 1.1	80	82.2
83.5	86.5	Intel Celeron 733	82.1	83.4

Case Idle

Case Load

Processor

Case Idle

Case Load

So what do I think about these products? I think that they are worth while investments. If you case has all the "stock" locations already filled with fans and you don't want or have the time (yeah right!) to MOD your case, then this is a great idea. The performance of the products did not disappoint. You can place the plastic vent to blow pretty much right across a processor, therefore giving the HSF a little boost in most cases. So if you have an extra $20.00 to $40.00 that you can spend I would recommend that you get one of these.

I would like to thank Paul over at South Bay Engineering for sending out these products for review.

Now for the good stuff. We are having a contest. We will be giving away 5 total devices. All you need to do is submit a case badge to the gallery. One winner will be picked every week. I will be getting a hold of the winner via e-mail to verify shipping information.