Antec VCool

Author:  Tyler Curry Date:  2005.10.11 Topic:  Cooling Provider:  Antec Manufacturer:  Antec

Specs and Installation

The Antec VCool is simply an expansion slot cooler meant to intake air from outside your case and blow it inside, particularly towards your video card.  Thus, according to Antec should decrease your video cards temperature anywhere from 5 to 15 degrees celcius.

Included in the VCool package is nothing more than the VCool fan itself and one extension piece.  It is just an expansion slot cooler so no accessories such as thermal paste are included nor needed.  The cooler features a three speed switch to control the fans RPM's from 2500, 3000, and 3500. It also sports some blue LED illumination which adds some spaz to your case, however unfortunately there is no way to turn off the blue LED's unless you want to unplug the fan itself.  As seen in the third picture below there is an extension piece included with the fan, allowing you to somewhat adjust the length of the cooler to position it closer to your video cards processor and/or heatsink.  This is quite useful considering most top-end cards are fairly long while most lower end cards are short, so this feature will make almost all video card owners happy.

Installation of the Antec VCool couldn't be any easier.  You will need two free expansion slots, preferably near your video card, and you just slide it into place and mount it you would any other expansion card.  You then plug it in via a 4-pin molex connector and your done.

Now to the test, which is rather simple.  Antec claims a 5 to 15 degree celcius drop in temperature to your video card with this cooler.  So we will test out Antec's claim with a Powercolor SCS X700XT video card which is passively cooled.  We will monitor the temperatures using ATI's CATALYST control panel using the 3 different speed settings on the VCool.  And the results are as follows...