Mini Review: Antec's Spot Cool

[Brian]

Antec’s Spot Cool is specifically designed to mount on any motherboard to provide cooling wherever you need it most. Simply mount it on a motherboard mounting hole, angle the fan as you desire and power it from a motherboard fan connector. 3-speed switch lets you balance quiet performance with maximum cooling. Get active cooling for your RAM, or expansion cards, or wherever your system needs it, and you’ll see even better performance.


Features:

>> Mount virtually anywhere inside a case
>> Cools RAM, expansion cards
>> Blue LED illumination included
>> 3-speed switch lets you balance quiet performance with maximum cooling

Pics!







Manufacturer's Link: Antec’s Spot Cool


This device is absolutely perfect for cooling off specific areas of your motherboard that standard fans can't reach or be mounted near. The wand attached to the fan attaches anywhere inside your case where you have a screw. It can be a motherboard screw, a hard drive cage screw, whatever. The bendable wand can then be adjusted to allow for proper placement of your fan over whatever specific area of your motherboard you want to cool off.

In the package: the Spot Cool fan itself, an instruction sheet and a screw!

I just built a Core 2 Duo system for a customer using an Intel DG965OT motherboard. It's a great little mATX board but it has one major annoyance: the Southbridge chip (ICH) with it's small aluminum heatsink runs pretty warm. When I first booted up the system after installing Windows, with the case open, it was at 73C!

After closing up the case with an 80mm fan at the front and a 120mm fan at the rear, it still stayed around 59-60C. All the time.

I didn't like that temp, especially since all the other temps were so much lower.

I needed a specific device that could be used to reduce the temperature of that one single hot spot and Antec's Spot Cool did the trick!

I looked over the interior of the case and found one of the screws on the hard drive cage would give me the proper placement. After attaching the end of the wand there, it was a simple matter of plugging the Spot Cool's power connector into the intake fan header and then bending the adjustable wand to move the fan about 2.5 inches directly over the Southbridge chip's heatsink.

I turned on the computer and the hot spot was immediately reduced by 7C! And it stayed at that reduced temperature for the next two hours until I left!

The fan has three adjustable speeds: low, medium and high. I selected the medium speed.

It has flashing blue LED's as well which were a silly addition in my opinion but I guess for those with windowed cases, it might add an extra "cool factor".

Before and after screenshots are below:

Before Spot Cool:




After Spot Cool:




All in all, a great product fo people like me who don't want to muck around with replacing motherboard heatsinks!

I just wish I had invented it!

Four and a half stars out of five!

[Brian]

These things are great for cooling RAM, too!

[TopDogZero]

I was looking at these at Antec site, good to see someone with first hand experience with them and nice enough to share it with the rest of use.
By the way do you know of any software that would show me the I/O and memory controller temps on my motherboard Asus P5K-E/WiFi-AP, speed fan and everest don't show these temps.

[INVALiD]

Nice find, thanks

I can tell you first hand the southbridge chip runs hotter than the northbridge on that MB.

I might actually try this. If I do I'll provide some feedback on it.

[sammy2066]

Great review Brian ...

[INVALiD]

Had a look at this thing recently....

The stick is solidly built, but the fan and rotation assembly feels flimsy and easily breakable.

Can be noisy at high speeds and doesn't push enough air for the noise.

Not too good for SFF cases; big and bulky.

Like the way it can be easily screwed to almost anyware there there is a screw.

[NBK]

Thanks Brian,

I plan to buy one or two!!!

NBK