PCI slot coolers

[fretted]

What are people's experiences of using a PCI slot cooler? How effective are they and do you notice the noise?

OCUK sells Akasa System Exhausts Blowers for a few quid but they seem to be loud. Other competitors are selling Antec Super Cylone Dual Slot cooler, it appears to be bigger, have 3 different speed settings but does not exhaust as much air.

 

[vanandjuanunited]

do you really need one
Would better quieter case fans not be more beneficial

 

[fretted]

It's for my HTPC, the case is a Thermaltake DH101 - air is only exhausted by 2x60mm rear case fans running at 5v and psu (120mm fan), there is no fan mounts left. I've recently just added a passive graphics card and looking at options to bring temperatures down. At the moment, case temps hover around 38 degrees at idle.

 

[fretted]

Just read that the Antec at lowest setting is rated at 24dba, that's pretty loud

 

[miniyazz]

Just read that the Antec at lowest setting is rated at 24dba, that's pretty loud

No it's not. In practical terms you will be hard pushed to hear anything below 30dBa, which is four times louder than 24dBa. That said, the noise rating is probably not worth the paper it's written on as there are so many variables to take into account.

 

[JonJ678]

These are seriously good. I've used up to three at various times when air cooling. Just the 4 quid ones too, I imagine the lian li one is better.

Putting a slot cooler in the bottom pci slot stops warm air accumulating around the graphics cards.

If you have a top mounted psu and use a tower cooler of some sort, then a cooler in the top slot can help lots. With three fans drawing the warm air from the cooler out of the case airflow through the heatsink tends to go up. The slot cooler also acts to isolate the cpu area from the graphics card.

That said, the noise rating is probably not worth the paper it's written on as there are so many variables to take into account.

Any noise rating which fails to specify the distance away from the source that the measurement was taken at, or doesn't mention the level of background noise, is meaningless. Or I suppose I could just say +1

 

[fretted]

but how loud have you found them.. I think 20ish pounds is a lot to pay for the lian li fans....

 

[JonJ678]

A solid wooshing noise, but nothing offensive. Running them at 7V makes them quieter than my psu.

How loud is your current system, and which components are making the most noise?

I imagine the dual slot one is the same thing but a bit wider, the speed switch is a nice touch. I've not used on myself, indeed this is the first I've heard of it. Probably worth a try for a tenner.