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Antec SmartCools


Date
: 07/30/02 – 08:18:44 PM

Author
:

Category
: Cooling

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer: Antec
Price: N/A

Introduction

Case cooling is very important to maintain a stable system, we all know that. But we don't want half a Learjet sitting on our desk! We just want enough airflow to keep our rig nice and stable, do we? (ok I know some of you actually love the sound of a Learjet in their room ;)) In the past, I reviewed several fans going from ultra loud and powerful delta fans pushing 80CFM to more "normal" fans like the Vantec Stealth fans, who still deliver a nice amount of airflow without driving you or your co-habitants crazy!

Today I am taking a closer look at yet another kind of case fan: a thermal controlled one made by Antec, a manufacturer well-known for their high quality computer cases. What does that mean? Well, in short, it means that the fan will adjust its speed according to the temperature in your case. That way, your fans will only bother you with "noise" when it is necessary, a.k.a. when your case temperature is getting too high. If your case temp is low, your fans will know and spin at a much lower speed, resulting in less noise. Are these fans for real, or is it just a marketing stunt? O² investigates and reports …

Page 2 : Specifications

Specifications

Antec's SmartCool is available in four different flavors: 60mm, 80mm, 92mm and 120mm. Let's take a look at the specifications for these models.

60mm SmartCool

- Upgrade/Replacement fan for CPU heatsinks
- 60mm wide
- Wire attached temperature sensor (150mm long)
- Variable speed: RPM increases as the CPU temperature rises
- Double ball bearing design for extended life
- Comes with a 4-pin power connector and a separate signal connector to motherboard

80mm SmartCool

- Up to 80% quieter thermally controlled 80mm case fan
- 80mm wide
- Built-in temperature sensor
- Variable speed: RPM increases as the temperature rises
- Double ball bearing design for extended life
- Comes with a 4-pin power connector and a separate signal connector to motherboard
- Comes with four self-tapping screws

92mm SmartCool

- Up to 80% quieter thermally controlled 92mm case fan
- 92mm wide
- Built-in temperature sensor
- Variable speed: RPM increases as the temperature rises
- Double ball bearing design for extended life
- Comes with a 4-pin power connector and a separate signal connector to motherboard
- Comes with four self-tapping screws

120mm SmartCool

- Up to 80% quieter thermally controlled 120mm case fan
- 120mm wide
- Built-in temperature sensor
- Variable speed: RPM increases as the temperature rises
- Double ball bearing design for extended life
- Comes with a 4-pin power connector and a separate signal connector to motherboard

As you can see, the three biggest models have identical specifications (not taking the size into account). The 60mm fan, which is intended to be used on heatsinks, comes with a 150mm long temperature sensor. This should come in very handy as you can stick this sensor as close as you want to the CPU core, ensuring optimal cooling.

So how do these SmartCools work? Like I said, the 60mm fan comes with the 150mm long sensor cable, but the other fans do not feature this. So how can they measure the temperature? Well, there is a small temperature sensor sitting right underneath the blades, next to the fan motor. This device constantly checks temperature and adjusts the fan speed accordingly.

At a case temperature of 20 degrees Celsius or lower, the SmartCools spin at their lowest setting. At 25 degrees Celsius they shift to a higher gear, at 30 degrees Celsius again and so on until they reach their maximum speed at 50 degrees Celsius or more.

To give you an idea about the fan speeds, here are the min. and max. numbers for each fan:

60mm SmartCool

Not available at this time.

80mm SmartCool

- Fan speed @ 20 degrees Celsius (lowest setting): 1630RPM
- Fan speed @ 50 degrees Celsius (highest setting): 2900RPM
- Noise @ 20 degrees Celsius (lowest setting): 21dBA
- Noise @ 50 degrees Celsius (highest setting): 34.5dBA
- Air flow @ 20 degrees Celsius (lowest setting): 28CFM
- Air flow @ 50 degrees Celsius (highest setting): 45CFM

92mm SmartCool

- Fan speed @ 20 degrees Celsius (lowest setting): 1410RPM
- Fan speed @ 50 degrees Celsius (highest setting): 2280RPM
- Noise @ 20 degrees Celsius (lowest setting): 23dBA
- Noise @ 50 degrees Celsius (highest setting): 32dBA
- Air flow @ 20 degrees Celsius (lowest setting): 35CFM
- Air flow @ 50 degrees Celsius (highest setting): 49CFM

120mm SmartCool

- Fan speed @ 20 degrees Celsius (lowest setting): 1100RPM
- Fan speed @ 50 degrees Celsius (highest setting): 1800RPM
- Noise @ 20 degrees Celsius (lowest setting): 24.86dBA
- Noise @ 50 degrees Celsius (highest setting): 34dBA
- Air flow @ 20 degrees Celsius (lowest setting): 44.6CFM
- Air flow @ 50 degrees Celsius (highest setting): 73CFM

As you can see from the numbers above, these fans operate fairly quiet while pushing a good amount of airflow. Most users won't ever use these fans at their fastest setting because to be honest, I never had a case temperature of 50 degrees Celsius, even during the summer I haven't … When your case temperature exceeds 50 degrees Celsius, your CPU will be running at +65 degrees Celsius or more and I doubt that it will be stable at those temperatures! Personally, my case temp has always been between 25 and 35 degrees Celsius, which means the SmartCools would be spinning at lowest to midlevel setting. At these speeds, the SmartCools are virtually silent. I hooked up the 80mm fan and held it next to my ear and I still could not hear any noise coming from it (besides the airflow itself of course).

Page 3 : Installation & Testing

Installation & Testing

Antec has been nice and has installation instructions on how hook up these SmartCools. Let's see how "hard" it is ;).

Installation Instructions

1. For most heatsink fans, you will need to remove the fan currently installed on the heatsink. Antec recommends removing the heatsink/fan from the CPU/motherboard. Using the appropriate screw driver (normally Phillips head) unscrew the screws that attach the fan to the heatsink.

2. Next place Antec Smart Cool on the heatsink, being sure to line up the screw holes to where the original fan was secured. Then using the screws that secured your original fan, secure the Smart Cool to the heatsink. Make sure the temperature sensor is not on the retention tab sides.

3. Carefully insert the sensor into the gap between the CPU and the heatsink base. Use a tape to secure the sensor wire onto the motherboard if necessary. Note: Don't let the sensor contact the CPU core as the temperature is very high and thus may burn the protective coating of the sensor.

4. Connect the 4-pin connector to the power supply. Connect the 3-pin fan signal connector to one of the fan connectors on your motherboard.

Note: The 3-pin signal connector does not need to be attached for the Smart Cool to work. It connects to a motherboard fan connector to monitor the Smart Cool's RPM. Some motherboard's BIOS may not work coherently with the fan's pulse signal. It is normal to detect two fluctuating RPM readings. The smaller reading is the correct RPM of the fan.

Ok so now that we have the fans in place, I believe it is time to test them. As always, there is only one way to test a product, and that's by using it. Having that said, I installed the 80mm fan to one of my AX7 heatsinks from Thermalright and used the 120mm fan as a blowhole in one of my cases.

The heatsink fan was doing great: while cooling as expected, the fan was not adding more noise to my system as it was virtually silent. Thanks to the speed-o-meter installed on all the SmartCools, I could monitor the fan speed through Motherboard Monitor, my favorite hardware monitoring program. It showed that the SmartCool was running at about 2300RPM, pushing approximately 39CFM. Note that this is with RC5 running all the time, so the CPU is constantly being "tortured". If I paused RC5 and let the CPU cool down a bit, the fan would slow down to 1900RPM because the case temperature was dropping as well. Sweet!

What does this mean? Well, if you are like me and you have your rig in the same room as your bed, you want a quiet system. When you sleep, you are not using your computer so you can leave it idling. Being at rest, the case temperature is lower so the fans are spinning slower too, resulting in less noise :). Of course if you run RC5 (or SETI or any other distributed computing stuff) your rig will be running at full load all the time … but still, if you sleep you can turn down the heaters to achieve the same effect.

Same story for the 120mm blowhole: when the case temperature dropped, the fan slowed down. When case temperature increased, the fan increased its speed as well to cool down the system. Very nice indeed!

Page 4 : Conclusion

Conclusion

Antec released an interesting product with their SmartCool. This is the perfect case/heatsink fan for people who want an ideal combination of performance and noise. Of course the SmartCools are no substitute for the very powerful Delta fans, as they are not pushing the same amount on air … not even close :). Still, I really like the SmartCools as they are great for use in an all-round system without having a couple of jet engines sitting in your room! I like the idea of only having fan noise when it is really needed (during hot summer days for example) and enjoying the beauty of silence on all the other days without risking to fry my rig.