Today I’ve got a quick review for you of a great little product from Kingston called the HyperX Fan. We know Kingston makes good ram, and now they’ve come out with a fan to help keep it cool. Cooler is better for anything, but especially when you’re overclocking. The HyperX fan can mean the difference between success and failure or stability for your ram. Even if you’re not overclocking though, your system can benefit from it. The fans blow air on the ram and the surrounding areas as well, so it offers to help airflow within your case.

Specifications:

Kingston HyperX Fan

Model: KHX-FAN-B

HyperX Fan keeps memory cool while looking cool.

Kingston proudly introduces the HyperX Fan. Designed with the gamer and PC enthusiast in mind, its dual 60mm fans optimize airflow around the modules to help memory run at peak performance for longer periods of time. The fan is made of anodized aluminum in the same familiar blue color as the HyperX heatspreaders. When turned on, the fan blades are illuminated by eight small blue LEDs.

Product Specifications:
* Whisper-quiet — 28 dBAm maximum
* 12V rated. 8V-13.5V operational range
* RPM: 3000 +/- 10%

Price: $22.99 (Price from NewEgg at time of review)

Unboxing:
The packaging is both cardboard box and plastic box. Included in the box is a brief user manual as you might expect.

The fan comes in essentially seven parts total. The main housing with the two fans, two side pieces and four thumbscrews.

The fan housing is aluminum and it feels lightweight but well made. It’s from Kingston so I would expect nothing less really. It features two 60mm fans controlled by on 3-pin power connection.

The housing is actually two parts, the shroud and the a thin section that holds the fans in place.

Installation, Performance, Comparison 
The first thing you’ll need to do is put it together loosely.  This involves four thumbscrews and the sides. Very simple to do.
 

I’m using the HyperX Fan with my 8gigs of OCZ Gold DDR3 ram.

The HyperX Fan attaches just to the ram clips and is held in place by tension and that’s it.

The fans feature blue LEDs in them to add a bit of color to your case. Here it is installed with flash and without:

The LEDS are fairly bright and look good really. The noise level is very low, the HyperX Fans didn’t add any additional noise to my system at all.

To check to see if the fans were actually doing something I used my infrared thermometer to take temperature readings before and after installation.

I test three spots, top, middle and bottom of the ram.

The average of the three temperatures was 32.6C before and 29.1C after. The ambient room temperature was 21.5C.

So it works as you can see. dropping  a few degrees could mean the difference success and failure when you’re overclocking.

The HyperX Fan seems well made, it’s lightweight and it’s easy to install and of course it looks good.

The Kingston HyperX Fan comes in both Blue and Black colors, I have the blue and I found it wouldn’t work with my previous LG1156 board as it had only ram clips on one side. So that could be a problem, but I haven’t seen many motherboards like that one.

Another issue might be when it comes to large sized ram, the clearance isn’t that big so it might not fit.

And finally the last issue is that the HyperX cooler might not work with large sized CPU cooler, those that over hang the ram slots specifically.

There’s those specific issues yes but they’re exceptions.

Conclusion:
The Kingston HyperX Fan is what you want in your system when you need to keep your ram cool. It cools the ram yes, but the fans also help cool nearby components as well.

The product is well made and it’s very easy to install, and it works.

Pros:
+Easy installation
+Looks good
+Works to cool your ram

Cons:
-Might not fit with ram that have tall heatspreaders
-Might not fit with large CPU coolers

Ratings
Overall: 5 out of 5
Performance: 5 out of 5
Aesthetic: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: 5 out of 5

Disclosure: http://www.bonafidereviews.com/disclosure-policy/

Up for review today I’ve got another NZXT product, this time it’s their new Sentry LXE fan controller. It’s like no other out there today I think, this one is actually external, it has a 5” touch screen from which you make adjustments and control your fans. It’s very well made as we’ve come to expect from NZXT, and it’s fairly easy to use.

Specifications:

Sentry LXE Touch Screen Fan Controller

External aluminum fan controller

Introducing Sentry LXE, a high performance external fan controller with an intuitive touch screen. Its unique patent-pending PCI card interface desktop design allows effortless control without having to reach underneath the desk to configure the settings. Some of the additional advanced features include touch screen capability, 5 channel fan control and temperature detect, time and date display, temperature alarm, and screen on/of functions.

Features:
-Intuitive Touch Screen LCD – Advanced, touch screen LCD displays temperatures in C/F, RPMs, along with the date, time, and day of the week. Users have the ability to switch the display off for complete darkness for more immersive gaming sessions
-Complete Control – 5 Temperature Probes keep tabs on thermals throughout the case while the 5 Fan controllers adjust the fans’ RPM speed for at least 10W per channel. Allows users to automatically adjust the fan speeds to correspond to a specific temperature, manually customize for extreme overclocking capabilities, or set to absolute silence
-Temperature Alarm – Instant notification if temperatures rise above a designated point
-Sleek Design – Brushed aluminum frame provides sleek aesthetics for any desktop.
-Rechargeable Battery – The Sentry LXE features a rechargeable battery for up to 500 times, keeping the LXE life time longer without the hassle of replacing batteries constantly.
-Using a NZXT developed PCI board and external touch display, the LXE allows for more 5.25″ bays freed up for other peripherals.environment. Simply set the fan controller atop your PC or desktop and connect through PCI card interface.

Specs:
Fan Adjustment Range: 3.7V to 12V
Fan Channel: 5
Max watt per channel: 10W
Temperature Module Channel: 5
Temperature Range: 0 ~ 99℃ / 32 ~ 199.9℉
Measurement Frequency: Every 2 Seconds
Temperature Alarm Range: 30℃ to 90℃
(AUTO): Min 50%, Under 0-25℃，fan RPM 50%
(MANUAL): Min 40%
Screen Size: 5.27 inches

Price: $63.99 (From NewEgg at time of review)

Unboxing:
The Sentry LXE comes packaged very well.

Inside you’ll find the touch screen panel, battery, screws, adhesive tape strips, power cables and PCI bracket controller card along with the instructions.

On the back of the PCI card is the power / data connection for the control panel:

There are five fan power connectors with corresponding temperature sensor probes.

The external touch screen fan controller is very well made, and it’s rather heavy. The front is metal while the back is plastic, and it’s very stylish looking.

On the back you’ll find a similar power/data connector like that’s on the PCI bracket.

The bottom has two rubber strip to keep the panel in place.

Installation, Performance, Comparison
I installed the controller with my HTPC / gaming system.  I have five fans in the system so it worked well, there are two in the front, one in the back, one on the top and the CPU cooler fan as well. They’re all Noctua fans actually, four NF-P12 and one NF-P14 on the top.

During installation the first thing I noticed is that the cables are very long, long enough for I’m sure any case setup. Long cables though mean a lot of work keeping things clean and tidy in your case.

The PCI bracket card means of course that you’ll lose a PCI slot. During the installation I did run into a prom, the bracket was actually cut to small and it was very, very hard to get the cable connected.

Here’s a quick wiring job I did:

I used fans 1,2 and 3 as the CPU cooler fan, top and rear so I just stuck the corresponding temperature sensors there.

The last two fan connectors I used for the front two fans so I put the temperature sensors on two of my hard drives.

The instruction manual is very brief but it let’s you know what each button or touch sensor does.

Here’s what it looks like working and turned on:

It’s not actually a fully functioning touch screen, only certain areas can be touch to do something. You can touch the power, plus and minus, alarm, clock and date to adjust them or turn the display off. To adjust the fans you can touch the number corresponding to them.  You can manually adjust the temperature or fan speed.

The touch screen isn’t exactly what I would can very sensitive, I found myself having to touch a couple times before I got the desired effect or action to happen.

It does work well though at controlling your fans either manually or automatically, you can can just go in and adjust things but that can take some time as it doesn’t always seem to do what it should when it should.

Conclusion:
The NZXT Sentry LXE touch screen fan controller is very well made, and it’s pretty easy to use really.

It’s external and rather large so you’ll need to find a place for it of course.

Personally it’s not something I’d like hanging around, I’ve got enough stuff all over the place on and around my computer.

The cables are nice and long, that’s a good thing and a bad thing though. The length is nice to reach anywhere, but those cables will need to be managed or you’ll have a nice mess in your case.

Pros:
+Very well made
+Fairly easy to use
+Very long cables

Cons:
-Touch screen can  be non-responsive
-Tons of cables to work with

Ratings
Overall: 4 out of 5
Performance: 4 out of 5
Aesthetic: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: 5 out of 5

Disclosure: http://www.bonafidereviews.com/disclosure-policy/

Today for review I’ve got something a little different from Thermaltake. The company is known for their cooling products and it’s usually about cooling your PC components and notebooks, but now they’ve introduced one that’s about cooling you. The Mobile Fan 12 is a 120mm fan with a built-in stand and fan speed controller that’s all powered by the USB port on your laptop or netbook, or even your desktop PC.

Specifications:

Mobile Fan 12

Price: USD : $24.99

P/N: AF0007

Features:
-Application for Notebook & Desktop
-Convenient cooling solution for “Mobile user”.
-VR knob : Adjust fan speed manually.
-One-touch retractable USB power cable box.
-Directly plug into USB port. Unnecessary additional power supply .

Fan Dimension: 120 x 120 x 25 mm
Fan Speed: 800 ~ 1,500 RPM ± 250 RPM
Fan Speed Control: VR Knob : Manual Fan Speed Adjustment
Bearing Type: Sleeve
Noise Level: 19 ~ 33.5 dBA
Max. Air Flow: 66.55 CFM
Max. Air Pressure: 1.42 mmH2O
Power Connector: USB 1.1 / 2.0
Rated Voltage: 5 V
Started Voltage: ≦ 4 V
Rated Current: Max. 0.3 A
Power Input: Max. 3.6 W
MTBF: 50,000 Hours @ 25 ℃
Weight: 267 g

Unboxing:
So this little cooling fan comes in the now familiar Thermaltake branded boxes.

Inside you’ll find the fan and accessories packed well.

Included with the fan is a bit of documentation and a USB cable.

The fan itself is pretty much a standard 120mm Thermaltake fan, but it has a built-in stand.

On the top right side you’ll find a knob that controls the fan speed, and you’ll find  a power connector that goes with the USB cable.

Installation, Performance, Comparison
Well to test it I used it with my netbook.

(and yes my 5 yr old son felt I needed some stickers on my monitor…)

There’s no on/off switch for the fan, the only way to turn it off is to unplug it.

The knob is used to control the speed and when on low to medium it’s silent. When you turn it to full speed, it’s not loud but it is audible.

The fan does move a lot of air, and it’s actually kind of refreshing to have cool air blowing on your while you’re typing.

So it works, and it works well to keep you cool, and I’m sure it possibly helps to keep your notebook a little cooler as well.

Conclusion:
The Thermaltake Mobile Fan 12 is a fine product in itself, it works and works well. It’s a 120mm fan that’s used to cool you, and not your computer, and for that it works well.

The only issues I have is that I don’t quite get the point of it really. Sure I understand it’s to keep people cool but I don’t know how much of a market there is for it really.

Pros:
+Works well
+Silent on low
+Simple and easy to use

Cons:
-Rather pointless
-No power switch

Ratings
Overall: 5 out of 5
Performance: 5 out of 5
Aesthetic: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: 5 out of 5

Disclosure: http://www.bonafidereviews.com/disclosure-policy/

It’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed any VGA coolers, not just here but anywhere really.. Today for review I’ve got the Thermaltake DuOrb VGA cooler. The DuOrb is nice looking product, it’s copper and it has blue LEDs in it for a little color in your case. I’ve got a Diamond ATI 4870 1gig that has a stock cooler that works fairly well, but it can get rather loud under load so I had high hopes that the DuOrb could keep my card cool and quiet at the same time…  

Specifications:

DuOrb

Universal Design for NVIDIA & ATI Graphic card
- Compatible with : nVIDIA 9800/9600/8800/7900/7800/7600/6800 Series VGA Cards.
- Compatible with : ATi HD4870/4850/4830/3870/3850 & X1950/1900/1800 Series VGA Cards.

Ultimate cooling performance
- All copper construction:copper base & copper fin provided maximum cooling performance.
- 2 long length Heatpipe structure, removes heat from source via 2 different channels.
- Attached VGA memory & VRM chip sinks provide the total thermal solution for VGA cooling.

Mirror coating copper base to guarantee perfect contact between GPU and cooler.

Innovative DuOrb patented design
- Scurve fan blade design and 6-LED lights.
- Dual-pipe and heatsink design, bring you the whole new visual experience.
- Dual 80mm ultimate silent fan. Maximum cooling efficiency for quietness.
Compatibility:   
nVIDIA 9800 GTX/GT
nVIDIA 9600 GSO/FT
nVIDIA 8800 GT/GTS/GTX/Ultra
nVIDIA 7900 GS/GTX
nVIDIA 7800 GS/GT/GTX
nVIDIA 6800 GS/GT
ATi HD4870
ATi HD4850
ATi HD4830
ATi HD3870
ATi HD3850
ATi X1950 PRO/XT/XTX
ATi X1900 GT/XT/XTX
ATi X1800 GTO/XL/XT

Dimension: 180.5 (L) x 98.5 (W) x 30 (H)mm/7.11 (L)  x 3.88 (W) x 1.18 (H) in
Heatsink Material: Copper base & Copper Fin
Heatpipe: 6 mm x 2pcs
Fan Dimension: 80 x 15 mm x 2pcs
Fan Speed: 2500 RPM   
Max. Air Flow: 23.8 CFM
MTBF: 50000 Hours
Power Connector: 4-pin
Weight: 324 g

Price: USD : $49.99  

Unboxing:

So the Thermaltake DuOrb comes in a box as one might expect. The box has a window on the front, and the specs listed on the back.

Inside we find a plastic box that has the cooler in it and a smaller accessory box.

The DuOrb is a nice looking cooler, it’s basically all copper with heatpipes and two fans in it.

As far as thickness, it’s fairly thin really, but it will still take up the slot below your card.

Here’s the bottom of the cooler, and a close up of the base. The base is polished and appears to be flat.

Included in the accessory box is all you need to install the DuOrb on your video card. You want use all of the parts though, it all depends on which model you has as to what parts you’ll use.

Installation, Performance, Comparison

As I mentioned in the intro I’ve got a Diamond ATI Radeon 4870 1gig video card and here it is:

You can see the 4870 I have has a beefy heatpipe cooler on it, not those plastic shroud ones that are fairly common. So I was really curious as to how the DuOrb compares to this cooler.

According the instructions you’re supposed to remove the stock cooler, clean it up and then install the ram heatsinks:

The next two steps would be to install the brackets onto the cooler itself and then screw in the mounts to those.

The next step would be to apply thermal compound to the VGA core and then attach the DuOrb to the card. It’s easy to do, just set the cooler onto the core making sure the posts go through the holes in the card. Then you’ll put plastic washers onto the posts on the back of the card and then use the supplied nuts to secure the cooler to the card fully.

Here’s my cad with the cooler installed, you can see it’s much smaller than the stock cooler that was on the card.

Installation was easy but I did run into one small issue, the DuOrb hit the capacitors on my card so I had to bend it up just a little bit to fit correctly.

Here it is  installed in my system with my other 4870 video card, you can see there’s a big difference in the size of both coolers, but the DuOrb still takes up the slot below the card.

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..and here’s a shot of it powered on all lit up:

When I powered on my system I immediately noticed how much quieter it was, and a little brighter. Less noise though doesn’t mean much if the cooler doesn’t perform so onto the testing.

Ambient room temperature during my tests was 21C (+/- .3c)

To get load on my video card I used FurMark set at 1920×1080 resolution, Stability Test in Xtreme Burning Mode.

So here’s the results:

The DuOrb is quiet but not that great at keeping my 4870 cool. Apparently the heatpipe cooler form Diamond is a good one. 90C is a safe temperature, but the idea here is too keep the card as cool as possible or at least that’s what I want in a cooler.

If you wanted to keep your system quiet and you don’t run your card at load a  lot or overclock then maybe you might want this cooler, but if your aim at all is to keep the temps down then I don’t think you’ll want this one at all.

After seeing those temps I wasn’t even going to try to overclock my card with the DuOrb in place, and I don’t think anyone else would attempt it either.

Conclusion:
The Thermaltake DuOrb VGA cooler doesn’t perform very well, at least on my card and compared to the stock heatpipe cooler of my Diamond Radeon ATI 4870.

For me the performance just isn’t that good. Yes it’s quiet and it looks good but it’s just not that good at cooling… As they say, looks aren’t everything…

Pros:
+Quiet
+Easy install
+Well made

Cons:
-Performance is not the greatest
-Had to bend it to fit on card

Ratings
Overall: 3 out of 5
Performance: 3 out of 5
Aesthetic: 4 out of 5
Build Quality: 4 out of 5

Disclosure: This product was given to Bona Fide Reviews for review by the company for review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the review, we do not, and never will, accept payment from companies to review their products.

Today for review I’ve got another product from our friends over at NZXT, it’s their new fan controller the Sentry 2. This isn’t just any fan controller though, it features a touch screen and it only takes up one 5.25” bay. Personally I like this product quite a bit, in my opinion it’s the best fan controller on the market today. It’s easy to use, it works well and it looks great.

Specifications:

SENTRY 2

5.25? Touch Screen fan controller
Introducing the Sentry 2, a full system fan controller with an advanced touch screen interface. Sentry 2 easily installs in a 5.25: bay and is compatible with any fan that uses voltage control. The innovative touch screen features ultra fast selection and response time and displays all pertinent info including temperature readout in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. Sentry 2 allows users to control up to 5 fans with the option for manually tuning individual fan speeds or letting the automatic controls take over to correspond to a specific temperature. The controller’s advanced functionality sounds an alarm to alert the user should the temperature exceed a preset amount and stores saved settings even after it is turned off. Designed to maximize efficiency, the Sentry 2 supports 10W per channel and creates less heat than traditional temperature displays.

Features
* Touch screen interface
* Five fan control through an intuitive interface
* Ultra fast selection and response time
* Display temperatures in both F and C
* Light switch turns off the meter when sleeping
* Automatic and manual modes of control
* Full compatibility with all types of fans using voltage control
* With a minimum of at least 10 Watts per channel, the Sentry 2 will support almost all high end fans
* Tuned accuracy with only a tolerance of one degree
* Sound alarm to alert when the temperature is over
* Stored settings, the Sentry keeps your settings even after power off

Unboxing:
We’ll start off with the video unboxing:

The included power adapter is the pass through style so you won’t lose a Molex power connection:

One of the great features of the Sentry 2 is that is includes both styles of fan connections, Moles and the 3-pin style so you can control most any type of fan with the Sentry 2.

Installation, Performance, Comparison
Getting it installed is fairly easy, you’ve got a lot of long wires to work with which means you’ll be doing a bit or wire management in your case. The long wires though insure that you’ll be able to reach anywhere in the case for the temperatures of the fans.

I installed the Sentry 2 in the NZXT M59 case, so here’s a picture of it installed from that review actually:

Here’s a few shots of the Sentry 2 in action:

On the touch screen there are only a few spots you can touch which makes things easier really. The spinning fan is to select the fans, tap it and you’ll cycle through them. The Plus and Minus are touchable as well, these are to adjust the fan speeds manually. In the middle is a smaller touch spot, the word ‘Auto’ can be tapped to change it to ‘Manual’.  In Auto mode the Sentry 2 will monitor and adjust the fan speeds for you, for this to work properly though you’ll need to install the temperature monitors where you want them in conjunction with the fans. For example if you want the Sentry 2 to adjust your CPU fan, you need to stick the sensor on your cooler near the CPU, this way it can sense changes in temperature and adjust the speed of the fan.

The Sentry 2 is easy to use and I’ve found it works well. I compared the temps it showed to those I got using an infrared thermometer and they were very close. My thermometer is more accurate, but the Sentry 2 does give you a good idea of the temperature within a degree or two.

I do have one small complaint though, the tape used is not good at all, within in a week of applying it it was already peeling off… Easy fix of course, just use new tape, but it would be nice if better tape was included. This isn’t just limited to the Sentry 2 though, all fan controllers and other things that use this style of tape have the same problem of peeling off within a week. Someday these companies will figure out that the adhesive is just no good and give us something else to use.

Conclusion:
The NZXT Sentry 2 is the best fan controller on the market today, it’s very easy to use, it’s well made, it looks great and it only takes up on 5.25” bay.

Other than the tape issue, I’ve got no other complaints about this product. I actually have two of these now, one in my main system that’s been in there for a few months now actually, I like this product very much and can easily recommend it to any and every one looking for a great fan controller.

Pros:
+Easy to use
+Well made
+Works great

Cons:
-Tape isn’t as sticky as I’d like it to be

Ratings
Overall: 5 out of 5
Performance: 5 out of 5
Aesthetic: 5 out of 5
Build Quality: 5 out of 5

I would like to thank NZXT for the opportunity to review the Sentry 2 and for their support of Bona Fide Reviews.