Review

Tom's Hardware, September 9, 2008 by Bill Lake
Two Hard Drive Coolers Compared

Conclusion

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Even though both coolers take different design approaches to accomplishing the same task, their results were very similar. More important, they both do exactly what they advertise. There are some issues in operation¡Xeliminating the temperature variance would improve their performance overall. They might redesign the coolers to force a little more air over the bottom. It seems that only a good case can provide the air flow required to minimize this variation.

The Good

• Work as advertised
• Easy to install
• Various styles to fit your needs
• Fan noise very low
• Fans on both units reversible

The Bad

• Price
• Easy to install
• Temperature variation
• Fan noise very low
• No easy way to disable the LEDs on KuFormula SHF-1

Either of these HDD coolers can be recommended for systems with limited airflow¡Xthey both work exceedingly well at reducing HDD temperatures.

In terms of choosing between them, each drive cooler has advantages and disadvantages.

Table 6: Advantages Of Each
Feature	Vigor iSurf II Hard Disk Drive Cooling System	Masscool Sytrin KuFormula SHF-1
Cooling	trails the Masscool by a hair	slightly more effective
Size	25 mm smaller than competition	won't fit some cases
Ease of install	exceedingly simple	slightly more involved, but still easy
Customization	Can disable LED	Face plates and extras for differentiation
Value	Tie	Tie

In the end, this face-off comes down to personal choice.

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