Air Flow Cooling

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Preface :

The Korean manufacturer cooling flow in this country should be only a die-cooling freaks term. The reason is that the cooling flow has been concentrated on the American and Asian markets. The flagship has been the self-developed thermal compound Flow Cooling Thermal Compound. Meanwhile, the range is increased by some interesting products - including for water cooling. By Air Guide, I would like to introduce you today but something else entirely. This product is a kind Fanadapter with interesting features. Quieter noise level - better performance and dramatic lighting effects are the characteristics with which his Air Flow Cooling Guide praises. For the better performance is to make the funnel-shaped layout of the Air Guide. The quieter operating noise is realized by a special five-diode-adapter cable. Two blue LEDs produce - in the Plexiglas admitted - for beautiful lighting effects. Ordinary Fanadapter be used to mount a larger fan on the heatsink can. Not so with the Air Guide - it is bolted to the existing series fans, and thus should shine with features described above. So far, there is the Air Guide in two different ways - for 60 mm fans, and for 70 mm fans. Currently Cooling Flow products in Germany are unfortunately not yet available, which will hopefully change in the near future. With some skepticism in your hand luggage, I would like to show with the review, whether the manufacturer has promised too much.

Delivery :

Simply held in the carton packaging are all needed to set up small parts. To protect the sensitive Fanadapter Plexiglass scratches and transport-related damage, but this one would have to additionally wrapped in bubble wrap. I also miss an assembly or operating instructions. In case of uncertainties concerning the structure, one should look at the website of the manufacturer's throw.

Specifications :

• Manufacturer: Cooling Flow
• Model: Air Guide 60 mm / 70 mm Air Guide
• Type: Special Fanadapter
• Connector: 3-pin Molex
• Wiring: 200 mm
• Material: Plexiglas
• Fixing: Screwed
• Size: 80 x 80 x 15 mm / 92 x 92 x 15 mm
• Weight: 100 g / 125 g

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Installation :

For the assembly of the 70 mm Air Guide variant choice is based on the slightly stronger TI-V77N with 3600 U / min from the house thermal integration. The two-adapter plate made of steel sheet is first screwed on the upper side of the fan. These can be used according to type of cooler, existing or screws provided. Now the Air Guide is bolted to the adapter plates. Anyone who loves the order should, in building make sure that the wires of the LEDs show when mounted to bottom. Finally, put only the five-diode adapter cable between the fan and air guide. Who wants to use for aesthetic reasons, a fan guard may, at the 60 mm Air Guide Fangrill a 80 mm and 70 mm Air Guide when using a 92 mm Fangrill. Despite the lack of assembly instructions to build the gestate easy.

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Performance :

To determine the performance of the Air Guide, both Air Guide series and modified - in one integrated specially designed system for silent cooling. Without an active housing ventilation and equipped only with an Ultra-Silent Power Supply, the cooler is demanded in this system, everything. At 19° C room temperature, the system shall run for one hour in the Windows idle and another hour in a simulated full-load operation by the program Prime 95th The temperature values are read with the Motherboard Monitor program. At the given temperature values are the actual core temperatures. These rates are typically 20-25% higher than in motherboards, which is the sensor in the base - which is below the processor installed -. With active ventilation housing allows the housing used to increase the cooling capacity to achieve 5-7° C.

At first glance, the cuts used radiator in conjunction with the Air Guide worse scarce. But we must not forget that is equipped with an Air Guide five-diode-adapter cable. Compared to the standard run cooler, runs the Air Guide version only with 2700 instead of 3600 rpm. In view of this fact is that result obtained truly outstanding. Those who place less value on a drastic reduction in sound level can also operate the Air Guide without 5-diode-adapter cable. This was used in the cooler on average 2° C better temperature values over the series - albeit with minimal noise to get louder.

Noise measurement :

The measurement of the A-weighted sound pressure level is primarily used for noise measurement. Under noises are not earmarked for DIN 1320 noise events in the frequency range of human hearing of approximately 16 Hz understood kHz to 16. They are purely physically apprehended by: sound pressure, frequency, duration and frequency. From this fact have been in practice two evaluation criteria developed taking into account the frequency-and time-dependent function of hearing: Frequency-and time-based assessment evaluation. For the frequency-Rating Rating curves are defined.

The noise level is judged by practical standards. Thus, the noise level of the whole system - the sealed housing rated -. This is a special Ultra-Silent test machine is used, based on the CS-601 Towers, whose only other sound sources, an ultra-silent power supply and hard disk are decoupled Silent, which do not affect the the cooler. The proverbial at the sound measurement distances are shown in the below measurement setup.

Determined was the noise of the TI-V77N in production configuration and Air Guide modified version. Power supplies generate under full load, usually a slightly higher voltage on the 12 volt line, which is reflected by a minimal increase in fan speed. Therefore, also here a measurement at idle and under simulated full load. In conjunction with the Air Guide, was the noise by more than 7 dB (A) reduced and reached by Silent-level. This drastic reduction in noise is realized by the integrated 5-diode-adapter cable, thus increasing the fan speed from 3600 to 2700 U / min reduced.

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Test machine :

• Motherboard: Epox 8KA3 + (passive)
• Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2000 + (70W @1.75 Volt)
• Processor: TI-V77N (3600 rpm)
• Contact agent: Cooler Master Premium Compound
• Memory: 256MB Corsair XMS3000 CL2
• Video Card: 3D Phantom XP-3800 128MB (passive)
• HDD: Maxtor 4K040H2 (silent mode / No Vibes III)
• Case: CS-601 noise-Steel ()
• Power Supply: Enermax NoiseMagic 1500 Rev. 2
• Disk Connection: Rounded-Silver-Cable
• Operating system: Windows 98 SE (without ACPI)
• Software: Motherboard Monitor - Prime 95
• Room temperature: 19 ° C (deviation <0.5° C)

Conclusion :

Despite initial skepticism of the Air Guide me home from the cooling flow has surprised positively at the end. The primary goal - better cooling performance at the same time quieter noise level - was only narrowly missed. The calculated results, however, always impressive. By Air Guide could be reduced the noise of the cooler used by more than 7 dB (A). In the processor temperature rose by just 1° C upwards. If you consider that the speed of the fan was min while almost 1,000 rpm lower, and this result is amazing. to reduce the recipe - the fan speed by 5-diode-adapter cable is approximately 25% and less power to compensate for that by performance layout of the Air Guide goes - almost on. A drastic reduction in noise level with almost the same cooling capacity expected to trigger considerable interest for many users. Case modders will be pleased with the beautiful lighting effects, which the Air Guide produced during operation. The two blue LEDs embedded in the plexiglass gets the usually sober-looking cooler an irresistible look. Whether the Korean manufacturer in future also brings a version for 80 mm fans in the comp on the market is still unclear. Similarly, the question remains open - when and where you can buy this product in this country. As soon as I get more information from the manufacturer, I will complete this review accordingly. Final conclusion: The Guide to Air is having to take the position that operating noise of the existing radiator to reduce greatly without much loss in terms of cooling power in purchasing.