A little bit ago I had my hard drive catch fire, and I mean literally catch fire. We would have to assume this was from being a bit too hot, or some other problem related to the manufacture of the drive itself. It seems that as most technology advances the heat emitted from these devices grows as well. Heat is the bane of PC components, and probably the most important part of any system is the hard drive, keeping that cool should be one of the top priorities. It seems it isn’t though, manufacturers really do nothing to help dissipate heat from hard drives, the basic design hasn’t changed much, except to just get smaller. So it is up to the end user to keep their hard drive cool with a well ventilated case or adding a product like the Vizo Orbiter HDD Cooler that I have for review today. It looks cool, works well and as a bonus is almost silent. Read on to learn more…
Vizo Orbiter HDD Cooler
Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio AkA Dracos
Sponsor: Vizo
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Model: HCL-101
Orbiter
Single Fan 3.5" HDD Cooler
THE COOL STUFF IN YOUR PC
DESCRIPTION:
Hard drives are running faster and hotter, and cooling them has become a concern for many users. VIZO ORBITER is a single fan HDD cooler which is focused on providing HDD thermal solution to dissipate the heat more effectively and make your system work with excellent performance. ORBITER looks like a UFO with the cold blue LED light which can give you cool and fabulous feeling and make your computer have a gorgeous look. It is a cool stuff not only to protect your hard disk but also decorate your PC.
FEATURES:
-Easy to install for 3.5 HDD
-Single fan provides the maximum airflow and pressure
-Reduce hard disk drive temperature
-Vogue design to decorate you PC
-Extend hard disk drive lifetime
-Low dBA level
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SPECIFICATIONS:
Dimensions: 101.6 x 94.6 x 17.8 mm
DC Fan Dimensions: 60 x 60 x 15 mm ( 1 pce )
Bearing Type: Sleeve Bearing
Speed : 3200 RPM
Noise Level: 20 dBA
Max Air Flow: 11.6 CFM
Rated Voltage: DC 12 V
Rated Current: 0.17 A
Compatibility: 3.5" Bay
Weight:50 g
PACKAGE INCLUDES:
HDD cooler
Screw Package
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A Better Look at Things
:
The packaging for the Vizo Orbiter is just plain cool, very original and very attractive. I actually tried to be careful opening it but I pretty much destroyed it getting it open. Of course though I took pics before I did that. It was very hard to get a picture of the package without any reflection on it, no matter what I tried I still got a light reflection, so deal with it… If you look close you’ll see the word Vizo all around the edge, that is actually how they sealed it, they melted the pieces together with the word Vizo, very cool idea.
The back of the package lists all the specs and features as any good product package should.
Not much comes with the Orbiter, just the orbiter itself and a pack of screws. The Molex connector used to power the Orbiter is the pass-through kind so you don’t loose a connector.
The Orbiter has a shiny black housing with a blue opaque fan in the center. The mounting brackets are metal and a bit to short actually, they only allow the Orbiter to use one set of holes on the hard drive base. It might just be the particular HDD I used for the install, but I would have liked to have used four screws/holes for mounting for extra stability.
The bottom is pretty much featureless, it just gives you a better look at the mounting bracket.
My first impression of the Orbiter was ‘wow, this this looks cool.’ From the packaging to the product the entire thing is very well done and you can tell Vizo prides itself on quality. The Orbiter itself feels very sturdy and well made, the design is interesting and well thought out, I’m sure we’ll see copies o fit soon. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but sometimes it just gets annoying with all the copies out there. Just remember, the Vizo is the quality one and accept no others in its place.
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Installation, Testing and Comparison
Installation is very easy, just a couple screws and you are done, then just plug it in. I mentioned earlier about the Orbiter only using two screws, you can see this in the following picture, no which way I moved it I still could only use two of the holes. This isn’t a bad thing, it locks in tightly and doesn’t move, but for me personally I would like the assurance of the extra screws holding it is place.
If the Orbiter is to the back of the drive it seems like it might interfere with the connections, and if moved toward the front it really doesn’t cool the chipset of the hard drive, so I installed it in the middle where it seems to fit perfectly.
The blue LED of the fan emits a soft blue glow, not really bright, but just enough to catch your attention.
The temps of my hard drive do drop a couple degrees over not having the Orbiter installed, nothing drastic but it does help to cool the drive, so it does as it is supposed to do. The Obiter is also virtually silent, it blends in with every other fan in the case, the loudest thing in my system right now is my Biostar 7600GS video card (review soon) which pretty much drowns everything else out. So, it’s quiet, cools your HDD and looks good while doing it, what more could you ask for?
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Summary:
In closing, the Vizo Orbiter is an excellent addition to your cooling arsenal, it will cool your hard drive. On a side note, I’ve always wondered why more importance is not placed on hard drive cooling, and why haven’t HDD manufacturers really addressed this problem? I guess that’s why we have companies like Vizo that make great products to help fill in where the manufacturers have left us off. Since my hard drive incident recently I have really paid attention to keeping my hard drives cool, the Orbiter will remain in my system keeping my hard drive a bit cooler for some time to come.
DragonSteelMods gives the Vizo Orbiter HDD Cooler a 5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award as well.
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Pros:
-Very quiet
-Cool blue glow
-Cools your hard drive
-Very easy to install
Cons:
-Installation bracket could be a bit wider to cover two holes on the HDD
I would like to thank Vizo for the chance to review the Orbiter and for their continued support of DSM.
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