Posted: July 8 2000
Written by: Dan "Tweak Monkey" Kennedy
Cost: $34 from The Card Cooler
Review unit supplied by The Card Cooler

Value

So this cooler definitely gets the job done and it's quiet. But what about the price? Isn't $34 pretty expensive for what you get?

I thought this at first, too. Then I went through and calculated the cost to build one for myself:
-2 x 120mm fan grilles: $3 each (+/- $0.50)
-2 x 120x25mm Sunon Quiet fans: $14 each (or so)
-Metal mounting rail for fans: $ ??? (you'd have to make your own...)
Excluding the rail that mounts the fan, you'd have to spend $34 just to buy the fans and grilles. And to think.. these are online prices. Good luck trying to build it cheaper without ordering components online.

The rail that mounts the fan is not only handy, but it looks cool and is high quality. It can bend a bit, but this is good.. because you may need to bend it to place it in some small cases. It gets the job done without having to drill holes in the case or use some awkward mounting technique.

Conclusion

Rarely are we disappointed with cooling items for PCs. As die-hard overclockers, it seems like any fan is a good fan. In the case of The Card Cooler XT, two fans are better than one. This is a very good product by a very cool company (no pun intended). I highly recommend you pick one up if your case is running a little hot -- I know it helped me with my heat problems!

Overall Rating: 9.5 / 10

(The only issue I would like to address is that this cooler is so massive you need a lot of room to install it, hence the not-so-perfect rating.)

If you want to buy The Card Cooler XT, go here.

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