AzenX Blitztorm Slot Cooler
Introduction
High temperatures are the worst fear for overclockers. Every time an excellent heatsink arrives on the market, enthusiasts will find a way to put cash into their wallets to purchase that cooler. With technology growing at a fast pace, it seems that every component in the computer is creating excess heat. Aside from cooling each piece of hardware individually, one should also be aware of the overall system temperature. If the ambient temperature is too high, cooling is less effective towards each part. With that said, we now shift our focus onto system slot coolers.
The AzenX Blitztorm is another one of the many slot coolers on the market. It’s not just a simple exhaust fan, nor does it send cool air to a specific component. It boasts an amazing 180° angle of cooling, aimed to keep your entire system running at a lower ambient temperature. It also claims to be “remarkably quiet” with the use of an adjustable fan controller. Slot coolers I’ve used in the past were not very useful. In most cases, the cooler disrupted air flow, causing ambient temperature to increase. Just how effective will this slot cooler be?
AzenX Blitztorm System Slot Cooler
The AzenX Blitztorm System Slot Cooler does what its name implies. It will fit into a PCI expansion slot. With its dual fans, it will circulate and recycle the air out. The fan that can be moved around is the one that allows 180° of cooling. By allowing free movement of the fan, you can effectively control the airflow in your system. It is a 70mm fan and ranges from 16004000RPM, pushing 10.9629.66CFM of air. Noise created from this fan ranges from 23.1 ~ 38.2 dBA The fan that cannot be rotated is the exhaust fan. It is also a 70mm fan and ranges from 12003500 RPM, pushing about 1.023.04CFM of air. There is a red LED in the middle of the two fans, which adds some eye candy to the product when it is plugged in and powered up. There are many opening slots on the PCI bracket of the slot cooler, which allows the hot air to be pushed out of the system. There is also an adjustable fan controller on the PCI bracket. An instruction manual was provided with the cooler. It describes the procedure of installing this slot cooler. This cooler is powered by a Molex connector.
Specifications:
Key Features:
- Unique 180° rotating fan
- Unique Airsos air circulation system
- Easy adjustable speed controller
- Build-in red LED light
- Easy installation
Test Setup and Results
Test Setup:
- AMD Athlon64 3000+ Winchester
- MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
- 1 x 512MB PDC1G3200+XBLK
- Leadtek Geforce FX 5950 Winfast A380 Ultra
- TTGI SF-450TS 450W Power Supply
- Evercool WC-202 Watercooling Kit
Results:
To test the effectiveness of this slot cooler, I will be taking the idle and load ambient temperature without the slot cooler with a temperature probe. This temperature probe will be in the dead center of the system. Idle temperatures will be recorded after 30 minutes of idling on the desktop. The computer will then be stressed by looping 3dmark03 four times and full load temperatures will be recorded. This process will be repeated on low and high fan speeds.
Conclusion and Thoughts
AzenX hasn’t been around very long. In fact, they’ve only appeared this past year. This slot cooler is their first product and has successfully lowered ambient temperatures, but not by a significant amount. While operating the cooler on low speeds, the ambient temperature was barely affected. The ambient temperature decreased more when the cooler was on high speed, but it was extremely loud. Given the size of both fans, it would have to be loud in order for there to be any change in ambient temperature. Considering that the testing system was cooled with water, there were not any other fans that could have disrupted airflow. Slot coolers are a nice idea, but air cooling is simply reaching the end of it’s life. Coming in at around $25, it isn’t worth investing your money into.
Pros:
- Fan can rotate 180°
- Comes with two fans
- Doesn’t waste a Molex connector
- Has an adjustable fan controller
Cons:
- Takes away the use of a PCI slot
- Performance is not significant
- Expensive for performance yielded
We would like to thank AzenX for providing us the sample. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to hit us up in the forums. You can also check out more of our latest reviews on the front page.