Test System:

Before I jump into the intricacies of how this little powerhouse performed for me, let's take a look at the system I installed it in:

• Inwin Q500A full tower ATX case with 300w PSU
• Pentium III 550mhz
• Alpha P3125 heatsink
• 50w peltier
• Abit BX6-R2
• 256 Megs of PC133 SDRAM
• Creative Labs Annihilator SDR
• Iomega Buz card (ultra scsi)
• Creative Labs DXr3 DVD decoder
• 3Com NIC
• Abit Hot Rod Ultra ATA 66 controller
• Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live!
• SIIG ISA ECP/ EPP  parallel port card
  IBM Deskstar 22GXP 13.5 GB 7200 RPM HD
• Western Digital EIDE 3.2 GB HD
• Creative Labs 6x DVD drive

• HP 8100I CDRW drive

You may be asking another question at this point... "Why did he give so many system details?"  The answer is simple.  All those peripherals produce a lot of heat.  I thought that I'd try my very best to beat the 2 CoolPC Plus into submission..

Performance:

In a nutshell...  Extreme efficiency.

Southbay Engineering sent me the 2 CoolPC Plus cooling unit.  The best way for me to describe the construction and composition of this unit would be "flexible yet sturdy."   The assembly I tested included a hearty U.S. Toyo Fan Corp. 92mm brushless ball bearing fan (Model: USTF922512HW) that's rated at an impressive 37-58cfm.   I believe the in order to remain fair and objective the 2CoolPC unit shouldn't have any assistance from the other case fans in my system.   So, I removed the 120mm intake fan and dual 80mm exhaust fans from my case.   This left only left the 2 60mm fans that are required on the Alpha heatsink.   I also realized the best way to measure its true performance level would be to use my Radio Shack indoor/ outdoor thermometer to measure ambient case temps  and additionally use thermistor that comes with the Abit motherboard to measure the motherboard surface temps.

The Truth is Revealed..

At first I powered up my computer without the 2 CoolPC Plus installed and in less than 2 minutes my ambient case temp rose a staggering 43 degrees Celsius and the motherboard surface temp measured 44.5 degrees Celsius. The 2 CoolPC Plus definitely had its work cut out for it. I then installed the 2 CoolPC Plus (in less than 5 minutes). When I fired up the computer I was awestruck while I watched the ambient case temp drop to 27.5 degrees Celsius and the motherboard surface temp drop to 26 degrees Celsius. The icing on the cake was that my room temperature was 25 degrees Celsius. It also seemed to dampen some of the internal case noise. Absolutely amazing!

Buy it!

The old adage goes, "Looks can be deceiving..."  The 2 CoolPC Plus is proof positive of that.  The 2CoolPC Plus is a cost effective total cooling solution for both the casual computer user and the extreme PC enthusiast.  South Bay Engineering is a promising company on the rise and I expect to see some more great things from them in the future.  The only drawback that I could see is that some people may consider the the price to be a little steep.  In my opinion the price is very reasonable considering the benefits the 2 CoolPC Plus provides.

The Goods

• Ease of installation

• Outstanding performance

• Simple yet sturdy construction

The Bads

• Could be considered "Pricey" by some

Click here to visit the 2 CoolPC website.

Rating: 9.5/10

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