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Vantec Tornado and NXP-205 Multi Fan Controller Review

Modding/Small Mods by piotke @ 2004-12-11

If you want extreme performance from your air cooled system then this Tornado fan might be what you need. The generated noise is equally extreme, that?s why Vantec recommends the use of a fan controller; In this review we take a look at the NXP-205 fan controller used in combination with their high CFM CPU/Case fan.

Testing & conclusion

Test Setup and Methodology

CPU temperatures were monitored with the software tool Mother Board Monitor (MBM). I also installed two temperature sensors. The first one was glued to the base of the heatsink, just next to the CPU. The second one was placed between the fins of the north bridge heatsink which is passively cooled (removed the noisy 40 mm fan).

No case was used

Ambient temperature was 24°C during all tests

thermal paste: shit-etsu based

Load temperatures were measured after 30 minutes stressing the CPU with Prime 95.

Test setup:

AMD thunderbird 1.4 Ghz
Thermalright SLK947 U
Soltek SL-75DRV2
Geforce4 MX480
256 Mb Corsair pc3000

Piotke’s Test Setup
CPU	AMD Athlon Tbird 1.4Ghz + Thermalright SLK947-U
Mainboard	Soltek SL-75DRV2
Memory	256Mb Corsair PC3200
Video card	Geforce 4 MX480

Three other fans were used for comparison

First of all I used a very similar designed 80mm delta fan (FFB0812EHE). As you can see in the specifications below it boosts out also quit a high cfm.
- Airflow: 80.16 CFM
- Noise: 52.5 dBa

- Speed @ 12v: 5700rpm
- 80x80x38 mm

Secondly we have the more known Papst 8412 N/2GML
- Airflow: 26.5 CFM
- Noise: 19 dBa
- Speed @ 12V: 2050 rpm
- 80x80x25 mm

And finally we have a more special fan in the running, a Cooler Master Radial fan (B8070-19CB-3BN-B1)
- Air Flow: 26.9 CFM
- Speed @ 12V 4500 rpm
- 70 x 70 x 70 mm

Click for bigger picture

Lower is better...

The Vantec and the Delta perform exactly the same. The theoretical performance difference is minimal. You can also see that with high rpm / cfm fans the chipset benefits from the extra airflow.

The third place is also for the Tornado fan. This time I turned it down to 7 Volt using the fan controller I talked about earlier. The fan spins at ~3000 rpm, airflow was lowered due to this, but the generated noise became bearable, hardly silent of course, but I couldn't hear the fan anymore with headphones on, while at full rpm I could hear it even when I was downstairs...(the test room is on the 1st floor)

As a summary I sorted the fans from loud to silent:

1) Delta 80 mm
2) Vantec tornado
3) Vantec tornado @ 7V
4) Coolermaster Radial fan
5) Papst

Conclusion

Vantec NXP-205

This very effective device is perfectly for even the all-round computer. While studying or sleeping turn down the fans to a minimal level for silence. While gaming or heavily stressing the computer, turn them to max, or a higher speed. This fan controller does it all !

It takes only one 3.5" slot in your case, installation is piece of cake, and it looks good. What more do you want?

PRO
Easy installation
able to connect 3&4-pin fans
Decent design & finishing
Easy in use

CON
the extra cables have no rpm monitoring headers

Vantec Tornado

Designed for overclockers and power users ! While pushing your computer to the max with air cooling this thé fan to get. Unfortunately high performance comes with high noise. If you attempt to use this fan 24/7 at 12V, I’m sure that you are already deaf, or that you'll be deaf within two weeks. So it’s highly recommended to use this fan in combination with a fan controller.

It’s very important that this fan comes with a fan grill, the blades can be very painful at that speed (we’re talking blood here).

PRO
Very High performance
A complete retail package
adequate balance between noise/airflow when used with a fan controller.

CON
Loud
could be dangerous when you have thin fingers :-)

I would like to thank Jennifer at Vantec for making this review possible.

Question/Comments:forum thread

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