Antec SpotCool

Introduction

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Antec’s Vcool.  I was extremely pleased with the easiness of use and the performance.  Couple of weeks after I finished my review, Antec has released a new cooling fan—SpotCool.  When I saw the news release I thought “what a great idea, a fan for any component inside the case.  It would be interesting to see how it performs.”  Well, Bjorn3d was really glad when Antec asked us to do a review on it.  So, here we are today, we will take a closer look at Antec’s SpotCool and see what this cooling fan can deliver.

Unlike most cooling components on the market, where it is specifically designed for one component, such as CPU, RAM, graphic cards, or chipset, Antec’s SpotCool is a fan which you can mount anywhere in the case to cool any component which requires extra cooling.  Antec advertises their fan with the following features:

• Mount virtually anywhere inside a case
• Cools RAM, expansion cards
• Blue LED illumination included
• 3-speed switch lets you balance quiet performance with maximum cooling

Closer Look

I love Antec’s packaging on the SpotCool.  Simply pull both side of the cover and the package will open.  I know it’s a minor thing but I absolutely hate those sealed plastic wrap where you need a knife to cut it open.  The fan does not come with much accessories, just a simple half page manual (if you can call it a manual) and a screw.

Antec SpotCool is basically a fan on an adjustable neck so you can twist the fan to face any component inside your system.  The fan can be mounted to any screw-holes, either on the motherboard or inside the case.  The neck of the fan is about 11 cm and it can be twisted and angled to any position.  The actual fan is about 8 cm in diameter and offers 3 selectable speeds: 2,000 rpm (low), 2,500 rpm (medium), or 3,000 rpm (high).  The fan can be rotated almost 360 degrees at an angle so you can either blow air into or suck air out at any direction you please.  The fan uses a 3 pin connector, which connects directly to the motherboard’s fan connector.  The power cable is about 22cm in length, a bit short if you wish to place the fan far from the motherboard’s fan connector.  Unfortunately, no adapter is provided to adapt the power connector to the power supply’s 4 pin molex, therefore, you would need to place the fan close to a fan connector on the motherboard.

The SpotCool comes with 3 selectable speeds: 2,000 rpm (low), 2,500 rpm (medium), or 3,000 rpm (high).

The neck on the SpotCool can be twisted to any shape and directon.

The fan is able to rotate at almost 360 degrees at an angle.

The fan will emit blue color LED when it’s powered.  If you remember from our VCool review, Antec also offers blue LED on it.  I am not sure what’s Antec’s obsession with blue color, or they have done market research and people generally love blue color more or maybe because blue gives a sense of coolness (both visually and temperature-wise).  There’s no way to turn the LED off if you don’t like the color.  Unfortunately, there’s no other color available except blue so if you are into color-coordination inside of your system, you may be out of luck.