Review: SYTRIN Masscool HD Cooler

[Vertigo]

I was first introduced to this little marvel when I was working on my own little cooler mod. I had the idea of converting a pair of unused 5.25 bay slots, adding a pair of 70mm fans, and tossing a hard drive or two in the bay. I found the Sytrin bay while checking out a video on MNPTech's website. I found the thing on Newegg, and decided to order a pair of them at $20 each (they were on sale and came with good reviews). When I opened the box, I was impressed initially with the overall look of the thing, it has a brushed metal finish similar to that found on the Lian Li cases I'm so fond of.

The first thing you'll notice when you pick one of these devices up is it's weight, it's obvious from the get-go that this thing is made of serious stuff. The entire enclosure is metal, including the face plate and grill. Inside the device is a small white box with all sorts of goodies, and a small instruction manual.

So, I removed the heatspreader and opened the box. Now, the heatspreader is heavy duty like the rest of the unit with the same brushed finish. I found the usual odds and ends in the box, mostly nuts and bolts, but I found something else. Plastic fan pins, which I thought was a little odd until I noticed a pair of metal brackets and the instruction manual. Inside, there are instructions to forego the heatspreader and opt for a top mounted fan (up to 120mm) on top of the hard drive. The manual is clear about how everything attaches, and the configuration options are a nice plus, with all of the needed hardware already supplied. There is also a large rubber self adhesive cushion that can be attached to the heatspreader to prevent vibration noise.

Speaking of vibration noise, it appears that Sytrin devised this little puppy with that in mind, every place where the hard drive touches ... is a piece of rubber. Not plastic, soft rubber. A nice touch. The bottom of the unit has a pair of plastic clips to hold down the wires for the 2 40mm fans at the front of the housing. The stock fans are lit with blue leds and are actually very quiet. The stock fans are 3 prong and included in the white box is an adapter to extend the reach of the fan cables and to free a little wiring space, the molex adapter even has a trio of the 3 prong adapters to compensate for the optional 120mm fan attachment.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with the purchase, and intend to buy more of these in the future. Right now I have one at stock specifications with the heatspreader and a 250g hard drive inside, and I can't hear the seagate spin up anymore. Sytrin's Masscool is an example of a product delivering above and beyond the call of duty, it overcame my expectations. If you're in the market for a hard drive cooler, give this one a look. The only real beef I could have with the thing is lack of color choices for the fans, but that is easilly remedied with a couple of replacement fans via your retailer of choice.

Pictures, courtesy of Newegg.com [ link to buy ]

[aintnothang]

That thing looks awesome and efficient.

[Raz1r]

Found this thing on accident one day, and I decided to get one since I would never use two optical drives in my Lanbox.

I can attest to it's awesomeness. It might seem expensive at $25, but I would never buy any 10,000 RPM drive without one.

Oh yeah, and if you're looking for replacement 40mm fans, check out these from FrozenCPU.

[Chewy_Solo]

those look sweet.... my system is pretty loud, seeing as i have a raptor, just put in one of the stock HD cages... not sure if thats whats making all the noise or my fans , but if i ever get one of these, that matches my case perfect (TT Armor) nice review man

[TheGreatSatan]

I have one a lot like it in R2D2. Those fans on yours seem the same as mine, which are 400mm tops and definitely not 70mm

Oh wait, your idea was to add 70mm. Nevermind.

[J-Roc]

this are the biggest pic's i could find. Basicly, it converts to a dual HDD cooler and takes up an extra bay. There are a few ways you can play with the cooling which is nice.