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Airen Cool Panel
The first, and probably most exciting, cooling accessory that we have been sent is the Airen Cool Panel. Even though it has almost every feature we could ask for crammed in, it certainly won't make your system look any prettier as its design is quite dated. It is essentially a fan controller that sits in a 5.25″ drive bay in the front of your PC, providing control over two fan speeds in your system between 800 – 9000rpm. It also has two probes to let you monitor two temperatures inside your system and has a 8-in-1 card reader to sweeten the deal.
Along the front of the panel there are also a number of connectors which provide easy access to certain interfaces through the front of your system. These consist of two USB2.0 ports, two SATA ports, an RCA video jack and microphone, headphone and linein 3.5mm jacks. To adjust the fan speed there are two silver rolling switches and an LCD to display the set fan speed and temperatures. Airen thoughtfully include all the cables you need to hook the panel up to your rig.
Airen RPM Clever
As its name suggests, the ‘RPM Clever' is quite clever, letting you convert a fixed speed fan to a PWM one. It is as simple as plugging the 4-pin connector into a 4-pin PWM header and plugging a 3-pin fan into the other end of the unit. The knob on top of the unit also lets you adjust the fan speed manually. If you live in a very cold place, the module will also turn off the fan if the CPU temperature goes below 20c.
Airen HDD RedWings
The final cooling accessory we have on test today is the Airen HDD RedWings which is a 3.5″ hard drive cooler. The unit itself sits on top of your hard drive, blowing cooler air over the surface with it's 60mm fan. Even though he fan spins at 3500rpm, it only produces 15 CFM of airflow. In our opinion, hard drive coolers are a waste of time these days as most modern PC cases have more than adequate cooling for hard drives built in.
Final Thoughts
We have looked at so many different fans today that our heads are spinning (no pun intented!). The pick of the lot are definitely the Aimaxx eNVicooler PWM fans which are quieter than their Airen counterparts without compromising on airflow. They also have a PWM function to ensure they aren't making unnecessary noise. The only fans we looked at that we would avoid are the Airen ‘TC' temperature controlled fans which we found didn't work very effectively at all. Ranging from £3 to £5 at Pure Cool PC, the Airen fans represent great value for money. We couldn't find any of the Aimaxx fans we tested on sale in the UK so we can't judge their value for money. But if they are priced similarly to the Airen fans, they are sure to be good value for money.
As for the cooling accessories, the Airen cool panel is certainly feature packed. We do feel that Airen have been distracted by throwing in everything (including the kitchen sink) rather than concentrating on the core functions of the unit. Most systems these days have a minimum of three fans so only supporting two fans in verging on criminal in our opinion. But, if your case is lacking in front panel connectivity, the Airen Cool Panel is certainly the way to go! We can't judge its value for money as we couldn't find it for sale anywhere online.
KitGuru says: A decent range of fans at very reasonable prices!
