For testing, the only thing that was important to us was the hard drive temperatures. This would test the performance of the 40mm fan, as well as letting us know if the LCD and thermal probe worked. Of course, if this test is successful, we'll know that you can attach the thermal probe anywhere. The hard drive used was an IBM Deskstar 40GB. To stress it, I started a defrag of multiple partitions, and took the reading, with the fan on and off, when the temperature topped off. We took idle temperatures as well, with the fan on and off.
Not much of a difference here, as the hard drive isn't really doing anything anyhow. With barely a half degree between having the fan on, and having the fan off, there isn't much to write home about.
Exactly the same results. At 0.4C difference, I can pretty much conclude that the 40mm fan isn't doing anything. How about the aluminum properties of the Hardcano? Well, it's pretty much a non factor as the temperature of the hard drive in our Antec 630SX case was a steady 36.5 as well. Keep in mind that the hard drive is only resting on the aluminum standoffs, and maybe a design where more of the hardcano makes contact with the hard drive would result in better scores.
I should note that the fan control worked flawlessly, though it did little to actually lower the noise on our Delta much. It went from a high pitched squeal, to a low pitch squeal. Now, the lower pitch is less annoying, so the fan control works as advertised, but I wouldn't count on it making that big a difference if your fan is loud to begin with.
Final Words
We came away from our Hardcano 5 review with mixed feelings. As a hard drive cooler, it simply doesn't fit the bill. The 40mm fan is woefully under powered, and if you got a RAID array, investing in multiple Hardcanos for the sole purpose of cooling the drives is pointless. The fan control does work as advertised, but is limited in usefulness, as it'll ultimately be your fan that will determine how much less noise you'll hear.
All is not bad though. The temperature probe and LCD are quite useful, and if you're a statistics freak, you'll love the ability to monitor the temperature of everything you have (albeit, one at a time). The brushed aluminum looks very swank, and you'll undoubtably impress your techie friends with it. It is a bit on the pricey side, but it retails for half of what the DigiDoc costs, and does almost the same thing, if not more.
Thermaltake:
Pros: Easy installation, multiple use LCD and temperature probe, fan control, looks great.
Cons: Doesn't do much for hard drive cooling, top cover seems redundant.
