MaximumPC 2005 11

A

setek’s Vapochill line of CPU-cooling systems has been limited to com-

plicated phase-change water-cooling kits, which require compressors,

flux capacitors, and so forth. With the Vapochill Micro, the company has

ventured bravely into the air-cooling, um, waters. Though we were initially

skeptical, the Micro’s compressor-less phase-change performance is every

bit as impressive as that of its water-cooling siblings.

The Micro’s unique design foregoes the standard base plate and heat

pipe in favor of a huge “evaporation chamber” full of liquid refrigerant that

sits directly on top of the CPU. The chamber is connected to three fat cop-

per heat pipes that transfer heat to a small array of aluminum fins. The fan

bolts to a plastic shroud that snaps on and off of the heatsink with ease, and

the shroud’s angled orientation allows the fan to cool the CPU as well as the

capacitors and MOSFETS around the CPU socket, which is a good thing.

The Micro is available in three different models: Extreme Performance ($45),

High-End ($40), and Ultra Quiet ($50). Each model uses the same heatsink, but the

fan varies. Motherboard removal is not required to install any of the coolers.

We tested the Extreme Performance (super-loud fan, ultimate cooling) and

Ultra Quiet models (super quiet at the expense of performance); presumably,

the High End model strikes a balance between the two. As the numbers show,

performance for both the Extreme and Ultra Quiet models was fantastic. The

Extreme model delivered temps lower than any of the water-cooling rigs we’ve

tested, although we’d probably pass on it for our own rigs, given its insanely

loud fan. The Ultra Quiet, on the other hand, ran a smidge hotter than the stock

cooler, but was gloriously silent. In the end, we were convinced that there’s a

Micro configuration suitable for any PC setup.

Our only complaints with the product: The plastic shroud that holds the fan

is incredibly flimsy, and the base plate that attaches to the CPU socket appears

to be made from crappy pot metal. Neither of these pieces show the attention

to detail that obviously went into

the fabrication and design of the

rest of the Micro.

—JOSH NOREM

Asetek Vapochill Micro

A triple threat for the CPU cooling crown

W

hen you’re toting around files that cannot fall into enemy hands—be

it top-secret aerial photographs or the entire Girls Gone Wild collection

ripped to Divx—your portable storage must be secure in the event it’s lost or

stolen. Most portable drives rely on software encryption to protect the drive’s

contents from ne’er-do-wells, but if you lose the password or lose the drive,

your data could be compromised. LaCie’s Safe drive is accessed via a finger-

print scan, so you’d have to lose both of your hands—it lets you scan a finger

from each—to render the drive inoperable.

Setting up accounts and accessing the drive are ridiculously simple.

The authentication and new-account wizard run directly from the drive (both

Windows and OS X versions are available; but no Linux support), so there’s no

software to install; a configuration utility that lets the administrator change

accounts and assign read/write ability to users, however, does require instal-

lation. Only the person designated as the “administrator” of the drive is

allowed to add new accounts, and it’s a process that takes about 30 seconds

and involves selecting two different fingers and scanning them several times.

Once your prints are in the database, you plug the Safe drive into a USB port

(it’s bus-powered, which is good), and then access the authentication util-

ity which resides on the drive. The utility asks you to scan a finger (either of

the two you have registered) and the drive unlocks in several seconds. It’s a

splendidly simple process.

The hard drive inside the elegant outer shell is an 80GB jobbie with an

8MB buffer; it spins at 5,400rpm. Granted, the specs aren’t top-shelf, but typi-

cally the USB bus limits these drives’ performance more than their internal

attributes, so a middling rotational speed doesn’t bother us much given the

drive’s huge capacity and bus-powered nature.

The only problem—and it’s a big one—is that the data on the drive

isn’t protected by encryption. If someone who knows a thing or two about

hardware hacking were to remove the drive from its case, he could possibly

snag the data with a modicum

of effort. As a “safe” drive,

this is just unacceptable.

—JOSH NOREM

LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drive

A clever drive with a fatal flaw

reviewsTESTED. REVIEWED. VERDICTIZED

74 MA XIMUMPC NOVEMBER 2005

The Micro is

sold in three con-

figurations: Ultra

Quiet, Extreme

Performance, and

High End. In our

tests, the Extreme

model (shown) ran

very cool, but was

“extreme”-ly loud.

Once swiped by

a sanctioned fin-

gertip, the red

LED changes to

green and the drive

unlocks. You can

then put the finger

back in its baggie

and return it to

the beer cooler for

future use.

MA XIMUMPC

KICKASS

VAPOCHILL MICRO

$40-50, http://www.vapochill.com

9

Best temps are bolded. All temperatures were measured via the onboard sensors, using the utilities provided by the

motherboard manufacturer. Idle temperatures were measured after 30 minutes of inactivity and full-load temps were achieved

running CPU Burn-in for one hour.

IDLE (C) 38 33 36

LOAD (C) 54 41 52

BENCHMARKS

VAPOCHILL MICRO

ULTRA QUIET

VAPOCHILL MICRO EXTREME

PERFORMANCE

AMD STOCK COOLER

LACIE SAFE DRIVE



$200, http://www.lacie.com