It's hard to anticipate the vast variety of custom build combinations possible when designing a good case.  And with the increasing heat generated by today's high-end components, even the best case design may need a little help keeping things cool.  Performance builders have been turning to products like CoolIT's PCI Cooling Booster to provide the targeted cooling they need.  Lets take a closer look a this card cooling solution right here.

     The CoolIT PCI Cooling Booster is attractively packaged in a traditional blister pack.  The CoolIT design integrates the double bracket logo familiar across the entire CoolIT line.

The back of the packaging shows the product features and a nice look at the unit installed.

Specifications:

Simple to Install
• Simple bolt-in to any standard 7 slot PCI bay
• Plugs into any available fan header

Cools PCI Components
•Provides direct airflow to cool all PCI cards to increase stability and reliability
•Guaranteed to reduce temperatures on video cards
•Maximize overclocking potential

The cooler is made from machined aluminum and is both attractive and light.

     From the bottom you can see the entire unit is not much larger than the attached 90 mm fan.  The fan plugs into your motherboard lead using the ~6 inch cable shown.  The two pin leads do not allow for any active monitoring of temperature or speed.  I was also surprised to find a 12 V adaptor is not included for motherboards without a handy fan plug.

     From this angle you can see the cooler is designed to sit high enough to clear even the taller card designs.  The stacked thumb screws are interchangeable and are designed to replace your standard OEM slot fasteners.

The Install:

     I Installed the PCI Cooling Booster into my performance AM2 build.  The build includes an AMD Athlon AM2 5200+ cooled by an Ultra ChillTec cooling system,  2 x EVGA 7800 GTX cards cooled by Artic Cooling 5 series coolers, and a 2 x 2 GB kit of OCZ Titanium Series DDR2-6400 mounted on an ABIT Fatal1ty AN9 32X motherboard.  Storage was provided by a 160 GB Maxtor SATA II drive and a Lite-on 16x DVD burner all mounted in an Ultra Grid case and powered by the included Ultra 700 Watt XVS power supply.  While no longer the fastest build, this is build reflects a common high-end AMD gaming build.

     I found mounting the PCI cooling booster was easiest if I first replaced my fasteners with two of the included thumb screws.  Then I was able to attach the fan lead before mounting the cooler using the second set of thumb screws.  The Fatal1ty AN9 32X motherboard features a fan socket directly between the video cards, some installs will find the short cable length a challenge.

     The installed unit covers the SLI setup on my Fatal1ty motherboard perfectly.  To use the PCI Cooling Booster you will need to have a chassis that supports 7 or more slots for the mounting.

     The compact size of the cooler can be seen here more clearly.  With the two 7800 cards, and most common video cards on the market, the PCI Cooling Booster covers very little of the actual cards.  Placing the fan about three inches further in would center it over the GPU for most card designs.

     Many manufacturers are allowing for the increased heat created by today's high-end video card solutions with case fans or venting.  The Ultra Grid handles this need with venting as seen here.  The CoolIT PCI Cooling Booster is just not positioned to take advantage of these common designs.

     As you can see here, the cooler is tucked away under the window frame.  Every bit helps, but for cases without a fan or vent solution the air will be circulated inside the case.   Never under estimate the importance of choosing a good chassis as your foundation for any performance build.

Testing:

     To test the performance of the CoolIT PCI Cooling Booster I first tested the temperature with my current setup.  I then installed the PCI Cooling Booster and repeated the testing.  The system was allowed to run overnight before idle temperatures were taken using my Cen-Tech laser thermometer first at the exhaust port for the first 7800 and then from the cards surface directly adjacent to the GPU.  For load temperatures I tested the cards during the second run through Passmark's 3DMark06 during Canyon Graphics test #3.  During testing the ambient room temperature remained at 76 Degrees.

     This chart shows difference between the temperatures at stock.  The stock exhaust temperature was 91° and the card temperature 88°.  With the PCI Cooling Booster the temperatures dropped to 86° at the exhaust and 87° on the cards surface.  Both are modest but noticeable gains.

     Next I measured the difference between the temperatures under load.  The stock exhaust temperature rose to 97° and the card temperature to 101°.  With the PCI Cooling Booster installed the temperatures dropped to 91° at the exhaust and 94° on the cards surface. That's a 6-10° difference even with the less optimal case vent location.  And remember both of these cards are already running spendy aftermarket cooling from Artic Cooling.

     I was unable to find any information on the 90 mm fan listed on the packaging or the website, but the fan performs well and isn't any louder than my case fans. The cooler looks pretty good with the lights down too.  I took the window off for this picture to help show you just how bright the lighting is!  Nice.

Conclusion:

     The CoolIT PCI cooling Booster is a solid first effort from a company known to provide some of the most innovative PC cooling on the market!  CoolIT could easily offer a longer PCI solution to account for today's larger graphic cards. The decision to go with a two pin fan is a bit of a mystery but may be a concession to keeping the cost down.  I would also like to see a longer cable or a 12 V adaptor to make this package completed.  Still in its price point, the PCI Cooling Booster is a dependable performer.  I am impressed with the improvement in cooling even when paired with my favorite aftermarket graphics coolers.  Cooler cards can only mean stronger performance and longer life.  With the street price already under $20 on several sites, it's not a bad investment when you are looking at one or more high-end graphic cards!

Innovation:	7.5 out of 10
Performance:	8.5 out of 10
Quality:	9.5 out of 10
Stability:	N/A
Overclocking:	N/A
Software/Drivers Pack:	N/A
Value:	8.0 out of 10
Overall Rating 8.0
Project Skill Level (10 being most difficult)	2 out of 10