PC Mods Power Down Protector

Provided by: PC Mods
Retail: as low as $10.00
Review Date: April 11th, 2003
Reviewer: Brad L.

The PC Mods power down protector is a tiny device designed not only to look neat nestled in your case, but also to be the only thing standing between your CPU and the dangers of post-shutdown heat build up. By leeching off of your motherboard’s wake on LAN line this tiny device will keep two fans in your system running for a set amount of time after shutdown (maximum of ten minutes). The idea is that after you shutdown, particularly after a mean overclock, your CPU retains the heat that it had just prior to shutdown for a long time after the power is gone. The idea makes sense: all heat sinks operate on the principle that air is actively pulling heat away from the metal. Without an air supply to pull away the heat from a heatsink the heatsink will eventually be saturated with heat. I do not mean that the heatsink will melt, or simply stop accepting heat but thermodynamics says that the heat will equalize between the CPU core an the heatsink making contact with it (keep in mind that is assuming 100% efficiency in heat transfer, which despite arctic silver 3 is not a reality.)

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The fact remains; when you shut down your computer your CPU will remain warm for some time without anything to cool it. Heat will cause damage to your CPU (the damage is proportional to the temperature), and the more time your CPU is in contact with heat the greater possibility there is that damage will occur. These two facts are pretty much so non-debatable, so given these premises the power down protector should provide some measure of protection against thermal damage.

- All temperatures inserted into this graph are merely estimations based on a general thermal trend. They should not be taken as actual results. Actual results will be discussed at the end of this review.

Now, the only real way to test this device is to find many identical computer systems and set them up in rooms with a controlled ambient air temperature. Then 50% of the computers are given power down protectors set to 10 minutes, and the rest are denied the device. The computers are booted, and shutdown rhythmically until a pattern of CPU breakdown occurs. The variable would be the PC Mods device; therefore, any statistically significant number of broken down computers could properly be attributed the presence or absence of this variable (the power-down protector). The experiment would need to be repeatable, and anyone doing the experiment should come up with the same results.

I started to set up all 300 of the P4 systems in my basement laboratory when I received a call right as I was about to power up the experiment. It turns out it was P.E.T.C. on the line (the inanimate branch of the well known “P.E.T.A.” organization); they apparently had gotten wind of my latest project. P.E.T.C. explained to me that they were the “People for the Ethical Treatment of Computers” and that if I unnecessarily destroyed a good number of perfectly good systems they would lobby and press charges. OK, so I guess “I’m the bad guy”…I had to call the experiment off and give up a good portion of my funding in favor of a smaller scale experiment. My results are as follows.

Packaging

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Includes: (as listed on the PC Mod website)
Power Down Protector
5 cables (1 WOL, 2 fan cable, 1 Molex-male, 1 Molex-female, 1 LED cable)
Velcro fastener (can also be attached to PCI cards)
Manual

Specifications:
Anodized Aluminum Cover
Controls 2 fans
Rated for 12W per fan
Approximately 1.96 inch x 1.25 inch (50mm x 32mm)
Powers Heatsink Fan for 1-10 minutes after shutdown

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Note: This product is made to work with the Wake On LAN jack on your motherboard as a default. If you do not have a Wake on LAN jack, or if you do not wish to use your Wake on LAN jack, please select the alternate adapter cable.

The power down protector showed up in a tiny white unmarked box. From the unassuming exterior you would never expect such a clever device to be lurking inside. Along with the device in an antistatic bag, there were a number of wires, a manual, and some sticky Velcro pads neatly packed within.

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