Who makes a good component temperature sensor?

[Ken90630]

Every so often I read a review where the surface temp of a hard drive or other component is measured. I never thought I'd want or need to do something like that, but I've decided to get a Zalman heatpipe hard drive cooler for my WD Raptor and I'd like to measure its surface temp before and after I install the cooler (to see if the cooler really makes a notable difference).

Anyone know of a high quality, accurate and reasonably inexpensive temperature sensor? I see this one from Scythe that looks pretty good, but I dunno. Thought I'd ask here and see if you guys have any particular recommendations.

TIA

 

[Billb2]

CompuNurse Advanced
Review
Another

 

[Modelworks]

Besides those mentioned you can also just visit radio shack or walmart or anywhere that has weather monitors.
They usually have some on discount or clearance that have probes you can attach to anything.
Some are even wireless

 

[Zepper]

Most recent hard drives have an internal temp sensor. I monitor mine with HDD Thermometer, a small monitor program from http://www.rsdsoft.com - no extra hardware needed.

.bh.

 

[Ken90630]

Well, I changed my mind about getting the Zalman HD cooler. I discovered it has to be installed into a 5.25" bay, and I don't want my Raptor sitting up there by my optical drive(s) with no front intake fan air blowing on it. I think I'll get better cooling mounting it down in the traditional 3.5" bay behind the front intake fans.

But I'm still gonna get one of those sensors and maybe give HDD Thermometer a whirl too.
Thanks, guys. :beer:

 

[mpilchfamily]

^^^^ what he said. HDDs have an internal temp probe that feeds information back to the S.M.A.R.T system. I beleive Speedfan is able to pull that data up for you so you can monitor it there.

 

[Ken90630]

Oh, I know. Lemme clarify -- I'm not concerned with the internal temp of the hard drive in terms of being afraid it's getting too hot. I'm more interested in getting an idea of how hot it gets on the outside of the Raptor's case (and thus how much heat it's giving off to spread out into the computer case). That's why I like the idea of the external temperature probe/sensor. Sorry -- I should have explained that better in my earlier posts.

Thanks for the feedback though.

 

[mpilchfamily]

What ever the internal temp is will eventually make its way out to the system. The actuall internal temp is a better measurment of the amout of heat its giving off. There isn't going to be any more or less heat coming off the surface of the drive. The surface mounted sensor will show a lower temp but only because the heat is being disipated into the air already. So your better off reading the internal temps.

 

[Zepper]

Any number of fancy fan controllers have three or more temp sensors included. My C-M Aerogate 3 (long discontinued) came with 4 sensors.

.bh.