Tom's Hardware Member System Gallery

[Onus]

Based on:
http://www.techreaction.net/2011/07/07/review-xigmatek-gaia-sd1283/7/
http://www.techreaction.net/2011/11/27/review-cooler-master-hyper-212-plus/4/
...the hyper212 EVO is indeed beaten, especially at bang/buck. In any case, we've drifted way off topic. Lutfij, feel free to moderate these, including mine.

 

[Lutfij]

Has gotten off topic but I will post this info for anyone else thinking of passing off a "need for a review on coolers with aftermarket fans" comment;

Contact cooler+fan vendors/representatives and ask them to give you a couple of their "reputed" products and perform a test. Once that is done, you can post it here on Tom's. Who knows, you could even enter the tutorials contest and get recognition...?

Rubix and Ryan are enthusiast watercoolers as am I and I know they both have contacted reps for products to review. Ryan has a TIM+fans roundup on Tom's while Rubix has performed an SSD review. If you're very concerned about how well an AIO performs(and my thoughts on it) you may want to check out the watercooling sticky(in my sig) and head down to the closed loop cooler subsection. But I will post a cautionary note.

Remember that there are a lot of variables to control while performing a test/review regarding coolers and radiators. The key word here is ambient air temps. You'll quickly understand why reviews are(at most times) far from each other and also mostly hard to come by.

^ Again, this isn't a discussion thread but a gallery thread. Onus, Nuke I'll leave this post/discussion upto this, won't moderate it but if this does get out of hand again I'll proceed in demolition mode

Trip down memory lane:
Tecmo once closed this thread to prevent people from posting off topic for a couple of days...(I might need to do that)

On topic;
ZachB91 - I'd be glad to help you out on the cablemanagement front, PM me and we can work something out.

 

[tiny voices]

For anyone interested, I just sorted out that the "CoolIT ECO-R120" I have is a re-branded Corsair h60.

 

[MDXX]

Well guys i finally get to post in this thread!!!!!!! Here is my 1st ever build!

AMD FX6300 cpu
ASUS M5A97 R2.0 mobo
EVGA Superclocked GTX 760 with the ACX fans
WD Black series sata 6.0 HDD 500gb
ROSEWILL Challenger case
G Skill 1600 2x2GB RAM (will be adding another 4gb here soon)
Corsair cx600m PSU
A cheap asus optical drive
Win 8.1 (downloaded the classic shell, without it win8 would drive me maad!)

I cannot believe how fast this thing is compared to my old crappy E5700 and a HD6670. Heck my cpu at regular browsing with a few programs open barely touchs the 6300. im using like 2-3% with chrome origin steam and itunes open. So happy! I love building and cant wait for a 2nd build. heres the pics

(oh and i love everybody elses builds!) will have to comment on some now that i get to post here ^_^

 

[RussK1]

Great job! Your enthusiasm is awesome.

 

[gamerkila57]

 

[Lutfij]

^ Be sure to post in the watercooling gallery thread as well mate couple of more pics to show that beast in action? Love that cablemanagement.
* Is that two pumps I see in your system/loop?

MDXX - you could use some work on them wires, but if it works for you then it works for us. We aren't here to impose any ideas onto thou.

 

[Proximon]

Looks like two different pumps and three different rads in the same loop.... why not just run separate loops?

 

[MDXX]

Lutfij - Theres no holes on the top of the case and i shoved as many wires through the back as i could I could barely get the side back on lol

 

[tiny voices]

This was my old Rosewill Challenger build. You can definitely neaten up those cables a bit. This is with a NON-modular PSU. You can stuff WAY more cables in the back than you think.

 

[MDXX]

Cringed looking at your pic. Intel... INTELLLLLLLLLLL...........

Nice cabling though! I guess i can stuff them in their better! However not really dont concerend as i still have great airflow and im hoping to get a bigger case later this year. Plus the challenger no one can see in it

 

[tiny voices]

A helpful hint, run the 4-pin cable behind the motherboard and to the top of the case before you screw the board down. That's how I did it.

Yes, Intel. I got my i5 2310 for $89. No way was I going to pass that up. Easily can play all modern games. I new have a new CPU cooler and have it locked to the MAX turbo frequency and bumped the base clock up a tiny bit so it runs at 3.3ghz. I figure that isn't too bad for $89. Though it was used, but whatever. That means pretty much nothing. I don't even have that board anymore either. I went through an mATX phase with an SLI build in an mATX case and now I am back in a mid-tower with my mATX sli board. Looks goofy but it works.

 

[MDXX]

why do you like matx over atx? Theres something about ATX boards to me that are sexy. My dell had a ugly ass green matx and i cringed when i looked at it.

 

[tiny voices]

The idea of stuffing an SLI overclocked build into an mATX case was very cool because it is not easy to do and keep cool. Mine worked perfectly and My girlfriend wanted the case so I changed to this Lancool Dragonlord I have now. Nothing wrong with an mATX board. It does everything the ATX version does AND has SLI/CF support with x8/x8 lanes and gives me the option to go back to an mATX case.

 

[jimthenagual]

matx stuffed with an SLI overclocked build

 

[MDXX]

I actually like that. Not the red scheme, as i hate red. But if that were white or blue that would look sweet.

Does it keep cool with Sli??

I assume those are the corsair 140mm fans?

 

[jimthenagual]

It's 120mm fans, I have 2 quiet edition in the front, one on rear, then 2 high static pressure 120mm on the top radiator. I have no overheating problems. Of course the top GPU gets 10-15c higher than the bottom one, but still never passes 75-80c on stress tests.

 

[MDXX]

It's 120mm fans, I have 2 quiet edition in the front, one on rear, then 2 high static pressure 120mm on the top radiator. I have no overheating problems. Of course the top GPU gets 10-15c higher than the bottom one, but still never passes 75-80c on stress tests.

How quiet are they?

 

[Lutfij]

Seriously?! Again with the entire gallery quotes?

 

[krill68]

New rig for 2014
Intel 4930
Asus Rampage IV Black
32 Gb Corsair Dom Plat 1866
5x Intel 520 180gb
2x WD 1tb black
2x EVGA GTX 780TIs
Corsair AX1200i
Corsair Air 540 Case
All EK custom loop with 280 rad in front, 240 pe up top.
I am in love.

 

[jimthenagual]

Krill68 - Wow, me too. That is perfection. Really nicely done. How about a pic of the backside too?

 

[krill68]

I can get one up later. Not very clean in back. A whole lot of wires and not a lot of space! The pump/res is actually outside the case feeding the tubes thru the mesh. I didn't want the hassle of filling inside that small case. thanks!!

 

[Mirakledba]

Holy ....Oh lord...thats just....Future....for good.

 

[tiny voices]

jimthenagual - Love it. Clean mATX builds are the coolest thing in the world in my books.

 

[Lutfij]

Krill68 - Was the fitting extender necessary on the top mounted PE rad? Nevertheless its just an awesome build! Got a link to that build log mate?