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The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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18. November 2012 @ 12:30 |
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Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Well I was joking to some degree but you are wrong as it can handle 120mm fans too
Only on the top/bottom, not on the side, and that's what I was criticising.
There's a rather limited range of decent 140mm fans, whereas with 120mm you're free to use almost any brand you choose, so I consider a mount not supporting 120mm fans when it easily could a design flaw.
It may come with a fan controller, but it's one of those awful bracket types that fits in a PCI bay. Most people place their PCs in a position where getting down to components situated in the rear PCI brackets is not easy, thus, such fan controllers never get used.
Far from everyone needs a front bay fan controller, but a case not catering for a possible need is obviously not as good (in that aspect) as one that does. It will just be a moot point for you personally, since this particular issue doesn't matter to you.
For your needs, the case is "better" solely because it's cheaper, perhaps also for its native 8 3.5" bay support, although I wasn't aware of you using that many drives in your main PC. Considering it overall as a product, however, it's cheaper than the Corsair for a reason.
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Senior Member
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18. November 2012 @ 15:08 |
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Ya your right the side fan is limited and definitely 120mm fans gives you a better selection to choose from, 140mm good fans are far and few. And you're right I typically don't use that many HDD's in my main PC but I probably will use this to upgrade one of my gaming PC's and there it might work better as I'll also take advantage of the water cooling feature. With that in mind I may also look at an Intel platform and get the ASUS 8 memory slot mainboard so that I can load some high performance games on a virtual drive in RAM.
Again I was just pulling your chain Sam as I would rather have the Corsair case Russ has too, but do not want to spend a Franklin for it.
That fan controller I would mount in the front if I was to use it and not use the rear slot for it. Like you I think that is a stupid solution for a controller. And that controller isn't thermally controlled just manually so even if one wanted a fan controller that certainly wouldn't be what they were looking for.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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18. November 2012 @ 15:18 |
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Manual fan controllers have an advantage over most automatic fan controllers as they're easily adjustable. I'm all for automatic fan controllers, but usually only if they offer parametric adjustment. Otherwise you may as well have a full speed fan in many cases as automatic controllers all-too-often ramp up far too early, motherboard CPU fan connectors are a prime example of this.
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Senior Member
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18. November 2012 @ 15:28 |
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The one I use to have was as it didn't ramp up fast but you are totally right about some automatic controllers you might as well just use your motherboard or go to a manual adjusting controller.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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18. November 2012 @ 15:31 |
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I was lusting after the AquaComputer AquaAero units a while back, they're designed with water-cooled systems in mind, but seem to offer superfluous fan control utilities. Couldn't justify the price at the time though. Still can't! :P
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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18. November 2012 @ 21:48 |
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I certainly love my manual Scythe fan controller. I use it frequently. I have a 1500, 1400, 1300Rpm configuration running at the moment. I guess I could drop it to 12 - 1300. But the noise it puts off at the moment, is negligible to me :p And ramping each 150Rpm when encoding isn't much noisier. I'm quite pleased with my Setup. Though I could see putting quad 120mm fans on the side panel down the road ;) Something I'll probably experiment with later. If I end up getting a Piledriver, I'll probably update the cooling scheme. While it's adequate, I'm sure I could greatly improve it.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question!
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AfterDawn Addict
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19. November 2012 @ 05:15 |
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Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Ya your right the side fan is limited and definitely 120mm fans gives you a better selection to choose from, 140mm good fans are far and few. And you're right I typically don't use that many HDD's in my main PC but I probably will use this to upgrade one of my gaming PC's and there it might work better as I'll also take advantage of the water cooling feature. With that in mind I may also look at an Intel platform and get the ASUS 8 memory slot mainboard so that I can load some high performance games on a virtual drive in RAM.
Again I was just pulling your chain Sam as I would rather have the Corsair case Russ has too, but do not want to spend a Franklin for it.
That fan controller I would mount in the front if I was to use it and not use the rear slot for it. Like you I think that is a stupid solution for a controller. And that controller isn't thermally controlled just manually so even if one wanted a fan controller that certainly wouldn't be what they were looking for.
Stevo,
I was pretty sure you were pulling Sam's chain. I had no difficulty in finding two serious faults with the Fractal case. It's nice that the case has 8 HDD bays, in two sections of 4. What isn't so nice is that if you remove a section because you need the room for say a longer video card, you lose 4 potential HDD's, or maybe even existing ones. Now it becomes a 6 bay case! They just didn't think it through long enough! The real major problem is the cover fan location. It looks good, but it's totally useless! They need to put the fan where it directs it's air, where the heat is, so why is it in the middle of the case cover, instead of over the top left third of the motherboard, where it can do some good, cooling the Northbridge and the VRM's!
I also take exception to Fractals total disregard for the truth in strongly implying that this case is for an 8 port motherboard, when clearly it is not! 7+1 is not the same as 8! In this case the +1 is vertical, and is nothing more than a breakout panel! It's a nice enough looking case, but the design is antiquated. I think the design of the Corsair is brilliant!
EDIT:
Here you go, a 400R for $59.99 after $20 instant, and $20 MIR.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...60&sku=C13-6400
Best Regards,
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. November 2012 @ 07:14
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Senior Member
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19. November 2012 @ 15:02 |
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Originally posted by theonejrs: Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Ya your right the side fan is limited and definitely 120mm fans gives you a better selection to choose from, 140mm good fans are far and few. And you're right I typically don't use that many HDD's in my main PC but I probably will use this to upgrade one of my gaming PC's and there it might work better as I'll also take advantage of the water cooling feature. With that in mind I may also look at an Intel platform and get the ASUS 8 memory slot mainboard so that I can load some high performance games on a virtual drive in RAM.
Again I was just pulling your chain Sam as I would rather have the Corsair case Russ has too, but do not want to spend a Franklin for it.
That fan controller I would mount in the front if I was to use it and not use the rear slot for it. Like you I think that is a stupid solution for a controller. And that controller isn't thermally controlled just manually so even if one wanted a fan controller that certainly wouldn't be what they were looking for.
Stevo,
I was pretty sure you were pulling Sam's chain. I had no difficulty in finding two serious faults with the Fractal case. It's nice that the case has 8 HDD bays, in two sections of 4. What isn't so nice is that if you remove a section because you need the room for say a longer video card, you lose 4 potential HDD's, or maybe even existing ones. Now it becomes a 6 bay case! They just didn't think it through long enough! The real major problem is the cover fan location. It looks good, but it's totally useless! They need to put the fan where it directs it's air, where the heat is, so why is it in the middle of the case cover, instead of over the top left third of the motherboard, where it can do some good, cooling the Northbridge and the VRM's!
I also take exception to Fractals total disregard for the truth in strongly implying that this case is for an 8 port motherboard, when clearly it is not! 7+1 is not the same as 8! In this case the +1 is vertical, and is nothing more than a breakout panel! It's a nice enough looking case, but the design is antiquated. I think the design of the Corsair is brilliant!
EDIT:
Here you go, a 400R for $59.99 after $20 instant, and $20 MIR.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...60&sku=C13-6400
Best Regards,
Russ
Debacled 1st point
No you don't loose the 2nd 4 HHD bay as it inserts 90 deg out to gain the extra space. You would only loose one 4 drive bay if they made a much longer video card then is even made today.
2nd point
It's not advertised as a 8 I/O slot motherboard case. The 8th slot, that is horizontal, is for the fan controller potentiometer, and only that controller.
Although that case you show is nice I still like this case much better. I don't need/want the extra ROM bays as I won't use them and I prefer the split drive bays that can be oriented facing back for better airflow or toward the side case cover for convenience. I personally think that is a way better design feature and I get two more drive bays that are all compatible for 3.5" or 2.5" drives.
So I wouldn't worry about the 8th slot as I have yet to see a 8 slot I/O motherboard these days, and your misunderstanding of the drive bays doesn't support the poor design structure that you would like to knock it for, that just doesn't hold up. Now Sam's arguments I at least understand from his prospective.
Thanks,
Stevo
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. November 2012 @ 15:03
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19. November 2012 @ 15:23 |
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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:
So I wouldn't worry about the 8th slot as I have yet to see a 8 slot I/O motherboard these days, and your misunderstanding of the drive bays doesn't support the poor design structure that you would like to knock it for, that just doesn't hold up. Now Sam's arguments I at least understand from his prospective.
Thanks,
Stevo
There are quite a few motherboards intended for cases with eight expansion slots. For example, Gigabyte's Z77 Sniper E-ATX board has eight slots (four double spaced PCIe 3.0 x16 slots with a PLX chip for quad PCIe 3.0 x8 Crossfire/SLI, ideally with water cooled cards).
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. November 2012 @ 15:23
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Senior Member
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19. November 2012 @ 16:59 |
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There are not quite a few, there maybe a couple, I've done my home work on this, most ATX boards, MOST, are 7 or 6 slots (normal spacing)!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. November 2012 @ 16:59
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Member
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19. November 2012 @ 17:11 |
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Originally posted by Mr-Movies: There are not quite a few, there maybe a couple, I've done my home work on this, most ATX boards, MOST, are 7 or 6 slots (normal spacing)!
Tht's probably because you're talking about only ATX boards. There are plenty of E-ATX boards or other such form factors, many of which have eight slots. I'm not aware of any ATX board with eight slots. I think that would be outside of the ATX specifications for motherboards.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. November 2012 @ 17:13
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AfterDawn Addict
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19. November 2012 @ 17:36 |
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Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Originally posted by theonejrs: Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Ya your right the side fan is limited and definitely 120mm fans gives you a better selection to choose from, 140mm good fans are far and few. And you're right I typically don't use that many HDD's in my main PC but I probably will use this to upgrade one of my gaming PC's and there it might work better as I'll also take advantage of the water cooling feature. With that in mind I may also look at an Intel platform and get the ASUS 8 memory slot mainboard so that I can load some high performance games on a virtual drive in RAM.
Again I was just pulling your chain Sam as I would rather have the Corsair case Russ has too, but do not want to spend a Franklin for it.
That fan controller I would mount in the front if I was to use it and not use the rear slot for it. Like you I think that is a stupid solution for a controller. And that controller isn't thermally controlled just manually so even if one wanted a fan controller that certainly wouldn't be what they were looking for.
Stevo,
I was pretty sure you were pulling Sam's chain. I had no difficulty in finding two serious faults with the Fractal case. It's nice that the case has 8 HDD bays, in two sections of 4. What isn't so nice is that if you remove a section because you need the room for say a longer video card, you lose 4 potential HDD's, or maybe even existing ones. Now it becomes a 6 bay case! They just didn't think it through long enough! The real major problem is the cover fan location. It looks good, but it's totally useless! They need to put the fan where it directs it's air, where the heat is, so why is it in the middle of the case cover, instead of over the top left third of the motherboard, where it can do some good, cooling the Northbridge and the VRM's!
I also take exception to Fractals total disregard for the truth in strongly implying that this case is for an 8 port motherboard, when clearly it is not! 7+1 is not the same as 8! In this case the +1 is vertical, and is nothing more than a breakout panel! It's a nice enough looking case, but the design is antiquated. I think the design of the Corsair is brilliant!
EDIT:
Here you go, a 400R for $59.99 after $20 instant, and $20 MIR.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...60&sku=C13-6400
Best Regards,
Russ
Debacled 1st point
No you don't loose the 2nd 4 HHD bay as it inserts 90 deg out to gain the extra space. You would only loose one 4 drive bay if they made a much longer video card then is even made today.
2nd point
It's not advertised as a 8 I/O slot motherboard case. The 8th slot, that is horizontal, is for the fan controller potentiometer, and only that controller.
Although that case you show is nice I still like this case much better. I don't need/want the extra ROM bays as I won't use them and I prefer the split drive bays that can be oriented facing back for better airflow or toward the side case cover for convenience. I personally think that is a way better design feature and I get two more drive bays that are all compatible for 3.5" or 2.5" drives.
So I wouldn't worry about the 8th slot as I have yet to see a 8 slot I/O motherboard these days, and your misunderstanding of the drive bays doesn't support the poor design structure that you would like to knock it for, that just doesn't hold up. Now Sam's arguments I at least understand from his prospective.
Thanks,
Stevo
Stevo,
This is the nomenclature that was supplied to Newegg by the case manufacturer, exactly as written!
Steel ATX Mid Tower
1 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, and Audio I/O ports Front Ports
Side Air duct
2 (with one 5.25 > 3.5 inch converter included) External 5.25" Drive Bays
8 (Compatible with SSD) In
I don't know what you make of that last line, but it definitely is trying to mislead you. How is the vertical slot in any way compatible with SSD?
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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AfterDawn Addict
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20. November 2012 @ 04:30 |
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Originally posted by vcuongpx: Asus P35 P5K-E/WiFi .|. 4GB 1066MHz Geil Black Dragon RAM .|. Samsung F3 1TB HDD .|. Corsair H50-1 Cooler .|. Sapphire 4870 512MB .|
vcuongpx,
Welcome to AD!
Best Regards,
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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AfterDawn Addict
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20. November 2012 @ 08:15 |
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Originally posted by omegaman7: I must me doing something wrong, if you get temps like that with such a high ambient :S No sarcasm intended. There probably is something I can do. WOrking two jobs though... Not sure when I'll get to it :(
Oman7,
I've been thinking about that question, since I read this post. It may have a lot to do with the chipset, and the best chipset to have is the 990/950. It was silly easy to overclock, once I realized that any voltage bumps would be very small, it was easy. It's very finicky until you understand the narrower range. I just bumped it up to 3.925GHz at 1.312v.
It took another 3 minutes off of the same video I encoded yesterday at 3.8GHz.
Here's some benchmarks! The processor arithmetic went up 3000 MIPS and the memory didn't change
I've never seen Processor Multi Media scores that high before. I'm going to go ahead and use it for a couple of days and see how it goes. If all is good, on to 4.0GHz
Best Regards,
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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Senior Member
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20. November 2012 @ 08:21 |
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Originally posted by theonejrs: Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Originally posted by theonejrs: Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Ya your right the side fan is limited and definitely 120mm fans gives you a better selection to choose from, 140mm good fans are far and few. And you're right I typically don't use that many HDD's in my main PC but I probably will use this to upgrade one of my gaming PC's and there it might work better as I'll also take advantage of the water cooling feature. With that in mind I may also look at an Intel platform and get the ASUS 8 memory slot mainboard so that I can load some high performance games on a virtual drive in RAM.
Again I was just pulling your chain Sam as I would rather have the Corsair case Russ has too, but do not want to spend a Franklin for it.
That fan controller I would mount in the front if I was to use it and not use the rear slot for it. Like you I think that is a stupid solution for a controller. And that controller isn't thermally controlled just manually so even if one wanted a fan controller that certainly wouldn't be what they were looking for.
Stevo,
I was pretty sure you were pulling Sam's chain. I had no difficulty in finding two serious faults with the Fractal case. It's nice that the case has 8 HDD bays, in two sections of 4. What isn't so nice is that if you remove a section because you need the room for say a longer video card, you lose 4 potential HDD's, or maybe even existing ones. Now it becomes a 6 bay case! They just didn't think it through long enough! The real major problem is the cover fan location. It looks good, but it's totally useless! They need to put the fan where it directs it's air, where the heat is, so why is it in the middle of the case cover, instead of over the top left third of the motherboard, where it can do some good, cooling the Northbridge and the VRM's!
I also take exception to Fractals total disregard for the truth in strongly implying that this case is for an 8 port motherboard, when clearly it is not! 7+1 is not the same as 8! In this case the +1 is vertical, and is nothing more than a breakout panel! It's a nice enough looking case, but the design is antiquated. I think the design of the Corsair is brilliant!
EDIT:
Here you go, a 400R for $59.99 after $20 instant, and $20 MIR.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...60&sku=C13-6400
Best Regards,
Russ
Debacled 1st point
No you don't loose the 2nd 4 HHD bay as it inserts 90 deg out to gain the extra space. You would only loose one 4 drive bay if they made a much longer video card then is even made today.
2nd point
It's not advertised as a 8 I/O slot motherboard case. The 8th slot, that is horizontal, is for the fan controller potentiometer, and only that controller.
Although that case you show is nice I still like this case much better. I don't need/want the extra ROM bays as I won't use them and I prefer the split drive bays that can be oriented facing back for better airflow or toward the side case cover for convenience. I personally think that is a way better design feature and I get two more drive bays that are all compatible for 3.5" or 2.5" drives.
So I wouldn't worry about the 8th slot as I have yet to see a 8 slot I/O motherboard these days, and your misunderstanding of the drive bays doesn't support the poor design structure that you would like to knock it for, that just doesn't hold up. Now Sam's arguments I at least understand from his prospective.
Thanks,
Stevo
Stevo,
This is the nomenclature that was supplied to Newegg by the case manufacturer, exactly as written!
Steel ATX Mid Tower
1 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, and Audio I/O ports Front Ports
Side Air duct
2 (with one 5.25 > 3.5 inch converter included) External 5.25" Drive Bays
8 (Compatible with SSD) In
I don't know what you make of that last line, but it definitely is trying to mislead you. How is the vertical slot in any way compatible with SSD?
Russ
It didn't mislead me nor do I think it mislead Sam, who would have brought that up, and it still doesn't support your poor design argument. Actually it is a very good design, quite the opposite of what you were saying was bad.
Blazorthon,
You're absolutely correct I was speaking of ATX and not extended in which you're right the 8 slots might be needed, depending of course on if the motherboard had a PCIe 16x slot in the first position and not a 1x slot which wouldn't be the end of the world to loose and is more so the common case.
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AfterDawn Addict
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20. November 2012 @ 10:46 |
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Mr-Movies says, "It didn't mislead me nor do I think it mislead Sam, who would have brought that up, and it still doesn't support your poor design argument. Actually it is a very good design, quite the opposite of what you were saying was bad."
Stevo,
I don't recall ever saying the fractal was a bad case! I said it was an "antiquated design". I would call it a throw back to the past.
The nomenclature from Fractral says,
"Supports graphics card lengths up to 290mm when removable HDD cage is in place and up to 470mm with upper HDD cage removed"
Notice it says the word removed. There's no mention of rotating it for more room, only removing it. That's why I said what I said about the design. I can tell you why the cover fan is located where it is. If it were in the right place, you couldn't get a lot of air coolers to fit inside the narrowness of a 9" wide case. There's still a lot of good coolers that aren't going to fit!
Best Regards,
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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Senior Member
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20. November 2012 @ 12:41 |
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Originally posted by theonejrs: Mr-Movies says, "It didn't mislead me nor do I think it mislead Sam, who would have brought that up, and it still doesn't support your poor design argument. Actually it is a very good design, quite the opposite of what you were saying was bad."
Stevo,
I don't recall ever saying the fractal was a bad case! I said it was an "antiquated design". I would call it a throw back to the past.
The nomenclature from Fractral says,
"Supports graphics card lengths up to 290mm when removable HDD cage is in place and up to 470mm with upper HDD cage removed"
Notice it says the word removed. There's no mention of rotating it for more room, only removing it. That's why I said what I said about the design. I can tell you why the cover fan is located where it is. If it were in the right place, you couldn't get a lot of air coolers to fit inside the narrowness of a 9" wide case. There's still a lot of good coolers that aren't going to fit!
Best Regards,
Russ
How is rotating drive cages antiquated? And how many OLD cases have split bays that are removable and can utilize any drive made in a non-server case? Also you needed to view the video that NewEgg supplies to see the features of this case as it is advanced in its style with all sorts of features other cases don't have.
Again, had you viewed the video you would have found out that only video cards with extreme lengths, that are NOT presently made, could be accommodated in this case. Again a design feature other cases, even the one you use don't possess!
Plain and simple your arguments are just flat out wrong!
Sorry but true,
Stevo
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ddp
Moderator
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20. November 2012 @ 12:56 |
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calm down guys.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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20. November 2012 @ 14:45 |
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Originally posted by theonejrs: Mr-Movies says, "It didn't mislead me nor do I think it mislead Sam, who would have brought that up, and it still doesn't support your poor design argument. Actually it is a very good design, quite the opposite of what you were saying was bad."
Stevo,
I don't recall ever saying the fractal was a bad case! I said it was an "antiquated design". I would call it a throw back to the past.
The nomenclature from Fractral says,
"Supports graphics card lengths up to 290mm when removable HDD cage is in place and up to 470mm with upper HDD cage removed"
Notice it says the word removed. There's no mention of rotating it for more room, only removing it. That's why I said what I said about the design. I can tell you why the cover fan is located where it is. If it were in the right place, you couldn't get a lot of air coolers to fit inside the narrowness of a 9" wide case. There's still a lot of good coolers that aren't going to fit!
Best Regards,
Russ
From the official spec sheet, located here:
http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&prod=57
"Upper HDD cage is removable and rotatable"
"Supports graphic card lengths up to 290mm when removable HDD-Bay is in place
Supports graphic card lengths up to 470mm without removable HDD-Bay"
The HD6990 measures 305mm in length, so would not fit in the case with the upper HDD unit in place, so the statement that no graphics card yet in existence will not fit in this scenario is false.
It is however, accurate to state that graphics cards exceeding 290mm in length are relatively rare - the HD5970, HD6970 and GTX690 all come in at 11", or 279mm, so they'll fit albeit a little tight. Whether you want the rear of a massive graphics card that close to your hard drives is another matter, but with a standard front-to-rear radial cooler design (c.f. the large axial heatsink based system used on many high-end non-reference cards) I don't see an issue with it.
From this, there are no unusual downsides to the case beyond those I initially stated a page ago. The hard disk cages are almost a non-issue except when using the largest graphics cards and to be honest, that sort of card does not necessarily belong in such an inexpensive case anyway.
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Senior Member
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20. November 2012 @ 15:05 |
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I just repeated what the video said so I was not aware of a graphics card at 305mm, and apparently the reviewer wasn't either, as I haven't researched that nor do I own that video card but a very good point.
However I disagree that you have to have an expensive case to have a gaming rig and this case has all of the cooling needs to support such a rig so I think you're wrong there Sam.
Another thing you missed is you can rotate the drive cages for better cooling which I touched on previously so they don't rotate or remove just for the purpose of adding a large video card or whatever.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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20. November 2012 @ 15:38 |
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Quote: However I disagree that you have to have an expensive case to have a gaming rig and this case has all of the cooling needs to support such a rig so I think you're wrong there Sam.
Not what I said, I said specifically if you own such a video card. Such things are a rarity and typically cost in excess of $800. If you own a card that pricey, you'll probably have a pricey case for the system.
You do not need an expensive case for a gaming PC in general, partly since you don't need a very expensive graphics card for a gaming PC in general.
I'm not entirely sure I see why rotating the drives improves the cooling much if I'm honest, as the drives are still secured the same way.
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Senior Member
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20. November 2012 @ 15:59 |
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Originally posted by sammorris: Quote: However I disagree that you have to have an expensive case to have a gaming rig and this case has all of the cooling needs to support such a rig so I think you're wrong there Sam.
Not what I said, I said specifically if you own such a video card. Such things are a rarity and typically cost in excess of $800. If you own a card that pricey, you'll probably have a pricey case for the system.
You do not need an expensive case for a gaming PC in general, partly since you don't need a very expensive graphics card for a gaming PC in general.
I'm not entirely sure I see why rotating the drives improves the cooling much if I'm honest, as the drives are still secured the same way.
You said: Quote: that sort of card does not necessarily belong in such an inexpensive case anyway
I disagree the cost of a card doesn't justify the cost of a case! I've seen many cheap cases that work as well or even better than very expensive cases, functionality is all that matters and then pretty can follow.
Also putting the card cage so that hard drives aren't easily accessible means you do not have the metal side(s) of the cage interfering, blocking, with the front fans airflow. So you maybe honest but you are missing something here. Open end of the drive cage with gaps between the drives, verses a metal structure is a huge difference.
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AfterDawn Addict
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20. November 2012 @ 21:35 |
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Originally posted by Mr-Movies: Originally posted by theonejrs: Mr-Movies says, "It didn't mislead me nor do I think it mislead Sam, who would have brought that up, and it still doesn't support your poor design argument. Actually it is a very good design, quite the opposite of what you were saying was bad."
Stevo,
I don't recall ever saying the fractal was a bad case! I said it was an "antiquated design". I would call it a throw back to the past.
The nomenclature from Fractral says,
"Supports graphics card lengths up to 290mm when removable HDD cage is in place and up to 470mm with upper HDD cage removed"
Notice it says the word removed. There's no mention of rotating it for more room, only removing it. That's why I said what I said about the design. I can tell you why the cover fan is located where it is. If it were in the right place, you couldn't get a lot of air coolers to fit inside the narrowness of a 9" wide case. There's still a lot of good coolers that aren't going to fit!
Best Regards,
Russ
How is rotating drive cages antiquated? And how many OLD cases have split bays that are removable and can utilize any drive made in a non-server case? Also you needed to view the video that NewEgg supplies to see the features of this case as it is advanced in its style with all sorts of features other cases don't have.
Again, had you viewed the video you would have found out that only video cards with extreme lengths, that are NOT presently made, could be accommodated in this case. Again a design feature other cases, even the one you use don't possess!
Plain and simple your arguments are just flat out wrong!
Sorry but true,
Stevo
Stevo,
You want to back down just a teense, please. First, I never said that the rotating blocks being antiquated, I was talking about the airflow! Your sole argument is based on the assumption that I didn't watch the video (I didn't)? Did you ask me to, because if you had, I would have watched it! I don't make a habit out of watching those types of videos. I have better things to do than waste 11 minutes and change, watching a promo ad! So why are you lecturing me now, about my not watching it? BTW, that model Fractal case has been discontinued, JSYN!
Which case is better? Let's review! Aesthetically, the Fractal is a nice enough looking case, just a bit dated. At 9" wide, with air cooling, it severely limits how tall the CPU cooler can be to around roughly the height of a Freezer 64. I wouldn't give it a second look if I was air cooling. I've been there before, with my 3 year old CM RC-534+ case for the same reasons. That's why I bought the CoolIt LCS CPU cooler in the first place, because it get's too hot here in the summertime (triple digits). It gave me another year out of the case, but I've retired it now!
Aesthetically, the 400R is also a nice looking case, but has much more modern cooling than the fractal. It looks to me like science is finally beginning to recognize the need for better cooling for computers, and is finally doing something about it. Yesterday, when I got up it was 51F in the room (I use an electric blanket), and when I turned the computer on, the CPU temp was 11C, or 51F! It doesn't get much better than that. Normal Idle is 23C-25C If I needed 2 more HDD's, I could always install them in a 5.25" bay adapter, and have 8 HDD bays, and 2 5.25" bays just like the fractal.
So the "Bottom Line" of which is the better case, is easy. Sorry Stevo, but it's the 400R all the way. It isn't even close. Quality goes to the 400R, for it's fit and finish, as well as the magnificent black fine metallic paint job, inside and out! Cooling ability and performance, go to the more modern design 400R, as well. It's simply a more modern and efficient design, that works extremely well!
You know what they say, "Time and tide wait for no man!" Just remember they also say, "Time marches on"! LOL!!
Best Regards,
Russ
GigaByte 990FXA-UD5 - AMD FX-8320 @4.0GHz @1.312v - Corsair H-60 liquid CPU Cooler - 4x4 GB GSkill RipJaws DDR3/1866 Cas8, 8-9-9-24 - Corsair 400-R Case - OCZ FATAL1TY 550 watt Modular PSU - Intel 330 120GB SATA III SSD - WD Black 500GB SATA III - WD black 1 TB Sata III - WD Black 500GB SATA II - 2 Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner - Sony 420W 5.1 PL-II Suround Sound - GigaByte GTX550/1GB 970 Mhz Video - Asus VE247H 23.6" HDMI 1080p Monitor
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ddp
Moderator
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20. November 2012 @ 22:29 |
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i'm an oooooolllld man.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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21. November 2012 @ 01:41 |
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You know... Cases really do boil down to each individual. We shouldn't argue any further. Aesthetics are very important when it comes to a case. And a lot of blind buyers will shoot for only the aesthetics, and hope it accommodates most of their needs, because they like the way it looks. Let's face it. Even if it doesn't meet every expectations, there are always ways of adapting. For a lot of us, the PC is within Eyes view.
And if it's cheap, what the hey! Especially if you're building for a living, or just to make a few bucks. As long as cooling is agreeable, it holds two hard drives, isn't noisy, or overly cheaply made, I'd buy any cheap case. I could always improve upon a really bad case. I've done it...
If one is a gamer, they're gonna buy a case that can support a long card easily, period! They don't want it mucking up their hard drives, or cramping the case. That's one of the reasons I bought the HAF 932. It literally supports multiple configurations. Could I do as good for cheaper? Probably not. You do get what you pay for. I didn't even look very closely at the fractal case. I'm a sucker for Large cases. Mid towers aren't something I shop around at often. Only if I'm building for somebody. In which a lot of consulting would be done, prior to purchase! A lot of cases are plain, in which I would shoot for functionality ;) If they're not concerned about the bling factor, than functionality is important. But if they see a case online, that they're dead set on, who am I to argue? I'll simply improve upon it :)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question!
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