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The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 02:50 |
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Well looking at my own it doesn't really seem like an area where plastic would split or crack. I guess the question I have is, did it simply leak or did it spray? I've already seen an underfilled CoolIt Eco and Corsair H50. I suppose it's just as likely for them to be overfilled. Also, as you figured, pumps don't have the best reputation for reliability.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388 |
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 03:03 |
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I Don't believe it sprayed. But the board did receive some of the moisture. Given the location of the leak, it just ran from the top of the pump, down the board, and dripped substantially on the GPU. Quite unfortunate. The power supply is very lucky though. It saw all the moisture that the GPU did. The GPU probably saved the whole system. It's blowing up, warned me of the problem LOL! The power supply may have been only seconds from failing. The modular connections got a substantial dousing.
I say the whole system, because when a power supply blows up, it has the tendency of taking other components with it ;)
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 03:06 |
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Wow, many posts. Looks like I have my reading material for the train to work...
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 03:10 |
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the increase from 201 to 210 is because the HD7970 tests were conducted at 2560x1600 then.downconverted to match the 1080p standard results, rather than the other way round.
Looking at Metro Rich, you're likely to be correct in assuming it will fall at the higher end of the HD7970's capabilities, but also remember, the values posted here do not represent the absolute worst parts of the game. by aiming for 25fps minimum, it's very likely you'll find yourself encountering 15fps on a few occasions.
water cooling always carries risks, and It's not all down to user error. One particular instance a friend had a laing DDC pump which fractured, not only causing a leak, but seizing the pump, creating a short circuit that pushed a weak PSU (OCZ Powerstream) over the edge. Bad luck maybe, but it happens. Aware of the high level of superstition, I maintained the same wary attitude about sealed units. It's unfair to derive satisfaction from the demise of someone else's system, but it does vindicate my attitude towards these units. Rare as it may be that this happens, It's obviously not user error here. These things can and do happen. Given that with the exception of massively overclocked 130w chips, air cooling can actually cut the mustard, I have no inclination to buy any of the integrated water units.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10. February 2012 @ 03:33
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 03:27 |
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Though Omega you do have the security and protection of one of the better brands available. I think the ole Corsair would have done everything within its design to save the rest of your stuff. Only a shame they aren't pure Seasonic OEM anymore :( If I ever have to replace my 620HX I'll be getting a slightly worse product. Quality in relative terms of course. Slightly worse meaning slightly less amazing :P
Ofc this has been happening a lot lately. I can name a few different companies who switched OEMs to drop costs and had it affect their products. It's actually hard to find decent quality PC hardware these days. Only a few motherboard brands don't make deathtraps and PSU choices are becoming just as limited.
On another note Bethesda finally released the Construction Set for Skyrim through Steam including a mod repository. Luckily it just points at ElderScrolls Nexus for the mods so us *ahem* alternative users can still add mods manually. All this talk of mod managers and whatnot. I started my Gamebryo modding with Morrowind and lemme tell you a mod manager overcomplicates it for most people. Instead of downloading the individual pieces you want, everything is applied as a "package" so you have to order and overlap your files to get the right mods to apply on the right places. Traditionally you just manually place mods where you want them. The Nexus mod manager is simply a UI for the manual process. What most people don't realize is that the mod manager doesn't need to rely on pre-assembled packages. It can manage all of the content you place in the directory. Problem is most don't know how to apply anything other than Mod Manager packages. Anyone who modded Morrowind or Oblivion can tell you their frustration about that. "I have 35 mods applied but yours isn't working right. You screwed up my game". Well any seasoned Gamebryo modder knows to remove mods by process of elimination. The noobs expect everyone to write their mod to work with others flawlessly. That's not how the homebrew community works guys... *Sigh* Fallout 3 and Skyrim created a whole new wave of Bethesda fans and I'm just going to have to accept that most of them are inexperienced. Also that most of them have never played Morrowind or Oblivion.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10. February 2012 @ 03:51
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 03:35 |
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if you forego modular cabling, the TX V2 units are Seasonics, but if you want modular, It's CWT for you. Maybe look at a genuine Seasonic. Pricey, but they're excellent units.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 03:47 |
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Oh I fully agree Sam. Luckily the higher-tier CWTs aren't the worst units you could have. Also the V2 TX units I heard were dropped a manufacturing tier by Seasonic for price reductions, so they aren't the same quality as name-brand Seasonics anymore. At least so I've heard. Interestingly, Zalman units are very strongly Seasonic influenced though I'm not sure if they're the same OEM anymore. A few Zalmans were Seasonic including a unit that shared guts with the OCZ GameXStream 700W, StealthXStream 600W, and the original Corsair 620HX. Only a shame that OCZ don't advertise their units' specs correctly as they have historically been excellent... up to 700W. My StealthXStream managed 700W perfectly, but so did the GXS700, GXS850, GXS1000 etc. OCZ's quality was great but their design was idiotic.
Also Sam I have to disagree with the sealed loop systems. They are very quickly improving them like nothing I've seen before. There's already a CoolIt ECO II and it's better quality and cools better than my Eco I. Mostly better quality lol the cooling is mostly figured out, but point is the products are rapidly improving. I'd be half temped to get the ECO 240 even. As it stands I think I may need to make my current ECO fans intake and see if that helps temps. Loads are A-OK but idle is still a tad warm. 35*C average which is actually a bit warmer than the Tuniq 120 at 32*C average. But also 50-54*C load vs the Tuniq touching 60.
Sam if I had to rate it as a cooler I'd put it slightly above your Thermalright Ultra 120, which is saying a lot.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10. February 2012 @ 04:02
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 03:53 |
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Yah, the Corsair PSU probably would have taken the brunt of it into itself. They are excellent supplies. I still didn't like seeing it nearly drowning in fluid LOL!!! Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration :p
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AfterDawn Addict
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10. February 2012 @ 04:09 |
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Incidentally the CoolIt rep seems to think I should switch my fans to intake as well. He figures the top HAF fan is plenty of exhaust given the open-air design of the case and that I'm starving dual fans. He says it's common that the results are normal with a stock fan, but skewed with powerful aftermarket fans because they're being starved for airflow. I have Scythe S-Flex SFF21F 1600RPM fans. High static pressure fans + pulling from a low pressure environment = no pressure. Wondering if I should replace them with 1900RPM fans but it seems to have diminishing returns relative to the noise levels, especially with these higher pressure fans. They are surprisingly durable too. I have accidentally revved them loads of times with the air compressor and they seem fine *knock on wood*
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 04:19 |
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Actually Jeff, I'm pretty sure both the Zalman ZM600/750 and the OCZ GameXStream units were FSP. That's one of the reasons I was wary of them. The higher-end units however (850/1000W only) are Enhance, and they seem pretty good. Certainly the Zalman-influenced part of the units is much better with the larger capacity units, with much quieter fan control (still in the top 10 high-output PSU models, versus the 600/750s which didn't even come close to entering the quiet midrange PSU charts at all).
Agreed though, the TXV2 units from Corsair are the 'poor man's' Seasonic S12. When you compare them to the semi-passive, modular, super-silent X-series range, they're very much the poorer offering. Corsair also dropped their support for quiet PSUs for anything other than the flagship AX units (not sure how the seasonic AX750 fares, as I've only seen the flextronics AX850/1200 units tested for noise), and ironically the flextronics units haven't proven very reliable, despite being the top-end offering from Corsair.
I never stated that the integrated water systems were any worse than air cooling, merely that, there is very little that they can do that air coolers cannot.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 04:21 |
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Top fans make for excellent exhaust fans. The barebone case I had once upon a time, I cut out a 140mm area, and slipped an after market fan into it. I believe I may have posted pics here. The Phenom 940 used to run VERY warm in that case. The top exhaust fan(which was non existent stock), dropped the temps 6 - 8C. I'd say that's a notable difference :) And what's more, that fan could virtually not be heard. Not even by sams sensitive ears :p Just funning.
I'll stick with air now thank you very much LOL! I'm looking at some very respectable air coolers :)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10. February 2012 @ 04:22
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 05:12 |
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Top exhaust fans are excellent. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense, since the warm air rises, relatively unobstructed, straight out of the case. It's even better if you can turn your CPU cooler 90 degrees so it too exhausts straight upwards. Sadly the socket LGA1156 adapter for my Thermalright prevents this.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 06:37 |
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Interesting... Bethesda have released a high resolution texture pack for Skyrim. Been trying it a bit. Some of it is very much so better(armors, character clothing, trees, etc) and some of it hasn't changed very noticeably. Most of the problem areas have been touched up though, which is a big deal because Skyrim is extremely pretty only to be marred by textures similar to Oblivion in places. The texture pack itself is pretty big, like 3.5GB so that tells me almost all of the textures in the game have at least been re-processed and re-filtered. Even in scenes where big changes aren't apparent, the game is noticeably sharper and better defined. If Skyrim had been released with these textures stock it would have made all the difference in public reception, however slight the actual visual impact. Especially with all the advanced graphical techniques available today, graphics are a sum of many factors working together. The rest of Skyrim is fantastically done, so it's only fitting the textures should match. I'm surprised how small of difference in quality the texture have but how large an impact it makes on the game. I'd guess Bethesda was trying to preserve the system requirements while achieving maximum effect. Small details go a long way.
http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1237891/sk...comparison.html
One of the biggest differences is in cave floors. In that article look at the shots of the dead bear in the cave. It also made quite a difference in character clothing. I have a sneaking suspicion Bethesda actually forgot some of this stuff. It wouldn't be the first time.
With this release Bethesda have cemented the PC as the superior version of the game by far. Thank you for never forsaking your roots guys. Also, since the 1.4 patch performance has never been better. Now for the newest rev of SkyBoost to come out. A handy little script optimiser that gives +10FPS on my setup but doesn't work with the latest patch. 10FPS is a significant leap in some areas. Gamebryo still suffers from performance drops around NPCs, SkyBoost aims to remedy that. Skyrim otherwise performs beautifully. Better than Oblivion which makes me laugh.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10. February 2012 @ 06:55
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 08:23 |
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It's amusing, as textures still make by far the most noticeable impact to game graphics quality, yet have such a minor impact on hardware demand compared to all the lighting engines that have been applied over the top of terrible textures so many times.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 13:15 |
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I don't know where they get their information, but this is an interesting comparison. Look at the power draw!!!
GTX 690 vs HD7970
Hmm, that can't be right. Another site says 270W.
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10. February 2012 @ 13:18
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 14:40 |
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Rich, I wanted to buy a 7000 family card. I really did. Believe me I'm not opposed to their offerings. But if I were going with their card, I really wanted the best one. The 7970 seemed like the only impressive card to me. I know that's not true, but to me, it's the only one that had my eye. And that's a lot of money right now. And at least with the GTX 570 I just bought(330USD), it's not only a gaming beast, but it can frameserve as well. I'm not expecting anything miraculous. More than anything I love to experiment. I'd really like to have two machines again. An ATI and an Nvidia machine. Man that sounds good! I just hope my CPU won't be a bottleneck :S
A bit low on the Ram end, but I'm sure it will suffice for my needs. And it's certainly a huge step up from the late GTX 260.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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10. February 2012 @ 17:01 |
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Congratulations Kevin. When did you get your 570 - twenty minutes ago??? Your 260 just went down, what, yesterday? Man, you don't waste much time - that tax refund is burning a hole in your pocket for sure.
Anyway, congrats again!
Say, you still playing Rage? Did you catch my post about all the special ops content on MW2 - offline single player. Page 315, post 7868. I was thinking of you the whole time.
Originally posted by Rich:
MW2 - HERE IS ANOTHER SINGLE PLAYER GAME THAT KEVIN WILL LOVE
Kevin, if you don't own Modern Warfare 2, it's been reduced to only $29 on steam. Probably $10 on ebay. I know you're not big on multiplayers, but don't worry about that - this one has amazing content for the solo player and it also has some coop stuff that you can do on a LAN if you have a friend come over.
Originally posted by Sam:
Wow, many posts. Looks like I have my reading material for the train to work...
You commute to work by train? That sounds so East Coast. (Actually sounds kind of cool to me but anything can become taken-for-granted if we let it.) I suppose a few people take the commuter Amtrak up from San Diego and points in between to Los Angeles every day - there's a station in San Juan Capistrano, where the swallows return, and a big one with lots of parking, in Irvine. I like trains.
So how long of a ride do you have Sam, and what type of work are you doing these days?
Rich
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10. February 2012 @ 17:28
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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10. February 2012 @ 17:50 |
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I purchased it this morning. Should arrive by Wednesday. The 8600Gt is far from good enough in my current system. I was considering the 560 Ti, but for a little bit more, I get more processing cores(beefier GPU in general). It will probably last me more than 2 yrs. :D
Haven't played Rage in quite some time. When my new GPU arrives, as you can probably imagine I'll be throwing every game at it. You know it's funny. I don't game very often. Now that I lost my 260, I'm itching to play LOL! You never know what you have til it's gone ;)
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harvrdguy
Senior Member
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11. February 2012 @ 01:13 |
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This morning! I wasn't that far off when I said "did ya buy it 20 minutes ago?"
hahaha
So did you catch my MW2 german shepherd post - with all the tear-your-throat-out fun?
No, actually the real fun is unloading a grenade launcher on a truck of russkies pulling up to the bank ATM - and hearing midst the gunshots and unintelligible cursing, the cuh-ching, cuh-ching, cuh-ching, BONUS POINTS, as the thing flips on its side - a flaming wreck. Next time I'll have the heart beat monitor shotgun with me as I try to conclude all 30000 points right there inside the bank.
MW2 solo play special ops got me so distracted, I haven't gone back to Rage myself for quite a while - but speaking about Rage makes me want to go spend some more time with lovely Ginny out in front of the Wellspring outfitter. LOL Leave it to Carmack to put form to my imagination.
So, Kevin, what happened to the mischievous boys? I thought that unique sig was taking the Sopa thing a bit far, then I noticed that you were so pleased with it, you went for a symetrical mirror of pee!
Leave it to omega to push the boundaries of good taste!!
But that didn't last too long!!!!!!!!!!! DDP must have said, "Kevin go buy another graphics card and get it out of your system, this is a family channel." LOL
Rich
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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11. February 2012 @ 01:32 |
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Sopa won't pass. There isn't enough support for it for one, and honestly, It completely disregards our given freedoms. I removed my signature, because it could be distracting to forumers. I suppose that was the idea... But the image was rather loud. Sorta like a highly animated Gif. I know there are people here that dislike things like that in the forum. I believe Sam is one of them. And at this point, I believe most of the population is aware of SOPA.
LOL! I saw your German Shepherd. It's from the gameplay? That looks pretty good! It has a certain CGI look about it ;) It does look very impressive though!
I don't like my system being down. If I have money, and my computer needs it, it gets it LOL! Only my car takes priority over it. Well, and food for me LOL!
I was tempted to make the sig look more rude, but I opted out :p
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. February 2012 @ 01:36
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Red_Maw
Senior Member
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11. February 2012 @ 14:19 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
Top exhaust fans are excellent. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense, since the warm air rises, relatively unobstructed, straight out of the case. It's even better if you can turn your CPU cooler 90 degrees so it too exhausts straight upwards. Sadly the socket LGA1156 adapter for my Thermalright prevents this.
Right before switching to WCing I tested my last air cooler as both a top exhaust and a rear exhaust and found no noticeable difference. Granted I only tried each position once so there's a lot of factors unaccounted for, but unless there is some large difference between cases I doubt you'd see more than a couple C difference, if any.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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11. February 2012 @ 14:52 |
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Well, it definitely helped my last computer case. The case wasn't equipped(not even a hole)with a fan before I modded it. I'm definitely gonna get into calculating pressure, movement, and position for air cooling now. Because I won't touch water for a while now. But I guess this board just became a candidate for future mineral oil cooling. More than anything for the wow factor ;) I'm sure I'd get some interesting looks from people LOL!
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ddp
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11. February 2012 @ 19:18 |
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i liked that peeing sig. as long as no swearing or certain other stuff, i think it will be alright.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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11. February 2012 @ 19:59 |
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I would never disrespect afterdawn. It's one of my favorite forum sites :)
You guys ever play Audiosurf? It's actually quite entertaining! Pretty addictive!
I'm reduced to basic games til I get the new GPU :( This one won't heat up the 8600Gt too much ;)
To delete, or not to delete. THAT is the question! This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. February 2012 @ 20:00
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ddp
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11. February 2012 @ 20:09 |
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bummer
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