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Jonathan B.

Jonathan B.

Joined on 10/23/01

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 4
Most Favorable Review

A good deal

PowerColor Radeon X800GTO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Graphics Card X800GTO16256MBDDR3
PowerColor Radeon X800GTO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Graphics Card X800GTO16256MBDDR3

Pros: This really is an R430 GPU 16 pipeline card. Runs BF2 on high quality. Came with all the cables and adapters one would ever need.

Cons: I had to download the x64 drivers that were not on the disk. It puts out tons of heat under load. Since the heatsink blows forward, it warms up the whole case. No heatsinks on the backside RAM.

Great, with a little help

CoolIT SYSTEMS ECO-R120 Advanced Liquid Cooling (ALC)
CoolIT SYSTEMS ECO-R120 Advanced Liquid Cooling (ALC)

Pros: It works pretty well right out of the box. I am cooling an AMD X6 1090T running at 3.8GHz. In stock configuration it kept the cpu in the mid 50C under full load. If you add another fan it helps. If you add a 1" spacer between the radiator and each fan you can rally improve it. Mine runs 10C cooler with the spacers. I make the spacers by gutting dead or useless 120mm fans.

Cons: None, installation was easy and it has worked flawlessly.

Overall Review: I have water cooled many machines before with big pumps, reservoirs, and radiators. They work well but are too big and get in the way all the time. They also make it heavy and less portable. This all in one unit really works. You get high end air cooling results right out of the box with less noise. Additional fans and spacers will move it well beyond air cooling capabilities. Can't wait to get one of their video coolers when they come out.

Lots of bang for the buck

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card GV-N460OC-1GI
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Support Graphics Card GV-N460OC-1GI

Pros: The dual fan cooler works great without too much noise. I run GPU folding when not gaming and it stays at 55C with the fans set at 55% rpm. Inside an NZXT Vulcan mATX case it is my LAN party machine. Will play anything you throw at it 1920x1200.

Cons: The shroud over the fans does not protect you from bumping the fans when they are running. I suppose that makes them more effective, but I have hit them while running.

Overall Review: AMD X6 1090T @3.8GHz, 4GB Kingston DDR3 RAM, OCZ Vertex II 60GB Boot Drive, 1T WD data drive, NZXT Vulcan Case, coolit eco CPU cooler.

Love these Reserators

ZALMAN ZM - Reserator1 V2 Water Cooling System
ZALMAN ZM - Reserator1 V2 Water Cooling System

Pros: - Dead quite - Striking appearance - Rebuildable - "weak" pump is well matched with cooling capacity of the radiator - Uses good German pump that can be replaced

Cons: - Not ideal for OCing unless you modify it (see below) - Bulky when transporting to LAN party

Overall Review: - Don't consider buying the fan they sell to put on the top, it does not help the performance. I found clipping two 90mm fans to the sides near the bottom boosts the performance considerably. Q6600 OC from 2.4 to 3.2 and runs at 51C and keeps radeon 4870 under 60C all at full load. When not gaming I run Boinc and Folding to keep CPU and GPU at full load. I did replace the pump with the next bigger Eheim, not sure if that was needed or did any good. I have a second Reserator on an E8200/3850 combo with similar results. - replace the waterblocks with better ones if you can afford. Zalman's are not the best. - I have built several custom H2O coolers in the past but keep coming back to these.