Prolimatech PT14015 Fan With 17 Blades Pictured

Subject: Cases and Cooling | December 5, 2012 - 11:30 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: pt14015, prolimatech, fan, case fan, APL

Prolimatech reportedly has a new fan on the way that is based on the PT12025 fan developed by Prolimatech and Air Propulsion Labratory if photos uncovered by EXPreview hold true. The new PT14015 is a thin 140mm fan that is designed to balance airflow and noise as well as to be compatible with many tower-style heatsinks without blocking the memory slots.

The Prolimatech PT14015 is 15mm thick and has 17 14cm-long blades. Interestingly, it has mounting holes that line up with 120mm fans that should increase the compatibility with existing radiators and processor heatsinks. The curved fins have a sharp leading edge, and the 17 moving blades and increased 140mm form factor should make the PT14015 a fairly quiet fan.

There is no word yet on pricing or availability, but EXPreview has several photos of the new fan. As far as fans go, it looks pretty cool (pun intended).

Rosewill Announces 1600W Hercules PSU

Subject: Cases and Cooling | December 3, 2012 - 08:56 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: rosewill, PSU, power supply, 80 PLUS Silver, 1600w

Rosewill recently took the wraps off of a monster of a power supply that is rated to deliver 1600W of power. The Hercules 1600W PSU is an 80+ Silver design that will provide efficient power for quad CrossFire X or Nvidia SLI multi-GPU setups. It measures 5.9” x 3.4” x 9.5” and should fit within most full ATX cases without issue.

Other features include sleeved cabling and a 135mm “silent” fan that has an automatically adjusting RPM setting as well as a Turbo button that will spin the fan up to its maximum speed.

Where the PSU really stands out though is in the sheer wattage and number of PCI-E power cables. It features two 12 volt rails at 110A and 50A each. Rosewill has divided the rails such that 12V1 handles all of the PCI-E power connectors (up to 1320W) and the 12V2 rail rated at a maximum of 600W and is used for all the other 12V connections.

The included power cables are as follows:

• 16 x 6+2 pin PCI-E
• 16 x SATA power
• 6 x 4 pin molex
• 2 x 4 pin floppy power
• 1 x 8 pin EPS
• 1 x 4+4 pin EPS
• 1 x 24 pin ATX

Needless to say, it has an impressive number of power cables. You might have a hard time finding enough graphics cards to use even half of the PCI-E power cables, for example. Fortunately, it has a semi-modular design (the ATX and CPU power cables are non-removable) so that you will not have to find enough room to hide all of the excess cables in the 5.25” bays (heh).

The 1600W Hercules power supply is available now with a price of $399 USD. While it will be overkill for most computers, it is impressive nonetheless and would be well suited to powering a rig with dual Powercolor Devil 13 7990 GPUs.

Sapphire Releases Vapor-X CPU Cooler

Subject: Cases and Cooling | December 1, 2012 - 10:18 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: vapor-x, sapphire, hsf, cpu cooler, cooling

Sapphire, a popular graphics card add-in-board partner in the US recently announced a new product that strays from the norm. Called the Vapor-X, it is a new tower-style CPU cooler aimed at enthusiasts.

The new cooler has the Vapor-X designation because it uses the company’s vapor chamber heatsink technology to take heat away from the processor into an aluminum fin array. The vapor chamber makes contact with the CPU, and from there four 7mm heatpipes transfer heat to the aluminum fins where two 120mm fans and a black plastic shroud channel cool air through. The fans are rated at 77 CFM and a maximum of 40 dBA. Both fans have variable (PWM) speeds from 495 to 2200 RPM.

The Vapor-X heatsink has a gross weight of 1524.8 grams (approximately 3.4 pounds) including the fans. Dimensions are 135 x 110.4 x 163.5mm, and it is designed to work within the constraints of the LGA 2011 socket without limiting you to low profile memory modules.

Unfortunately, Sapphire does not list a TDP rating for this heatsink, but it is aimed at high end processors with support for the following processor sockets:

• AMD:  FM1, FM2, AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+
• Intel:  LGA 1366, LGA 1155, LGA 1156, LGA 775

While it has yet to show up at Newegg, it is reportedly on its way with a MSRP of $69.99. You can find more photos and specifications on Sapphire's product page.

My first major gaming graphics card was from Sapphire, so it is neat to see the company taking its graphics card cooling expertise and applying it to CPUs. The reviews should be interesting – particularly whether the shroud really helps to lower temps.

Two low cost, high value cases with numbers in their names

Subject: Cases and Cooling | November 29, 2012 - 03:35 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: corsair, Carbide Series 200R, antec, Three Hundred Two

Generally this contest would be a little more balanced but thanks to the $20 MIR at NewEgg the Corsair Carbide 200R is a mere $30 while Antec's Three Hundred Two will run you $70.  Both cases have a similar look, with the Corsair case being slightly shorter and thinner but longer than the Antec offering.  Both can handle heatsinks up to 7" (17.7mm) with the Corsair case able to handle GPUs of up to 16.5", which is 4" more than the Antec case.  Then again only the Antec case is set up to handle mini-ITX motherboards, which makes planning your system ahead of the purchase of one of these cases a very good idea.  The Tech Report compares these two cases in their latest review, see which case walked away with the award.

"We've compared the successor to Antec's famous Three Hundred enclosure to a new, similarly priced entrant, the Carbide Series 200R—Corsair's cheapest enclosure ever. The results may surprise you."

Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:

CASES & COOLING

• Silverstone Sugo SG09 SFF Case Review @ Hardware Canucks
• Antec ISK110 VESA M-ITX Chassis @ eTeknix
• Enermax Ostrog Giant Case Review @ Hardware Secrets
• Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 Case @ AnandTech
• Fractal Design Node 304 mITX Case Review: Paving the Way to the Future @ AnandTech
• Fractal Design NODE 304 @ techPowerUp
• Cooler Master CM Storm Stryker Computer Case Review @ Madshrimps
• BitFenix Ghost PC Chassis @ eTeknix
• Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid Cooler Review @ Pro-Clockers
• Corsair H80i Liquid CPU Cooler @ Kitguru
• Corsair H100i @ Guru of 3D
• Keeping it Cool: Corsair Hydro H60 Update and H55 Review @ Techgage
• NZXT Respire T20 and T40 Heatsink Video Overview @ Hi Tech Legion
• Looking for the BEST CPU Cooler? Use Frostytech's Top 5 Heatsink Charts
• Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow CPU Cooler @ eTeknix
• Xigmatek Prime SD1484 CPU Cooler @ FunkyKit
• Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Plus Cooler @ Kitguru
• NZXT Respire T20 and T40 CPU Cooler Review: Changing the Perception of Value Priced Cooling @Hi Tech Legion
• Silverstone Heligon HE01 Heatsink Review @ Frostytech
• Noctua NH-L9i and NH-L9a Low Profile CPU Cooler Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Rosewill AIOLOS CPU Cooler Review @ Hardware Secrets
• Sapphire Vapor-X CPU Cooler @ eTeknix

BitFenix Unveils Survivor White Portable Mid-Tower Case

Subject: Cases and Cooling | November 28, 2012 - 01:11 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: white, portable case, case, bitfenix, atx

BitFenix recently announced a new mid-tower computer chassis aimed at gamers and enthusiasts that want a portable PC that easily hosts a full ATX motherboard. Specifically, BitFenix has taken its Survivor case and made an edition clad in white that it has dubbed the Survivor White. 

The case features a carrying handle that folds down into the top of the case when not in use, making it easier to carry to LAN parties. It is completely white minus a blue LED-lit BitFenix logo on the front, and features curved edges. There is space for two 200mm fans or three 120mm fans around the case. Also, the new Survivor has three 5.25” expansion bays, holes for passing water cooling tubes though the back panel, a bottom mounted power supply cutout, dust filters, and a hidden IO panel. The front IO includes the power and reset buttons, two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, microphone and headphone jacks, and a single eSATA port. It also has on/off controls for the LED light for the BitFenix logo and for any BitFenix Spectre Pro LED fans (not included).

On the inside of the Survivor-series chassis, you will find a removable hard drive cage, CPU cutout on the motherboard tray, and cable management grommets. The inside of the case is the same white color as the outside, and the hard drive cage features tool-less mounting brackets. These are all things that are coming standard on enthusiast cases these days, but are nice to see nonetheless (especially for the price). With the hard drive cage installed, the case can hold up to seven 2.5” SSDs or six 3.5” hard drives.

BitFenix has stated that the white colored Survivor case will be available at the end of November for $109 USD or 99€ (including 19% VAT).

What do you think about the new Survivor SKU?

Analog Movement on a Keyboard? Start Your Soldering Irons!

Subject: General Tech, Cases and Cooling, Systems | November 26, 2012 - 02:44 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: gaming keyboard

I was patrolling around Revision3 upon news of their Adam Sessler acquisition and came across the Ben Heck Show. Long-time readers of my content know that I tend to be very picky with input devices which landed me reviewing several keyboards over the last year-and-a-bit. User interface is a complicated problem and testing their limitations often unearths interesting subjects.

The Revision3 show’s most recent episode took apart a keyboard, which if I had to guess was based on Cherry MX Black although membrane-dome is possible, and gave its WSAD keys analog control.

The underlying principle of the build relies upon support for analog sticks in the software. It is not unheard-of for an input device to register in the computer as multiple devices in order to increase functionality. Several keyboards report to Windows as three separate keyboards to get around USB input limitations. In this case, the hacked keyboard will report as a keyboard and as an Xbox360-compliant gamepad.

The build uses hall sensors and magnets to detect how far the keystem is depressed and transmit that data as left-stick movement.

I could see a company such as Razer or Steelseries, in a bid to further differentiate their mechanical keyboards, creating a product with this idea. It should be simple for an established peripheral company to design a pressure sensitive keyboard especially given the existence of other pressure-sensitive buttons on gaming devices. Perhaps the implementation could have a toggle to switch between typing and gaming modes?

That would interest me.

Low profile and a low price, check out Fractal Design's Node 304

Subject: Cases and Cooling | November 22, 2012 - 01:37 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: fractal design, Node 304, mini-itx, dtx, SFF

Fractal Design's Node 304 SFF case is 250 x 210 x 374 mm (9.8" x 8.2" x 14.7") and thanks to the removable HDDs you can actually fit larger sized GPUs in the case, though the biggest will be blocked by the PSU.  Cooling comes from a pair of front mounted 92mm fans and a 140mm in the rear, all attached to a fan controller to help you manage the noise levels.  HiTech Legion puts the MSRP of this case at $89 which is very impressive for a SFF case with this many features, especially the six HDD bays, but wish that the case was properly compatible with Micro-ITX PSUs to give even more space for a high end GPU.

"The Fractal Design Node 304 computer case brings style and functionality to the small computing market. The Node 304 features a modular design that allows easy configurability. Motherboard support includes mini-ITX and DTX compatibility. There are two expansion slots available. A total of six drives, either 2.5” or 3.5” can be installed. There is room for a full ATX PSU, up to 160mm in length. CPU coolers can be installed up to 165mm in height and GPUs up to 310mm in length (with adaptation). Fractal has included a cooling system with two front mounted 92mm Silent Series R2 hydraulic bearing fans and one rear 140mm Silent Series R2 hydraulic bearing fan. There is also a fan controller included with low, medium, and high settings. The front interface includes two USB 3.0 ports, a 3.5mm mic, and 3.5mm headphone connection."

Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:

CASES & COOLING

• Fractal Design Node 304 Case Review @ Hardware Secrets
• Corsair Carbide 200R @ Guru of 3D
• Corsair Carbide 300R Mid-Tower @ eTeckniz
• Cooler Master Storm Stryker Review @ Hardware Canucks
• Antec Take-4 Rackmount Chassis @ Tweaktown
• Thermaltake Armor Revo Snow Edition Chassis @ Bjorn3D
• Enermax Hoplite ST Mid-Tower @ Tweaktown
• Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 Midi Tower Review @ NikKTech
• BitFenix Recon and BitFenix Hydra Pro Fan Controller Roundup @ OCC
• NZXT Hue LED Controller @ Rbmods
• Spire TME III (TherMax Eclipse III) @ eTeknix
• Noctua NH-L12 L-Type Low Profile CPU Cooler @ eTeknix