No More Air For Me!
I’m switching to water… watercooling!
Having been running a computer business for almost the past 2 years, I have access to any PC part at wholesale prices and without GST (as, of course, I claim my computer as a business requirement). So I can get things pretty cheap even though I’ve probably spent $2000+ on my current beast. (specs below)
What has been happening in the last few months is that the chipset fan on the Asus A8N-E has been playing up. And what I have been having to do each day I turn the computer back on is get down on my hands and knees and manually try and spin the chipset fan. But today, it just didn’t want to start spinning.
That seems to be a big problem with many technology manufacturers these days in that they spend all this money and research into creating the product quickly, but put little money into some of the most important parts… such as the cooling! If Asus had of spent $2 instead of $0.50 or less on the chipset fan, then there would be many less failures. Overheating can easily fry parts, so it’s a pretty big issue.
Having feared this day when the chipset fan just wouldn’t spin, I had bought a complete watercooling kit a few weeks before ready to install.
So today I have my computer spread out across the dining table with bits and pieces everywhere.
Currently it looks like I’ll only have to do a small little mod with a hack saw to get everything to fit in, so hopefully I’ll be finished by tomorrow and have a nice, quiet beast which I can leave on 24/7. Having watercooling will also allow me to overclock the system at a later date when I find it to be lagging a bit. Though the speed is fine at the moment, so I’ll continue my general computing activities, browsing the net and playing the occasional game… all on a beast suitable for constant high-end gaming, video editing and graphics work. Meh, it’s all good!
The specs:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Asus A8N-E
Corsair TWINX 1GB DDR RAM
ELSA 6600GT
2 x 160GB Seagate HDDs
Pioneer 109 DVD-RW
LG DVD-ROM
FDD
LG 17″ LCD 8ms
Thermaltake Shark w/440W TruePower Antec PSU
…and now an Asetek WaterChill CPU/CGA/Chipset watercooling kit
Nathan Waters
High Tech all the way!
February 25th, 2006 at 4:55 am
How are you liking the Thermaltake Case? I got the Black armor series by Thermaltake, and I must say, it kicks ass. I’ll post picts of my new machine if you do the same
March 1st, 2006 at 8:34 pm
It’s pretty sweet. Looks great, although it’s pretty heavy and attracts some dust since the grills in the side are basically open. Though I was planning on attaching some perspex to the side, but never got around to it.