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Self
contained water reservoir:

This aspect of the unit
is the part of the kit that really shines. Not only do they make a cool
self contained unit that comes complete with built in water pump, but
the whole unit is attractive and PROFESSIONAL... head to toe, top to
bottom. Now I have seen a few units that consist of a tupperware bowl
and a few hoses ( which for the home enthusiast on a budget is fine
) but when you take your kits RETAIL, this is what they are suppose to
be. You can easily transport your box with this setup too. I have no
idea how the tupperware bowl people move their computers from place to
place without spilling everything. Using this setup ( the Blizzard
unit ), removes this worry.
All
the tubing:
I had previously used
3/8 inch transmission/fuel line from the auto parts store, but
considering the way I was setting this machine up for SHOW and GO, I
stayed with the supplied "clear" tubing. I even purchased a
spare 6' piece from the
local Wal-Mart in case I needed a few extra feet.
Active
Cooling:
80w Peltier: I am
probably gonna catch a little flack over the terminology here, but PUSSY
PELTIERS NEED NOT APPLY. . . This 80w badass does the job. . and it does
it well.
Radiator:
A cooler than cool
Radiator, with dual 120mm fans. . Wow, step back. . . this radiator is a
professional unit of the same size and quality used as automatic
transmission coolers in vehicles. If it can cool my 1970 SS Camaro's
Turbo 400 automatic transmission, it can cool the fluid running through
your waterblocks.
Fans
and Hard Drive Coolers:
I am sure you are
wondering who provided the big ass 92mm Sunon fans as well as the hard
drive coolers. ColdCPU has stepped
up to the plate and offered their fantastic services by providing the
fans and air cooling for this system.
( a side note as well, ColdCPU
also provides the Killer Gaming Rig contests with all their cooling
needs, from CPU to case fans, from Hard Drive Cooling to motherboard
chipsets. A fantastic bunch over there, good quality and great service.
I appreciate their ongoing help and product support to make these types
of reviews possible. So if your modding your case, or just bought a
case, you owe it to yourself to check ColdCPU out. . . )
Etc:
Copper Water Block,
Copper cold plate, Copper shim: All copper here baby. . . although I
used both the aluminum and copper the results were not really favorable
toward either unit. Some of the cool "goodies from the Blizzard kit
were RAM Heatsinks and Copper Thermal Compound. Not only do they help
with the cooling, they sure help with the overall cool factor!!
Case
Specs are:
Slide out front panel:
Important feature, as all your drives must be installed from the front.
Removable left side.
The same as any standard ATX case would be.
3 - 5.25 Drive Bays.
Ditto
6 - 3.50 Drive Bays.
More than adequate
1 - Floppy Drive Bay.
standard
4
- 92mm fan holes:
Damn. . . Damn..Damn.
On most standard ATX cases, although they have the standard front fan
mounts, there is still a substantial amount of steel & plastic in
the way, obstructing air flow. With this case, there is nothing to
obstruct the direct airflow of these two monster 92mm fans.... There are
two strategically placed 92mm exhaust ( these can be used as either
intake or exhaust, I set mine up to run both front as intakes and the
top and rear as exhaust ) holes as well, one directly in the back of the
case, and a standard "blowhole" style hole in the top of the
case.
Clear
Plexiglas case:
The funny part is, a
lot of people think you can just cut up a bunch of Plexiglas and screw
it together and you have a case. Umm, I don't think so. . . Every edge
on this case was beveled and finished, the whole case just
"felt" good. And an added bonus of having a clear case with a
water set up??? If anything goes wrong, you can see it first.
What you get for your
money with a Clear-View case is quality craftsmanship with all beveled
edges, each case assembled by hand. The man that assembled this unit
takes as much pride in making it, as you will owning it. The maker of
these cases has been in the glass business for 16yrs. . . trust me, he
knows his stuff ;^)
An
added note about this case that no one has seemed to talk about yet: The
actual "properties" of Plexiglas as apposed to a steel case
shrouded in plastic. The Plexiglas unit dissipates the heat at a far
greater rate than a traditional ATX case... blow holes or not. For an
experiment. . . take a blowdryer and set it in the standard ATX case and
let it run 10 minutes or until it reaches 165f. then take it out, and
time it to see how long it takes the actual case ( the case itself, not
the air temp. ) to return to room temp as opposed to the Plexiglas unit.
. . SURPRISE. .
almost double the efficiency. The Clear-View unit was back to
room temp in half the time. Betcha never thunk about that now did ya??
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