Cases, Cooling & PSU - Page 76

A small PC case making company in New Hampshire, USA by the name of Spotswood Custom Computers is about to get attention from all over the world with the release of a new bass-drum style enthusiast PC chassis.

Pictures of Intel's revised stock cooler have surfaced on the web which will be bundled with upcoming Wolfdale (45nm) Core 2 processors.

At first the cooler doesn't look much different to what we're used to seeing, but if you look a bit closer you'll see that the aluminium heatsink has been cut down significantly making the overall size of the cooler quite a bit smaller.

Following news of a passively cooled 8800GT to show up very soon from Sparkle, ECS are following suit with their new 8800GT Dual Turbo Version Graphics Card which sports Arctic Cooling's beefy S1 cooler.

Vantec might not be your first port of call when it comes to watercooling, but the company has had some success with its StingRay kit, but this time the company has decided to go for an ever smaller setup with the compact StingRay Mini STG-110. We're talking an all-in-one solution here, something that has been done before and which rarely offers any advantage over a normal air cooler.

Hopefully Vantec can bring something new to the table with the StingRay Mini and at least the design looks pretty funky. It relies on a 92mm fan to cool the radiator and it has a rated air flow of 22.25-55.89 CFM depending on the fan speed which is adjustable between 1,200 and 2,800 rpm and produces 24 to 36dB.

Gigabyte has launched two new case ranges, the GZ-X4 and the GZ-X5. These both appear to be targeting the budget minded buyer that wants something a little bit extra for their money, or at least that's the case with the GZ-X4. The GZ-X5 slightly more conservative, although it looks like it still offers a good range of features.

As you can see from the picture below, it looks as if the GZ-X4 will come in two colour schemes, red/black and black/silver. Our only concern here is the matter of finding matching red optical drives, looks like a custom paint job will be in order, unless Gigabyte themselves steps up to the challenge. The GZ-X4 comes with front mounted connectors for two USB ports, a FireWire and two 3.5mm jacks for headphones and a mic.

All you folks out there with 8800GTX/Ultra graphics cards looking to spruce up the cooling capabilities without the cost of more noise, you may like to look into a new aftermarket cooler designed for these cards from Cooler Master, they call this the Hydra 8800.

This cooler is particularly interesting due to the fact that it is designed to use both air and water for the removal of heat. The block itself is made out of aluminum with an all-copper base and the fan is rated for a lowly 1800RPM, dishing out a noise level of just 19dBA.

Discovered via Techpowerup just a short time ago, Thermaltake have unveiled specs and images of their upcoming Xaser VI VG4000 and Armor+ VH6000 series of LCS (liquid cooled) chassis' which are due for release in early december.

These things look mighty impressive with a mass of features and bold characteristics. Though if you're not one to go for bling then you'll want to be looking elsewhere.

Cooler Master has just announced their latest case, the CM 690, which is a rather stylish new design that comes in black mesh. It is a spacious mid-tower case with plenty of features. It can house up to seven 120mm fans and there's space for a slim 80mm fan behind the motherboard tray to further enhance CPU cooling from the rear.

The PSU is mounted in the bottom of the case to improve the stability and cooling and Cooler Master has fitted a top mounted 120mm fan to exhaust the hot air at the top of the case. The CM 690 also has holes for mounting a water cooling unit a the top of the case.

A to us unfamiliar Taiwanese cooler manufacturer called Auras launched a range of innovative coolers today and although it's easy to see where Auras got some of the inspiration from, it's taken CPU coolers to another level. The first one is called CTC-868 and at first sight it looks like something that Zalman has cooked up, but it's rather different.

The CTC-868 has four heat pipes that are in a similar circular shape to some recent Zalman coolers, but this is where the similarities end, as the CT-868 uses dual fans for push-pull cooling. To further enhance its cooling ability, the CT-868 can be pulled apart to increase the airflow. The fans measure 92mm and the primary fan is adjustable between 800-2,400rpm, although the secondary is stuck at 1,200rpm. Both fans feature LED lights.