"AVADirect opts to set the top front fan as an intake and the bottom as an exhaust."
Really, I don't understand why they did this. Surely this just creates a circular air pattern that cools, at most, the HDD cage? At the very least the bottom fan should have been the intake to try to force some air between the 6990s, and I can't help but feel this may have been a factor in the high GPU temps.
Nice review though, and a scary amount of hardware crammed into such a small case o.O.
i agree. in such a small case, it could be better to put as much cool air in as possible. with the bottom fan as intake too, it would force more cool air to the gpus, and the gpus would be the exhaust of the case.
that is what i believe makes the 990x so cool: direct cold air intake over the cpu heatsink. this is a great idea.
The 6990 has it's fan in the center and exhausts hot air from both ends, with the front bottom fan as intake there would be no direct path for it to exit and the GPU's would probably heat up even more than it did since it'd just be recirculating the hot air back to the GPU and PSU. The front top fan as intake was probably to cool at least the HDD and balance intake/exhaust airflow since a side intake fan could not be added, though maybe if you're handy enough a case bottom intake could be cut.
VERY pink, isn't it? Of course, this being "Breast Cancer Awareness Month", I guess that's appropriate (though not nearly as much fun as volunteering to squish a boob!).
Oh, and the price point. I guess I just don't understand the passion of gamers to spend whatever's necessary for "the best system". $5000?? What is this, the early 90's again, when a ho-hum system would run you $1500+???
"AVADirect's engineers were able to put together a smart, clean design..."
So they can assemble a computer, but that doesn't make them engineers. OR are they actual engineers? You know, with a college-diploma and stuff? And if yes, in what?
If you're older than 12, you are surely aware of the fact that the use of the term engineer has not been limited to those with genuine engineering degrees for quite some time. Blame the PC movement, the artifical self esteem movement or any number of marketing/management fads, but it is what it is. Garbagemen have been "Sanitation Engineers" for quite some time now.
Why this is germane to the review escapes me, but at least you got to demonstrate your superior intellect, right?
That's right, because I am an ACTUAL engineer. With a degree in Electronics. English is not my mother-tongue, so my apologies, that I did not know what you consider an Engineer. I didn't want to piss on you leg as a Sanitation Engineer. Somebody has to clean up the trash, and I appreciate that you're doing that.
I honestly don't understand these systems. Maybe .001% can make use of such a system in a reasonable manner (GPU-computing, while taking advantage of the 6 cores). For most other people, even SLI/CF configurations are too much for gaming and of course, SNB would have been better as well for gaming. This particular unit should have gone with water cooling in my opinion. Anything else is just..... As it stands now, this build is insane and nothing that the average person can't build themselves (at least I don't see specially made components). But I like to get something substantial for the money I spend, so I doubt I'm the audience for this unit. :P
If they're sending Anand a copy to review, why not send him the best build possible? I'm sure they expect the average customer to go with a more modest build.
There was a Lian Li m-atx case review up a week or so ago that was cast it in a negative light- cant remember why. one reason was non standard optical bay or something .. Any thoughts on the comparison of the two. Also, any thoughts on look/feel of the case...
The spec table says that the front USB3 ports are wired to USB2 headers. I would like to know how this was done, as my online searches didn't bring up anything useful.
I'm in the market for a new case atm, but my board only has USB2 (won't upgrade until Ivy) and all the cases that I like only have front USB3 ports.
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Alroys - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
The I7-990X has 6 cores, not 4 as stated in the specs.Taft12 - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
For added confusion, AMD has a chipset called 990X (that you would probably pair with a 6-core CPU, natch!)dragonsqrrl - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
...it's 990FXDustin Sklavos - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
You'd think I'd've caught that since I actually have a 990X. Fixed!Menty - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
"AVADirect opts to set the top front fan as an intake and the bottom as an exhaust."Really, I don't understand why they did this. Surely this just creates a circular air pattern that cools, at most, the HDD cage? At the very least the bottom fan should have been the intake to try to force some air between the 6990s, and I can't help but feel this may have been a factor in the high GPU temps.
Nice review though, and a scary amount of hardware crammed into such a small case o.O.
marc1000 - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
i agree. in such a small case, it could be better to put as much cool air in as possible. with the bottom fan as intake too, it would force more cool air to the gpus, and the gpus would be the exhaust of the case.that is what i believe makes the 990x so cool: direct cold air intake over the cpu heatsink. this is a great idea.
livingplasma - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
The 6990 has it's fan in the center and exhausts hot air from both ends, with the front bottom fan as intake there would be no direct path for it to exit and the GPU's would probably heat up even more than it did since it'd just be recirculating the hot air back to the GPU and PSU. The front top fan as intake was probably to cool at least the HDD and balance intake/exhaust airflow since a side intake fan could not be added, though maybe if you're handy enough a case bottom intake could be cut.marvdmartian - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
VERY pink, isn't it? Of course, this being "Breast Cancer Awareness Month", I guess that's appropriate (though not nearly as much fun as volunteering to squish a boob!).Oh, and the price point. I guess I just don't understand the passion of gamers to spend whatever's necessary for "the best system". $5000?? What is this, the early 90's again, when a ho-hum system would run you $1500+???
TinyRK - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
"AVADirect's engineers were able to put together a smart, clean design..."So they can assemble a computer, but that doesn't make them engineers. OR are they actual engineers? You know, with a college-diploma and stuff? And if yes, in what?
ggathagan - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
If you're older than 12, you are surely aware of the fact that the use of the term engineer has not been limited to those with genuine engineering degrees for quite some time.Blame the PC movement, the artifical self esteem movement or any number of marketing/management fads, but it is what it is.
Garbagemen have been "Sanitation Engineers" for quite some time now.
Why this is germane to the review escapes me, but at least you got to demonstrate your superior intellect, right?
TinyRK - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
That's right, because I am an ACTUAL engineer. With a degree in Electronics. English is not my mother-tongue, so my apologies, that I did not know what you consider an Engineer.I didn't want to piss on you leg as a Sanitation Engineer. Somebody has to clean up the trash, and I appreciate that you're doing that.
Keep up the good work!
Death666Angel - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
I honestly don't understand these systems.Maybe .001% can make use of such a system in a reasonable manner (GPU-computing, while taking advantage of the 6 cores). For most other people, even SLI/CF configurations are too much for gaming and of course, SNB would have been better as well for gaming.
This particular unit should have gone with water cooling in my opinion. Anything else is just..... As it stands now, this build is insane and nothing that the average person can't build themselves (at least I don't see specially made components). But I like to get something substantial for the money I spend, so I doubt I'm the audience for this unit. :P
ph0masta - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
If they're sending Anand a copy to review, why not send him the best build possible? I'm sure they expect the average customer to go with a more modest build.Thermalzeal - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
it's pink? (Perhaps the colors are off on my disp) I guess this is the one computer that won't get stolen at a LAN party...s1175290 - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - link
Maybe I missed it in the article, but what power supply did this ship with? Looks to be 100% modular.benrico - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - link
There was a Lian Li m-atx case review up a week or so ago that was cast it in a negative light- cant remember why. one reason was non standard optical bay or something .. Any thoughts on the comparison of the two. Also, any thoughts on look/feel of the case...KamikaZeeFu - Thursday, October 6, 2011 - link
The spec table says that the front USB3 ports are wired to USB2 headers. I would like to know how this was done, as my online searches didn't bring up anything useful.I'm in the market for a new case atm, but my board only has USB2 (won't upgrade until Ivy) and all the cases that I like only have front USB3 ports.