This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

As a PC gamer, I like  my machine running as efficiently as possible. This means that not only is my OS running as few unnecessary processes as possible, but my hardware is also staying nice and cool. You don’t need anything special to keep the software side of things running right, but having the right cooling system can make all of the difference in the world for your hardware.

The three things that are probably going to get the hottest in a machine are your CPU, GPU and hard drive. By using solid state drives I’ve all but eliminated the heat from the hard drive. Today we’ll be focusing on keeping the temperature down on your CPU.

When you’ve decided to upgrade your cooling system, you have a number of options. However, it boils down to two main choices: liquid or air. Traditional air cooling is generally the more cost-effective route, but isn’t necessarily the most effective. Also, the more you rely on air cooling, the louder your system generally gets.

Liquid cooling has gotten a bad name over the years, mostly due to the difficulty of the initial setup and high cost. With the large pumps, hoses to run and the possibility of destroying your system if installed incorrectly, most people shied away from it. These days companies such as CoolIT offer self-contained solutions that not only eliminate the hassle of installation, but aren’t to hard on your wallet. Today we’re going to look at one of their latest offerings, the ECO A.L.C.

First Look

The CoolIT ECO Advanced Liquid Cooling (A.L.C.) system is one of the smallest of its kind. It is composed of two main parts: the pump and the radiator. These are connected by a pair of hoses, which are already factory installed and sealed. This means you don’t have to worry at all about getting a secure connection or ever seeing the liquid contained inside. The radiator is attached to a 120mm case fan, and is to be mounted at the rear of your case. The pump is connected to the heatsink, and is surprisingly smaller than any air cooling solution I’ve seen.

Installation

This is the first area that the ECO A.L.C. really shines. The most difficult part of the entire installation is attaching the backplate to the back of your motherboard. In some cases this will require you to actually remove your motherboard to position it in place. However, many newer cases you’ll find a large hole in the general area of your CPU. This means that you’ll need only remove the side panel from the case, and put the backplate into place. There are three backplates to choose from, depending on the processor series in your computer.

Next, you’ll have to mount the radiator to the rear of your case. You will generally be replacing the existing rear 120mm fan. In the case I was using (Thermaltake Element V) I also had to remove the top fan to make room for the radiator.

Finally, you’ll configure the retention bracket on the pump. For Intel systems, you’ll simply slide the thumbscrews to the correct position (which is listed on the unit itself). There are separate retention brackets for AMD CPUs. This requires only two screws to change. All that’s left is to screw the pump into place and plug in the two power connectors.

The entire installation time for me was in the neighborhood of 15 minutes. Not too shabby for a liquid cooling unit. My only complaint here would be with the two power connectors. One goes from the fan attached to the radiator to the CPU fan port. The other is from the pump to any other available fan connector. These cables are a few inches shorter than I care for. While they did reach their respected ports, it was a stretch on both counts. In the case of the pump connector, it had to sit across the tops of my RAM, which is not somewhere I want any cables resting. I think adding an extra 2-3 inches to each would have made proper cable management possible.

Testing

Since this is one of CoolIT’s entry-level models, we are testing it against the stock cooling on an i7 system. The ECO A.L.C. is not aimed at the high-end overclockers, so during this review we have kept the CPU running at stock speeds. We may do an overclocking segment in the future to accommodate curious minds. Our test system is as follows:

CPU: Intel i7 920
Motherboard: Asus P6T
RAM: 12GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 Platinum
GPU: MSI Radeon 4890 OC Edition
HDD: OCZ Summit 64GB SSD
OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Chasis: Thermaltake Element V

As you can see, when sitting idle, there is already a nice 7-degree drop in CPU temperature, which isn’t too shabby. However, the true test of a cooler is how it performs under load.

The temperatures seen here are during a sustained CPU load of 100%. As you can see, the Eco A.L.C. manages to keep the CPU a full 16-degrees cooler than the stock fan-based cooler. Impressive? I’d say so.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for your first venture into the world of liquid cooling, I can recommend nothing better than the CoolIT ECO A.L.C. It’s a breeze to install and gets great results. Oh, did I mention it’s also one of the cheapest liquid cooling solutions around? The retail price is $75, though if you do some shopping around it can be found for a bit less.

[ CoolIT ] VIA [ GamerFront ]

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We’ve seen a few systems (mainly laptops) come with the Intel Core i3, a sort of entry level, dual core processor. The questions on everyone’s mind is, is it a viable processor when it comes to gaming? Apparently so~!

I type this on an overclocked Intel Core i7 860 (up from 2.8GHz to 3.8GHz. I’d go higher but that might require liquid cooling, which I have no idea how to do. I feel like I’d have to get a whole new wardrobe, à la Seinfeld, if I were to start liquid cooling my system.), so I have plenty of sympathy for those looking to squeeze every bit of peformance out of their Core i3. TomsHardware did the heavy lifting, determining once and for all if the Core i3, which can be found for less than $150 online, is worth your time. You know, benchmarks and the like. Benchmarks make the world go ’round.

Conclusion: yes, it’s a good processor. It’s obviously not an Extreme Edition processor or anything (which are silly to begin with), but gamers on a budget shouldn’t be too concerned that the Core i3 will “bottleneck” their performance. It’s an easily overclockable CPU—Toms got it up to 4.3GHz with minimal effort—and it absolutely won’t hold back today’s modern video cards, like the ATI Radeon 5850 and the Nvidia GTX 470. (I’d say GTX 480, but the GTX 470 is Nvidia’s equivalent of the ATI Radeon 5850, one step down from the top-of-the-line, non dual-GPU video card.)

Just don’t try to play Metro 2033 at the very highest settings. That game’s the Crysis of 2010.

What’s the opinion on buying pre-built gaming PCs? I’m pretty sure there’s a certain sense of pride that comes with building your own PC, but I also recognize that not everybody has all the time in the world to research motherboards, RAM timings, and all that jazz. Like, say, look at this PC. It’s the Digital Storm Black|Ops (The irony of promoting a black op!), and A) it looks pretty damn cool B) it’s sufficiently powerful to run Crysis on Damn High settings. I mean, I think so; Crysis is a mystery wrapped in an enigma hidden in a big box of cliches.

It comes in three configuration, Performance ($1,709), Enthusiast ($2,104), and Extreme ($3,102).

Performance is built around an Intel Core i5 750 and Nvidia GTX 275.

Enthusiast is built around an Intel Core i7 920 (I overclocked my Core i7 860 from 2.8GHz to 3.8GHz, so yay for me) and Nvidia GTX 285.

Extreme is built around an Intel Core i7 960 and an ATI 5870.

Presumably you’d have to work on Wall Street to afford the Extreme model. And then, considering Wall Street dudes work 80 hours per week, I question the sense in buying a gaming PC in the first place. But maybe you’re a rich kid?

Something that piqued my interest: Digital Storm’s Sub-Zero Liquid Cooling. Think of how much you’d be able to overclock an Intel Core i7 with a damn cool system.

And look at that cable management! My system looks like a New York City rat nest compared to that.

Oh, another good thing that comes with buying one of these pre-built, boutique systems: you have someone to call if and when something goes wrong. If my system were to catch on fire, I’d have no one to talk to for tech support. Presumably I’d be capable of troubleshooting what went wrong, being that I’m Mr. Build a PC, but, again, not everyone has that kind of time. It’s far easier to call tech support and say, “Hey, this thing I bought is broken. I’m RMAing it in the morning.”

Liquid cooling is a funny thing. Generally each specific part needs a specific cooling adapter as there isn’t many one-size-fits-all solution. That’s still the case for most components, but CoolIT now has GPUs covered.

The key here is the inexpensive, swappable interposer plates that attach directly to the graphics card. The other two parts, the water block and liquid plate, are universal and should work in nearly any system. There are currently interposer plates for most graphics cards with CoolIT committing to keep up the product line to support cards as they are released.

But as of writing, there is no word on its cost or release date. Most of CoolIT’s products are reasonably priced though, so this one will likely be no different. [CoolIT via OhGizmo]

By Chris Scott Barr

It’s no surprise that liquid cooling is growing in popularity, as your computer can realize greater potential while generally running much quieter than with traditional air cooling. We’ve seen a number of offerings from CoolIT, who have really shaken things up with their simple all-in-one CPU cooling systems. These have been great because not only are they simple to setup, but they tend to be compatible with most CPU platforms that are still in use today. Unfortunately if you want to apply the same great cooling solutions to your graphics card, you’ll be forced to buy an entire solution aimed at your specific card. When you go to upgrade, you’ll need to buy a brand new cooler as well. This is something that CoolIT has finally addressed with their OMNI A.L.C. system.

The system is comprised of three parts. First you have the universal OMNI water block, which essentially does all of the work. Second you have a universal liquid plate, which keeps the cooling liquid flowing over the interposer plate. This third piece is what attaches directly to your graphics card. Since they have made the interposer plate separate from the actual liquid plate, you can simply switch this piece out when you decide to upgrade your graphics card.

While talking with them back at CES, CoolIT assured me that they would be offering a wide variety of interposer plates for current GPUs and new ones as they come out. Unfortunately we’re still waiting to hear how much the setup will cost. They stressed that the individual interposer plates would be priced reasonably, so that your investment will quickly pay off as you upgrade your video cards.

[ CoolIT ]