To most of us avid tweakers, overclockers and the computer modding elite
across the net, we reach for one thing and one thing only, stability and
performance. As everyone knows, a good, stable overclock can be one of
the most fullfilling free performance enhancement that anyone can do.
I know with my first attempt to overclock my Duron 700 to 1Ghz, I did
everything to aid in getting that overclock to be stable and effective,
even to the point of doing a voltage mod on my Abit KT7 motherboard, which
I am writing this review on as we speak. The utter nerve racking experience
of soldering a resistor on a motherboard in which you cannot afford to
replace is both incredibly stressful while in the process, and unbelieveably
fulfilling when it is completed and working. To feel like you have accomplished
a stable overclock is to a carpenter building his first home, a feeling
of accomplishing something by yourself. But to one accomplishment, brings
another. You feel that you should try something, perhaps overclocking
your videocard, or on the basis of this little writeup in its little corner
of the internet, modifying your case with a couple exhausts to get rid
of the one thing that that can bring trouble to your accomplishment,,,,,HEAT!!
Heat is the number one cause of all computer problems I have seen to
this day in my short computer technician lifetime. I often get calls from
friends asking for help on their systems, their computer locks up while
burning a cd, a favourite game will not work for no more than an hour
before the computer will spontaneously reboot by itself, which is quite
a frustrating matter if you are in the middle of your graduate thesis,
and your computer locks up and you lose the last 10 hours of typing. What
I have always recommended as a first try at figuring out the problem is
to open the case up and have a small fan blowing into the case. Nine times
out of ten, they will never have a problem again. For instance, everyone
knows or knows of a person which is the proud (cough) owner of a pre-manufactured
computer from xxxpaq, xmachines, xxxxxxx-packard, etc. You see the problems
these computers are plagued with. Harddrives burning out, ram dying, motherboards
going kaput, cd-rom's quitting even if they were only used 2 or 3 times
in there short lives. These are not actual hardware failures due to poor
workmanship these are heat related failures!!!. Mind you, I am a firm
believer in name brand components, but these computer manufacturer's seems
to cram there component's in these tiny little cases that have no case
cooling other than a power supply exhaust fan to rid the case of heat.
In some instances, I have seen some companys install a small 80mm case
fan in the front bottom of the case to bring in some cool air into the
case, but do these guyz understand that to cool a case, bringing cool
air in does nothing if you don't get rid of the heat. The newly introduced
cool air will do nothing but just warm up and circulate slowly around
the case until the power supply fan finally gets rid of it in an hour.
Like in the case of xxxpaq, I see their new cases have a place to screw
a nice 80mm exhaust fan into place under the power supply and at the back
of the case. But do they use it, no, its just left there like a gaping
hole. The investment of 2 dollars in a small fan per computer could save
them millions in hardware failures and warrenty claims. If only they could
have a little foresight, tweakers like us would buy these computers and
maybe respect them a little more.
And to this review of 92mm Case Fans, I dedicate to the owners of these
computers. Open your case up and see what your computer is comprised of,
see what you can do to cool it down, and you will NEVER have a hardware
failure in most cases ever again. A good test is to hold your hand at
the back of your computer where the power supply fan blows out of your
case. If you feel moderately warm air, you have a problem. And this problem
is what is going to shorten your computers life. I see people with case
temperatures of 35-40 degrees and stand there and complain that there
computer is sluggish or is always having problems, well, your car will
not perform well and will show the same symptoms if its overheating, well
apply the same physics to computers and you will have a perfect match.
Cool it down and it will work like a dream.
Well cripes, the prologue developed into almost a rant there, but if
you are the average computer user, heed my words, if you are a tweaker
and an overclocker like I am, you already know this and are probably rolling
your eyes at me as we speak, but I thank you for your patience, now,,,ON
TO THE HARDWARE!!!!
