Hi there folks. Yesterday I ordered some bits from scan to update my rig, namely: i5 2500k MSI P67A-GD53 (B3) 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance LP 1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 Samsung SH-S222AL/RSMS 22x DVD±R Given the existing GPU, sound card, PSU, existing hard drive or two, case (modded to three quiet 120x40mm fans) and a copy of win7 ultimate that I already have, I should be good for a pretty major improvement but I'm missing a CPU cooler still. I would have just ordered the dark rock advanced but Scan have been "out of stock - overdue since october 13th" for the last couple of weeks that I've been getting ready to order. This lead me to investigating and finding that there are three listed UK sellers, Scan who we already know are out of stock, Overclock.co.uk who have also been out of stock with no info on how long and ebuyer who have a decent number listed in stock but which has been going down gradually while I have been watching. Curious about a possible supply problem I looked further and found that the company intends to release an improved C2 model "at the end of the year or very early next year" which has an improved mount (#1 complaint in the reviews I've seen) and a 135mm fan instead of the current 120mm fan. I can find no more accurate information nor a real indication of if the supply issues have been due to the new model coming out soon or not. (C2 cooler models shown here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp4_7W41O-c) This has left me a bit stuck and torn between just paying slightly more to order one from ebuyer right now or perhaps sticking with the stock cooler and grabbing the new version when it comes along? I'm curious if anyone else has any advice or any knowledge on the subject that I've missed. Cheers!
Thanks for the suggestion, I've checked out some reviews and I don't think it's quite what I'm looking for however. Probably the most important criteria for me is low noise, which the various reviews for the dark rock advanced suggest it excels at, whilst the ones for the H60 note it is average or "has room for improvement" in that area. There was also one slightly worrying note that by moving away from having an extra fan mid-case to just a moderate airflow one in the back, the motherboard chipset could show some increase in temperatures that might not be too healthy in the long run.
The difference in noise is barely audible, unless of course you really are going all out in terms of noise reduction. Also, the difference in airflow over the motherboard would make such little difference that the possible 'long term' effects would far outlive it being upgraded. If I had your case and woes about cooling, I would get the H60 and mod a top mounted fan into the case.
Love my Dark Rock Advanced C1, it comes with fan retention clips so I assume you can mount your own choice. Out of the box the Dark Rock comes with the custom Be Quiet Silentwings fan strapped to the cooler with rubber bands. In that video it's attached with the metal retention clips so I'm thinking maybe the band is going to be done away with. Wait and see I guess!
I've actually got two top mounted 120x40mm fans pulling air through a 240mm radiator right now. I'm probably a little wary because presently the noisiest/loudest/most problematic thing in there is the supposedly quiet water pump, the vibration from which can be heard downstairs through the floor and I can hear now while listening to music via fully enclosed headphones despite being fitted with anti-vibration mounts everywhere we could put them. I like the sound of the Dark Rock Advanced particularly because it gets comments like "Noise wasn’t an issue with the Dark Rock Advanced – it’s one of the quietest coolers we’ve had the pleasure of barely hearing." or "Once the case side was on we couldn't hear it at all" which is a far cry from what I've got now.
I have the 140mm silentwings in my system and is extremely quiet, Though I can't compare it to a Noctua or anything as I've never heard anything else apart from my case fans/stock cpu cooler. Having said that there isn't anything 'wrong' with the stock cooler, so if you're getting the retail version of the cpu and you don't 'need' a better cooler now then you may as well wait for the one you really want. If I were building a new system I'd just get the 'essentials' now and any extras later. I wouldn't have thought you'd notice a difference in chipset temperatures between the H60 and the Dark Rock, I did however get an increase in temperatures moving from the stock cooler to a tower type cooler as tower coolers move less air over the chipset but thats with the x58 chip which is hot.
That might well be the way I go, the one off-putting thing being that the C1 version at least mounts to the back of the motherboard as well as the front and so would require pretty much dismantling the whole thing to change, though the C2 possibly won't do that anyway.
