I have been content for quite sometime with the system I bought at the end of September. It does everything I want it to do. Plays Battlefield 3 perfectly no complaints whats so ever. But frequenting the forums every day/week is giving me the upgrade bug. Seeing the awesome things Bloggins has done and others I am tempted to ignore the warranty I have and fiddle with my system. So far I have held off on what I want to do. Simply as the warranty will be void if I change anything. I want to change my current cooler. Whilst it does the job it's not as nice to look at as this For relatively low cost over all I can buy the Dark Rock and the Phobya fan from Scan. I also am considering changing the stock fans in my case but don't know if I will benfit over all. I'd like to put four fans in place of the single 230 x 30mm Standard Fan. And maybe put three in place of the Top 230 x 30mm Standard Fan. Either more Phobyas or Scythe Gentle Typhoons. And also a Fan Controller. Now this isn't at all cheap by any means and I could save money and do it myself. But am also considering paying Eclipse to fit all these components. They have quoted me £35 to fit three items. Not to mention I am also considering adding a SSD. Crucial M4 to be exact! But any good pc enthusiast knows that twelve months is too long to leave a system uncleaned internally. I may bite the bullet and do all the upgrades myself. Though I think I need to check manufacturer warrantys too. lol Asus has a three year warranty. Though will they honour it from me or would that be from Eclipse? I'm just itching to take some photos of my system, check the quality of the wiring setup and change these fans. Though they seem to be doing thier job keeping my system cool xD
The problem in your case is warranty as it comes as a complete whole system. Here is both the weakness and advantage of building your own. Although you can claim on individual components warranty wise (and other legal means) with a DIY build you also have to diagnose your own problems to find the source! I would recommend leaving it alone until the retailer refuses to take further responsibility for that system. Enjoy some gaming in the mean time!
Thanks, finding it hard as i see all these awesome builds and regret not doing it all myself. Going to email them shortly and see if they will fit components not bought from them i doubt it though. Quick question: would it be overkill putting four Phobya Nano 2g's on the side panel and three in the roof? I was thinking of fitting two on some panel at the bottom as they would draw air in directly under the GPU and maybe two in the roof as air out of the case.
Yes, because your case would absolutely roar with noise and cost you £70 in fans. In addition, since you have a HAF932, I can't honestly say it would make any difference at all in terms of thermals. Those things are cooling beasts already! I certainly wouldn't void my warranty in order to fit a few extra fans, that, as you have said, aren't strictly necessary. One thing you could do for extra bling points that wouldn't void your warranty, would be to put a red cold cathode in there. If something does go wrong, its easy to take it out before you bring it to the shop for repairs. I would be surprised if they didn't fit parts that weren't bought from them, as long as they are new and sealed. Its worth a phone call at least. I totally understand about the upgrade bug though. Its why we are all here!
Leave it! I've nothing good to say about side fans, found them a waste of time myself. Directional airflow from front to back is a main priority in my opinion and also underneath only if your PC rests on a hard surface so it can actually act like an intake. Silverstone Air Penetrators are the best in my opinion.
Ok, well my PSU fitted in the bottom drawing air in and out the back, hmm ok just the Dark Rock it is the emailed them about fitting components they don't sell just got wait and see what they say. Not going to void the warranty though Im tempted lol
Apart from aesthetics why are you wanting to change? Are you having issues with temperatures or noise? [edit] Ha ha! Epic Ninja! [edit]
the be quiet! dark rock advanced is a nice cooler with a decent fan, why ruin it with that Phobya fan, it looks awfull. plus sorry for who ever pc that is but blue pcb look aesthetically awfull also, black all the way.
As far as temps go things are fine and the Phobya looks nice to me and Bloggins has had good results with one fitted
Anyone who thinks that phobya looks nice probably thinks all the cars on barry boys also look nice too! Form over function!
I'm not one for spinney LED fans but these are actually very nice and really pushes lots of air. I just got my rig pictured above running again with a stop gap PSU whilst my AX850 awaits replacement. Astonishingly temperatures run below 30 degrees on all cores whilst idling at the moment and more commonly around the 25 mark! Also the G Skill Sniper ram does look like it'd fit right under the Phobya fan, so using the slot closest to the CPU should not be a problem with this particular memory. I'm using an Enermax Galaxy 850W which is one big boy of a PSU, cables everywhere and it's knocked out my bottom fan. This accounts for a rise in GPU temperatures by 5 degrees when under stress, so that bottom 120mm Be Quiet! Silent Wings fan really does contribute something to case cooling! Also the lack of cable clutter with the AX850 helps a lot!