We look at the best value products designed to keep your PC as cool as
possible
Good cooling is essential for all PCs, and
it's important to ensure your system has enough to keep it happy during
intensive tasks. All too many PCs come with poorly ventilated micro-ATX chassis
coupled to anaemic stock Intel or AMD coolers which can result in components
running at close to their maximum allowable temperatures. Fortunately, you
don't need to spend much money to remedy an overheating PC and there is a
plethora of products available. If you are a gamer your PC will need
substantially better cooling than a system designed solely for office tasks.
Graphics cards dump a lot of heat into your PC while gaming so it's important
that the heat be removed at a sufficient rate to stop it from building up in an
uncontrolled manner. Many users now overclock their systems to achieve better
performance. Overclocking increases temperatures almost linearly with clock
speed and voltage, so the harder you push your chip, the more you need to
invest in keeping it cool. The most fundamental component to system cooling is
the case. If your case is unsuitable for your PC, it doesn't matter how much
you spend augmenting its cooling, you'll never achieve adequate temperatures.
We will therefore start by looking at cases designed for specific users.
AMD
coolers
Gaming Cases
It's possible to spend a fortune on a
gaming case, but the truth is you don't have to spend a lot to get a really
attractive and well-cooled chassis for your high-end rig. One of our favorite
bargain gaming cases is the newly released Zalman Z11 Plus. Available for
$89.02 from Quiet PC, this stealth fighter-inspired chassis ships with a 120 mm
intake, two side-pod 80mm intakes, a rear 120 mm exhaust and another
blue-LED-equipped 120 mm top fan. Despite all of these moving parts the chassis
is as quiet as you'd expect from a company like Zalman, and there are
contemporary connectivity ports in the shape of dual USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0
ports and jacks for your headphones and microphone. Should you decide to fit a
dual GPU configuration, the chassis can be augmented with a total of fans for
superlative cooling potential.
Zalman
Z11 Plus
Another new release that caught our eye is
the BitFenix Merc Alpha. Available from Overclockers for $45.28 this case has
handsome understated looks that are ideal for the gamer who doesn't want the
typical boy-racer aesthetics. This case has heavy venting on the side and top
panels and comes with the facility to accommodate two front 120 mm intakes, two
top 120 mm exhausts, two 120 mm side fans and a rear 120 mm fan.
BitFenix
Merc Alpha
It features four USB 2.0 ports as standard
as well as the usual audio jacks. Its bottom-mounted PSU tray and capacious
drive bays make it the perfect choice for even SLI based machines, despite
relatively compact dimensions of 439 x 190 x 490 mm.
Xigmatek
Asgard Pro
Our final choice for gamers is the new
Xigmatek Asgard Pro case. An evolution from the extremely popular original Asgard,
this case has cooling capacities that outpunch its $56.63 price. It can
accommodate no fewer than eight 120 m fans and has space in its motherboard
tray to accommodate the largest of video cards. The build quality is excellent
for such an affordable chassis and it has aesthetics that should appeal to
those seeking a classy enclosure for their PC.
Low Noise Cases
If low noise is your priority rather than
out-and-out cooling ability, you should seek a case that features sound
dampening material on its internal surfaces. This will help the case to absorb
sound from the components held within and also reduces the chance of resonance
due to the larger mass of the internal panels. Finding a cheap low noise case
is a tough challenge, but we have found a real beauty in the Ace Ecco 250. This
Swedish-designed chassis has internal dampening material, quiet fans as
standard and very compact dimensions. It's a micro-ATX chassis so you will need
to choose your parts carefully, but for $54.15 from Scan this is a bargain that
no other manufacturer can come close to.
Fractal
Define R4
Although the Fractal Design Define R4 is
not a cheap case at $132.72 from Ebuyer, it is actually excellent value when
you factor in what you get for your money. The 140 mm case fans included are
extremely high quality and quiet, there is an included rheostat (fan
controller) and the case has contemporary features in the form of USB 3.0 ports
on the front panel. The R4 is ideal if you use your PC to play optical DVDs and
Blu-rays, as it has a door cladded with noise absorbent foam that can greatly
reduce the impact noisy PC optical drives will have on your viewing pleasure.
It supports a huge eight hard disk drives as standard as well, making it an
ideal candidate for a home file server.
