For the most part I agree with Jaydee116, somewhat. As someone who still hasn’t had funds to be water cooled, first and foremost I need to know what works. To Steve’s credit, he appears to have set up a pretty generic system that is a good representation of the average ‘kit’ you can buy (Sadly he never states this) from a good majority of the suppliers, (excluding the block) For the most part, (Eheim 1250 pump, Black Ice Radiator.) which is probably what most of his readers would buy, or put together for their first system. It’s what I was going to do until I realized after further reading (on my part) that I could build a better system cheaper and more tailored to my needs. Me, being the cheap anal-retentive bastard that I am. What we don’t know is the inlet, outlet or tubing diameters, (keeping H2O velocity the same) can change the performance of the setup to a noticeable degree, pun not intended. I assumed (could make an ass of me) that whatever tubing he used, was the same for all blocks. We also don’t know how much air was being pushed through the radiator, but I assume it was the same for all testing.
“We understand that various aspects of a complete system all effect the overall cooling ability of any given water block, but we will not be including data like ”temperature in and out of the radiator” etc., because ultimately what really matters is the final temperatures achieved by each block at the CPU in a controlled environment.” – Steve @ [H]
(Is this different than when I read it before?) The last part is correct, kind of. Yes, ultimately the final temps are what matter, but I would have like to have seen an average of at least 3 runs/reseats. The other thing I have an issue with is this from the Intel stats page
“What's most impressive this time around isn’t so much that most blocks run within a few degrees of their idle temps, it's actually the temperature delta between performance air cooling (the Alpha 8942) and the leaders of the pack...almost 50°F.” – Steve @ [H].
OK, but without the inlet/outlet temps of the radiator I can’t accurately compare the delta of the water blocks. Or am I looking at that wrong? Moving on with temperatures, what Steve has shown, is that with this system, (representing the average kit, though not stated as such but implied) certain blocks remain the top performers throughout. This is just what his readers want to see. For now. Some of them will buy a kit, slap it together, see their temps are lower and the system is quieter and call it good. A few others will buy a kit, (or maybe piece one together) see the temps, say “hey that’s good, but I wonder if I can get them lower” and they go out and add a really high CFM fan. Then there are a few others who have to know how everything works (me), they may or may not buy a kit. They will find out more info, as much as possible most likely. The round up in question is a good starting point.
“What we hope to do is offer a little information on a wide variety of blocks in order to help you make a more informed decision when you contemplate what block is right for you.” – Steve @ [H].
This is what he (Steve) said they would do, and that is what he did. He provided a ‘little’ bit of information, (maybe just a little bit too little.) to ‘help’, not decide for you.
What I would’ve liked to have seen were links (typing it all up would be redundant and a waste of space, since it’s elsewhere) to more information, i.e. how tubing size, flow rate, different setups, etc. can affect temps and performance in general. While it is feasible to test each block with different setups, it certainly is not cost effective. Especially in regards to his audience, who for the most part don’t care? (If I was still in H.S. or lower college levels my brain may be too full too.
) I would also have liked to have seen more system stats. A link with a list of temps, and tubing, and pics etc, like the do there screenshot links would’ve been good. Then again I am not really his target audience.
As for the banning, personal attacks, hurt egos, snapped bras, I look at it as a problem with all forums. People type like they are having a conversation, but respond like a post was a final thought. There are exceptions of course. The problem sometimes is that anger is a mask. Covering usually, frustration, ignorance, crushed egos, and the inability to get your point across in writing do to wanting to get your post up in a timely fashion.
If more people would read post with a neutral attitude, a lot of that kind of crap would cease. But that’s not going to happen, human nature über alles. It’s what makes life interesting. I’m guilty, but I still realize it’s pretty stupid.
As far as Steve's 'challenge'...
These are two different types of sites.
[H] is a 'review' site. - How well does this product perform for what I need it to do?
Pro-Cooling (though I don't know if this is Joe's intent) Is an engineering/scientific site.- Here is how this product works, here is our data so you can recreate the experiment, which takes into consideration, does this product perform as advertised?
The latter is more of my interest which is why I prefer pro-cooling, and pretty much just read the entertaining 'news' on [H].