Orlynx
Description
I built this because I wanted to take on the challenge of water cooling a computer, and I hit the nail on the head because it took forever to get working 100%. It's really cool to look at now that it's complete.
I don't play the most demanding games so temps/overclocking wasn't my main focus at the time of the build, but the computer never goes past 50° on the CPU and 48° on the GPU in games like PUBG and Metro (I don't do intensive gaming a lot so those are the best examples I've got) while staying about as quiet as my mechanical drives. When I'm not gaming this thing is dead silent, probably negative noise when I've got headphones on because I've yet to hear it.
On the topic of fans, I've got my fan controller in the space for the HDD. Working with this much stuff in a small case was more of a challenge than I imagined it would be. I cleaned it up the best that I could, no excess wires in the view of the window, but I had to get creative with the space that I was now missing out on. I got an external drive bay for my two mechanical drives and it works great, no issues with playing SP games off it at all. I also had to drill a hole in the top of the case to access my reservoir fill port, which is mounted on my front radiator due to some size constraints. The last major mod was bending, what I assume is a bracket that pushes the PSU into place and stops it from moving, up to fit my "over sized" PSU into place.
I've been running distilled water only for about a week and some EK mix finally came in, so I'll be draining and refilling with that now that I know there aren't any leaks. Hopefully this description is useful :)
Part Reviews
CPU
It's always worked great for me, even after throwing it around in various builds. If I ever build anything else this will probably be what goes into it.
Motherboard
Probably my favorite board I've ever used, the colors make it work well with anything. Huge fan of the WiFi/BT speeds, they were quite an upgrade over my usb dongle. Everything on the board is located in a position that makes sense and isn't in the way of anything else. The only thing that bothers me is a blue LED indicator located between the ram and 24pin, although it's not enough to drop it down to 2 stars.
Memory
I've had this and the DDR3 version of the ram, they've both been solid and have a nice aesthetic touch.
Storage
It's lived through 4 builds and still works like a champ, never had any problems and a huge upgrade over a mechanical drive.
Video Card
This card was a pleasant upgrade over my 390. It stays cool and has some fantastic performance, so I've got nothing bad to say about it.
Case
This case might be small but it's got a surprising amount of space to work in, I enjoy the aesthetic and simple look and feel.
Power Supply
jonny gives it a 9.6 out of 10, so I'll take that as scripture. I'm also a huge fan of the all black cables, to the point where I'm trying to decide on buying custom ones or keeping these.
Monitor
I really am a fan of these monitors, they've got great color and the actual glass on the front makes it look much more clear than some of the monitors I've had in the past. I only use the DVI, but it's also got HDMI as well as audio out and that's nice. For what I paid these are probably the best monitors I've ever had, although I would've liked VESA mounting. Another 5 star from me.
Keyboard
A really nice and comfortable keyboard to type on. RGB profiles are super nice, but the reason I only give it 4 stars is because Corsair CUE doesn't always recognize the keyboard and I've got to plug in and unplug it from time to time.
Mouse
Great mouse, really comfortable feel, the buttons on the sides are super handy for macros. Giving it 4 stars because it's not always recognized by Corsair CUE and requires plugging back in.
Headphones
I don't use the mic so I can't comment on that but the sound quality and sound canceling, I think that's the right word, are much nicer than the ancient headphones I've used before them. Personally they're a 5.
Custom
Works 100% as advertised, and I especially like that it puts drives to sleep. Has great speeds too, gaming off the drives hasn't been a problem.
Comments