Extreme Cooling

hakkikt writes "Icrontic brings us a review about a CPU-cooling device every self-respecting overclocker and cpu-speed freak must get. The device is called MX-EVA3. With a price of US$500, it's not for the faint of wallet, but the performance is awesome."

Overclocking cost?

[neksys]

Why pay $500 for a cooling device when the next-step high mHz CPU can be purchased for less than that? I mean, the appeal of overclocking is that it allows people to extend their hardware far beyond the intended lifetimes. So say you've got an Intel 900, and with this device, you can overclock it to 1.4 gHz. So what have you gained? An unstable, extremely expensive CPU. The equivalient "real" 1.4 ghz chip could have been purchased for less than the cooling device.

And nevermind those, "I have my Celeron 300 running at 2.3 gigahertz!" folks. CPU speed is so overrated - remember, fast RAM, and lots of it, is the best thing you can do to increase system performance. Don't fall victim to the overclocking madness - spend that $500 on a gig of RAM.

Re:Overclocking cost?

[Kelerain]

Dont underestimate overclockers fanaticism for these things. And there are ALWAYS higher numbers that arent on sale. 3GHZ chips out? they want to be the first to overclock to 4GHZ. and some people have money to burn (or cool), but hey its helping the economy right? Im with you on the gig of ram thing.. *drools* but what do you use to cool your overclocked gig of ram? ;)

$500 may not be too much for a cooling system

[Sancho]

Most people would be out of their minds to pay $500 for a fan/heatsink, but $500 for a cooling system may not be out of line. I don't know just how much cooling the CPU would bring down the total system temp.. probably by quite a bit.

The reason for this is that there are some cases/places where the ambient temperature may be too high for a computer with a normal fan.

For example, Texas, in the summer, when the AC goes out (or if there is no AC to begin with.)

Most people would just say, "Hey, turn off the computer then." That doesn't work if you're away :)

It's not about cost-effectiveness

[SKYY]

That device is not marketed for your average user--it's aimed at the people who make overclocking CPUs and hardware their hobby. Sure, you might mock the stamp collector or the model train builder for spending thousands of dollars a year on things you would consider 'crap', but do they care? No. So what if the stamp collector spends $300 on a mint-condition stamp from the year 1917--it's to support HIS hobby, for HIS enjoyment, not yours. All the same--so what if the overclocker who buys a $130 Pentium 4 1.6A and a $500 phase-change cooling box (still a bit overpriced for a R-134a compressor, IMHO)? For him, that $500 is well-spent if it lets him clock his 1.6 GHz chip to 2.8 GHz. He doesn't care what the person who is content running a PII 400 MHz chip thinks.

Re:Overclocking cost?

[Gaccm]

1) spend $500 on a gig of RAM

I never use more than 256megs of ram, so buying more ram wont help.

2) Its not all about cpu speed.

You are completely right, thats why, if you read the site and looked at the screenies, the guy overclocked his System Bus (thus affecting ram and all) to 181Mhz (from a default 133). THAT IS A LOT. That is a very noticable speed difference.

3) use the money for something else

call this an investment. If this thing lasts for 3 computers, then you have probably "saved" more money by not having to pay for permium speed. Your example was having a 900mhz and going to 1.4ghz. Thats pretty sweet, but what about going from 2ghz to 3.4ghz. 3.4ghz is beyond any chip in production right now, but i've seen shots from a person who has been able to get that speed. This device isn't for people with a p3 900, it is for the extreme people and for them the benefits outweigh the costs.

Re:Overclocking cost?

[binaryDigit]

Actually something like this is for the person who just purchased the latest/greatest/fastest thing out there, and now they want more. They want the fastest Athlon out there bar none. When a faster one comes out, out goes the old "slow" chip and in goes the new one. "Look ma, a 3GHZ Athlon".

One other thing to consider is that with something with such massive cooling capacity, and the fact that it uses templates to attach to the cpu, you have a fairly future proof cooling solution. Even the 64bit monster that AMD is coming out with should be effectively cooled by this thing, assuming you can get it to fit on the cpu.

Re:LOL

[garglblaster]

Well, for $500 you can get a decent refrigerator (that has more cooling power)

Simply put the whole of the PC inside!

Re:LOL

[Anonymous Coward]

You'll want to be careful. I have a pc in a mini fridge (Server and Beer all sorts of fun) Unfortonatly I lost the first motherboard I put in it. Too muich condinstation. Now I have the board sealed in in airtight plastic. Runs great have a p2 400 over clocked to about 533 :)