Custom PC - March 2015 UK

How to: Make an illuminated PSU section cover
THE BEST-SELLING MAG FOR PC HARDWARE, OVERCLOCKING, GAMING & MODDING / ISSUE 138
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Welcome
Custom PC Issue 138
Editorial
EDITOR
Ben Hardwidge
editor@custompcmag.org.uk
LABS
Matthew Lambert, Mike Jennings
MODDING EDITOR
Antony Leather
GAMES EDITOR
Rick Lane
ART EDITOR
Bill Bagnall
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Julie Birrell
CONTRIBUTORS
Gareth Halfacree, James Gorbold,
Jim Killock, Paul Goodhead,
Simon Treadaway, Tracy King
PHOTOGRAPHY
Antony Leather, Danny Bird,
David van Dantzig, Gareth Halfacree
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C U STO M P C / ISSUE 138
Contents
Welcome to Issue 138
94 Liquid cooling special

All-in-one liquid coolers have been on
a massive journey over the past few
years, completely overturning the CPU
cooling business, and now looking to
do the same for GPU cooling. Weve
seen some amazing results from the
latter, with Corsairs HG10 knocking a
good 41C off the GPU temperature of
a Radeon R9 290 card in our review
last month.
With results that are so close to
those from custom water cooling, but
involving a fraction of the cost and
hassle, we thought it was about time
we built a fully liquid-cooled gaming
PC, with both the CPU and GPU
under waterblocks. The result is
a sub-1,000 PC that can play
current games at 2,560 x 1,440,
while maintaining super-cool
operating temperatures.
Highlights
COVER STORY
P94
40
26
26 Samsung SSD 850 Evo

We check out the 250GB, 500GB
and 1TB flavours of Samsungs
brand-new range of mainstream
solid state drives.
40 Liquid cooler Labs test

We strap a dozen all-in-one liquid
coolers into our LGA1150 and
LGA2011 test rigs to find the coolest
partner for your CPU.
66 Quiet gaming PCs

We ask Chillblast and Quiet PC to
create gaming monsters that can
churn out decent frame rates without
assaulting your ears.
86 Elite Dangerous
Rick Lane spends several days
exploring David Brabens epic space
sim, and explains why the new Elite
is the space sim the PC deserves.
92 Whats free in 2015?

On 1 January this year, some new
previously copyright works entered
the public domain. Jim Killock from
the Open Rights Group looks at
current copyright law, and how it
could be reformed.
100 Games of 2015

We take an anticipatory look at
some of the games that will be
turning up on the PC this year,
including The Witcher 3, Evolve
and Grand Theft Auto V.
104 Hobby tech

Gareth Halfacree shows you how to
use a 64GB micro-SD card to host
games on an Amiga, and takes a look
at the new CubieBoard 4, which
sports an 8-core ARM CPU.
110 Make an illuminated PSU
section cover
This ingenious mod can hide PSU

cables, drive bays and water-cooling
pumps, and also completely enclose
your PSU, providing a smooth, clean
look to your PCs interior.
102
Reviewed
this month
110
32
PRODUCTS
REVIEWED
Hardware
NAS BOX
17 Synology DS215J
MOTHERBOARD
18 Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5
CASE
20 XFX Type-01 Series Bravo Edition
116
GRAPHICS CARD
24 Galax GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent
Infinity Black Edition
SOLID STATE DRIVES
26 Samsung SSD 850 Evo 250GB
26 Samsung SSD 850 Evo 500GB
26 Samsung SSD 850 Evo 1TB
GAMING LAPTOP
30 Gigabyte P35X v3
GAMING MOUSE
32 Gigabyte Force M63
Custom kit
38
38
38
39
39
39
100
Regulars
8
10
12
14
34
38
66
70
83
90
92
102
108
110
116
120
121
PNY Powerpack T10400

Icy Box IB-255U3
Jabra Step Wireless
Booq Taipan Shock
Asus Strix Glide Speed
An Alternative Reality: The
Football Manager Documentary
All-in-one liquid cooler

Labs test
Cover guide
Antec Khler H2O 950

Cooler Master Nepton 120XL
Cooler Master Nepton 240M
Corsair Hydro H75
Corsair Hydro H105
Deepcool Maelstrom 240
Enermax Liqtech 120X
Fractal Design Kelvin T12
Fractal Design Kelvin S24
NZXT Kraken X41
Raijintek Triton
SilverStone Tundra TD02-E
PC head to head
42
43
44
46
48
50
52
54
56
57
60
62
CPC Elite products
Quiet gaming PCs
Inverse look
The engine room
66 Chillblast Fusion Serenity

66 Quiet PC Serenity Gamer
Digital rights
Games
Hobby tech
84 Dragon Age:
Inquisition
86 Elite:
Dangerous
88 The Crew
From the editor

Tracy King
94
110
Letters
Incoming
How we test
Custom kit
Customised PC
How to guides
Readers drives
84
Folder of the month

Your folding milestones
122 James Gorbold
86
40
5
OPINION
B E N H A R DW I D G E / FROM THE EDITOR
THE PROBLEM WITH

CHECKBOX TECH
Hex Gears approach to case design is refreshing, says Ben Hardwidge
was delighted to see the fruits of modders Nate
George and Hans Peder Sahls labours this month,
with the unveiling of the Hex Gear R40 (see p14). Hans
Peder Sahls mods have been featured a few times in Readers
Drives over the years, and theyve consistently looked amazing,
so its great to see him using his design skills to make a full
production case. Designed by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts, you
could say. Ive previously lamented the over-reliance on boring
black boxes in this column, so I love the idea of a unique-looking
chassis with specific enthusiast features.
Theres also a very telling quote on the Hex
Gear website, criticising the way standard PC
cases seem to be built with marketing
checkboxes in mind. Many manufacturers try
to please everyone at the same time, says Hex
Gear, and this results in cases that have an
increasing amount of new features that work
great as marketing material, but provide little
to no use for end users.
Hex Gear is absolutely right. PC cases still have a silly number
of 3.5in drive bays, for example, yet I dont use a single hard
drive in my case theyre in my NAS box. What I want is a small,
strong chassis that can house the exact components I want,
and that appears to be what Hex Gear is offering.
It isnt just the case industry though. The worst offenders
are motherboards. Motherboards marketed at enthusiasts are
riddled with superfluous checkbox features that needlessly
bump up the price. Unless youre taking part in a competitive
benchmarking event, many overclocking features, such as
multimeter checkpoints and an overabundance of voltage
tweaks in the EFI, are unnecessary to overclock todays CPUs.
Worryingly, Ive also seen motherboard makers start to venture
into pseudo-science, offering features such as gold-plated USB

ports for audio fidelity.
Graphics card makers arent off the hook either. There are
far too many cheap cards with 64-bit wide memory interfaces
and cut-down GPUs, which are incapable of gaming, yet still
have gaming features listed on the box. Then theres the weird
obsession with graphics memory, which has been going on for
years. Ive lost count of the number of times a friend has proudly
proclaimed that they spent more money on a graphics card
to get twice as much memory as they need
(the latest baffling development is 8GB singleGPU cards), when what they really needed
to consider was the GPU architecture.
Manufacturers know people dont understand
how graphics cards work, and they capitalise
on it, boasting about features that make little
to no difference to performance.
People justify these features, saying theyre
for enthusiasts, but Im an enthusiast, and what I want is much
simpler. A well-designed PCB layout and EFI is more important
to me on a motherboard than gold-plated USB ports and
superfluous overclocking features. Give me on-board power
and reset buttons, a clear-CMOS switch and maybe a POST code
readout, and Im happy. Likewise, give me a graphics card with
a well-made, quiet cooler and a decent GPU, and thats me done.
Conversely, Hex Gears approach is refreshing, and thats
because it comes from genuine enthusiasts, rather than tech
marketing departments. Of course, its great to see
manufacturers catering to enthusiasts and overclockers in a
way that would have seemed alien in the 1990s, but we need
to get past this idea that PC enthusiasts want their PC parts
stuffed full of superfluous features.
Motherboard makers are

venturing into pseudoscience, offering goldplated USB ports for audio
Ben Hardwidge is the editor of Custom PC. He likes PCs, heavy metal, real ale and Warhammer 40,000.
editor@custompcmag.org.uk
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OPINION
T R ACY K I N G / SCEPTICAL ANALYSIS
MOVING ON
FROM GAMERGATE
Gamergate has inadvertently shone a light on some of the problems with
gaming, which gives us an opportunity to fix them, says Tracy King
esolutions, what are they good for? Absolutely
nothing, because I resolved to not write about
Gamergate and here I am, writing about Gamergate.
If you do happen to live under the one rock that news of the
Internets least finest hours hasnt reached, please send me the
address because Id like to move in with you. For everyone else,
Gamergate is either about ethics in game journalism, or not
about ethics in game journalism, depending on who you ask.
Or maybe its both options simultaneously. A percentage of
self-titled Gamergaters might choose to spend their armchair
activist time on abusing women, but that
doesnt mean another percentage isnt also
busily employed writing draft ethics guidelines
for publications to consider, or asking tough
questions about the games press.
When Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told
the latter group that its movement was being
poisoned by the former group, he got a
Twitterful of abuse in return, as though the
Wikipedia page on irony had never existed. This happened not
because there are no genuine ethics activists, but because the
haters are the most vocal component.
The magazine Newsweek recently published research carried
out by the highly respected social media analyst Brandwatch,
which showed that women received more, and more negative,
tweets under the Gamergate hashtag than men. For example,
game developer Zoe Quinn received 10,000 tweets, while the
game journalist, Nathan Grayson, with whom she allegedly
had a relationship (the catalyst for accusations of unethical
practice in game journalism), received only 732 tweets.
Even with a generously sceptical interpretation of the data,

perhaps pointing out that Quinn may have received more
tweets in that period because she was more active on Twitter
than Grayson, or that her Twitter handle may have been
publicised more widely, the magnitude of difference in number,
tone and content still inescapably point to misogyny. Also, the
same differences occurred when other accounts were analysed.
Stephen Totilo of Kotaku received just over 1,000 tweets, while
journalist Leigh Alexander had 13 times that number.
What isnt in doubt is Gamergates contribution to game
culture. The hashtag movement of 2014 marks
a watershed for game communities, developers
and the press. Every game is now subject to
scrutiny for basic equality. Does the game have
playable female characters? If not, why not?
Excuses such as women are hard to draw are
rightly pilloried. Is every character white? Why?
Is it because everyone who worked on the game
is white? Again, why? And so on.
These questions have been asked, exhaustively, by women
and minorities for years, but it took Gamergate to shine a
spotlight and reveal the deeply entrenched prejudices in large
areas of gaming culture. The evidence is all in writing, and while
the Internet brings this information with a hornets nest of hate,
it also automatically documents it where everyone can see it.
We now have an opportunity to make positive progress from
this mess. Now its undisputable that women in gaming,
whether developers, writers or players, do often have it worse,
we have an idea where to start fixing it. Gamergate has proved
theres a problem, and now its time to demand solutions.
It took Gamergate to
shine a spotlight and
reveal the deeply
entrenched prejudices
Gamer and science enthusiast Tracy King dissects the evidence and statistics behind popular media stories surrounding tech and gaming
10
@tkingdoll
F E E D B AC K
Letters
Please send us your feedback and correspondence to
letters@custompcmag.org.uk
The wheel deal
me? Does Creative have a monopoly

on high-quality sound cards? I ask
because I can only think of Creative
when looking into purchasing
sound cards, and Im in a pickle
because Ive had two Creative
products die on me after 18-24
months of use. Im now on my
third card, which seems like
its about to the way of the
dodo too. Are there any other
high-quality sound card
manufacturers out there?
Finally, we get a steering wheel

review in Issue 137. Ive subscribed
since Issue 49 and I think this is only
the second wheel review Ive seen.
Come on guys, youre missing a
trick; there are loads of online
racers youre letting down.
How about a steering wheel
group test and some racing
game reviews instead of the
conveyer belt of FPS reviews
we have to endure. You
mentioned two games in the
steering wheel review (iRacing
and rFactor2) that youve never
reviewed! Rant over.
JAMES WILMINGTON
DUNCAN LLOYD
Ben: Wed absolutely love to cover

more racing games and wheels in the
magazine, and Im pretty sure the rest
of the team feel the same I know
Antony loves playing with racing
wheels. I really like the idea of doing a
feature dedicated to racing kit put it
on the list of potential features for this
year, and hopefully at some point, well
be able to put together a feature that
looks at both racing wheels and some
of the games.
DAC of the net
An external DAC,
such as Cambridge
Audios DacMagic
100, is a great
alternative to a
sound card if stereo
reproduction is
your priority
Firstly, a merry Christmas and

happy new year to all the wonderful
techies who work at Custom PC.
Another year over, and So much to
look forward to in 2015.Personally,
Im awaiting the Hoverboard
reviews with bated breath, and also
the VR head-mounted display
(HMD) reviews.
Frivolity aside, though, please
could you answer a question for
Ben: And a happy new year to you

and yours as well, James. To answer
your question, Ive personally never had
a Creative sound card die on me after
such a short space of time, but youve
clearly had an unlucky run. There are
some other high-quality sound card
makers out there, most notably
including Asus.
My personal recommendation,
though, if you really want decent sound
quality, is to buy an external USB DAC. I
have a Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100
that hooks up to my PC via USB and
effectively acts as a USB sound card
(although it needs a firmware update
for Windows 8, which you can get from
Cambridge Audio).
It sounds absolutely fantastic, and
there are plenty of other options from
companies such as Arcam if you have
more money to spend too, as well as
the fantastic-sounding Asus Xonar
Essence One on our Elite list.
You lose benefits such as surround
sound in gaming, of course, but an
external DAC is definitely your best
option if decent stereo sound
reproduction is your priority.
Easy as pie
Thank you so much for your mince

pie megatest in Issue 137. As a result
12
I am pleased to say
that they are certainly
the best mince pies
I have tasted in a
very long time
Twitter highlights
Follow us on Twitter at @CustomPCmag
FurryJackTail Got so many mags, going
to chuck 3/4 of them. Just keep the
pretty @CustomPCMag ones
Great interview on the C64 compendium by @

ghalfacree. Christmas pressie sorted.
Gareth: Its a great little book, all credit to @
MrSidC64 looking forward to next years
Amiga version!
seismicfootstep I wish all your reviews
could end with try pairing this product
with cheese and port.
Grove_Armada Am I being thick or is
Retro Tech missing in the latest issue?
Retro Tech is my favourite section! :(
The Duchy Originals pie has gone from the

worst pie to the best over several years
of your recommendations, and in

spite of their comparatively high
price, I bought a couple of boxes of
the Duchy Originals. I am pleased to
say that they are certainly the best
mince pies I have tasted in a very
long time. Once again, thank you.
JANE SULLIVAN
Ben: Glad to be of service Jane! Weve

been doing the mince pie megatest for
several years now and, back at the
beginning, the Duchy Originals were
consistently terrible, especially for the
high price. Maybe the Duchy Originals
recipe makers have been keeping an
eye on our reviews!
Clear as a bell
Ben: Yes, you can run loads of SSD in Windows

8, although only one can be your system drive,
obviously. You may need to partition and
format it before Windows can recognise it
though. Right click on the Computer icon
(which you may need to enable on the desktop
via your display settings), and select Manage.
Under the Storage section, select Disk
Management and see if your SSD is listed. If so,
right click on it and create a formatted volume
so Windows can see it.
Ben: Im really glad you enjoyed Retro Tech

I loved writing it. However, I started running out
of ideas to write about, and I didnt want the
section to start scraping the barrel. As always,
though, Im prepared to reconsider if our
readers really want Retro Tech to come back.
WillsB3 I often find mistakes in the
magazine, but Im sure it didnt used to
be this bad. Page 39 1007
stomper42 Got my first Greggs mince

pies of the year, and ate all six in no time.
My tastebuds are happy, my waistline less so.
Ben: Yeah, we like the Greggs pies proper
pastry.
I was reading the article Cut to the

case, and I was wondering, when it
said that 11 cases were put through
the ringer, whether a test was done
to establish which one made the
loudest noise?
On the other hand, an alternative
test could have been done, putting
the cases through a wringer, to see
which one came out the flattest.
Like the mag.
IAN BRISTOW
b0ogle Hey CPC, Ive looked

everywhere and cant find an answer for
this. Can I run more than one SSD in Windows
8? It wont show :(
GaryKant Catching up on my @
CustomPCMag reading from last month.
Ben: Oh damn, we meant wringer

obviously, though not in the literal
sense. Maybe for our next trick we
could get the 1980s rock band Winger
to test our cases next time and see how
that goes.
Send your feedback and correspondence to
Ben: Wow, that predates the Norman invasion

Im betting those benchmarks wont really
show off the capabilities of todays hardware!
WHENS THE NEXT MAG COMING OUT?

Issue 139 of Custom PC will be on sale on Thursday,
12 February, with subscribers receiving it a few days
beforehand. Visit http://tinyurl.com/CPCDates to
see the release dates for the rest of the year.
letters@custompcmag.org.uk
13
CO M I N G S O O N / NEW KIT
Incoming
We take a look at the latest newly announced products
Modders start Hex Gear

case company
PC modders Hans Peder Sahl and Nate George have
struck out on their own to produce enthusiast cases.
Their new company, called Hex Gear, has just shown
off the first fruit of their labours, the R40 ATX case. The
R40 comes in black and white flavours, but Accent
Packs will be available to add more colour variations.
Many manufacturers try to please everyone at the
same time, says Hex Gear, and this results in cases
that have an increasing amount of new features that
work great as marketing material, but provide little to
no use for end users. We wanted to create a simple
and elegant case without using plastic and thin metal
sheets. We wanted something that was built as a tank,
while still maintaining a clean design, and a small
footprint. Theres no solid word on pricing or availability
yet, but Hex Gear says the R40 will cost less than
200, and its expecting the first batch of R40s in Q1
2015. See www.hex-gear.com for more information.
Gigabyte water-cools
three GTX 980s
Lian-Li shows off wallmountable chassis
Gigabyte has just unveiled a super premium

graphics package, featuring three watercooled GeForce GTX 980 cards that are
ready to go out of the box. All the
waterblocks are pre-fitted to the cards,
and each card has its own 120mm radiator,
which Gigabyte has grouped together
inside an external
metal box. This
box also features
a front panel with
an LED display for
monitoring purposes.
According to
Gigabyte, the
Waterforce 3-way SLI
kit offers temperatures that are 42.6 per
cent lower than three reference GTX 980s,
while the noise is reduced by 13.1dB. The
whole kit is also packed into a hard suitcase
to protect it during transit. Theres just one
catch the kit costs a whopping 2,500
inc VAT (available to pre-order now from
www.overclockers.co.uk), which is around
a grand more than the cost of three
reference GTX 980 cards.
Heres a potential treat for those of you who

like to really show off your PCs innards.
Lian-Lis new Open-Air line of cases
feature a huge tempered glass panel that
displays all the tech inside your PC, including
your graphics card via a PCI-E riser card.
Meanwhile, storage devices can be
hidden by an anodised aluminium shield, or
fitted behind the motherboard. According to
Lian-Li, the slim chassis works happily in
both horizontal and vertical orientations,
and can even be mounted on the wall. Four
flavours are
available, from the
mini-ITX PC-O5
and PC-O5S (the
S denotes
support for
240mm watercooling radiators),
to the micro-ATX
PC-O6S and
full-sized ATX
PC-O7S; prices
range from 190
to 278 inc VAT.
14
Asus reveals
4K IPS panel
After wowing us with the colours on the
Elite-listed PB287Q with its TN panel, Asus
is upping the ante with a 4K IPS screen. The
27in PB279Q has the usual 4K resolution of
3,840 x 2,160, giving you a pixel density of
163ppi and, like the PB287Q, features 10-bit
colour reproduction, but with the added
bonus of being an IPS panel, which is
traditionally better at colour reproduction
than TN panels. The new monitor also
supports a 60Hz refresh rate at 4K, and has
a 5ms (grey-to-grey) response time. The
PB279Q is available from www.scan.co.uk
now for 671 inc VAT.
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Reviews
Our in-depth analysis of the latest PC hardware
Reviewed this month

Synology DS215J p17 / Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5 p18 / XFX Type-01 Series Bravo p20 / Galax GeForce GTX
970 OC Silent Infinity Black p24 / Samsung SSD 850 Evo p26 / Gigabyte P35X v3 p30 / Gigabyte Force p32
16
ELITE
NEW ENTRY
P 70
N A S B OX
Synology DS215J/144
inc VAT
SUPPLIER www.cclonline.com
relentless launch schedule

sees Synology releasing new
NAS boxes regularly, and if
you wondered where the dual-bay
DS214j went, the answer is that youre
looking at it. The DS215j is the successor
to the DS213j, with Synology focusing
on the budget-friendly DS214SE
instead of releasing a new mid-range
NAS box. The DS215j is quite an
upgrade too.
All of Synologys NAS boxes use the
same operating system, so their core
specifications determine their speed
and multi-tasking prowess. In fact, the
DS215j is much faster than the DS115j
that we reviewed three issues ago. The
former now includes a dual-core Marvell
Armada 375 SoC,
which uses the ARM Cortex
A9 CPU, as opposed to single-core chips
in the DS213j and DS115j. As with the
DS213j, 512MB of DDR3 RAM is included,
but the DS215j also boasts a USB 3 port
very useful if you regularly need to
upload large amounts of files to the
NAS. Like its predecessors, the DS215j
uses a quiet 92mm fan and is also now
equipped with anti-vibration hard disk mounts, which do a
good job of reducing hard disk noise.
Synologys DSM operating system is regularly updated,
so its no longer included on a DVD in the box. Downloading
it is easy, though, and you can upload it to the NAS from any
PC on the same network too. Theres the usual plethora of
free features and programs to download,
but DSM 5.1 has a particular focus on
security following the recent ransomware
attack on its NAS boxes. A security
advisor acts as a built-in anti-malware
program, and checks for common
security holes and malicious programs.
The File Station file explorer is
noticeably easier to use than its
predecessors too, and you can create,
share and download files, as well as set
bandwidth speed limits for shared data,
all from the same window.
Whatever devices you plan on
connecting to the DS215j, it probably has
you covered. It has DLNA, iTunes and
Logitech Media Server support, and Plex
even has a Synology-compatible media
server. Whats more, DSM 5.1 also
supports media transcoding.
It uses a quiet
92mm fan and
anti-vibration hard
disk mounts
Meanwhile, Synologys sharing options are varied and

most just require the setting up of a DDNS on Synologys
free server. This is a simple job, though, with the results
being a Dropbox-like performance in terms of dishing out
your files, with both shared files and folders, and videos via
Video Station, being sharable with a URL link. Speed-wise,
the DS215j dealt with our large file test rapidly, managing
read and write speeds of 97MB/sec and 78MB/sec
respectively. Our torturous small file test was more of a
challenge, though, with a read speed of 25MB/sec and write
speed of 22MB/sec.
Conclusion
The DS215j offers speeds comparable to the more
expensive DS214, although the latter is faster when dealing
with lots of small files. Their software is identical, though,
so if you dont need the raw grunt of Synologys more
expensive models, the DS215j is a great buy for the money.
ANTONY LEATHER
SPEED
31/35
FEATURES
VALUE
31/5
26/30
VERDICT
OVERALL SCORE
88%
Synology comes up with the goods again. The DS215j

isnt the fastest NAS overall, but its very reasonable price
and superb feature set make it an excellent choice.
17
R E V I E WS / NEW KIT
LG A 2 0 1 1 -V 3 M OT H E R B OA R D
Gigabyte X99M-Gaming 5/174
inc VAT
SUPPLIER www.scan.co.uk
f youre opting for an X99 system, theres a good

chance youre doing it to get your hands on
Intels new 6-core and 8-core CPUs, as
opposed to running three or four-way GPU setups. With
this in mind, theres definitely a case to be made for
opting for smaller motherboards, and this month,
Gigabyte has released its first X99 micro-ATX
motherboard the X99M-Gaming 5.
Like EVGAs X99 Micro that we reviewed
last month (see Issue 137, p18), the X99MGaming 5 isnt totally devoid of multi-GPU support,
sporting two 16x PCI-E slots; with a 40-lane CPU such
as the Core i7-5930K, youll be able to tap into the full
bandwidth of each slot with a pair of graphics cards. Space is
pretty tight at this end of the PCB, though, and the lowest of
the three 16x PCI-E slots is limited to eight lanes. Theres
also a 1x PCI-E slot beneath the primary graphics slot, which
isnt an ideal position, as it will make it
unusable if your graphics card has a
dual-slot cooler.
In addition, the two M.2 ports (one is
limited to 30mm modules, and one can
take up to 80mm SSDs) will also be
blocked by dual-slot coolers, although that
will only be an issue if you need to remove
these devices regularly, which isnt likely.
Perhaps more importantly, due to the
micro-ATX form factor, installing two dualslot graphics cards doesnt leave much room for the top
cooler to breathe, which could pose a problem with hotrunning, air-cooled Radeon HD 290X cards, for example.
However, to be fair, the Gigabyte has the same PCI-E
graphics slot layout as the EVGA X99 Micro and ASRock
Fatal1ty X99M Killer in this respect.
Otherwise, there are few issues with the layout, and
Gigabyte has packed a lot into the
X99M-Gaming 5s PCB. It has the full
complement of overclocking tools,
/SPECIFICATIONS
including power, reset and clear-CMOS
Chipset Intel X99
buttons, an LED POST code display and
CPU socket Intel LGA2011-v3
even a toggle to switch between the
Memory support 4 slots: max
64GB DDR3 (up to 3,200MHz)
X99M-Gaming 5s dual BIOS chips.
Expansion slots Three 16x PCI-E 3,
Theres a generous count of five 4-pin
one 1x PCI-E
fan headers too.
Sound Realtek ALC1150 8-channel
The cooling system impresses as well;
Networking 1 x Killer E2200
three
heatsinks sit on the PCB, with two
Gigabit LAN
on
the
power circuitry, and theyre all
Overclocking Base clock
80260MHz, CPU multiplier
connected via a long heatpipe. Gigabyte
1280x; max voltages, CPU 2.7V,
has also enhanced the Realtek ALC 1150RAM 2V
based audio circuitry with an upgradable
Ports 10 x SATA 6Gbps, 2 x M.2 , 1 x
SATA Express, 8 x USB 2, 8 x USB 3
OP-AMP and high-end audio capacitors.
(X99), 1 x LAN, 4 x surround audio
Many of Gigabytes pricier boards
out, line in, mic, optical S/PDIF out
include
Wi-Fi adaptors, but instead, the
Dimensions (mm) 244 x 244
X99M-Gaming 5 just includes an antenna
It has the full

complement of
overclocking
tools
18
mount and a short M.2 port for a Wi-Fi card, but keeps the
price low by not including the actual Wi-Fi adaptor. Instead,
theres a Killer E2200 Gigabit Ethernet port, and storage
options are plentiful, with 10 SATA 6Gbps ports, all of which
lie parallel to the PCB to enable neater cable routing. Two of
these ports are shared between the single SATA Express
port and M.2 ports, though, so youre only able to use one of
these options at any one time.
Aesthetically, the X99M-Gaming 5 is fairly subdued, and
its styling certainly isnt as in-your-face as ASRocks scarlet
X99M Killer. However, Gigabyte has included a little pizzazz
via an illuminated section on the part of the PCB containing
the audio components, where the lighting can be constant,
pulse or even beat according to the music thats being
played. Or, of course, you can turn it off.
Performance
At stock speed, the X99M-Gaming 5 managed reasonable
results in our RealBench 2014 suite, with an overall system
score just ahead of the EVGA X99 Micro, while the ASRock
Fatal1ty X99M Killer was slightly better than both. It
matched the ASRock board in the Cinebench R15
benchmark, but fell a little behind again in the Shogun 2 CPU
test. Storage speeds were right on the money, with a superquick SATA 6Gbps read speed of 550MB/sec a little faster
than many boards weve reviewed, while the read speed of
519MB/sec was also the joint fastest result weve seen.
The X99M-Gaming 5s EFI isnt quite on a par with
Asus or MSIs slick offerings, and it can be a little unclear in
places, but it does contain all the settings you need, and
inputting our starting-point settings (4.2GHz frequency
with a 1.3V vcore) was a simple job. We then raised the
frequency to 4.3GHz, but the system failed after a few
moments in Prime95.
Raising the voltage to 1.33V saw it become stable, though,
and we also managed to increase the base clock by 1MHz to
bring the total frequency up to 4.34GHz one of the highest
overclocks weve seen on this platform. One issue, though,
HOW WE TEST
PAGE 34
is that under heavy load, the Tj Max of 89C was just toppled,
leading to a reduction in CPU speed, but we couldnt find a
way to increase this limit in the EFI.
That issue didnt prevent the X99M-Gaming 5 from
powering its way to the top of many of our benchmarks,
though, scoring the fastest results in the video encoding test
and overall system score, as well as Cinebench R15 and
Shogun 2. Naturally, this overclock led to a hefty increase in
power consumption, but the peak load draw of 439W still
compared favourably with the Fatal1ty X99M Killers 484W.
The path around

the audio circuitry
is LED-illuminated,
with a light that can
pulse in time with
your music
2
There are two M.2
ports one limited
to 30mm modules,
and one that can
take 80mm SSDs
Conclusion
The only flies in the ointment for the X99M-Gaming 5 are its
mediocre EFI layout and the lack of an option to adjust the
CPU Tj Max. However, unless you want to push your CPU
to its limits for benchmarking, this board is fine for less
ambitious (and still very fast) overclocks. The X99MGaming 5 is also very well priced indeed, costing 15 less
than the ASRock board and 25 less than EVGAs offering,
yet it still sports SATA Express, two M.2 ports and all the
usual overclocking tools. Only the two aforementioned
issues prevent it from getting a Premium Grade award,
C US T OM P C R EAL B E N C H 2 0 14
GI MP I MAGE EDI TI N G
and both could be fixed with a future EFI update. Its

otherwise a fantastic choice for a micro-ATX X99 system.
ANTONY LEATHER
46,411
60,394
47,003
60,527
1,920 x 1,080, default settings, no AA, no AF
32,000
48,000
30 fps
Gigabyte X99MGaming 5
48,598 58,960
16,000
All the heatsinks

are connected by
a long heatpipe
S H O GU N 2 : T O T A L W A R CP U T ES T
EVGA X99 Micro
ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer
0
64,000
35 fps
41 fps 48 fps
30 fps35 fps
EVGA X99 Micro
40 fps 47 fps
HANDB R AKE H. 26 4 V I D E O E N C O D I N G
EVGA X99 Micro
386,136
385,391
ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer
491,029
487,277
125,000
250,000
Stock speed min
375,000 500,000
172,104 214,798
Idle
179,614 216,640
ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer
120,000
180,000 240,000
156,820
197,377
ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer
157,278 182,480
100,000
150,000
200,000
C I NEB ENC H R 15
450
Stock speed
SPEED
FEATURES
38/40 23/30
VALUE
EVGA X99 Micro
ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer
25/30
900
1,331
1,700
1,329
1,697
1,331
1,686
1,350
60
90
222W
120
439W
203W
434W
228W
EVGA X99 Micro
ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer
30
71W
Load
155,870 194,175
48
Overclocked avg
112W
60W
EVGA X99 Micro
50,000
36
59W 73W
ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer
S YS T EM S C ORE
24
Overclocked min
55W
EVGA X99 Micro
171,108 197,254
60,000
12
Stock speed avg
T O T A L S YS T EM P O W ER CO N S U M P T IO N
EVGA X99 Micro
38 fps
39 fps 46 fps
401,199 464,218
HEAVY MULT I - TA S KI N G
32 fps
ASRock Fatal1ty
X99M Killer
125
Stock speed
484W
250
375
500
Overclocked
1,800
Overclocked
OVERALL SCORE
86%
VERDICT
Loaded with features and offering great
value, this is a great board for building a
micro-ATX powerhouse. Only the limited
EFI system lets it down.
/TEST KIT
3GHz Intel Core i7-5960X, 32GB Crucial
2,133MHz DDR4, Plextor M6 Pro 256GB SSD,
Nvidia GeForce GTX 780, Antec High Current
Pro 850W PSU, Windows 7 64-bit
19
AT X C A S E
XFX Type-01 Series Bravo Edition/69
inc VAT
est known for its AMD graphics cards, XFX

has just made a debut in the chassis market
with the Type-01 Series, an ATX tower
chassis. The Bravo Edition retails for 69, which is an
attractive price for such a case, being not quite what
wed consider a budget chassis, but it certainly sits
towards the lower end of mid-range.
Standing out anew in the case market is difficult,
but it would be hard to argue that the Type-01 Bravo
doesnt look unique. The entire front panel has a
corrugated mesh effect, the lines of which hide
the power and reset buttons,
as well as the three 5.25in
bay covers. The effect is
continued in the cutaway
sections of the roof and side
panel too its a wellventilated case. Plastic top
and bottom sections add
further visual interest, but
also contribute to the cases
large diameters its over 560mm tall.
The Type-01 Bravo makes use of a lot of plastic
the front panel, and rounded top and bottom
fittings are all plastic, and the steel side panels
have plastic covering too. The use of plastic isnt
necessarily bad in itself, but unfortunately, the
quality of the plastic is underwhelming, even for
the price. It feels weak and brittle the covering
on the side panels doesnt feel
secure. Likewise, the rubber feet give
the case lots of grip, but the plastic
/SPECIFICATIONS
fittings on the bottom and top feel thin and
Dimensions (mm) 232 x 518 x 562
weak. You should handle the case with
(W x D x H)
care, and certainly not try to use the curved
Material Steel, plastic
Available colours Black
roof as a handle. Thankfully, a Type-01
Weight 10.4kg
Alpha Edition is also in the works, which
Front panel Power, reset, 2 x USB
will be made of aluminium and hopefully
3, 2 x USB 2, stereo, mic
improves this situation substantially.
Drive bays 3 x external 5.25in (1 x
Also, while the power and reset buttons
3.5in via adaptor), 8 x internal
are neatly hidden, theyre clunky and not
3.5in/2.5in
Form factor(s) ATX, micro-ATX,
satisfying to press. The positioning of the
mini-ITX
I/O ports usually found on a cases front
Cooling 1 x 200mm or 2 x 120mm
panel presents a problem as well, as they
front fan mounts (200mm fan
run in a line down the cases roof.
included), 1 x 140mm/120mm rear
fan mount (140mm fan included), 1
Roof-mounted front panel ports can be
x 140mm/120mm roof fan mount,
handy,
but in this case, the ones at the back
1 x 140mm/120mm bottom fan
mount, 3 x 120mm left side fan
are fairly far from the front, making them
mounts (fans not included)
hard to reach even if the case sits under
CPU cooler clearance 180mm
your desk.
Maximum graphics card length
Meanwhile, a slide-out dust filter is fitted
310mm with 3.5in cage; 345mm
to the bottom, covering both the PSU
with 2.5in cage
intake and the lower fan mount, and its
Extras Removable dust filters
easy to replace without having to lift up the
There are many big,

well-positioned
routing holes for
cable management
20
chassis, thanks to a hefty amount of clearance. Theres also

a dust filter for the front 200mm intake fan, but removing it
requires you to pull off the front panel, bringing some
cabling with it. Despite these filters, though, the vented
sections on the sides and roof have no filters fitted, so dust
still has a fairly easy route into the case.
In terms of cooling, the single large intake fan is
complemented by a 140mm exhaust fan. Theres also room
for a 140/120mm roof fan, as well as three 120mm side fans
and a lower 140/120mm model if you want to create some
serious airflow around your graphics hardware.
For water-cooling gear, there are four holes on the rear
shielded by rubber grommets for routing an external
radiator. With the singular roof fan mount, its only really
possible to install a 140mm or 120mm radiator though. The
lack of any real place for even a 240mm all-in-one liquid
cooler is another blow for the case even budget cases
regularly include such mounts.
On the plus side, the all-black interior has a standard
ATX layout and is very spacious, making hardware
installation painless and quick. The PSU rests on rubber
spikes and is cushioned against the inside of the case too
to stifle any vibrations.
Rubber feet provide

grip, but the plastic
fittings here feel
thin and weak
You can move this

3.5in drive cages
inner wall to create
2.5in drive bays
Its easy to build a

tidy system, thanks
to numerous cablerouting holes
The front panel needs removing in order to install optical

drives, which slide into the bay, and then lock into place on
both sides with tool-free clips. The plastic optical drive
shields on the front cover are fitted to springs and have
buttons that should align with the eject button on the drive.
Its a neat idea, but if your drive doesnt fit properly with the
covers, or if youre installing another 5.25in device that
requires access, youll need to remove the shields, which
spoils the look. You can also convert one of the 5.25in drive
bays into a 3.5in bay using the supplied plastic brackets.
The eight plastic 3.5in/2.5in drive trays are divided
between a top cage of five and a lower cage of three. Room
for graphics cards is already plentiful theres 310mm of
room as standard but if you need more, you can move the
drive cages inner wall so that the top five drive bays are only
big enough for 2.5in drives (five 2.5in trays are supplied). All
eight of the available expansion slots will benefit from this
extra room. The drive trays themselves are fine too,
although there are no anti-vibration fittings for hard drives.
Finally, there are many big, well-positioned routing holes
for cable management, all with secure rubber grommets.
The area behind the motherboard tray could be a little more
spacious, but we were able to tie down all our cables
relatively neatly using the hooks on the rear of the tray.
Performance
Cooling ability for both the CPU and GPU is distinctly
average. The CPU delta T of 52C is matched by our current
recommended budget case, the NZXT S340, which costs
just 57, and its a long way from the SilverStone Kublai
KL04 we reviewed last month. It also only narrowly beats
the Fractal Design Define R5, which is a quieter case. Noise
from the Type-01 Bravos two fans is pretty low (which is a
relief, since theres no fan control), but the large mesh
section ensures noise escapes easily if you have other
loud hardware, it will be easy to hear.
The GPU temperature is a little better, but still average.
Airflow from the large intake fan is adequate for keeping
your graphics hardware cool during gaming sessions,
C P U LOAD DELTA T
and the temperatures are respectable given the relatively

low noise output.
We also tried removing the inner drive cage wall and the
top five drive trays for retesting, but it made no difference
to temperatures.
Conclusion
XFXs first case has some plus points, such as the unique
design and easy-to-use interior, while the cooling ability is
good enough given the noise output and relatively low price.
However, the external build quality, particularly on the
top and bottom, and other design issues such as the I/O
panel placement and the lack of fan control or any real
support for water cooling, all let it down, especially when a
superb case such as the NZXT S340 costs just 57. If the
XFXs design matches your taste, its probably worth waiting
for the aluminium Alpha edition instead.
MATTHEW LAMBERT
GP U L O A D D EL T A T
XFX Type-01 Bravo
52C
XFX Type-01 Bravo
NZXT S340
SilverStone
Kublai KL04
52C
NZXT S340
SilverStone
Kublai KL04
48C
COOLING
14
FEATURES
19/30
16/20
DESIGN
VALUE
19/30
16/20
28
42
70%
52C
47C
56
OVERALL SCORE
50C
14
28
42
56
VERDICT
Not a bad first effort from XFX, with unique looks and
reasonable cooling, but the tacky plastic and a few too
many design flaws hold it back.
21
GRAPHICS CARD
Galax GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent

Infinity Black Edition/288
inc VAT
SUPPLIER www.overclockers.co.uk
alaxs new GTX 970 OC Silent Infinity Black

Edition isnt just any old overclocked GTX
970 card; it sports a few extra
modifications courtesy of UK etailer
www.overclockers.co.uk. The build
quality is great theres a thick metal
backplate and the cooler shroud is
also made of metal. The card has an
aggressive, angular design and the
shroud, backplate and PCB are all clad in
black, while the I/O plate, heatpipes and heatsink are
nickel-plated for contrast.
Out of the box, the card has a base clock of 1,178MHz
a solid 12 per cent overclock. Its rated boost clock is
1,329MHz, but it boosted to almost 1,400MHz in our tests
under load. Its one of the fastest
GTX 970 cards available, although
some manufacturers (including Galax
itself) ship even faster models.
Unfortunately, theres no memory
overclock, but the cards BIOS has
been tuned by 8Pack (the worlds
number one overclocker) for
maximum safe and reliable performance.
As usual for a GTX 970, the card has two DVI ports, plus
HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. The card also of course
includes two SLI connectors and supports up to three-way
SLI. Meanwhile, power is drawn through an 8-pin/6-pin
PCI-E power plug combination, which Galax says offers
up to 50 per cent more power for overclocking than the
standard configuration the MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G uses
the same setup and is also a good overclocker, so hopefully
the same will hold true for the Galax.
Power is then delivered through a 5+2 phase
power system (an upgrade over the reference
4+1), and the Galax card ships with Overclockers
/SPECIFICATIONS
Zero Coil Whine guarantee, which ensures a
Graphics processor Nvidia
refund or replacement if any coil whine is
GeForce GTX 970, 1,178MHz
(boost 1,329MHz)
audible when using a PSU rated at 80 Plus Gold
Pipeline 1,664 stream
or higher. To accommodate this feature, the card
processors, 64 ROPs
has been slightly modded thanks to the folks at
Memory 4GB GDDR5,
Overclockers, with the inductors first placed into
7GHz effective
higher-quality containers than usual, and then
Bandwidth 224GB/sec
glued to the PCB.
Compatibility DirectX 12,
The hefty heatsink is only responsible for
OpenGL 4.4
directly cooling the GPU the MOSFETs in the
Outputs Dual-link DVI-D,
Dual-link DVI-I, HDMI,
power phases have their own smaller heatsink,
DisplayPort
while the Samsung memory chips are only
Power connections
cooled indirectly. A copper baseplate makes
1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin,
contact with the GPU, and heat is drawn away
top-mounted
via two 6mm and two 8mm copper heatpipes
Size 260mm long, dual-slot
and then spread throughout the fin array. The
The cards BIOS has

been tuned by
overclocker 8Pack
24
heatpipes extend slightly out of the top of the card, but the
whole unit should still fit into most cases without issue.
Two fans complete the cooling arrangement the
open cooler shroud means a lot of the cards heat will be
exhausted into your case. Like MSIs GTX 970 Gaming 4G,
the Galax also has a semi-passive mode, although it
operates differently. Only one fan shuts off during idle
periods were told this setup was chosen to increase the
cards lifespan by ensuring the GPU is kept at 30-40C,
instead of up to 60C
Performance
Thanks to the higher overclock and boost speed, this Galax
card is faster than MSIs offering in each test, but not by any
distance that will make your gaming experience notably
smoother. Still, going by minimum frame rates, its around
4 per cent quicker than MSIs card on average. This card can
cope with BioShock Infinite at 4K, and our other test games
at 2,560 x 1,440, without dipping below 30fps. In fact, its
minimum of 27fps in Battlefield 4 at 4K is also playable.
The Galax cards overclock isnt high enough for it to
surpass or even match the GTX 980 in any test, but its rarely
far off. The GTX 980 costs over 400, so comparably, the
Galax GTX 970 offers better bang per buck. Furthermore,
the closest competition from AMD, the R9 290X, starts at
around 270, and this Galax card is usually a little faster,
helping to justify its small price premium.
Power draw for the Galax card is high for a GTX 970, but
low in relation to non-Maxwell cards. It consumes more
power than the GTX 980, thanks to its hefty overclock and
larger power delivery. However, compared with the R9
HOW WE TEST
PAGE 34
290X, its very efficient. It has an aggressive fan profile,

though, and while the fan noise is tolerable, they can get
noisy under load, at least compared with MSIs card. You can
limit the fan speed easily enough, but the default goes
against the idea of offering a Zero Coil Whine guarantee.
Overclocking this card was also very fruitful. We achieved
a 1,308MHz base clock, with a boost clock of 1,459MHz.
Under load, it was boosting to between 1,507MHz and
1,535MHz, whereas the MSI card when overclocked
wouldnt surpass 1,504MHz. We also managed to take the
memory from 7GHz to a whopping 8.1GHz (effective), the
highest result weve ever seen. At these settings, the Galax
card surpasses the GTX 980 in terms of performance. Noise
output is similar to stock levels too, although the power
consumption at load increases by 32W.
Conclusion
The Galax GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent Infinity Black Edition
is well made, relatively compact and very fast out of the
box. Its also well priced against other GTX 970s and AMDs
competition. However, MSIs slightly cheaper GTX 970

Gaming 4G is noticeably quieter, not much slower, and also
has a true semi-passive mode.
Both cards overclocked to similar levels in our testing
(although the Galax was admittedly a touch faster) and
neither one suffers from coil whine.
As such, wed still choose MSIs card over this one, but
Galaxs offering is still fantastic if overclocking and getting
as much performance as possible is a bigger priority to you
than noise levels.
MATTHEW LAMBERT
B A T T L EF I EL D 4
BIOSHOCK INFINITE
1,920 x 1,080, Ultra Detail, 4x AA
1,920 x 1,080, Ultra Detail with Depth of Field
Galax GTX 970 OC SIBE
62 fps
79 fps
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G
61 fps
78 fps
AMD R9 290X
59 fps
20
40
AMD R9 290X
72 fps
80
60
40 fps
52 fps
44 fps
38 fps
AMD R9 290X
15
56 fps
26 fps
AMD R9 290X
37 fps
28 fps
10
3,840 x 2,160, Ultra Detail with Depth of Field, AA off
33 fps
31 fps
AMD R9 290X
36 fps
27 fps
CRYSIS 3
30 fps
20
Stock speed min
40 fps
38 fps
30
40
Stock speed avg
PEAK TOTAL SYSTEM POWER DRAW
1,920 x 1,080, Very High detail, 0x AA
58 fps
72 fps
55 fps
AMD R9 290X
54 fps
18
36
68 fps
72
105 W
AMD R9 290X
42 fps 50 fps
35 fps 43 fps
AMD R9 290X
36 fps 43 fps
13
39
26
SPEED
16 fps
35/40
22 fps
VERDICT
17 fps 20 fps
AMD R9 290X
17 fps
Stock speed avg
12
Overclocked min
22 fps
18
24
Overclocked avg
Load
300
Overlocked
18/20
VALUE
52
409 W
200
FEATURES
38/40
100
Idle
38 fps 46 fps
309 W
114 W
317 W
349 W
66 fps
54
108 W
10
0
40
30
20
80
60

39 fps
77 fps
62 fps
40
20
0
60
45
27 fps
Stock speed min
65 fps
AMD R9 290X
50 fps
30
132
68 fps 80 fps
98 fps
99
58 fps
40 fps 48 fps
87 fps
66
33
110 fps 127 fps

105 fps 122 fps
400
500
Lower is better
OVERALL SCORE
91%
A well-built, fast and fairly priced GTX 970 that can even
beat the GTX 980 when overclocked, although MSIs GTX
970 Gaming 4G is quieter.
25
S O L I D STAT E D R I V E S
Samsung SSD 850 Evo/

108 (250GB); 194 (500GB); 360 (1TB) inc VAT
SUPPLIER www.dabs.com
he SSD 850 Evo is Samsungs second

consumer drive after the 850 Pro
that uses its 3D V-NAND
technology no other manufacturer yet
has a 3D NAND-based SSD available.
The 850 Evo has just four capacities now
(120GB is the fourth), with each capacity
available in a single SKU that comprises the drive and
software CD. For now, at least, theyre only available as 2.5in
SATA 6Gbps drives.
Samsung has developed a new SSD controller, the dualcore MGX, which has one less ARM Cortex R4 core and four
less channels than the triple-core MEX controller in the 840
Evo and 850 Pro. As such, youd expect performance to
drop, but thanks to the use of Samsungs 3D V-NAND and
firmware optimisations, Samsung says the speed has
slightly improved, although the biggest improvements
should be felt in lower-capacity drives.
However, the 1TB 850Evo still sticks with the MEX
controller, since it requires 1GB of
DRAM cache in order to manage the
page table for so much NAND, and the
MGX controller only supports up to
512MB, as used in the 250GB and
500GB drives.
Samsungs current 3D V-NAND
technology stacks NAND cells
vertically with 32 layers, bypassing the limitations and
drawbacks associated with constantly shrinking current
2D/planar technologies. The performance, endurance and
efficiency are all improved, so the only downside is cost of
production. In order to bring the technology to a lower price,
the 3D NAND in the SSD 850 Evo can store three bits per
cell rather the SSD 850 Pros two bits. Traditionally, this limit
decreases NAND endurance, but the endurance
is already so high that Samsung is guaranteeing
the same 150TB write limit as the SSD 850 Pro,
/SPECIFICATIONS
albeit within a five-year warranty, not ten.
Interface SATA 6Gbps
Increasing the bits-per-cell count also
Nominal capacity 250GB;
decreases write performance, but Samsung
500GB; 1TB
counters this limit with its TurboWrite buffer. All
Formatted capacity
232.88GB; 465.76GB;
write commands pass through the buffer,
931.51GB
which is again 3GB (250GB), 6GB (500GB) and
Controller Samsung MGX
12GB (1TB) in size. It acts as SLC NAND (one bit
(250GB, 500GB), Samsung
per cell), dramatically increasing performance.
MEX (1TB)
If a single command exceeds this buffer then
Cache 512MB Samsung
LPDDR2 (250GB, 500GB),
performance will drop as the writes go direct to
1GB Samsung LPDDR2 (1TB)
the TLC NAND, but idle periods are used to clear
Memory Samsung 32-layer
the buffer. Its a good system for most people,
3D V-NAND (3 bits per cell)
since most of us dont regularly write more than
Warranty Five years
this amount. Also, post-TurboWrite speeds
(maximum 150TB written)
arent that low anyway.
The Evo 850s 3D

NAND can store
three bits per cell
26
Once again, Samsungs SSD software package (Magician

and Data Migration) remains unrivalled. The intuitive
interfaces allow for easy OS cloning, firmware updates,
secure erase commands and overprovisioning. You can also
easily enable and disable the excellent RAPID Mode, which
uses spare RAM to cache data for ultra-fast performance,
and implement any of the SSD 850 Evos encryption
features, including AES 256-bit, IEEE-1667 and TGC Opal 2.
Performance
Few SSDs struggle with sequential performance now, but
even so, the SSD 850 Evo excels here, never dipping below
500MB/sec for reads or writes. Random 4KB read speeds
are also the best weve seen (dethroning the 840 Evo as the
previous best). As for writes, OCZs drives are a touch faster,
but the 850 Evo drives performance is still very good. We
also noticed that the MGX-based 250GB and 500GB
models are slightly faster in these benchmarks than the
MEX-based 1TB, lending weight to Samsungs claims that
the controller is optimised for such workloads, which are
particularly important for everyday office tasks.
Next came the particularly strenuous high-queue-depth
random tests, but the SSD 850 Evo drives handled them
well, being faster than the Crucial MX100. However,
everyday users need not concern themselves with these
demanding workloads.
Meanwhile, the PCMark 7 Starting Applications workload
shows the 850 Evo improving by at least 11 per cent over the
840 Evo, and just about beating the MX100. Theres less of
an improvement in the gaming test, but the results still
impress and again, the performance is more or less
constant regardless of capacity, while still being a fair way
in front of the Crucial MX100. The drives boot Windows 7
quickly too, with the 250GB model having a very impressive
boot time indeed lower capacities typically fare best in this
test, and the 1TB drive performed less well.
Finally, the 500GB drive improves by over 50 per cent on
average in the Iometer mixed workloads tests, where the
other two drives also do well. These tests are run at a high
queue depth, so these drives would cope in relatively
demanding professional environments. However, for such
users there are even better SSDs that are worth their extra
ELITE
NEW ENTRY
P 70
premium if youre going to be hammering your drive

constantly (including Samsungs own SSD 850 Pro range).
and get the Crucial MX100 512GB without noticing any

performance difference in everyday use.
However, the Evo 850s are still excellent SSDs. With
outstanding software, speed-enhancing features such as
TurboWrite and RAPID Mode, and a warranty thats two
years longer than the 840 Evos, they offer a great package.
However, their relatively high prices mean theyre only
recommended for heavily storage-dependent workloads,
or if you want extra control via the Magician software.
Conclusion
The cost of producing 3D V-NAND leaves the SSD 850 Evo
drives with mid-range prices, which is dangerous ground
typically, people either want expensive professional drives
with outstanding performance and endurance for intensive
workloads, or simply the best cost per gigabyte and decent
everyday performance. Most people could save 40-45
MATTHEW LAMBERT
AS-SSD
PCMARK 7
Sequential read/write (MB/sec)
Starting Applications Test raw result (MB/sec)
Crucial MX100 512GB
484.8
Samsung 840 Evo 500GB
503.5
520
Crucial MX100 512GB
512.5
124.4
113.4
502.1 514.5
500.7
127.1
Samsung 850 Evo 1TB
125.9
Samsung 850 Evo 1TB
516
504.2 519.8
0
300
150
600
450
4KB random read/write (MB/sec)
Crucial MX100 512GB
127.8
32
64
96
128
Gaming Test raw result (MB/sec)
30.8
110
40.7
Crucial MX100 512GB
103.5
125.9
150.5
44.1
110.7
154.3
43.4
111.6
151.3
Samsung 850 Evo 1TB
41.6
105.8
Samsung 850 Evo 1TB

120
90
60
30
4KB 64-queue-depth random read/write (MB/sec)
Crucial MX100 512GB
322.4 325.4
329.8 331.4
272

Samsung 850 Evo 1TB
0
200
100
Read
120
80
160
BOOTRACER

147.8
40
0
Windows 7 64-bit boot time (seconds)
Crucial MX100 512GB
332.6 378.9
328.3 382.7
300
13.04
378.1
12.8
11.37
12.66
Samsung 850 Evo 1TB
400
Write
14.36
0
12
16
IOMETER
Mixed workloads average score (IOPS)
Crucial MX100 512GB
40,549
26,859
35,616
41,062
Samsung 850 Evo 1TB
39,273
0
250GB
21,000
31,500
42,000
500GB
SPEED
45/50
/GB
16/20
BANG/BUCK
24/30
1TB
SPEED
,
10500
46/50
/GB
16/20
BANG/BUCK
24/30
OVERALL SCORE
85%
OVERALL SCORE
86%
SPEED
46/50
/GB
16/20
BANG/BUCK
24/30
OVERALL SCORE
86%
VERDICT
Undoubtedly a fantastic range of SSDs from Samsung, but
the inside tech makes them expensive for the intended
everyday computing audience.
27
G A M I N G L A P TO P
Gigabyte P35X v3/1,748
inc VAT
vidias latest mobile Maxwell hardware, the

GeForce GTX 980M, takes centre stage in
Gigabytes P35X v3, and its fearsome. Its based
on the GM204 Maxwell core, and its specs sit between
the GTX 960 and GTX 970 from the desktop range. The
GTX 980M has a mighty 1,536 stream processors, and its
clocked at 1,038MHz with a 1,127MHz boost clock. It also
has 8GB of 5,000MHz GDDR5 memory a mammoth
amount that still beats most desktop cards.
Meanwhile, the CPU is an Intel Core i7-4710HQ
processor with four Hyper-Threaded cores
clocked to 2.5GHz, and theres 16GB of RAM,
two 128GB SSDs in RAID 0 configuration and a
1TB hard disk. The striped SSDs should produce
some really quick performance, but always bear in mind that
using a RAID 0 array as your system drive is inherently risky
if one drive goes down then you lose everything.
Interestingly, theres a DVD writer
slotted into a removable bay at the
front edge too, and this bay can also
be used for extra storage via an
adaptor in the box. Gigabyte continues
to impress on the outside too. The
P35X weighs 2.3kg and is 22mm thick.
Comparatively, MSIs GS60 is lighter
and thinner, but the P35X v3 is still half
the size of the monstrous Alienware 17 chassis.
Build quality is also excellent, from the sturdy wrist-rest
to the solid underside, and the screen barely flexes. Its
minimalist appearance looks good too, if a little
unadventurous. Its hewn from dark, brushed metal, with
a finish thats only interrupted by Gigabytes shining logos
and the circular power button.
A panel on the underside gives access to
the memory slots, but both are filled and the
/SPECIFICATIONS
P35X cant take more than the 16GB already
CPU 2.5GHz Intel Core
installed. Access to any other parts requires
i7-4710HQ
unscrewing the base plate, which remains
Memory 16GB 1,600MHz DDR3
attached via speaker cables. That level of
Graphics Nvidia GeForce GTX
access cant compete with the Alienware 17
980M 8GB GDDR5
nearly all its components are accessible,
Sound On-board
and labelled for easy replacement.
Screen 15.6in, 2,880 x 1,620
The build quality helps the keyboard too;
Hard disk 2 x 128GB Lite-On
LMT-128L9M SSDs in RAID 0;
its solid base mean keys hammer down with
1TB hard disk
a rapid, consistent action. The layout is
Weight 2.3kg
decent too, with large keys, a numeric
Ports 2 x USB 3, 2 x USB 2, HDMI
keypad, an automatic backlight and an
1.4, D-SUB, mini-DisplayPort 1.2,
outline around the WASD cluster. It has
SDXC card slot, 2 x audio
Scrabble-tile keys, though, which save
Dimensions (W x D x H) 385 x
270 x 22mm
space and look good, but they also mean
Operating system Windows 8.1
that you forgo the quality feel of proper keys
64-bit
that you get on larger laptops such as the
Warranty Two years return to
Alienware 17. Meanwhile, the touchpad is
base
large and responsive.
In Battlefield 4 at
1080p, it managed
a 50fps minimum
30
Performance
In Battlefield 4 at 1080p, the Gigabyte managed a
phenomenal 50fps minimum frame rate thats miles ahead
of the competition. Comparatively, an Alienware 17 equipped
with a GTX 880M could only manage 36fps. That pattern is
repeated in other game tests. In BioShock at 1080p, the
P35X never dropped below 77fps, compared to the
Alienware 17s still respectable 52fps.
Likewise, Crysis 3 is our toughest benchmark, but the
Gigabyte didnt flinch. Its minimum of 37fps is superb. In
this benchmark, the 880M-equipped Alienware 17 only
managed 27fps.
The GTX 980M has the grunt to play games at its native
resolution too, although performance takes a hit. At this
higher resolution, we saw an excellent minimum of 73fps
in BioShock, but in Battlefield 4 and Crysis, the P35X fell
to poorer minimums of 23fps and 18fps youll need to drop
your settings to play these games at native resolution.
All of this makes us question the decision to go with such
a high resolution. On a 15.6in screen, the extra pixels will
only go so far.
The extra resolution might make sense for graphics
professionals, but on a gaming laptop, your priority is playing
games at native resolution.
Plus, as always, while Windows 8.1 does a good job of
making the panel usable by upscaling OS features to
replicate a 1080p experience, third-party software is still
inconsistent some applications work properly, others look
blurry and others just end up with unusably small interfaces.
HOW WE TEST
PAGE 34
The Gigabytes screen got off to a good start with a

371cd/m2 brightness level, but that result is undermined by
its 0.42cd/m2 black level. While the brightness beats the
MSI GS60 screens 326cd/m2, the black level means the
Gigabytes 883:1 contrast ratio isnt as good as the GS60s
1,019:1, so the MSI has deeper blacks and richer colours.
Meanwhile, the Gigabytes colour temperature of 7,363K
is cool, but more accurate than the MSIs 8,181K, although
the Gigabytes reasonable delta E of 3.66 was also beaten
by the GS60s 2.16. The P35Xs screen isnt far behind the
MSI, and its better than the Alienware 17s screen too.
The Core i7-4710HQ helped the Gigabyte to score 2,084
in our Media Benchmarks suite, putting it ahead of the MSI
GS-60s 1,981 and the Alienware 17s 1,998 in terms of
Windows application performance. The speed difference
isnt huge, but the Gigabyte clearly has lots of processing
power. The SSD RAID array also delivered fantastic
sequential read and write speeds of 819MB/sec and
617MB/sec respectively, although youre unlikely to see
these speeds in most real-world use, and the RAID 0 array
also carries the aforementioned risk on a system drive.
Meanwhile, the two 1.5W speakers are bolstered by a
subwoofer, all of which sport a Dolby logo. They sound good
too, with the surprisingly reasonable bass being punctuated
by high frequencies that sound punchy rather than tinny.
We then looped a game benchmark with the screen on
100 per cent brightness in High Performance mode to test
the battery, and the P35X lasted for 58 minutes a standard
time for gaming laptops. The P35X isnt cool or quiet either.
Its fans spun up even when idle, and it was louder in games.
The noise wont be a problem if youre using a headset, but
otherwise it will be distracting. The CPU and GPUs top
temperatures of 92C and 86C are comparatively high too,
although that heat thankfully didnt warm up the exterior.
GI MP I MAGE EDI T I N G
Gigabytes P35X v3 is designed for pure gaming power, and

theres no doubt about its prowess in this area. Nvidias
GeForce GTX 980M is streets ahead of other laptop GPUs,
with ample power to play any title at maximum settings at
1080p. The screens higher native resolution cant help but
interfere though. Games played with those extra pixels
arent always smooth, and many third-party applications still
cant cope with that resolution. Also, while the chassis is slim
and sturdy, and the screen has reasonable image quality, the
fans get very loud.
On the plus side, while the price of 1,748 inc VAT is high,
its still great value for money for the superb portable
performance on offer. If you want the ultimate in portable
gaming power then the GTX 980M is clearly the mobile GPU
of the moment. This is an amazingly fast gaming laptop in a
sturdy chassis for a decent price, but beware that it gets loud,
and that you wont be able to run all your games at
maximum settings at native resolution.
MIKE JENNINGS
B A T T L EF IEL D 4
1743
Gigabyte P35X v3
1723
Alienware 17
0
Conclusion
450
900
1,350
1,800
3,280
Gigabyte P35X v3
3,127
Alienware 17
850
1,700
2,550
3,400
MULTI - T AS KI NG
1,228
Alienware 17
1,215
0
350
700
1,400
HARDWARE
23/25
550
DESIGN
17/25
VALUE
21/25
1,100
1,650
102fps
52fps 67fps
28
56
84
112
1,920 x 1,080, Very High Detail, 0x AA
37fps
85%
15
Stock speed min
2,200
OVERALL SCORE
27fps
Alienware 17
1,998
0
24/25
77fps
Gigabyte P35X v3
Gigabyte P35X v3
2,084
Alienware 17
68
1,050
Gigabyte P35X v3
51
CR YS IS 3
OVERALL
SPEED
34
17
B IO S H O CK IN F IN IT E
Alienware 17
Gigabyte P35X v3
64fps
36fps 45fps
Alienware 17
HANDBR AKE H. 26 4 V I D E O E N C O D I N G
50fps
Gigabyte P35X v3
59fps
43fps
30
45
60
Stock speed avg
VERDICT
Incredible gaming power in a slim and
sturdy chassis. Just beware that its fans
can get noisy, and not all games will
run smoothly at native resolution.
31
GAMING MOUSE
Gigabyte Force M63/40
inc VAT
he end result of Gigabytes Make It Real mouse

design competition (a Taiwan-only affair, just in
case youre wondering what happened to your
entry form), the Force M63 is the brainchild of three amateur
gamers thats been made into a real product.
Aimed squarely at right-handed claw and finger-grip FPS
gamers, the mouse is a strange-looking beast, thanks to its
bulbous, flared-out rear and contrasting, skinny, low-slung
nose. Indeed, at its slimmest point (which is roughly where
the mouse wheel lies), its only 50mm wide, making the
whole mouse feel rather small.
Despite its unusual looks, the shape works well with the
grip styles for which its designed. The compact dimensions
make it feel nimble, and it reacts quickly too, even when
held with a delicate finger grip. The light weight also plays
its part here weighing only 87g out of
the box, its one of the lightest mice
weve seen. However, you can also
increase the weight to up to 110g using
the extra weight cartridges supplied
a feature thats a pleasant surprise for
a 40 mouse.
As youd expect from such a
featherweight mouse, the M63s chassis
is made from plastic. Thick rubber pads
are situated at strategic points on the
sides and top of the chassis to aid with
grip, though, and there are deep grooves
running through them, which ensure they
never get overly sticky or sweaty.
The main two buttons use Omron
switches, which are guaranteed to sustain
10 million clicks and have a satisfyingly
crisp action to them. Conversely, though,
the mediocre mouse wheel is quite skinny and has very
lightly defined steps, which doesnt inspire confidence if you
use it for switching weapons in games.
Six other buttons are scattered around the M63, which
can all be remapped using the overdesigned, but functional,
Ghost software suite. The two buttons positioned above the
thumb area (the forward and back buttons by default) are
well located, and the distinct gap between them makes it
easy to know which youre pressing by touch alone.
The other two side-mounted buttons are less well
placed. On the thumb side, the sniper button
(used for dropping the resolution when sniping)
sits too far forwards, so reaching for it doesnt
/SPECIFICATIONS
feel natural. The profile-switching button on the
Connection Wired, USB
other side of the mouse, which allows you to
Sensor Optical
flick between the five onboard profiles, is
Resolution 4,000dpi
situated exactly where your ring finger rests.
Cable Braided
As such, we occasionally pressed it by mistake
Material Plastic and rubber
when gaming, to the point where we ended up
Extras Adjustable weights
disabling the button in the M63s software.
Thick rubber pads

are situated at
strategic points
32
As well as button mapping, the Ghost software also

allows adjustment of the polling rate, lighting and the four
DPI stages, which you can flick through using the two
buttons behind the scroll wheel. However, there arent any
macro features or lift-off distance adjustment, which are
common features on other software suites.
Conclusion
The compact size and unusual shape of the Force M63
mean it isnt for everyone if you favour a palm grip or have
large hands, its not the mouse for you. For gamers with
smaller hands, though, its a more compelling proposition,
especially if you favour a finger grip. Its keenly priced, and
the inclusion of adjustable weights with a 40 mouse just
about make up for the questionable position of the sniper
and profile-switching buttons.
PAUL GOODHEAD
DESIGN
29/40
OVERALL SCORE
78%
FEATURES
26/35
VALUE
23/25
VERDICT
An affordable but small mouse
thats good for finger or claw grips,
although some of its buttons could
be better positioned.
How we test
Thorough testing and research is the key to evaluating whether a product
is worth buying, and deciding whether or not theres a better alternative
PROCESSORS
We judge CPUs on whether they offer sufficient speed for the price. Part of a CPUs speed score comes from how
overclockable it is. Every type of CPU is tested in the same PC, so all results are directly comparable.
INTEL LGA2011-V3
INTEL LGA1150
Intel
LGA1150
CPU
Asus Maximus VII

Ranger
16GB Corsair
Vengeance Pro
1,600MHz DDR3
+
240GB
OCZ Vector
150
Intel
LGA2011 -v3
CPU
+
Asus
Rampage V
Extreme
16GB Corsair
Vengeance LPX
2,133MHz DDR4
512GB Crucial
MX100
COMMON
COMPONENTS
AMD FM2+
+
AMD FM2+
APU
+
Gigabyte G1 Sniper
A88X
16GB Corsair Dominator

Platinum 2,133MHz DDR3
(GPU testing)
+
8GB G.Skill RipjawsX
1,600MHz DDR3
(CPU testing)
+
256GB Plextor
M5 Pro
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 780 3GB
Windows 7
64-bit
TESTS: We use the Custom PC Media Benchmarks (or CPC RealBench 2014 on LGA2011-V3), Cinebench R11.5 and a variety of games. We
also test the power draw of the test PC with the CPU installed. These tests reveal a broad range of performance characteristics, from image
editing to gaming and video encoding to 3D rendering. We run all tests at stock speed and again when overclocked to its highest frequency.
*Please note: We test AMD FM2+ APUs using the on-board graphics, not the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB
GRAPHICS CARDS
Graphics cards are mainly evaluated on how fast they are for their price. However, we also consider the efficacy and
quietness of the cooler. Every graphics card is tested in the same PC, so all results are directly comparable.
4.2GHz Intel Core

i5-3570K
34
8GB Corsair Dominator

2,400MHz DDR3
Asus Maximus V
Extreme
Windows 7
64-bit
= SCORES
The graphics card

were reviewing
CUSTOM PC MEDIA BENCHMARKS
+
2.66GHz Intel Core 2
Duo E6750
+
2GB of Corsair
1,066MHz DDR2
+
250GB Samsung
SpinPoint P120S
= 1,000
Asus P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP
MOTHERBOARDS
Motherboards are evaluated on everything from layout and features to overclockability
and value for money. Every motherboard is tested with the same components, so all
results are directly comparable.
INTEL LGA1150
AMD FM2+
Motherboard
16GB Corsair
Intel
240GB
on test
Vengeance Pro OCZ Vector
Core
1,600MHz DDR3
i7-4790K
150
INTEL LGA2011-V3
Motherboard
on test
16GB Corsair
Vengeance Pro
2,133MHz DDR3
COMMON COMPONENTS
Intel Core Motherboard Plextor M6 32GB Crucial

i7-5960X
on test
256GB 2,133MHz DDR4
Nvidia GeForce
GTX 780 3GB*
The
Awards
EXTREME
ULTRA
+
AMD
A10-7850K
Our benchmark suite

simulates how people
really use PCs, and a
higher score is better.
You can download the
suite from http://tinyurl.
com/CPCbenchies
Windows 7
64-bit
TESTS: We use the Custom PC Media Benchmarks (or CPC RealBench 2014 on LGA2011-V3 ) and
several games, and also test the speeds of the boards SATA ports. We try to overclock every
motherboard we review by testing for a maximum QPI, base clock or HTT as well as overclocking the
CPU to its maximum air-cooled level. We run our tests at stock speed and with the CPU overclocked.
*Please note: We test AMD FM2+ motherboards using the on-board graphics, not the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB
Some products are

gloriously over the
top. These items of
excellent overkill
earn our Extreme
Ultra award.
PREMIUM
GRADE
Premium Grade
products are
utterly desirable
wed eat nothing
but beans until we
could afford them.
PROFESSIONAL
Products worthy of
the Professional
award make you
and your business
appear even more
awesome.
APPROVED
Approved products
are those that do a
great job for the
money; theyre the
canny purchase for
a great PC.
CUSTOM KIT
TESTS: By using the fast PC detailed on the left, we can be sure that any limitations are due to the
graphics card on test. We test the four games (above) at their maximum detail settings, in their highest
DirectX mode, at several resolutions. High-end cards should be able to sustain playable frame rates at
2,560 x 1,440, while 1,920 x 1,080 is more important for mid-range cards; we also now test at 5,760 x
1,080 for three-screen setups, and 3,840 x 2,160 for 4K monitors. We also try to overclock every
graphics card we test to assess the performance impact.
For those gadgets

and gizmos that
really impress us,
or that we cant
live without,
theres the Custom
Kit award.
35
Custom Kit
Paul Goodhead checks out the latest gadgets, gizmos and geek toys
P OW E R PAC K
PNY Powerpack T10400/ 40
HARD DISK CASE
inc VAT
Icy Box IB-255U3/ 12
inc VAT
The T10400 is the largest capacity power pack weve seen. With
10,400mAH on tap, PNY claims it can charge an average smartphone
up to six times via its two USB ports. However, as with hard drives, you
cant use all of a batterys advertised capacity for various technical
reasons. The T10400 charged our Nokia Lumia 925 from empty to full
just over four times but, despite being less than PNYs claim, its still a
great result compared with other units weve seen. Weighing 228g, the
T10400 is relatively light too Icy Boxs 7,800mAh unit weighs 200g,
for example. You wont want it in your pocket every day, but the T10400
is ideal if you want your phone to last over a long trip or festival.
HAMBURGER
HALF-POUNDER
Icy Box has a history of doing simple jobs well, and the IB-255U3 is
no different. Clad in black leatherette with accented white stitching,
its clearly aimed at the business audience and it hits the target. The
case looks good, and feels sturdy and well made. Fitting an SSD or
hard disk is a doddle thanks to the tool-free rubber gusset that grips
the drive, and theres a couple of pockets on the inside of the front
cover for stashing credit cards too. Its also compliant with USB 3 and
SATA 3, so performance is great. While the styling may be a little
brash for some people, its well priced at 12 and an ideal home for
a discarded or superfluous laptop hard drive or SSD.
LEATHER CHAPS
LEATHER JACKET
SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk
EARPHONES
Jabra Step Wireless/40
inc VAT
The Step Wireless Bluetooth earphones look a little bulky for a set thats going to be entirely
supported by your ears, but fortunately, that bulk doesnt translate into weight the unit,
cable and all, weighs only 20g, making the earphones feel both comfortable and unobtrusive.
Audio performance is good, with a pleasant balance between bass and high frequencies
once we had the fit of the ear buds right, and pairing was easy too. Battery life could be better,
however the four hours we measured isnt much if youll be using them regularly. However,
improving this battery life would increase the weight of the unit, and four hours will still last
the average commute to and from work.
STEPS
STEP
SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk
38
L A P TO P B AC K PAC K
Booq Taipan Shock/ 80
inc VAT
The Taipan Shock is fully loaded

with features. Theres a laptop
compartment with enough padding
to keep out the apocalypse, and
voluminous main section with
extra netted and zipped pockets.
Meanwhile, the easy-access
front pocket has interchangeable
zip-pulls, and theres a pair of
expandable side pockets too. There are also reflective panels on the
straps and front, a key ring clip for keeping your keys safe, and the
entire bag is waterproof thanks to the tri-weave polyester outer.
Our only quibble is the styling. The exterior panels are stiff, so the
bag maintains its shape even when its empty, taking up more space
than necessary. The shape is odd too, as the top is larger than the
base, making it look top-heavy. Still, thats all a matter of personal
taste, so if you think it looks ace, you certainly wont be disappointed
by its features.
CARRIER BAG
BACKPACK
SUPPLIER www.booq.co.uk
D O C U M E N TA RY
An Alternative Reality:
The Football Manager
Documentary/ BLU-RAY 13
inc VAT,
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD 8 inc VAT
M O U S E M AT
Asus Strix Glide Speed/ 22
inc VAT
Measuring 400 x 300mm, the Strix Glide Speed makes a grab for a
fairly large amount of desk real estate. Fortunately, it looks attractive,
with the orange colour providing a welcome antidote to the legions
of black mouse mats. Asus claims the fine weave fabric of the Glide
Speed makes it a smooth, quick gliding surface, but compared with
the Teflon-like SteelSeries DeX we saw last month (see Issue 137,
p40) the experience is positively sluggish. We also noticed a subtle
increase in friction when moving the mouse up and down, rather
than left to right evidently a side effect of the weave. Okay, so the
DeX costs 11 more, but its worth the extra cash if youre prepared to
fork out over 20 for a low-friction mouse mat.
GLIDE
DIRECTX
If youve ever fallen into the bottomless time sink of

Football Manager, youll get a kick
out of An Alternative Reality.
The film looks at the rise and
development of the game
over the past 20 years, and
delves into the way its become
a part of football culture,
influencing the very game it
was trying to simulate.
The interviewees are topnotch, with a host of premiership
footballers and managers giving
their thoughts, alongside the
founders and developers of the
game, and the usual smattering of
celebrities. Its unashamedly selfindulgent (and rarely critical) but if,
like ourselves, youve taken Rushden and Diamonds to the
Champions League final, youll enjoy every last second of it.
OWN GOAL
30-YARD SCREAMER
SUPPLIER www.amazon.co.uk & iTunes
Seen something worthy of appearing in Custom Kit? Send your suggestions to
paul_goodhead@dennis.co.uk
39
L A B S T E ST
Liquid gold
We strap a dozen all-in-one liquid coolers into our LGA1150 and LGA2011 test
rigs to find coolest partner for your CPU, whatever your requirements
ater cooling used to be a dark art restricted to the bravest

and most knowledgeable PC enthusiasts, but choosing to
keep a CPU chilled with liquid is no longer a risky or
expensive decision, thanks to the rise of all-in-one coolers. Its easy
to see why theyve become so popular. Theyre ready to go out of the
box, so you dont have to assemble dozens of fiddly components,
and theyre much cheaper than custom water-cooling loops. Theyre
often no trickier to fit than traditional air coolers too.
And, most importantly, theyre top-notch chillers. Theyre often
more effective than air coolers, especially when dealing with hot
processors, and they dont have to take up much room in the middle
of a PC either their small pumps give way to larger radiators that are
stowed out of the way, on your cases exhaust or roof fan mounts.
In this Labs weve reviewed a selection of 120mm and 240mm
products. Theyre an eclectic bunch: one includes dye that can be
used to change the colour of the coolant, and its also possible to
connect it to existing water-cooling setups.
Other all-in-one liquid-cooler kits include pre-installed fans, and
some can even accept four fans ideal for chilling overclocked highend CPUs, and some include solid aluminium waterblocks that ramp
up the style.
MIKE JENNINGS AND MATTHEW LAMBERT
Featured this issue

How We Test /p42
Results /p64
Coolers
Antec Khler H2O 950 /p42
Cooler Master Nepton 120XL /p43
40
Cooler Master Nepton 240M /p44

Corsair Hydro H75 /p46
Corsair Hydro H105 /p48
Deepcool Maelstrom 240 /p50
Enermax Liqtech 120X /p52
Fractal Design Kelvin T12 /p54
Fractal Design Kelvin S24 /p56

NZXT Kraken X41 /p57
Raijintek Triton /p60
SilverStone Tundra TD02-E /p62
How we test
F
or this labs, weve tested 12

closed-loop CPU coolers on our
two most demanding cooler test
rigs, one of which has been updated
specifically for this test. First is our LGA1150
rig, which uses Intels latest Core i7-4790K
Devils Canyon CPU, alongside a Gigabyte
Z97X-UD5H motherboard. Weve also used
4GB of low-profile 1,600MHz Crucial
Ballistix DDR3 memory, a 240GB Intel SSD
730 and an AMD Radeon HD 5770 1GB
graphics card, although these components
will have minimal impact on the CPUs
thermal performance.
Weve overclocked the LGA1150 CPU to
4.4GHz (44 x 100MHz), using a 1.275V
vcore to keep it stable, so we can test these
coolers in the way we expect them to be
used on top of overclocked CPUs.
Meanwhile, our LGA2011 system has been
swapped out for a new LGA2011-v3 rig that
uses Intels latest Core i7-5930K Extreme
Edition Haswell-E CPU with an Asus
Maximus V Extreme motherboard. Weve
overclocked this 6-core beast to 4.4GHz
with a 1.3125V vcore. Alongside the CPU is
16GB (4 x 4GB) of 2,133MHz Crucial DDR4
memory, a 128GB Samsung SSD 830 and
another AMD Radeon HD 5770 1GB.
We also planned to test the coolers on
AMDs AM3+ socket. Sadly, however, the rig
we built (with an overclocked 8-core AMD
FX-8150 CPU and an ASRock Fatal1ty
990FX Killer motherboard) completely died
midway through testing at a stage when it
was too late to replace it. As such, weve
only included the full sets of results we
were able to get using the two Intel sockets.
Both test systems are housed in Corsair
Carbide 500R cases. These chassis have
been stripped of their hard drive mounting
cages, with cables routed to optimise
airflow. The included side 200mm intake
fan is removed and, for closed-loop liquid
cooler testing, the rear 120mm fan is also
removed, as this is where single radiator
models are mounted. The two 120mm front
intake fans run at their lowest fan speed.
While individual systems and their airflow
obviously vary massively, this setup
simulates a fairly typical ATX build.
When it comes to fan speeds, most
coolers support PWM fan control, but
theres no set PWM standard. As a result,
Maximum load is placed on all available cores

using Prime95s smallfft test
we test all coolers with their fans running at

full speed to create a level playing field.
However, on the LGA1150 system, we also
run a test with the fans limited to 0.75 PWM
(the lowest available setting) to give a rough
idea of performance with fans at realistic
noise levels. If coolers have their own
hardware or software-based fan control,
we test them at their maximum and
minimum speeds on both test systems too.
Both test systems run Windows 7 64-bit,
and we use CoreTemp to measure CPU
temperatures. We also use CPU-Z to
monitor CPU frequency, and if the CPU
throttles due to reaching its thermal limit,
the result is classed as a fail. To test,
maximum load is placed on all available
cores using Prime95s smallfft test. The

thermal results are then taken from the
hottest core, and the ambient room
temperature at the time of testing is
deducted from this value to create the
delta T temperature used for our results.
The final scores for the coolers are then
calculated. The Cooling score is based on
the average performance of all coolers on
a per-socket basis, so it isnt directly
comparable between LGA1150 and LGA2011
results. The Design score is based on
aspects such as ease of installation (again a
per-socket basis), noise and build quality,
while the Value score is simply based on the
Design and Cooling scores divided by the
coolers price.
41
L A B S T E ST / CPU COOLERS
Antec Khler H2O 950/47
inc VAT
ntecs Khler 950 is the cheapest

product in the Labs, and its also
the only one that includes a preinstalled fan. The 950s front spinner is sealed
behind a grid of tubes and held in place by the
units main pump. Thats a smart decision
when it comes to installing the Khler, as it
means less faffing, but it could make
the unit impossible to fix if that fan
malfunctions.
Build quality is good throughout,
though, and a second 120mm fan is
supplied and can be attached to the
rear of the unit. The pre-installed fan
and pre-applied thermal paste both
save jobs during building, but the Khler
still wasnt straightforward to install. The
mounting plate is compatible with both Intel
and AMD sockets, but it has four fiddly
adjustable bits of rubber that need to be
moved around. Plus, once the mounting plate
is attached to the copper baseplate, it doesnt
often stay attached.
Meanwhile, a universal plastic backplate
attaches to the rear of the motherboard with
double-sided tape, but theres no way to
secure the four metal nuts that have to thread
through it, which means they need to be held
in place at the rear while you try to attach the
baseplate at the front. We had to take the
motherboard out of our test case for
installation and, even then, it wasnt easy.
The fans are attached using two 4-pin
connectors, which attach to a splitter that
comes out of the pump,
so they dont need to
be attached to a
motherboard fan
header. A USB
connector is then
used to control
the Khler with
software, which
is basic but has
solid features;
the LED on the
waterblock can be
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
28/40
DESIGN
VALUE
19/30 28/30
42
set with RGB sliders, or set to automatically

adjust its colour based on the coolant
temperature, and the fans can be set to
Extreme, Silent modes or custom speeds.
The Antecs Silent mode was impressively
quiet, but it didnt prove effective in our cooling
tests. Its LGA1150 delta T of 64C was the
highest of any product on test, and its
LGA2011 delta T of 63C wasnt much better
against much of the competition. Extreme
mode proved irritatingly noisy, but the
extra volume didnt help the
Khler to deliver significantly
better performance.
In our LGA1150 test rig,
the 950s revised delta T
of 58C still wasnt
competitive, although its
LGA2011 result was
more competitive
when compared
with other
120mm coolers.
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
75%
COOLING
26/40
DESIGN
VALUE
21/30 29/30
OVERALL SCORE
76%
Conclusion
Antecs Khler H2O 950 makes plenty of
noise in Extreme mode and very little when
its Silent option is selected but when either
is chosen, it proved unremarkable when it
came cooling a happy medium between
both settings will achieve the best balance
between noise and cooling.
The Khler H20 950s key attribute isnt
its cooling, quiet operation or features
though its the 47 price. While its cooling
performance isnt competitive next to pricier
coolers, the results are still reasonable,
making the 950 still worth considering if
youre looking for liquid cooling at the
cheapest price possible. MJ
VERDICT
Not the coolest or the quietest on test, but
its low price makes it a reasonable budget
alternative.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Compatibility Intel: LGA1150, LGA1366,
LGA2011; AMD: Socket AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2,
FM2+, FM2, FM1
Radiator size (mm) 120 x 50 x 159
(W x D x H)
Fans 2 x 120mm
Stated noise 22-45dB(A)
Cooler Master Nepton 120XL/69
inc VAT
ooler Masters Nepton 120XL has a

mid-range price, but its one of the
sturdiest coolers on test, being
consistently strong, and with smart looks
to match its build quality. Two 120mm
fans are supplied, both of which include
4-pin connectors that plug into a splitter
that attaches to the board, while another
4-pin connector links the pump to the
motherboard. A tube of thermal paste is
also provided.
The good build quality and design is backed
up by a solid installation procedure. On Intels
smaller sockets and AMD hardware, an easyto-use universal backplate is deployed: the
screws are secured, double-sided nuts are
attached and the pump can then be plugged
in place. The process of securing the screws
to the backplate with plastic clips is a little
fiddly, but that was the only complication.
Its even easier on LGA2011 sockets.
No backplate is required, so you just screw
the nuts into place, attach the relevant
mountings arms and attach the backplate.
Every socket uses the same style of simple
mounting arm, featuring pre-attached,
spring-loaded screws.
Both fans can be fitted to the radiator
before you put the unit in your case too,
thanks to a clever screwing system: each set
has a threaded socket in the end, so one set
effectively screws into the other. Its a neat
idea that solves the irritation of
having to line up two fans against
the radiator while youre fitting
the cooler to your case.
The mid-range price
means a couple of
enthusiast features are
absent though. There
isnt any software,
and the fittings dont
match up with
standard watercooling kit either.
Theres no chance to
customise any of the
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
30/40
DESIGN
VALUE
22/30 26/30
aesthetics either on some pricier coolers,

the LEDs can be changed, for example.
Also, while the Nepton 120XLs setup was
simple, its performance did little to impress.
When running at full speed, the 120XLs
LGA1150 delta T of 56C is towards the
bottom of the whole group, and its nothing
special when lined up with other 120mm
coolers either. We saw similar
performance in our LGA2011
test, where the Nepton
couldnt ascend
beyond a midtable result.
With PWM
enabled and the fans
running at 75 per cent
speed, the situation barely
changed. In our LGA1150
rig, its delta T was 1C
warmer, which means
you can safely drop the fan
speed, but this result was still
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
78%
COOLING
25/40
DESIGN
VALUE
23/30 24/30
OVERALL SCORE
72%
comparatively disappointing. Also, with its two

fans at full speed, it was disturbingly noisy,
and the noise situation with the fans running
at 75 per cent speed was only a little better in
this respect.
Conclusion
Cooler Masters Nepton 120XL is sturdy and
easy to install, and its mid-range price helps it
to compete against pricier rivals. Cooling
ability is comparatively mediocre across the
board though.
The 120XL isnt a bad cooler, but it struggles
to compete with this months award winners.
The Raijintek Triton costs just 1 more, and
offers a lot more for your money. MJ
VERDICT
Well built and easy to install, but the 120XLs
cooling ability prevents it from standing out
at this price.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Compatibility Intel: LGA1150, LGA1366, L
GA2011; AMD: Socket AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2,
FM2+, FM2, FM1
Radiator size (mm) 119 x 25 x 150 (W x D x H)
Fans 2 x 120mm
Stated noise 27dB(A)
43
Cooler Master Nepton 240M/80
inc VAT
he larger of Cooler
Masters two Nepton
chillers may have a
240mm radiator, but in some
keys area, it doesnt differ from
its smaller stablemate. The
build quality, for starters, remains
excellent the 240M is a sturdy
product that wont flinch when
being installed or moved. It looks
good too. The ribbed cables used
to carry the coolant stand out
when lined up against the
smooth tubes used on most of
the other coolers on test, and the
low-profile waterblock has a neat
matt finish.
The Nepton 240M shares also shares the
120XLs simple installation procedure. The
fans attach easily to the radiator, and a second
set of screws are provided so that two more
fans can be attached on the other side,
although a rubber fan bracket is only provided
for one set of fans.
The supplied universal backplate works
with Intel and AMD hardware, and doublesided screws thread through it to the other
side of the motherboard, where they match
up with double-sided nuts and fiddly plastic
clips. The waterblock then attaches to this
assembly with mounting arms, which
come with pre-loaded, spring-loaded screws,
and these arms are also adjustable on some
Intel sockets.
Every cable is braided as well, and a full
tube of thermal paste is included. A
splitter cable is found in the box too,
enabling the two fans to get power from
one connector. So far, so solid, but 80
is a lot to pay for a cooler, and theres no
software to control the fan speed, and
theres no aesthetic customisation
either. Also, the radiator measures
27mm thick and, while some radiators
on test are chunkier, we advise making
sure theres space for it in your case.
One advantage of the thick radiator,
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
36/40
DESIGN
VALUE
21/30 26/30
44
however, is cooling power, and the Nepton

240M was consistently impressive across our
tests. With the fans running at maximum
speed in our LGA1150 test rig, the delta T of
49C was the third best result on test, and it
only rose to a still respectable 53C when
using PWM. The Nepton took third place in
the LGA2011 tests too, thanks to a top-speed
delta T of 50C. Only Raijinteks Triton and the
Corsair Hydro H105 proved cooler.
When running in PWM mode, the Neptons
pair of fans kept the noise down too the only
83%
Conclusion
The Nepton 240Ms cooling ability was
consistently impressive, and its sturdy, goodlooking and easy to install. Its a tad expensive,
though, and its missing some of the fancier
high-end features were now starting to see
on high-end coolers, which means its up
against some very stiff competition.
As such, people building an LGA1150 rig
will be better served by the NZXT or Raijintek
coolers, and LGA2011 rigs will be better
served by Corsairs H105. However, the 240M
remains a solid cooler if you can find it for a
cheaper price. MJ
VERDICT
Consistently decent cooling ability, good
looks and great installation. Only a
comparatively high price and a lack of new
high-end features let it down.
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
irritation came from occasional increases in

fan speed to keep the processor in check soon
after starting the machine, but the noise soon
died off.
COOLING
35/40
DESIGN
VALUE
21/30 26/30
OVERALL SCORE
82%
/SPECIFICATIONS
Compatibility Intel: LGA115x, LGA1366, L
FM2+, FM2, FM1
Radiator size (mm) 274 x 27 x1 19
(W x D x H)
Fans 2 x 120mm
ELITE
NEW ENTRY
P 70
Corsair Hydro H75/59
inc VAT
orsair has been a strong force in

liquid cooling over the past couple
of years, and the H75 gets off to a
good start with its slim radiator depth of just
25mm. That measurement is a little slimmer
than most of its rivals, and it means the
radiator is barely any thicker than a standard
case fan.
A pair of 120mm fans is included with the
H75, and the installation process is unfussy.
The mounting arms for Intel sockets are preinstalled, and the backplates nuts are preinstalled too you just have to slide them
into the right position, depending onto the
socket. Once the backplate is installed,
standoffs need to be attached, and then
thumbscrews thread through the mounting
arms to lock the copper baseplate onto the
CPUs surface. The thermal paste is preapplied too a design choice that makes firsttime installation simple.
The process is just as easy for owners of
AMD chips, although the Intel mounting arm
needs to be removed, but thats achieved by
simply rotating the arm, removing it from the
cooler and slotting the new hardware into
place. The two included 120mm fans have
4-pin cables that connect to a splitter, so only
one motherboard power header connector
needs to be used. None of the cables is
braided, which would usually cause concern,
but the discreet, flat style finish used looks
just as good, and it
makes cable routing
easy too.
The H75s 59
price also makes it one
of this months
cheaper coolers, so
there isnt much room
for extras theres no
software, and
customisation is kept
to a minimum. There
isnt an LED on the
pump either. Build
quality is kept solid though
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
32/40
DESIGN
VALUE
22/30 29/30
46
LGA1150
the H75 is as strong as many of its more

expensive rivals.
Plus, despite its price, the H75s
performance still managed to impress. In
our LGA1150 test rig with its fans running at
maximum speed, the H75 delivered a solid
delta T of 54C sitting in the middle of this
months results, and 10 C cooler than the
warmest performer on
test. The H75 continued
to impress with PWM
activated too; despite the
fans slower speeds, the
delta T remained at 54C.
The noise wasnt bad
either its discreet in
PWM mode, and its still
tolerable with the fans
running at full speed too
its certainly quieter
than the H105.
The H75 occupied
a similarly midLGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
83%
COOLING
27/40
DESIGN
VALUE
22/30 27/30
OVERALL SCORE
76%
range position when tested on LGA2011 too,

but theres a 15C difference between the
H75s result and that of this months best
LGA2011 performer.
Conclusion
At just 59, the Corsair H75 is significantly
cheaper than many of this months
competitors. Its a good performer too,
especially on LGA1150, where its results saw
the H75 punch above its weight. Those
benchmark scores were enough to give the
H75 an Approved award when running on
LGA1150, as its a good, cheap alternative to
our Premium Grade products. However, there
are much cooler options available for cooling
LGA2011 CPUs. MJ
VERDICT
Affordable, good-quality benchmarks mean
this cooler takes home an LGA1150 award.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Compatibility Intel: LGA115x, LGA1366, LGA2011;
AMD: Socket AM3+, AM3, AM2+, AM2, FM2+,
FM2, FM1
(W x D x H)
Fans 2 x 120mm
Stated noise 31.4dB(A)
ELITE
NEW ENTRY
P 70
LGA2011
Corsair Hydro Series H105/88
LGA1150
inc VAT
he larger of Corsairs two coolers

in this months group is a
no-nonsense piece of kit, including
a plain radiator, plain black tubes and a small
pump to sit on top of the CPU, without the
ostentation of the aluminium or Perspex used
elsewhere. It makes up for this lack of flair in
other areas though.
Installation is easy: the backplate is
adjustable for different sockets and comes
pre-installed with nuts you slide the plate
into place, attach the standoffs and then
attach the pump using thumbscrews.
Its even easier on AMD and Intel LGA
2011 systems, as those motherboards use
stock sockets and the cooler uses the
motherboards built-in backplate.
The Intel mounting brackets are already
installed on the waterblock, and thermal
paste is already applied a touch that makes
first-time installation a little less timeconsuming. Meanwhile, the two 120mm fans
screw into place simply, and both have 4-pin
connecters. A splitter is supplied in the box
too, so both can be controlled from one
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
38/40
DESIGN
VALUE
21/30 25/30
48
motherboard header. So far, so good, but

youll need to bear in mind the size of the
radiator. Its 38mm girth without fans attached
is comparatively thick, so check how much
clearance you have inside your case first.
As we said earlier, theres not much in the
way of terms of little touches and high-end
features. Theres no support for Corsairs Link
software, and theres no LED in the pump
either, but Corsair supplies interchangeable
red, blue and grey coloured rings that loop
around the pumps logo, adding a welcome
way to colour-match the waterblock with the
rest of your system.
Most importantly, though, the H105 fared
incredibly well across most of our cooling
tests. In our LGA1150 rig with its two fans
running at top speed, the H105s delta T
topped out at 47C the second best result on
test. With the fans using PWM, the delta T only
became 4C warmer, which is still one of the
best LGA1150 results on test.
Where the H105 really impressed, though,
was in our LGA2011 rig its delta T of 44C
was the best result on test, being a full 3C
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
84%
COOLING
40/40
DESIGN
VALUE
21/30 26/30
OVERALL SCORE
87%
cooler than its nearest challenger. However,

while the H105 might work effectively at full
fan speed, its fans were unpleasantly noisy
you wouldnt want them running constantly at
this speed while trying to work. The noise was
much more pleasant with PWM enabled,
though, while still offering great cooling.
Conclusion
The H105 is sensibly designed and easy to
use, much like Corsairs H75, but this larger
unit goes one better with its incredible cooling
performance, on both LGA1150 and LGA2011
sockets. If youre building an LGA2011 system
then the H105 is simply the best all-in-one
option when it comes to cooling, as long as
you have room for it, and it backs up that
performance with a good, solid design. MJ
VERDICT
A sensibly designed, easy-to-use and
very powerful cooler thats ideal for
LGA2011 systems.
/SPECIFICATIONS
Compatibility Intel: LGA115x, LGA1366, L
FM2+, FM2, FM1
(W x D x H)
Fans 2 x 120mm
Deepcool Maelstrom 240/82
inc VAT
SUPPLIER TBC
he Maelstrom 240 makes an

immediate impact thanks to the
red fins on its fans almost every
other product on test makes do with duller,
darker colours.
The two 120mm units are attached to a
240mm radiator, and the entire unit feels very
strong and sturdy.
Its littered with intriguing little touches too.
Theres a fan hub with four PWM headers and
a braided cable, so four fans can be powered
from one power header at the same speed
useful if you want to add more fans.
The hub even sports a strip of double-sided
tape, so it can be positioned almost anywhere
in your case.
The fans have rubberised mounts, so
theres no need for extra hardware to stifle
vibrations, and thermal paste is pre-applied
too. Fan installation was a simple and
standard procedure, with long and short
screws used to attach the fans to the radiator
and the radiator to the case. Meanwhile, the
universal backplate made the rest of the
setup procedure just as easy. Screws are
threaded through to the front of the
motherboard and lock in place with clips,
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
31/40
DESIGN
VALUE
20/30 23/30
50
and various mounting plates attach to the

baseplate with minimal fuss you just simply
fasten the nuts on top.
Deepcool recommends installing the
cooler with the tubes facing up or down rather
than to the sides, but we cant see that being a
problem in most cases. The Maelstrom has
no glaring issues either, but it doesnt have
much in the way of fancy features either.
Aside from those red fans, theres no
opportunity to add your own flashes of colour,
and there isnt any software or hardware
manual fan control.
The Maelstrom also proved inconsistent
in our cooling tests. Its most impressive
performance was in our LGA2011 tests, hitting
a delta T of 50C at full fan speed, This result
was the fourth best in this Labs, being 6C shy
of the Corsair H105.
The full-speed Maelstrom wasnt as
competitive in our LGA1150 machine, though,
where its delta T of 55C was comparatively
disappointing for a 240mm unit. With PWM
activated, that result dropped to 57C the
warmest LGA1150 temperature of any
240mm cooler on test. Its one of the loudest
coolers on test at full speed too and, while the
74%
COOLING
35/40
DESIGN
VALUE
20/30 25/30
Conclusion
The price weve quoted a is based on the US
price, as no UK data was available at the time
of review, so that price may change when the
Maelstrom is available in the UK. For that price,
though, the Deepcool isnt particularly
competitive for whats on offer. Its well built
and easy to use, but its performance is mixed,
and the NZXT Kraken X41 provides a better
balance of cooling and features for the cash
on LGA1150 systems. Deepcools effort fares
better when keeping LGA2011 chips chilled
but, even then, the NZXT offers a better
feature set, while the Corsair H105 is a more
effective cooler. MJ
VERDICT
Good LGA2011 performance and sturdy build
quality, but other coolers offer better cooling
and features for similar money.
/SPECIFICATIONS
FM2, FM1
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
noise drops a little under PWM control, you

still wouldnt want to listen to it for long
periods of time.
OVERALL SCORE
80%

(W x D x H)
Fans 2 x 120mm
Its not
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Thats German attitude!
The new be quiet! Silent Base 800 PC case is simply the perfect home for your
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The innovative construction and three pre-installed be quiet! Pure Wings 2 fans
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Silent Base 800 is a truly superior case ideal for high-end gaming gear and
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For more information visit bequiet.com.
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Award winning product:
Enermax Liqtech 120X/69
inc VAT
nermaxs Liqtech 120X gets off to a

good start with a price of 69 a
figure that puts it right in the thick of
the current market. Its a strong contender in
other departments too. The Liqtech matches
the SilverStone Tundra for build quality, which
makes it one of the sturdiest coolers
on test, even if its workmanlike
design means its looks cant match
those of fancier coolers.
The pump is hewn from a solid,
squared-off block of aluminium thats
similar to the SilverStones heavyweight
hardware, and its aluminium mounting
arms offer similar strength. Even the thick
rubber tubes feel sturdier than most.
The 3-pin pump cable and two 4-pin
fan cables are all braided too, and
those fan cables plug into a braided
splitter so only one motherboard power
header has to be used.
Each fan has manual speed control, with
settings for 1,300, 2,000 and 2,500rpm.
However, the switches sit next to each fans
motor, so changing the front fans speed
involves removing the side of your case
and changing the rear spinners speed
requires unscrewing the radiator. Its an
impractical approach that puts you off
changing fan speeds.
Installation is otherwise simple. Standoffs
lock the backplates screws into place, so you
dont need to hold it
down, and you then line
up the mounting arms
and spring-loaded
screws. The mounting
arms for Intel sockets
arrive pre-installed, but
its easy enough to
swap the hardware for
an AMD machine.
The Liqtechs pump
also has a smart LED,
but thats as far as it
goes in terms of fancier
features. You cant
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
32/40
DESIGN
VALUE
22/30 26/30
52
change the LEDs colours, and theres no

software for managing fan speeds, which is
annoying when the manual fan control is so
tricky to use.
Adjusting the fan speeds has a big impact
on cooling ability too. With the fans in
Overclock mode, our LGA1150 rig returned
a delta T of 54C one of the better results
from the 120mm units on test. In Silent
mode, though, the temperature rose to 61C
one of the warmest results on test.
Likewise, in
Overclock mode on
our LGA2011 CPU, the
Liqtechs delta T of
54C was solid, but in
Silent mode, it could
only manage a
comparatively warm
delta T of 64C. Of
course, the trade-off
for the drop in
performance is quieter
operation, which is
sorely needed, as the
Liqtech is one of the
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
80%
COOLING
31/40
DESIGN
VALUE
22/30 27/30
OVERALL SCORE
80%
noisiest coolers on test at full.

The middle mode, Performance, offers the
best balance, but it still runs the fans at up to
2,000rpm, so while its quieter than the
Overclock mode, its still comparatively noisy.
Conclusion
Enermaxs Liqtech 120X is an effective cooler
when its faster fan modes are engaged, but it
gets noisy, and better hardware is available
for both LGA1150 and LGA2011 systems.
The Raijintek Triton offers much better
cooling ability for just 1 more on LGA1150
systems, the award-winning NZXT Kraken
X41 offers a better balance of cooling and
design, albeit for a little extra investment, and
the Corsair H105 is a superior cooler for
LGA2011 systems. MJ
VERDICT
Reasonable cooling at high fan speeds and
decent build quality, but its comparatively
noisy operation sees it losing out to the
competition.
/SPECIFICATIONS
FM2, FM1
(W x D x H)
Fans 2 x 120mm
Fractal Design Kelvin T12/88
inc VAT
SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com
ith its solid plastic pump

unit, attractively braided
cables and thick tubes
unlike those of any other cooler on
test, these are fitted with anti-kink
springs the build quality of the Kelvin
T12 is great. As a Fractal Design
product, it has a typically
understated design, with no
LEDs or bright colours.
The T12 is also one of only
three coolers on test to feature
standard water-cooling fittings
(G 1/4in thread two-part brass
fittings to be precise) and a refill
port. As such, you can expand
the loop to incorporate extra
components. While it only a
has a single 120mm radiator, Fractal claims
the 46mm thickness means it will be able to
handle one CPU and one GPU. As well as a
generous tube of thermal paste, two 120mm
Silent Series HP fans are supplied. Like most
coolers on test, these fans only feature PWM
speed control, though, and they dont include
anti-vibration mounts or washers either.
Assembling the pump unit and mounting
screws involves working with lots of pieces,
but the process is easy and quick overall. The
pump unit is screwed into an LGA2011 socket,
stock AMD backplate or plastic LGA1150
backplate, which has pre-fitted nuts
and sticky tape to keep it in place.
However, mounting the radiator
is a frustrating process.
For some reason,
hexagonal screws
are used, rather than
regular Philips ones,
and the supplied Allen
key is small and fiddly
we had to swap to a
screwdriver with a
hexagonal attachment.
The 120mm radiator is
extra-tall at 163mm too,
and installing it with the
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
31/40
DESIGN
VALUE
24/30 23/30
54
tubes entering at the bottom (as instructed)

made it impossible to install a graphics card
in the top PCI-E slot in our case, so check
your clearance.
The delta T of 55C on LGA1150 is
respectable, given that the Kelvin coolers have
the lowest noise output on test at full speed. It
still isnt quiet enough to run at full speed all
the time, though, and using PWM made the
T12 barely any quieter, although it was also no
warmer clearly, theres headroom to limit
78%
Conclusion
While there are better options for LGA2011
users, the Kelvin T12 still has a lot going for it
on LGA1150 CPUs, including expandability,
a good performance-to-noise ratio and
outstanding build quality. However, the T12
costs more than the NZXT Kraken X41, which
offers much better fan control and improved
performance too. Or you could opt for the
significantly cheaper H75, which is also a
better cooler. Plus, if you wanted to expand
your loop in the future, the Raijintek Triton or
Kelvin S24 are better suited with their bigger
radiators, and the slip in performance on
LGA2011 systems suggests that a high-end
CPU and GPU combination will push the T12
to its limit. ML
VERDICT
A high-quality cooler with the added bonus
of expandability, but its undermined by the
better performance, features and value for
money of its competitors.
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
the fan speeds even more. Performance on

LGA2011 isnt so good though. The delta T of
60C is on the warm side, as with many single
120mm radiators.
COOLING
26/40
DESIGN
VALUE
24/30 22/30
OVERALL SCORE
72%
/SPECIFICATIONS
Compatibility Intel: LGA775, LGA115x, LGA1366,
FM2+, FM2, FM1
Fans 2 x 120mm
Stated noise 26.9dB(A) (fans); 25dB(A) (pump)
Fractal Design Kelvin S24/101
inc VAT
SUPPLIER www.ebuyer.com
ith its 240mm radiator,

the Kelvin S24 is the
bigger of the two
Fractal coolers on test. Build
quality is once again
excellent, as is the use of
anti-kink springs on the
tubing. Unlike the T12, the
S24s radiator also has an
all-copper construction,
whereas the T12s has nylon
on its outside frame.
Nevertheless, the price
difference between the two
units is only 12, although
the 101 price still makes
the S24 one of the most
expensive coolers on test.
Both the pump and
radiator have standard G 1/4in
threads, with the tubes secured with two-part
brass fittings. Theres also a refill port, so the
loop can be expanded. Fractal says the S24
should be able to cope with up to two CPUs
and two GPUs, though this claim seems farfetched to us. For a single slim 240mm
radiator, we wouldnt recommend using more
than a moderately overclocked CPU and a
mid-range GPU if youre looking to cool both
components with acceptable noise levels.
The S24 sports two Silent Series HP fans
(although theres no anti-vibration rubber),
and a braided splitter cable so both fans can
be run and controlled via a single PWM
header. No additional fan control is
included though.
Installation is the same as with
the Kelvin T12, as the unit housing
the ceramic pump is identical. The
mounting apparatus for this unit
involves more bits than usual, but its
still easy to assemble it quickly. Our
main issue with Fractals mounting
system is again the use of hexagonal
screws instead of Philips ones.
On our LGA1150 system, the S24 achieves
a delta T of 52C, which is definitely a good
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
33/40
DESIGN
VALUE
24/30 22/30
56
result, but four other 240mm models on the

test fare even better. That said, the Fractal
coolers are the quietest on test at full speed,
but then again, the H105 manages to perform
better even in the PWM test.
With its own fans limited by our PWM
setting, the S24s noise output is roughly the
same and the temperature is unchanged
youll need to limit the fan speed more to
reduce noise output.
79%
Conclusion
Whether youre running an LGA1150 or
LGA2011 system, the Kelvin S24 will serve
you well and let you run moderate to high
overclocks with relatively low noise levels.
Its one of the best built and designed
coolers on test as well and, if you can work
with the hexagonal radiator screws, it will
serve you well.
However, the fact that even better
performance is available from other coolers
costing much less money sees it miss out on
any awards. ML
VERDICT
A well-made cooler and a solid all-rounder,
with the added bonus of expandability,
but its relatively high price tag puts it at
a disadvantage.
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
On LGA2011, its a similar story the S24 is

more than capable but its not the best, again
coming in fifth.
Its 9C behind the leader in this test, but
again, its quieter than the coolers that beat it,
which makes it an acceptable trade-off if low
noise is your priority.
COOLING
32/40
DESIGN
VALUE
24/30 22/30
OVERALL SCORE
78%
/SPECIFICATIONS
Compatibility Intel: LGA775, LGA115x, LGA1366,
FM2+, FM2, FM1
Fans 2 x 120mm
Stated noise 26.9dB(A) (fans); 25dB(A) (pump)
ELITE
NEW ENTRY
P 70
NZXT Kraken X41/80
inc VAT
LGA1150
ZXTs Kraken X41 is

one of the chunkier
120mm coolers on
test. Its wide from front to back,
and large plastic areas extend
from the top and bottom so it
might not fit in some cases. The
exhaust mount is on the back of
the case, which is where youd
usually expect to fit a cooler
we instead had to mount it on
the roof.
Build quality is great, though,
with a rigid radiator and
attractive rubber tubing. The
pumps plastic case is strong
too, although Enermax and
SilverStones aluminium pumps
have the upper hand in this
respect. Meanwhile, the copper
baseplate uses the familiar
Asetek system to latch onto
the Intel and AMD mountain
brackets, and installation is easy.
Screws are already fixed to the plastic
backplate, standoffs need to be
attached and then thumbscrews fasten
the hardware together.
The X41 only includes one 140mm fan
most other units include two 120mm fans
but a splitter cable is still included, so you can
add a second fan. That splitter comes directly
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
33/40
DESIGN
VALUE
28/30 28/30
Performance mode, the X41s delta T of

52C was the best temperature we
recorded from a cooler with a 120mm
radiator. In Silent mode, that delta T rose
to 60C, which isnt outstanding, but its
still several degrees cooler than this
tests warmer performers.
With the faster fan speed engaged in
our LGA2011 rig, the X41s delta T of
53C proved to be one of the groups
better results too but, in Silent mode,
its 66C delta T was the warmest result
on test. Thankfully, the Silent mode lives
up to its name.
On our LGA2011 rig, the X41s fan spun at
less than 1,000rpm, which made it
virtually impossible to hear. Performance
mode is louder, but its still much quieter
than many others coolers you could
certainly cope with
hearing it on an
everyday basis.
Conclusion
from the pump, and its all powered by USB.

Washers are included to sit between the fan
and the radiator too, and the fan also has
rubberised mounting holes.
The X41 also includes some great software
called CAM, which gives you more options
than any other cooler on test. It can measure
CPU and RAM usage as well as system
temperatures, and it has a separate
section to tweak the Kraken with
Silent and Performance presets,
a manual fan speed control and
a manual fan curve control.
Despite only having one fan,
the X41 got off to a good start
in our LGA1150 tests. In
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
89%
LGA2011
COOLING
30/40
DESIGN
VALUE
28/30 28/30
OVERALL SCORE
86%
NZXTs singlefan cooler is easy

to install aside from
its sheer size and its software
is superb too. Its cooling ability is good as
well, especially when using Performance
mode on an LGA1150 system, where its
the worthy recipient of a Premium Grade
award. The Corsair H105 still reigns
supreme on LGA2011, but the X41 is still
surprisingly capable on LGA2011 in its
Performance mode.
If you cant quite run to the H105, or your
case doesnt have room for a 240mm
radiator, the Kraken X41 is still a decent, goodvalue LGA2011 cooler. MJ
VERDICT
Solid cooling performance, decent design
and good value for money make the X41 a
well-rounded award winner.
/SPECIFICATIONS
FM2, FM1
(W x D x H)
Fans 1 x 140mm
57
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Raijintek Triton/70
inc VAT
aijinteks Triton is one of the most

distinctive coolers on test. The
chunky pump and waterblock unit
has clear Perspex walls, so you can watch the
coolant bubbling inside. Whats more, bottles
of red, green and blue coolant dye are
included. You remove a plug at the top of the
pump to add the dye, and standard watercooling fittings are used throughout, so
you can add other parts to it.
Its a great start, but
installation gave us
numerous hassles. The two
120mm fans are joined
together with one cable, so
they need to be attached at
the same time tricky when
youre working alone, and
youll also need to replace
both of them if one
malfunctions. The fan and pump
cables are both Molex-powered too,
which isnt as neat as connecting to a
standard fan header, and theres no
PWM control.
A universal backplate is included, but it
doesnt make setup any easier once screws
are passed through the motherboard, they
need to be fitted with washers and nuts, and
then the mounting plate needs to be attached
with four more screws. Its unnecessarily
fiddly, and it even remains complicated on
LGA2011, where the backplate isnt required.
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
40/40
DESIGN
VALUE
19/30 29/30
60
LGA1150
The Triton also includes a variable speed

dial for its fans, but its attached to the unit and
dangles inside the chassis thanks to a short
cable. The tight budget is clear elsewhere too,
with no use of rubber or anti-noise material,
and only a small sachet of thermal paste is
included, rather than a larger tube.
Once its fitted, though, theres no denying
the Tritons cooling prowess. In our LGA1150
rig, its maximum speed delta T of 45C was
the best result on test by a margin of 2C. It
even excelled at minimum fan speed, with
its delta T of 55C sitting in a mid-table spot.
The Tritons cooling bettered most of the
competition in our LGA2011 rig too. With its
fans running at top speed, its delta T of 47C
was good enough to secure second place.
However, the limits of the minimum speed
mode are clear on an LGA2011 system, where
the delta T rose to 63C.
The Triton also makes more noise than any
other cooler when it first boots, but the racket
soon dampens afterwards. It was barely
audible in its minimum speed mode, and the
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
88%
COOLING
37/40
DESIGN
VALUE
19/30 28/30
OVERALL SCORE
84%
LGA2011
variable fan controller allows for precise

adjustment, which is just as well, as the fans
make a loud noise at maximum speed.
Conclusion
The Triton might have an irritating installation
procedure, but it excels once its fitted. Its
variable fan controller allows more control
over speeds than most other coolers on test,
and its dyed coolant and Perspex pump make
for a distinctive-looking addition to any PC. Its
almost like having a custom loop for a fraction
of the price. The cooling performance is
exceptional too, especially on LGA1150. Its a
decent LGA2011 cooler too, if your budget
cant quite run to the Corsair H105, or if youre
after a more distinctive-looking cooler. MJ
VERDICT
Incredible cooling and flexibility makes up
for an irritating installation procedure. A
great cooler for a surprisingly low price.
/SPECIFICATIONS
FM2, FM1
(W x D x H)
Fans 2 x 120mm
WI-FI
Finally in any room*
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Enjoy Wi-Fi in any rroom*
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Best reception
for smartphones
and tablets
dLAN 500 WiFi Starter Kit

Unpack, plug in, get started
Impr
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Engineer
Engineered in Germany
3-year manuf
manufacturers warranty
* Required: broadband Internet connection, router and active power sockets within one property.
More information:
www.devolo.co.uk/wi-fi
Tel.: +44 (0)1865 784344
Email: sales@devolo.co.uk
SilverStone Tundra TD02-E/99
inc VAT (MSRP)
SUPPLIER TBC
his updated version

of the older
SilverStone TD02
cooler retains the originals
excellent build quality, but it
ditches some of the smart
silver and white colour
scheme in favour of more
black. The chunky pump and
waterblock unit is still made
from heavy aluminium rather
than the plastic found on
most rivals, though, and its
good looks are matched with
impressive strength plastic
just cant match metal.
The pump has pre-attached mounting
arms for Intel sockets, and installation is made
simple thanks to a universal metal backplate.
Its a conventional setup you thread screws
through the backplate and motherboard,
attach standoffs and seal the deal with
spring-loaded nuts.
The two 120mm fans have 4-pin cables
that connect to a braided splitter, and the
pump has a 3-pin power connector, with a
Molex-to-4-pin adaptor also included.
SilverStone has attempted to add some
LGA1150 RESULTS
COOLING
34/40
DESIGN
VALUE
22/30 22/30
62
sheen to its latest cooler too. The waterblock

and pump unit has an illuminated LED,
although the colour cant be changed. Sadly,
theres no sign of any software, which we
would expect to be included with a cooler that
costs just under 100.
The radiator is chunky too, being thicker
than many of its rivals, and large slabs of
plastic loom beyond the case fans on either
side of the radiator. Wed get out a tape
measure before installing the Tundra in a
case where space is at a premium.
SilverStones latest cooler got off to a
reasonable start in our LGA1150 tests. With
the fans running at full speed, it topped out
with a delta T of 51C one of the better
results in this months test. Its performance
barely faltered when we tested with
PWM activated too, being just 1C
warmer. The SilverStone wasnt
quite as impressive in our LGA2011
rig though. With its fans running at
top speed, the Tundra managed a delta T
or 56C a respectable result, but its a good
12C warmer than this tests best result.
The Tundra churned out a fair amount of
noise when running at full speed too. It
certainly isnt comparable with the worst
offenders in this group, but youll still notice
it. The noise levels were much better with
PWM activated, where the fans stayed
comparatively quiet for most of the time.
LGA2011 RESULTS
OVERALL SCORE
78%
COOLING
29/40
DESIGN
VALUE
22/30 21/30
OVERALL SCORE
72%
Conclusion
The Tundra performed
reasonably well in our
LGA1150 tests, and it wasnt bad in our
LGA2011 tests either.
Its installation procedure is fine too there
were no big issues when fitting this chiller,
and the all-aluminium waterblock is
pleasingly solid. If the price was right, it would
be a clean bill of health but, unfortunately,
SilverStone has quoted the same launch price
as that of the TD02 99 inc VAT.
That price makes the Tundra one of the
most expensive coolers on test, but it doesnt
have the performance to compete with
cheaper rivals.
For LGA1150 systems, the NZXT and
Raijintek both offer better bang for your buck,
and on LGA2011 systems, the cheaper Corsair
H105 offers superior cooling ability. MJ
VERDICT
A solid and well-designed cooler, but it
doesnt offer the cooling ability needed to
justify its price tag.
/SPECIFICATIONS
FM2, FM1
Radiator size (mm) TBC
Fans 2 x 142mm
Stated noise Not stated
INTEL LGA1150 DELTA T (C)
INTEL LGA2011-V3 DELTA T (C)
Core i7-4790K, 4.4GHz (1.275V)

Raijintek Triton
(max speed)
Core i7-5930K, 4.4GHz (1.3125V)
Corsair Hydro
Series H105
45
Corsair Hydro
Series H105
47
Cooler Master
Nepton 240M
Raijintek
Triton (max)
49
Corsair Hydro Series

H105 (PWM)
51
SilverStone Tundra
TD02-E
51
Fractal Design
Kelvin S24
52
Fractal Design Kelvin

S24 (PWM)
52
NZXT Kraken X41

(Performance)
52
SilverStone Tundra
TD02-E (PWM)
52
Cooler Master Nepton

240M (PWM)
53
54
Corsair Hydro Series

H75 (PWM)
54
Enermax Liqtech 120X

(Overclock)
54
Fractal Design
Kelvin T12
55
Fractal Design Kelvin

T12 (PWM)
55
Raijintek Triton
(min speed)
55
Cooler Master Nepton

120XL (PWM)
57
Deepcool Maelstrom
240 (PWM)
57
58
60
Enermax Liqtech
120X (Silent)
Deepcool
Maelstrom 240
50
Fractal Design
Kelvin S24
53
NZXT Kraken X41

(Performance)
53
54
56
59
Antec Khler H2O

950 (Extreme)
60
Fractal Design
Kelvin T12
60
Cooler Master
Nepton 120XL
56
NZXT Kraken
X41 (Silent)
50
Corsair Hydro
Series H75
55
Antec Khler H2O

950 (Extreme)
Cooler Master
Nepton 240M
SilverStone Tundra
TD02-E
Deepcool
Maelstrom 240
Cooler Master
Nepton 120XL
47
Enermax Liqtech
120X (Overclock)
Corsair Hydro
Series H75
61
Antec Khler H2O

950 (Silent)
63
Raijintek Triton (min)
63
Enermax Liqtech
120X (Silent)
64
61
Antec Khler H2O

950 (Silent)
64
0
16
32
48
64
Lower is better
64
44
NZXT Kraken X41

(Silent)
66
17
34
51
68
Lower is better
R E V I E WS / PC HEAD TO HEAD
Quiet gaming PCs

We ask two top system builders to create gaming monsters
that keep the noise down. Can they succeed?
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
SUPPLIER www.chillblast.co.uk
SUPPLIER www.quietpc.co.uk
his months head to head tasks two system

builders with a seemingly oxymoronic task:
building gaming powerhouses that keep fan noise
down while hammering through the latest titles. Specialist
firm Quiet PC has stepped up, along with Chillblast, and
theyve curiously both delivered machines that share the
Serenity name, both of which promise to rattle through
games without assaulting your ears.
Quiet PCs graphics card is designed for quieter operation

too. Palits Jetstream GeForce GTX 970 deactivates its fans if
the GPU ducks under 60C; a smart move that keeps the
noise down when the system isnt running demanding
games. The GTX 970s stock clock speed of 1,050MHz has
also been increased to 1,152MHz, with a Boost peak of
1,304MHz, while the 4GB of GDDR5 memory remains at
7,000MHz (effective). Likewise, the BeQuiet! PSU also
keeps the noise down: its fans are thermally controlled, with
speed governed by power requirements.
Then theres the Core i5-4690K CPU, which usually runs
at 3.5GHz, but Quiet PC has used Gigabytes EFI to extract
extra juice. Rather than opting for manual tweaking, Quiet
PC has simply selected the motherboards 60 per cent
performance boost option, which clocks the chip to 4.5GHz.
Were used to seeing systems with bespoke tweaks, but we
1,499 inc VAT
The components
Quiet PCs Serenity Gamer includes several parts designed
to minimise noise. The processor is chilled by a Scythe
Mugen Max air cooler fitted with one 140mm fan, so it can
move the same amount of air as a 120mm unit, but at a
slower fan speed and, despite its size, it doesnt impede the
memory slots.
66
1,242 inc VAT
ELITE
NEW ENTRY
P 70
Theres ample room behind

the motherboard, and Quiet
PC has done a great job of
tidying the interior
had no stability issues during our tests. Meanwhile, storage
is provided by a 250GB Samsung SSD 840 Evo and a 2TB
hard disk, and theres 8GB of DDR3 RAM.
Quiet PC plugs its components into a Gigabyte GA-Z97XUD3H. Its an unfussy board with a solid specification: there
are three 16x PCI-E slots, with one restricted to four lanes,
three 1x PCI-E slots and a single PCI slot. It also sports SATA
Express and M.2 slots and dedicated audio circuitry, and it
has dual EFIs too.
Then theres the Gelid DarkForce chassis, which has two
low-noise 120mm fans, rubber washers on the hard drive
bays and the PSU is secured with Velcro. The case
impresses outside of its noise-reducing remit too. It trades
blows with Chillblasts Fractal Design R5 in terms of build
quality; its side panels are similarly strong, and the Quiet PC
has a sturdier roof with a marginally weaker front panel. Six
hard disk bays are divided between two cages, one of which
is removable. The cages are plastic and require tools, but
theyre sturdy, side-facing and easy to remove. Four 5.25in
bays are vacant and tool-free too.
Gelids chassis exhibits sensible design throughout.
A couple of daughterboards provide extra 3-pin fan
connectors, and the cable-routing holes are ringed with
rubber. Theres ample room behind the motherboard as
well, and Quiet PC has done a great job of tidying the interior
the black, braided cables are lashed down tidily around the
motherboard. The top of the Gelid case also features a SATA
dock, along with a USB 3 port, two USB 2 ports, eSATA and
audio more options than the Chillblast, which has pairs of
USB 3 and 2 connectors on its roof, although the extra USB 3
port may be more useful for some people.
Its a strong start, but Chillblast forms its fight back around
Fractal Designs superb Define R5. Its a case designed for
quiet operation: its sturdy side panels, roof and door are
lined with noise-dampening material, and its 140mm fans
are larger, slower and quieter than 120mm equivalents. The
top fan mounts are covered with plastic to keep more noise
contained, and a three-speed controller sits behind the
sturdy door. That controller connects to the two case fans,
and it can be fitted to a third handy if you want to fit another
fan in any of the seven extra mounts.
The Define R5 impresses outside of its noise-reducing
features too. Its side-facing hard disk bays arent tool-free
and they dont have rubber washers, but theyre sturdier,
more numerous and more versatile than the Gelids they
can all be removed too, with storage relocated to the pair of
2.5in mounts on the rear of the motherboard tray.
Elsewhere, Chillblasts build bears plenty of resemblance
to Quiet PCs system. Its impeccably tidied, and theres a
modular PSU with discreet black cables. Chillblast has opted
for a Gelid Tranquillo Rev 3 cooler, which is smaller than the
Quiet PCs Scythe but annoyingly, still manages to impede
one memory slot.
Chillblast
1
Cable tidying is impeccable,
and theres a modular PSU
with discreet black cables
The fans on the Asus Strix

graphics card shut down
when the GPU is cool
The 140mm fans are larger,

slower and quieter than
120mm equivalents
CHILLBLAST/SPECIFICATIONS
CPU 4GHz Intel Core i7-4790K overclocked
to 4.4GHz
Motherboard Asus Z97-A
Memory 16GB Crucial CT102464BA160B
1,600MHz DDR3
Graphics Asus STRIX GeForce GTX 970 4GB
Sound On-board
Storage 1TB Samsung SSD 840 Evo,
Blu-ray writer
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Cooling CPU: Gelid Tranquillo Rev 3, 1 x

120mm fan; GPU: 2 x 90mm fans ; front:
1 x 140mm fan; Rear: 1 x 140mm fan
PSU Corsair RM750 750W
Ports Front: 2 x USB 3, 2 x USB 2, 2 x audio,
rear: 4 x USB 3, 2 x USB 2, 1 x PS/2, 1 x Gigabit
Ethernet, 1 x optical S/PDIF, 5 x audio
Operating system Windows 8.1 64-bit
Warranty Five years collect and return, with
two years of parts coverage
The Tranquillo sits on top of an Intel Core i7-4790K

thats overclocked from 4GHz to 4.4GHz a more modest
overclock than were used to seeing from Chillblast, but
one chosen with quiet operation in mind.
Chillblast relies on a GTX 970 too, this time from Asus
STRIX range. Like the Quiet PCs Palit card, its fans shut
down when the GPU is cool, and its overclocked too the
core clock has been increased to 1,114MHz, with the Boost
clock raised to 1,253MHz.
The Chillblast differs from its rival in other departments
though. Its 16GB of memory is double what Quiet PC offers,
and it doesnt have a hard disk instead, Chillblast deploys
a mammoth 1TB Samsung SSD 840 Evo. It has a more
feature-rich motherboard too. The Asus Z97-A has four
16x PCI-E slots, and it also sports on-board power and
clear-CMOS buttons.
A Thunderbolt add-in card is included in the box as well
and, like the Quiet PCs Gigabyte board, it supports SATA
Express and M.2 as well. Our final note concerns the PSU.
67
R E V I E WS / PRE-BUILT PCs
Needless to say, both

machines can cope with
current games at 2,560 x
1,440 without any problems
Quiet PC
Despite its size, the Scythe

Mugen Max doesnt
impede any RAM slots
Theres ample room behind

The BeQuiet! PSUs fans
the motherboard, and Quiet PC are thermally controlled to
has tidied the interior well
keep the noise down
QUIET PC /SPECIFICATIONS
CPU 3.5 Intel Core i5-4690K overclocked
to 4.5GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H
Memory 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport
BLS4G3D1609DS1S00 1,600MHz DDR3
Cooling CPU: Scythe Mugen Max, 140mm

fan ; GPU: 2 x 90mm fans; front: 1 x 120mm
fan; rear: 1 x 120mm fan
PSU BeQuiet Pure Power L8 630W
Graphics Palit GeForce GTX 970

Jetstream 4GB
Ports Front: 1 x USB 3, 2 x USB 2, 1 x eSATA, 2

x audio; rear: 4 x USB 3, 4 x USB 2, 2 x PS/2,
1 x optical S/PDIF, 5 x audio
Sound On-board
Operating system Windows 8.1 64-bit
Storage 250GB Samsung SSD 840 Evo, 2TB

Western Digital WD Green hard disk
Warranty Two years collect and return with

labour and parts coverage
Case Gelid DarkForce
Corsairs RM750 is designed for silence and, like this

months graphics cards, its fans dont spin up until it
consumes more than 300W.
Performance
Both PCs deploy overclocked GTX 970s, so its no surprise
they were close in our games benchmarks. In Battlefield 4 at
1080p, both machines returned super-smooth minimums
of 60fps, and they impressed in Crysis 3 at this resolution
too, never dropping below 44fps.
There wasnt much to choose between the two PCs at
2,560 x 1,440 either. The Quiet PCs Battlefield 4 minimum
of 39fps was just 1fps ahead of the Chillblast, and the Quiet
PC maintained that gap in BioShock and Crysis 3, too: in the
former game, it hit a 64fps minimum, and topped out at
31fps in the latter. Needless to say, both machines can cope
68
with current games at 2,560 x 1,440 without any problems.

The two PCs traded blows in our application benchmarks
too. The Quiet PC rigs score of 63,342 beat the Chillblasts
60,153 in our image editing test, where pure clock speed
triumphs. The Chillblast regained the high ground in our
heavily multi-threaded video encoding test, though, where
its score of 257,457 beat the Quiet PCs 230,051.
Chillblasts machine emerged victorious its overall
system score of 131,085 sits just in front of the Quiet PCs
123,659. We were able to get both systems to run a little
faster thanks to extra overclocking too. The processors in
both machines rose to 4.7GHz before becoming unstable:
Chillblasts Core i7 required 1.32V to hit this mark, while the
Quiet PCs Core i5 needed 1.3V to achieve the same speed.
Those tweaks didnt make a big difference in our
benchmarks. The Chillblasts revised overall application
benchmark score of 137,488 still beat the Quiet PC, which
rose to a final score of 128,156. We eked a little more speed
out of the graphics cards too. Chillblasts card saw its clock
improve to 1,274MHz, while the Quiet PCs GPU rose from
1,152MHz to 1,292MHz. Those overclocks didnt change
much in our benchmark results though. Of course, theres
little point in applying such overclocks if you want your
machine to remain quiet, but its good to know you have the
headroom if you ever need it.
Were pleased to report that both machines remained
virtually silent during most of our benchmarks we had to
place our ears to their side panels in order to detect fan
noise. If youre working in a quiet office, youll barely notice
these machines operating, and gamers wont be able to
hear much fan noise over a game soundtrack either.
Both systems became louder when running out more
demanding video encoding and multi-tasking tests. Quiet
PCs machine whirred up and then reined itself in to a more
modest level, while Chillblasts machine stayed a tad quieter
throughout these tougher tests.
Both machines took the noise up a notch during games
too, but their most excessive noise levels were still much
quieter than the idle rumbles of most gaming PCs. The
bottom line is impressive: neither machines noise will be
noticeable if you have speakers or a headset on and, even if
youre working, youll be hard-pressed to notice.
There wasnt much to choose between these machines
in thermal tests either. Quieter PCs are usually hotter, and
the Chillblasts top CPU delta T of 67C is pretty toasty, but
the Quiet PC was 2C warmer. These temperatures may be
comparatively warm, but both machines still offer enough
cooling to prevent the CPU and GPU from throttling, and
higher operating temperatures are the main trade-off when
you opt for quiet operation as a priority. Both machines had
cooler graphics cards, though, with the Chillblast and Quiet
PC returning delta Ts of 45C and 54C, showing that the
Chillblast is significantly cooler in this respect.
Warranty
Quiet PC includes its Silver warranty with this system, which
has two years of collect-and-return labour and parts
coverage. Its a reasonable deal that can be upgraded: a
three-year labour deal costs 56 extra, and a three-year
warranty that covers labour and parts costs 116.
Its slightly bettered by Chillblasts warranty deal, though,
which provides five years of support with the Fusion
Serenity. That five-year collect-and-return package
includes two years of parts coverage, plus three years of
labour cover once that initial support period expires.
Verdict
We asked this months contenders to deliver quiet gaming
systems, and both have excelled. Both machines are barely
audible when idling and running less intensive tasks, and
they arent much louder during games and high-end

applications even modest speakers or a quiet office will
drown them out.
The GTX 970 GPUs also mean that these systems are
well set up for 1080p and 2,560 x 1,440 gaming, and they
both have the processors and storage setups to function
as impressive all-round rigs. Theyre both built extremely
well too.
The two machines differ at the checkout though.
Chillblasts Fusion Serenity is more expensive than the
Quiet PC Serenity Gamer, but it has a faster processor, a
huge SSD, a more versatile case and a longer warranty.
Quiet PCs machine cuts back on its CPU and storage, but
its more than 200 cheaper and, for many people, its still
superb specification will be ample.
MIKE JENNINGS
C US TOM P C REA L B E N C H 2 0 14
B A T T L EF IEL D 4
GI MP I MAGE EDI T I N G
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
60,153
63,919
63,342
0
20,000
40,000
65,523
60,000
230,051
70,000
237,651
210,000
140,000
280,000
LUXMARK OP ENC L
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
60,660
67,222
0
17,000
34,000
51,000
68,000
134,020 142,228
43,000
86,000
129,000
172,000
S YS TEM S C OR E
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
131,085 137,488
123,659 128,156
0
40,000
Stock speed
80,000
120,000
54 fps
42
56
B IO S H O CK : IN F IN IT E
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
63 fps 73 fps
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
64 fps 75 fps
71 fps 82 fps
72 fps 83 fps
21
42
63
84
CR YS IS 3
30 fps
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
39 fps
46 fps
32 fps
31 fps
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
39 fps
46 fps
33 fps
0
Stock speed min
T EMP ERAT URE
28
2,560 x 1,440, Ultra Detail with Depth of Field, AA On
160,000
Overclocked
54 fps
51 fps
41 fps
14
146,070 157,247
39 fps
H EAVY MULT I - TA S KI N G
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
49 fps
42 fps
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
257,457 268,124
0
38 fps
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
80,000
HANDBR AKE H. 2 6 4 V I D E O E N C O D I N G
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
2,560 x 1,440, Ultra detail, 4x AA
12
Stock speed avg
24
36
Overclocked min
48
Overclocked avg
P O W ER CO N S U M P T IO N
Max speed CPU delta T
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
67C
69C
0
20
40
60
70C
71C
80
Max speed GPU delta T
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
Quiet PC Serenity
Gamer
Chillblast Fusion 47W

Serenity
53W
15
Stock speed
30
Overclocked
45
60
Lower is better
CHILLBLAST
384W
Quiet PC Serenity 51W

Gamer
54W
45C 46C
54C 56C
332W
0
Stock idle
343W
398W
100
Stock load
200
300
400
Lower is better
Overclocked idle
Overclocked load
QUIET PC
SPEED
HARDWARE
DESIGN
VALUE
21/25 22/25
22/25 21/25
OVERALL SCORE
86%
SPEED
HARDWARE
DESIGN
VALUE
21/25 19/25
22/25 23/25
OVERALL SCORE
85%
69
E L I T E / THE BEST KIT
Elite
Our choice of the best hardware available
Build a budget PC
Core components
The parts youll need to build either PC. This kit list gives you a solid PSU, a decent quality case and the OEM
version of Windows 7 Home Premium.
PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
NZXT S340
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 137, p54
57
Corsair CS550M
www.aria.co.uk
Issue 135, p46
61
500GB Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 104, p72
35
Lite-On IHAS124-14
www.dabs.com
Issue 99, p108
10
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 75, p46
70
70
(inc VAT)
All-purpose PC
The parts youll need to add to the core components to build a general-purpose PC. This machine will handle
general computing tasks with no trouble, and will also cope with basic gaming, although youll have to lower the
detail settings. It features high-speed memory to boost the performance of the AMD APUs graphics system.
PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H
www.cclonline.com
Issue 126, p22
57
AMD A10-7850K
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 127, p17
111
8GB Corsair Vengeance

Pro Series 2,400MHz DDR3
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 132, p22
73
SilverStone Argon AR01
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 132, p57
26
TOTAL
(inc VAT)
500
Gaming PC
The parts youll need to build a budget machine capable of playing the latest games at maximum settings on a
1080p monitor. The machine has a discrete graphics card, a highly overclockable dual-core CPU and high-speed
memory. Meanwhile, the Z97 motherboard gives you headroom to upgrade to a faster CPU later.
PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
ASRock Z97 Pro3
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 130, p50
74
Intel Pentium G3258
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 132, p17
50
AMD R9 270X 2GB
Issue 126, p50
130
Corsair Vengeance Pro

Series 2,400MHz DDR3
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 132, p22
73
SilverStone Argon AR01
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 132, p57
26
TOTAL
(inc VAT)
586
Recommended extra
A solid state drive will make a huge difference to the responsiveness of Windows, as well as boot-up times.
We strongly recommend adding one to any build.
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Samsung SSD 840

Evo 250GB
www.cclonline.com
Issue 128, p52
PRICE
(inc VAT)
93
71
Build a mid-range PC
Work PC
The parts youll need to build a solid quad-core PC with plenty of upgrade potential. This kit list gives you an
all-in-one liquid cooler and a K-series Core i5 CPU, meaning you can overclock it and get some serious
processing power. Weve managed to get the Core i5-4690K Haswell CPU up to 4.8GHz, so it has some serious
performance potential. Also included is a solid Corsair PSU, a 512GB SSD and 8GB of high-speed memory.
The core configuration assumes you wont be doing any serious gaming, however, and it relies on Intels
integrated graphics.
PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
NZXT Phantom 530
Issue 127, p44
98
Gigabyte Z97X-SLI
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 130, p54
93
Intel Core i5-4690K
Issue 132, p18
180
Corsair Vengeance Pro

Series 2,400MHz DDR3
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 132, p22
73
Issue 138, p57
80
Corsair CS550M
www.aria.co.uk
Issue 135, p46
61
Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 104, p75
59
Lite-On IHAS124-14
www.dabs.com
Issue 99, p108
10
Crucial MX100 512GB
www.cclonline.com
Issue 131, p17
152
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 75, p46
70
NZXT Kraken X41
D
U PDATE
TOTAL
(inc VAT)
876
Gaming PC
The graphics card youll need to play current games at their maximum settings at 1080p and 2,560 x 1,440.
72
PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
1,920 x 1,080
AMD R9 270X 2GB
Issue 126, p50
130
2,560 x 1,440
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4G
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 135, p20
279
(inc VAT)
Build a performance PC
Work PC
The parts youll need to build a high-quality, fast PC thats ideal for multi-threaded workloads. This kit list
features a high-quality, beautifully built case, and has a Core i7-4790K CPU. This processors support for
Hyper-Threading effectively splits the resources of the CPUs four physical cores into a further four virtual cores,
meaning it can effectively handle eight threads at once. Theres also a solid 750W PSU, giving you plenty of
headroom for overclocking and adding multiple graphics cards, and a Corsair H80i all-in-one liquid cooler.
PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
SilverStone Fortress FT02B-W USB 3.0
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 85, p88
181
Asus Maximus VII Ranger
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 131, p20
131
Intel Core i7-4790K
Issue 132, p19
260
Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 2,400MHz DDR3
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 132, p22
73
Corsair H80i
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 116, p64
74
XFX Pro Black Edition 750W
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 135, p58
96
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 104, p75
59
Lite-On IHAS124-14
www.dabs.com
Issue 99, p108
10
Samsung SSD 850 Evo 500GB U PDATE D
www.dabs.com
Issue 138, p26
194
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 75, p46
70
TOTAL
(inc VAT)
1,148
Gaming PC
The graphics card youll need to play current games at their maximum settings at 2,560 x 1,440 and beyond.
PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
2,560 x 1,440
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4G
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 135, p20
279
4K
2 x AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 135, p92
450
(inc VAT)
*Note: Multiple graphics cards are required to run Crysis 3 smoothly at 5,760 x 1,080 and 3,840 x 2,160, and Battlefield 4 at 5,760 x 1,080.
Recommended extra
A discrete sound card gives you higher-quality sound when playing back or recording music.
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Creative Sound Blaster Z
Issue 116, p42
PRICE
(inc VAT)
60
73
Build a 6-core workstation

Multi-threaded workstation
The parts youll need to build a PC with serious power in multi-threaded workstation software, such as 3D
rendering apps and optimised distributed computing software. The kit list features a 6-core LGA2011-v3 CPU,
which is overclockable using the motherboard and cooler listed. Also supplied is 16GB of RAM, 1TB of solid state
storage and a 1.2kW PSU, providing loads of headroom for adding multiple GPUs.
PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Corsair Obsidian 750D
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 123, p30
125
Asus X99 Deluxe
Issue 136, p20
300
Intel Core i7-5820K
Issue 134, p43
296
AMD R9 270X 2GB
Issue 126, p50
130
16GB Corsair Vengeance

LPX 2,666MHz DDR4
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 136, p14
231
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 138, p48
88
Corsair Professional Series AX1200i
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 111, p40
244
Samsung SSD 850 Evo 1TB U PDATE D
www.dabs.com
Issue 138, p26
360
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 104, p75
59
Lite-On IHAS124-14
www.dabs.com
Issue 99, p108
10
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional OEM (or

Windows 8.1 if youre using a 4K monitor)
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 75, p46
109
Corsair Hydro Series H105
U PDATE
TOTAL
(inc VAT)
1,952
4K gaming PC
This LGA2011-v3 system can support multiple graphics cards over 28 PCI-E 3 lanes, making it an ideal
foundation for high-resolution PC gaming, replacing the graphics card listed above with two high-spec cards.
We recommend using Windows 8.1, rather than Windows 7, if youre using a 4K monitor.
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
4K
2 x AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 135, p92
TOTAL
74
PRICE
(inc VAT)
450
2,272
Build a mini PC
Core components
The parts youll need to build either PC. This kit list gives you a solid PSU, 8GB of RAM, an overclockable Haswell
CPU, an all-in-one liquid cooler and Windows 7 Home Premium. Also included is a graphics card that can play
current games at their maximum settings at 1080p (and some at 2,560 x 1,440 ), and a 512GB SSD.
PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Intel Core i5-4690K
Issue 132, p18
180
Corsair Vengeance Pro Series 2,400MHz DDR3
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 132, p22
73
Corsair H75 U PDATE D
Issue 138, p46
59
MSI GeForce GTX 760 Gaming ITX
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 133, p20
168
Crucial MX100 512GB
www.cclonline.com
Issue 131, p17
152
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 104, p75
59
Lite-On IHAS124-14
www.dabs.com
Issue 99, p108
10
Corsair CS550M
www.aria.co.uk
Issue 135, p46
61
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 75, p46
70
(inc VAT)
Mini-ITX PC
The parts youll need to build a pint-sized powerhouse.

PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
www.dabs.com
Issue 136, p41
65
Asus Maximus VII Impact
www.dabs.com
Issue 136, p52
171
TOTAL
(inc VAT)
1,068
Micro-ATX PC
The parts youll need to build a mini PC that doesnt take up as much room as a full-sized desktop.
PRICE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Fractal Design Arc Mini R2
www.cclonline.com
Issue 127, p46
71
Asus Maximus VII Gene
www.dabs.com
Issue 133, p18
150
TOTAL
(inc VAT)
1,053
75
Cases
PRICE
TYPE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Budget ATX
NZXT S340
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 137, p54
57
Sub-100
ATX quiet
Fractal Design Define R5
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 137, p20
87
Sub-100 ATX
performance
NZXT Phantom 530
Issue 127, p44
98
Sub-200 ATX
SilverStone Fortress FT02B-W USB 3.0
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 85, p88
181
Water-cooling ATX
SilverStone Temjin TJ07B-W
Issue 63, p87
220
Mini-ITX tower
www.dabs.com
Issue 136, p41
65
Mini-ITX cube
Antec ISK600
Issue 126, p28
50
Micro-ATX
Fractal Design Arc Mini R2
www.cclonline.com
Issue 127, p46
71
Water-cooling
micro-ATX
Parvum Systems S2.0
Issue 129, p22
140
(inc VAT)
Graphics cards
76
PRICE
TYPE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
1,920 x 1,080
gaming
AMD Radeon R9 270X 2GB
Issue 126, p50
130
2,560 x 1,440
gaming
MSI GeForce GTX 970

Gaming 4G
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 135, p20
279
High-end singleGPU gaming
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 135, p18
391
4K gaming
2 x AMD Radeon
R9 290 4GB
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 135, p92
450
Mini-ITX
MSI GeForce GTX 760

Gaming ITX
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 133, p20
168
(inc VAT)
Power supplies
PRICE
TYPE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Mid-range 550W
Corsair
CS550M
www.aria.co.uk
Issue 135, p46
61
High-end 750W
Corsair
HX750i
www.dabs.com
Issue 135, p52
114
Mid-range 850W
SilverStone Strider
Gold 850W
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 135, p56
109
High-end 1.2kW
Corsair Professional Series

AX1200i
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 111, p40
244
(inc VAT)
Networking
PRICE
TYPE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Router
Asus RT-AC68U
www.dabs.com
Issue 128, p88
160
Wi-Fi adaptor
Asus PCE-AC68
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 128, p88
70
TYPE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Hard disk
Seagate Barracuda 2TB

ST2000DM001
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 104, p75
59
250GB SSD
Samsung SSD 840

EVO 250GB
www.cclonline.com
Issue 128, p52
93
512GB SSD
Crucial MX100
512GB
www.cclonline.com
Issue 131, p17
152
1TB SSD
Samsung SSD
D
U PDATE
850 Evo 1TB
www.dabs.com
Issue 138, p26
360
NAS box
Synology
DS215J
www.cclonline.com
Issue 138, p17
144
(inc VAT)
Storage
D
U PDATE
PRICE
(inc VAT)
77
Monitors
PRICE
TYPE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
24in monitor
Dell U2414H
Issue 129, p43
200
27in monitor
( 2,560 x 1,440)
ViewSonic
VP2772
www.cclonline.com
Issue 129, p60
587
29in monitor
Asus
PB298Q
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 129, p52
347
28in 4K monitor
Asus
PB287Q
www.scan.co.uk
Issue133, p44
359
TYPE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Basic mechanical
keyboard
Func KB-460
www.ebuyer.com
Issue 126, p36
70
Mechanical gaming
keyboard
Corsair Vengeance K70
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 125, p34
90
Mechanical MMO
keyboard
Corsair Vengeance K95
www.cclonline.com
Issue 123, p64
128
Gaming mouse
Logitech G402
Hyperion Fury
www.logitech.com
Issue 135, p34
50
Wireless gaming
mouse
SteelSeries
Sensei Wireless
www.amazon.co.uk
Issue 130, p26
113
Flight stick
Saitek X-55
Rhino H.O.T.A.S.
Issue 131, p29
180
Steering wheel
and pedals
Thrustmaster TX Ferrari
458 Italia Edition
Issue 137, p32
220
(inc VAT)
Peripherals
78
PRICE
(inc VAT)
Audio
PRICE
TYPE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
PCI-E sound card
Creative Sound Blaster Z
Issue 116, p42
60
USB sound card
Asus Xonar Essence One
Issue 118, p44
360
2.1 speakers
Corsair SP2500
www.scan.co.uk
Issue118, p75
167
Headset
HyperX Cloud
Issue 130, p32
65
(inc VAT)
Systems
PRICE
TYPE
NAME
SUPPLIER
FEATURED
Budget gaming PC
Scan 3XS Z97

Performance GT
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 133, p60
599
Quiet gaming PC
Chillblast Fusion
Serenity
www.chillblast.co.uk
Issue 138, p66
1,499
Dream PC
Scan 3XS Bear
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 125, p58
6,999
Devils Canyon
gaming PC
Scan 3XS Z97

Performance GTX
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 136, p60
1,199
4K gaming PC
Overclockers UK
Infinity Vesuvius
Issue 131, p62
4,108
Micro-ATX
gaming PC
AWD-IT Chimera i5
Dead Silence Gaming PC
www.awd-it.co.uk
Issue 135, p64
949
Gaming laptop
MSI GT70
2PC Dominator
Issue 129, p26
1,320
Haswell-E PC
Scan 3XS X99

Cyclone SLI
www.scan.co.uk
Issue 134, p60
3,349
D
U PDATE
(inc VAT)
79
Games
Featured this month

Inverse look p83 / Dragon Age: Inquisition p84 / Elite: Dangerous p86 / The Crew p88 /
The Engine Room: Vostok Creating the post-Stalker apocalypse p90 /
82
OPINION
R I C K L A N E / INVERSE LOOK
DEATH TO
COLLECTIBLES
Collectomania is turning game players from
adventurers into unpaid cleaners, says Rick Lane
heres a line in David Finchers film Fight Club thats
stuck with me ever since I first saw it as a teenager:
We work jobs we hate for shit we dont need. I dont
know whether it actively influenced my thoughts, or merely
verified my existing feelings, but as far as I can remember, Ive
had a dread fear of ending up in a job I despised, and a powerful
dislike of owning anything without a purpose. I like to spend
money on books, films and games but, with a small number of
exceptions, once Ive finished them, Im happy to discard them
and move onto something new.
I find the act of collecting to be a baffling
mindset. My fiance is the complete opposite;
she collects teapots, stamps and stuffed pandas
(as in toys, not taxidermy). There are times
when I just want to throw out my belongings
and live with nothing but a PC to do my job and
a fridge to keep my Scotch eggs fresh.
But at least she collects objects that actually
exist. There may come a day when one of her teapots is the only
example of its kind left in the world, and I can understand that
idea of preservation. Collectibles in computer games, by
comparison, are a whole other level of bafflement.
I dont mean games about collecting, such as Pokmon. While
Gotta catch em all! may be the hoarding slogan with which
the series sells itself, Pokmon is about exploring, trading,
training and fighting. Collecting is only the beginning. No, Im
referring to games that offer collectibles for their own sake,
usually to make a game look as though it has more content.
Some of these collectables are innocuous but annoying. Every
Call of Duty game since Modern Warfare has intel hidden in
the environment, which you can collect for absolutely no reason.

Meanwhile, Murdered: Soul Suspect consisted almost entirely
of collectibles strewn around its dull and lifeless open world.
These days, even superb games, such as Alien Isolation, cant
help throwing in some arbitrary junk to fill your virtual pockets.
Lately, Ive noticed a more insidious trend in some big-budget
games collectibles that masquerade as being worthwhile, such
as the treasure chests in Assassins Creed. There are hundreds
of these chests crammed into the map, each of which provides
a small monetary reward when unlocked. The
reward doesnt justify the time it takes to find
it, but boy, do all those treasure-chest icons fill
up the map, and hiding chests is way easier
than crafting more worthwhile missions.
More saddening is Dragon Age: Inquisition,
which would have received top marks if so
many of its missions werent devoted to
collecting. Theres even a mission that requires
you to collect shards that are obtained during other, smaller
activities before you can progress. Its completely unnecessary
in a game thats enormous anyway.
Few players complain about this obsession, as it feeds into
the culture of games as challenges to be beaten, to be completed
100 per cent. Were acting as virtual cleaners, sweeping up cities
and worlds of rubbish with no function or value. Whats truly
depressing is that the time spent implementing all this clutter
could be used to create more quests or missions that engage the
player systemically or add to the story. But that doesnt look as
impressive on the map, and makes it harder for publishers to
justify their games price tags.
Even Alien Isolation cant

help throwing in some
arbitrary junk to fill your
virtual pockets
Rick Lane is Custom PCs games editor.
@Rick_Lane
83
G A M E S / REVIEW
Dragon Age: Inquisition/39.99
inc VAT
DEVELOPER BioWare /PUBLISHER EA /WEBSITE www.dragonage.com
OVERALL SCORE
84%
/ VERDICT
Despite a few
rough edges,
Dragon Age:
Inquisition is a
wonderful fantasy
adventure from
one of the best
RPG studios in
the business.
84
ragon Age: Inquisition is BioWares third stab

at modern fantasy role playing and while, like
all Dragon Age games, it has its flaws, its
undoubtedly the developers best and biggest effort yet.
It combines accessible systems and BioWares usual flair
for writing and characterisation with a grandeur that hasnt
been witnessed since Baldurs Gate.
Inquisition takes a while to hit its stride, however. While it
has a new story, it assumes a certain amount of familiarity
with Dragon Age lore. The opening hours involve barraging
you with names of characters, countries and organisations,
all while youre trying to close a hole in the sky spitting out
demons. Then, just as you think youre getting a handle on
the situation, it packs you off to an enormous open
environment called the Hinterlands. This place almost
feels like a game in itself, but its only the starting area,
an adventurers crche in which you can play before
Inquisition lets you explore the proper game world.
These environments really make Inquisition stand
out from other BioWare RPGs, being a world away
from its usual fare of cramped corridors and confusing
cityscapes. Instead, most of your time in Inquisition is
spent out in the wilderness, scouring storm-lashed
coastlines for campsites, sewing shut reality rips in
scorched desert caverns, and purging dark, misty
swamplands of the undead. Every area you scout in the
lands of Ferelden and Orlais is a delight to observe and
explore, and BioWare deserves a huge amount of credit
for its level design.
A little less credit is due for how the levels are filled
though. Each area offers lots of jobs to keep you occupied,
but many of them consist of repetitive template activities,
such as closing rifts and setting up camps. Accompanying
these tasks are MMO-style fetch and collecting quests,
and usually one or two fully scripted side missions per area.
The latter are always fascinating, multi-layered adventures,
but the former quickly become tiresome. Theres no
requirement to complete every task in each area, but the
amount of options available, combined with the way theyre
presented, means its sometimes difficult to determine
whats worth exploring.
The reason behind this broad scope and deluge of
activities is that the story is about the Inquisition as a whole,
rather than your character or party. The idea is to lend a
sense of the Inquisition spreading its influence over the
game world. This game world is represented by the War
Table, where you conduct most of your operations, sending
out advisors to retrieve items and deal with delicate
situations, deploying scouts to open up new locations to
explore, and embarking on story missions.
All these activities cost Power, which is accumulated by
completing side missions, although they dont always fall in
line with your status as leader of the Inquisition. It feels odd
to be setting up camps yourself when you allegedly have a
legion of scouts at your disposal. Plus, BioWare cant help
throwing in the odd search for a farmers lost sheep.
Generally, though, Inquisition reflects the scope and
gravity of its story well. Your headquarters gradually
transforms from a group of jumped-up boy scouts to a

mighty institution that transcends nationality, race and
class. One particularly pleasing feature is that, once
you become Inquisitor, you can sit in judgement of
antagonists from completed missions a great way to
tie up loose ends.
Most importantly, the story missions are all powerfully
written and have dramatic consequences. Around ten
hours into the game, the reason behind the strangely paced
beginning reveals itself in spectacular fashion, fully
demonstrating the stakes. From this point, your choices
increasingly define the games progress. For example, an
assassination attempt on the Empress of Orlais can play
out in at least three different ways. Politics plays a major
role in Inquisition, as you choose factions in the world with
which to ally, trying to figure out which will offer you the
best chance of closing the rifts for good.
Although Inquisitions story is broad, it never forgets the
importance of individuals. Youre accompanied on your
quest by a core party of do-gooders,
miscreants and lovable rogues. Some of
these characters, such as the dwarf rogue
Varric, make a welcome return from
previous Dragon Age games, but most
of the central cast is new. One of the
best new faces is Dorian, a cheery,
charismatic mage whose tongue is
almost as powerful a weapon as
his staff.
Cole is equally brilliant in a
completely different way. Hes
a sad, mysterious figure who
turns up at your doorstep on
an ill-fated night. Despite
being seemingly harmless and always wanting to help, his

nature means hes regarded with deep suspicion by several
of your party members. Not all the characters are so
brilliantly realised though. A particular disappointment is
Leliana, the chirpy Orlesian bard from Dragon Age: Origins.
Now acting as your spymaster, all of her personality seems
to have been sucked out, leaving a cold, hollow vessel who
spends most of her time brooding in your headquarters.
There are other issues too. Combat is visually impressive
but strategically limited. The tactical camera is supposed to
give you a birds eye view of the battlefield, but acts more
like a giraffes view. Orders are rudimentary, and the AI is
often more of a hindrance than a help, sending ranged units
into the thick of battle and ignoring player orders. Luckily, for
the most part, the combat is simple enough that you dont
need to approach it tactically. However, in boss fights,
combat becomes vital, not because theyre challenging,
but because these gargantuan opponents sport
disturbingly large health bars. The bosses nearly
always employ an ability that layers a protective
barrier over their regular health bar, which is
possibly the worst idea since reality TV.
The ineffective tactical combat,
alongside the slightly cut-and-paste way
BioWare fills Inquisitions world, means this
game just falls short of the best the studio has
to offer, such as the Mass Effect series, but
thats hardly a condemnation. Inquisition
remains a strong and frequently captivating
BioWare game, and its head and
shoulders above many other studios
output. Get yourself a comfy chair,
and let judgement commence.
RICK LANE
85
G A M E S / REVIEW
Elite: Dangerous/39.99
inc VAT
DEVELOPER Frontier Developments / PUBLISHER Frontier Developments / WEBSITE www.elitedangerous.com
lite Dangerous premise is as simple as it is

unbelievable. This sequel to the classic 1980s
space simulation gives you a small Sidewinder
spacecraft, 100 credits in your pocket and a galaxy to
explore and exploit as you like. Thats a 100-billion star
system rendered at a scale of one-to-one. Approximately
150,000 of the stars are real systems, while the rest are
procedurally generated and entirely unexplored.
Its a number thats almost impossible to comprehend.
When you upload the galaxy map to plot the course of your
first adventure, you zoom out, and out, and out, until those
thousands of tiny dots representing stars coalesce into one
gargantuan milky spiral. Its utterly astounding, and not a
little intimidating. Indeed, having played the beta on and off
for the past sixth months, its difficult to fathom how new
players starting on the release version will react. From your
first flight to your first docking sequence to your first frameshift jump, Elite takes time and patience to learn, and theres
a good chance some people will give up.
We doubt the number of detractors will be high though.
While Elite is as vast, complex and unforgiving as space, it
also feels fantastic to play. Your entire gaming experience
happens inside your ships cockpit. Theres no third-person
view, no cutscenes, and as yet, no ability to step outside of
your interstellar mobile home. However, the way Elites
ships are designed means none of the above is needed.
Every aspect of your ship is tailored towards maximum
immersion, from the way it judders like a turbulent plane
as you accelerate through space, to the way menus are
presented as in-flight computers. Best of all, though, is the
simple fact that you can look freely around your cockpit,
peering through the ships canopy as stars and planets
zoom past, like a sightseer on a galactic tour bus. Elites
sense of scale might be what makes it interesting, but its
86
the ships that make it a constant thrill to play, which is

particularly highlighted by the combat.
Generally, Elite is far more like Star Trek than Star Wars,
but battles are the one area where the situation is reversed.
Successful dogfighting involves learning how to latch onto
the tail of your enemy, and how to manage power
distribution between engines, shields and weapons.
Its the area where skill plays the most vital role. Its also
enormous fun to partake in combat, or simply to watch
from a distance as the stars are momentarily connected by
laser-fire, while ship-shields flash blue against the black
background, and metal hulls explode into fragments with a
satisfying whump sound. If youre on the receiving end of
laser fire, your cockpit will spit fire and sparks, and theres a
chance your canopy will shatter, leaving you exposed to the
void with only a few minutes of emergency oxygen to get
you to a space station.
Conflict-averse players need not fret. Like the original
Elite, Dangerous has plentiful ways to enjoy the galaxy.
Theres a vast simulated economy, complete with varying
prices and specific trade routes, for players looking to make
a profit. If you prefer a more directed experience, the

bulletin board at every station randomly generates
missions ranging from simple delivery runs to smuggling
operations and multi-staged pirate hunts. If you gain a
sufficient reputation in a specific area of space, whether its
with the Federation, Empire or Alliance, youll be offered
special missions as an opportunity to climb their ranks and
gain greater influence over the galaxys future.
Yet Elites most interesting feature is how it encourages
exploration. Much of the galaxy is unmapped, and all ships
come with a basic discovery scanner for charting systems.
This data can then be sold at space stations for credits. In
function, this system is fairly straightforward; you scan a
system for astronomical bodies, and then move closer so
your ships computers can gather more specific data. But
its the exploration where that sense of reveals itself.
Theres something innately thrilling about discovering a
new planet, flying in for a closer look, watching with glee as
this tiny speck of light in space grows into a coloured disc,
and then a vast sphere that encompasses your entire
canopy window. Often these planets are cold, barren rocks,
but there are moments when you stumble upon a beautiful
ringed gas giant, or a molten ball of fire and lava, or best of
all, an idyllic Earth-like world, which Universal Cartographics
pays top dollar for discovering.
Whichever role you choose, there are plenty of surprises.
The galaxy is littered with Unidentified Signal Sources;
investigating any of these will trigger a random event. It
could be a wedding barge cruising through the system or
pirates waiting in ambush. In addition, wherever you go,
there lurks the threat of Interdiction, where a bandit, either
player or AI, might attempt to yank you out of Frameshift,
and steal your cargo or simply destroy you.
Interdiction is a controversial topic amid Elite players, and
Frontier is still perfecting the balance of its occurrence. It
isnt the only area where Dangerous demonstrates flaws.
Any object you salvage from space, even if its from the
wreckage of an ancient ship, is considered stolen goods,
meaning youll receive a fine if authorities catch you with it.
Furthermore, if youre playing as a bounty hunter, youll only
receive a bounty if you land the final shot that destroys a

pirate ship. If its another player, or the AI security services,
you get nothing, even if you did most of the work.
There are also times when Elite can feel like a grind,
especially if you focus on a single activity such as hauling
space cargo. It has a narrative and story, but theyre in the
background, and it may be some time before you start to
see the bigger events occurring in the galaxy. In this way,
Dangerous harks back to the original Elite; its about what
you want to do rather than what the game wants you to do.
But Dangerous is overly traditional in this respect a more
prominent narrative, even a brief one, could help to
show new players how the game works.
A cynic might look at Elite Dangerous and say its just
a graphical update on a 30-year-old concept, but thats
like saying Star Wars is just a Flash Gordon comic with
pictures that move. Elite Dangerous isnt about what
space looks like, its about what it feels like. The idea
is as good now as it was three decades ago, but
Dangerous enhances it superbly. Whats most
enjoyable about it, though, is how it brings that most
fundamental of human drives to the fore, the desire to
see whats out there. At that point, Elite Dangerous
ceases to feel like a game, elevating into a celebration
of the pioneering spirit. In that respect, its truly stellar.
RICK LANE
OVERALL SCORE
94%
/ VERDICT
Beautiful,
uncompromising
and enrapturing,
Elite Dangerous is
the space simulator
the PC deserves.
87
G A M E S / REVIEW
The Crew/34.99
inc VAT
DEVELOPER Ivory Tower/ Ubisoft Reflections / PUBLISHER Ubisoft / WEBSITE http://thecrew-game.ubi.com
he Crew is Ubisofts third open-world game

published this winter, after Assassins Creed
Unity and Far Cry 4. Its the largest of them too,
providing 10,000km of open road across a cleverly
compressed representation of the entire USA. Its an
incredible backdrop for a multiplayer racer, but sadly, The
Crew isnt particularly good at either multiplayer or racing.
Its a strange mishmash of ideas from the beginning,
when it puts an inordinate emphasis on its
story. This story involves you infiltrating a street
racing gang that was once run by your brother,
until he was murdered by a rival gangster
subtly named Shiv. Framed for this crime,
OVERALL SCORE
youre now in cahoots with the FBI to take
down the gang and exact revenge.
This testosterone-fuelled tale is
entertaining h at the start, but slows to
a crawl soon afterwards, pushing your
goal further away as it stretches itself
/ VERDICT
As a piece of virtual
across such a bulky game. It also functions a little like a
landscaping, The
mask, designed to disguise the strict levelling cap that
Crew is an
funnels you down a very specific path, making the
astonishing
whole open-world concept redundant. There are some
achievement. As a
multiplayer racing
side activities, such as speed and handling challenges,
game, though, its
but its hardly Far Cry 4 in terms of variety.
a disappointing
At least the story missions are fairly entertaining, and
failure.
many of the stages are wonderfully designed. One
53%
88
mission sees you testing a supercar on a racetrack, before

stealing it and evading some viciously aggressive police.
Also, the various race types, such as street or dirt, offer
unique setups for the cars, which each handles differently.
Unfortunately, the cars are all extremely simplistic to
control; combined with rubber-banding AI, this means races
arent particularly engaging in a competitive sense.
The AI shouldnt matter, because the Crew is supposedly
a multiplayer-focused game. However, its
really more of a single-player game with other
folk existing in your world. You can invite other
players into your story races, but they dont
factor into the race rankings, and you still have
to win the races against the AI. Theres a PvP
option too, but its entirely separately from the
rest of the game world. It all makes you wonder
why Ivory Tower bothered building such a
fantastic environment in the first place.
There are other annoying issues too. For
example, buying new cars involves either grinding like a
skateboarder in a mill, or purchasing in-game credits (after
youve spent 40 on the game). Fundamentally, though, its
a shame the developer didnt capitalise on the amazing
work done by its artists and designers. The Crew deserves
to be an explorers delight and a drivers paradise. Instead
its a confused, restrictive and monotonous mess.
RICK LANE
G A M E S / ANALYSIS
R I C K L A N E / THE ENGINE ROOM
Vostok
Creating the postStalker apocalypse

In the second part of our interview with Dmitri Iassenev,
Rick Lane discusses Survariums Vostok engine
fter lengthy speculation
regarding the troubled
development of Stalker 2,
GSC Game World was dissolved on
9 December, 2011. A mere three
months later, Vostok games arose
from GSCs ashes, comprising many
former GSC developers, including
Stalkers venerable AI programmer
Dmitriy Iassenev. Initially, Vostoks
aim was more or less to continue the
work done by GSC.
From the beginning, we were
planning to buy a licence to make
Stalker 2, but we couldnt do it due to
different reasons, Iassenev explains.
So we thought about what we could
do without Stalker being involved.
Thats how we came up with the idea
of the Green Apocalypse.
The Green Apocalypse is the
central idea behind Survarium,
Vostoks debut game. After a
sequence of human-driven
cataclysms thats warped the Earths
flora and fauna, a new form of nature
evolves to be aggressively prolific,
toppling what little remains of
civilisation. The surviving pockets of
humanity must now contend with
one another in a game world thats
extremely hostile towards them.
Survarium is a different game,
Iassenev states flatly. First of all, its
a purely multiplayer experience.
Secondly, its online only now, and
finally, the game universe has
stepped outside of Chernobyl and
become a worldwide catastrophe.
90
Environments are
visually impressive,
but more work
must be done
before Vostok can
render the large
maps needed for
an MMOFPS
Some recognisable gameplay

elements, such as anomalies,
artefacts, factions and so on, have
all been preserved too, but they
function differently this time.
Survarium is an interesting project
for several reasons. Its ultimately
intended to be an MMOFPS in a
similar vein to Planetside, but its
currently an arena-based
multiplayer shooter. Also, like

Stalker, it runs on in-house tech,
the Vostok Engine, with Iassenev as
lead programmer. For him, it was a
chance to redress many of the issues
he encountered while coding with
X-Ray. In the Vostok Engine, we took
many things into account that
prevented us from working
smoothly, or that we wanted to
remake in X-Ray. The engine was
revised from scratch: from renderer
to editor.
Iassenev also notes that the team
took inspiration from other
mainstream engine developers such
as Crytek and Epic. He follows this
statement with an extremely
detailed rundown of the engines
features. Much of it is what youd
expect from a modern engine
Like Stalker, Survarium

features weird, usually deadly,
environmental anomalies
support for multithreading, postprocessing effects such as bloom,

motion blur and eye adaptation
(simulation of the effect of moving
from a dark indoor setting to a bright
outdoor setting).
All calculations, meanwhile, are
performed in High Dynamic Range,
so luminosity effects on surfaces will
be very accurate.
Interestingly, Vostok also uses no
scripting language. Iassenev
explains that LUA, the standard
scripting language for most games,
is used only for human-readable
formats of configuration files, which
are then converted into binary.
Thats a big change from Stalker,
much of which was written with
LUA, particularly the AI.
Another interesting detail, this
time regarding the renderer, is that
the developers have implemented
physically based BRDF rendering
from the beginning. The
Biodirectional Reflectance
Distribution Function is an equation
that defines how light reflects off
an opaque surface. Again, this
technique is directed towards the
creation of realistic lighting effects.
Character models and animations
have also been improved since the
days of X-Ray, although Iassenev
feels theres still a way to go with
both. He remarks that characters
lack tessellation due to the current
limitations of the engine and,
concerning animations, were still
not satisfied with how they look in
the game, but at the moment were
working on them and it seems that
weve found all the faults.
All these improvements were

made as consequences of the teams
experience of working with X-Ray.
Yet the biggest change between
Stalker and Survarium is the latters
dedication to multiplayer, a focus
that is almost entirely new to the
developers. According to Iassenev,
multiplayer is also where the
engines most unique feature lies.
The method of network
synchronisation we invented is
based on the fact that the client
and the server do the same
calculation in exactly the same way
by having the same information, the
results of any calculations should be
the same, bit to bit.
Iassenev is keen to point out
that, although this concept was
constructed from scratch by Vostok,
he doesnt know whether Vostok is
the first developer to do it. In
addition, in order to make its netcode
work, Vostok had to be built as an
entirely deterministic engine, which
is quite rare, especially for a
multiplayer FPS. Most FPS engines
are random in this respect, because
the unpredictability of bullet
trajectories or shotgun-shell spreads
is believed to make the game more
For Stalker 2,
the developers
used SpeedTree
middleware for
vegetation. In
Survarium, the
technology is
entirely their own
entertaining. Its is also a lot easier to

code for a random engine, as all the
game calculations are performed
server-side. In a deterministic
engine, the results of these
calculations are the same every time,
requiring an even workload between
server and client, as both sides need
to reach the same result.
The technological requirements
for a multiplayer shooter are in place,
but Survarium was always meant to
be much bigger than a multiplayer
shooter, essentially being a
massively multiplayer version of
Stalker. Thats still the ultimate goal,
and the groundwork has been laid, at
least in terms of networking. The
traffic in the game is small, while
maintaining a certain density of
game objects the network part can
support worlds of unlimited size,
Iassenev states.
As for the engines rendering
capabilities, Iassenev admits more
work needs to be done. To support
more locations, we have to work
on our editor and pipeline for
development of large levels. In
addition, Vostok is working on
unifying its effects system to
incorporate particles, skeletal
animations and sounds as a cohesive,
deterministic whole, and expanding
its environment tools so it can build
levels, while adjusting parameters
such as weather and game modes at
the same time.
Yet the question of Survariums
eventual MMOFPS status remains.
Iassenev mentions a freeplay mode,
currently in development, which
sounds much more like Vostoks
original promise. A player is given
only one life and a vast location,
explains Iassenev. The player has a
mission to fulfil. He can meet other
players and decide whether to
cooperate or fight. He can also meet
artificial characters (NPCs) and, of
course, many deadly anomalies who
do not forgive mistakes.
Either way, it looks as though it
will be a while before Survarium
reaches its full potential. That said,
its clear Iassenev is aware of the
mistakes made on the original
Stalker game, and hes keen not to
repeat them. Hopefully, we wont be
waiting seven years for Survarium to
be released into the wild.
91
OPINION
J I M K I L LO C K / DIGITAL RIGHTS
Whats free in 2015?

On 1 January, some new previously copyright works entered the public domain.
Jim Killock takes a look at copyright law, and how it could be reformed
f you read a lot, or listen to
older styles of music, then
each new year should bring
a bounty of books and recordings
that you can access for free, or at least
a lot less money than previously.
Thats because copyright law means
that copyright for a certain period of
time expires on 1 January: for books
and artists, this law applies to
authors who died in 1944, or 70
years after their death.
In practice, that should mean the
cost of books plummets. A quick
browse for The Thirty-Nine Steps and
other books by John Buchan on
Amazon, for example, will find most
of them to download for free. Buchan
died in 1940. The same wont apply to
books that have only just entered the
public domain, but you can get hold
of many of them via http://archive.
org although that site confusingly
applies US law to what it makes
available, so many of its eBooks
effectively infringe copyright if
theyre downloaded in Europe.
For artists who create new works,
the main benefit of books entering
the public domain is that you can
adapt and reuse the material
without legal restriction, which is
undoubtedly part of the reason
why classical adaptations on TV
concentrate on authors from the 19th
and very early 20th century, so
theyre unencumbered by
92
restrictions imposed by estates.

Finances may sometimes be an issue
too. In the digital age, though, its
possible to imagine people reusing,
adapting or extending some of these
works in a similar way to fan art
based on contemporary fiction.
Works from many interesting
visual artists are entering the public
domain, including Edvard Munch,
Wassily Kandinsky and Piet
Mondrian. Confusingly, this situation
makes it legal to take photos of their
paintings, but not legal to simply
Theres a case that popular

culture should be more
accessible and reusable earlier
reproduce photographs of their
original works (except in the USA!).
If the galleries owning the
paintings and photos allow you to
take photos, it will be much easier
to reuse these works.
The Munch gallery in Oslo lets
people take photos, with the
exception of the Scream, which its
a bit sensitive about after it was
stolen in 2004. It will be very easy to
reproduce Munchs other images just
by going along with a camera. As
many of these artists are perhaps
better appreciated now than in their
lifetimes, there could be more use

and visibility of their works.
For sound recordings, the situation
is rather complicated, though. A
recording has at least two copyrights,
one in the sound recording and one
in the musical composition. The
composition copyright expires 70
years after the composers death, but
cant be used to restrict the
availability of the sound recording
(you just have to pay the fees).
The sound recording, however,
expires after a simple 70 years. As this
period has been recently extended,
nothing new will enter the public
domain until at least 2025. All the
1960s music that was about to
become easy to redistribute will wait
until at least then, so The Beatles and
The Rolling Stones records will
continue to make money for the
music industry.
Among composers, Glenn Millers
music is now free to use as you like.
While thats interesting for people
who want to copy his sheet music for
big band performances, or maybe
remixers, it also shows the potential
injustice of copyright law. Glenn
Millers music was important for an
entire generation, and resonant for
people who felt the impact of the
Second World War on their lives in
various ways. However, the freedom
to use the material has had to wait
until 2015, when that generation has
mostly died out, and the music has

much less resonance. Theres a case
that popular culture should be more
accessible and reusable, at an earlier
date, as part of our cultural dialogue.
In the digital age, the idea that
material should be approaching a
century old before its usable seems
both unfair and counterproductive.
Theres interest and creativity to
be found in reusing older material,
which isnt completely banned by
copyright law, but its restricted to
what the copyright holders will
permit, and how much they demand
in compensation. Payment is the
main justification for copyright law;
the idea is that cash returns to artists
as a reward, which helps to fuel
investment in creation of works. Of
course, after a certain point, plenty of
money has been made, and some of
the works are too old and obscure to
justify anyone paying much money
for them.
Perhaps the real standoff is
between a law that suits holders of
rights for a handful of works that
continue to make money, and the
others, which will only ever make
small amounts or none, and therefore
tend to be neglected by publishers.
Many 1950s rock n roll recordings
have been rereleased, only after the
copyright had expired, simply

because the niche publishers
couldnt get the interest of the big
labels, even though a small but
dedicated audience still existed.
It wont be the same situation with
the huge back catalogue of 1960s
Merseybeat and rock artists from the
UK, as copyright will prevent anyone
except the major labels with the
rights from republishing the records.
A simple solution might be to
require copyright to be reregistered
after a certain period, perhaps for a
small fee. The vast majority of works
might not be reregistered, so
copyright would expire. This period
would be quite long, because of
international law, including the
Berne Convention, which stands
behind a lot of copyright law. Making
copyright periods shorter seems
unlikely, because the companies that
benefit from the rights are resistant;
they have a lot to lose. Artists
themselves, we should remember,
tend not to be the beneficiaries,
especially not for the 70 years that
follow their death. Whether their
spouses, children and grandchildren
should really benefit also seems
dubious, especially considering the
restrictions this situation imposes on
the rest of society.
Unfortunately, those with

financial interests have dominated
the law making with lobbying
efforts. That said, their efforts to push
for unbalanced, extreme copyright
enforcement, that threaten to throw
users off their Internet connections,
have rather shifted the way some
politicians see their arguments.
The EU Commission says it wants
to reform copyright, so more money
can be made from the Internet
economy. Making it easier to launch
digital content businesses will be a
major target; it took four years for
Spotify to negotiate licences for the
whole of the EU, where just one
round of negotiations got the service
launched in the USA. Part of this
process will need to include making
rules on format shifting (such as
ripping a CD to MP3) and other
copyright exceptions consistent, but
that will be tricky, because many
countries copyright laws see a link
between copyright levies on physical
formats and these exceptions.
Making copyright and digital
market reform a major goal of the
new EU Commission presidency
could be said to be brave, overdue or a
prelude to a mighty, unpredictable
and unproductive fight. The next few
years will be interesting.
Jim Killock is executive director of campaign organisation The Open Rights Group (www.openrightsgroup.org)
@jimkillock
93
F E AT U R E / CUSTOMISATION
You can now use all-in-one liquid coolers to cool both your CPU and
GPU, giving you amazing cooling results for half the price of a custom
water-cooling kit. Antony Leather shows you how to build a liquidcooled gaming PC for less than 1,000
few years ago, if someone asked you to build a 1,000

gaming rig, youd probably pick a mid-range graphics card
with an air cooler, a decent CPU and a large heatsink and
fan to cool the CPU water cooling would be simply too
expensive. The end result would be fine, but youd still be stuck with
the racket from your graphics cards air cooler, and the high operating
temperatures would require plenty of airflow in your case, while also
limiting your overclocking headroom.
Comparatively, water cooling can shave 50 per cent or more off the
94
load temperatures of most modern graphics cards, but it adds a high

premium. For example, a CPU and GPU water-cooling kit will set you
back around 300 once youve included fittings, a pump, a large
radiator, waterblocks and all the other parts.
Last month, though, we looked at Corsairs HG10 a bracket that
allows you to fit an all-in-one liquid cooler to a graphics card. As such,
you now just need two all-in-one liquid coolers, plus the HG10, to
liquid-cool both your CPU and graphics card. Throw in some decent
gear and you can build a fully liquid-cooled PC for under 1,000.
here are a few factors to consider when building a liquid-cooled

PC, mainly due to the fact that youre using not one, but two all-inone liquid coolers. Youll likely be limited by how many nearby fan
mounts your case offers, and where theyre located.
For example, our NZXT S340 does have roof and rear 120mm fan
mounts, but as the case is comparatively small, you wont be able to
mount one in the roof due to the close proximity of the cooler to the
motherboard.
This situation leaves the front of the case as the only option for the
second H75. Thankfully, the S340s comparatively small size means
the fan mounts in the front arent too far away from either the CPU or
GPU, so you can theoretically take your pick when it comes to
mounting them.
However, youll need to figure out the direction of airflow from your
two coolers. While you may see better CPU and GPU temperatures if
you mount them both as intakes, drawing air into the case, you ideally
also want to expel hot air straight out of your case, rather than
dumping the hot air back into it, putting pressure on the rest of your
cases cooling. If youre mounting two all-in-one liquid coolers, we
recommend fitting the front one as an intake to draw air into the case,
and the rear one as an exhaust, pushing the hot air out of the back.
Weve opted to mount the Corsair Hydro H75 thats cooling our CPU
in the front of the case as an intake, as its counterbalanced by the
stock roof exhaust fan in the case. Were then using the H75 thats
cooling the R9 290 as an exhaust, since it will be dishing out
considerably more heat, which needs to be dispatched quickly out
the rear of the case.
INSTALL CPU, RAM AND H75 MOUNTS

Before you mount the hardware in the case, install the CPU and
memory on the motherboard, and then fit the CPU coolers mounting pins
for the LGA115X CPU were using. The H75 also includes fittings for LGA2011
and AMD Socket AM3+ motherboards.
MOUNT H75 AND TEST-FIT

The H75 uses thumbscrews to secure the pump to the CPU.
However, youll need to test-fit the cooler in the case first to identify the best
orientation for the pump tubes. These tubes stick out from one side of the
cooler, so mount them at a three oclock position (on the waterblock) if you
intend to mount the radiator in the rear or front of the case.
96
REMOVE GRAPHICS CARD SCREWS

Use a small screwdriver to remove the screws on the rear of
the graphics card, enabling you to dismantle the cooler and remove the
heatsink and fan assembly. There may also be screws at the rear of the
graphics card too. If the cooler wont come off after removing all the screws,
try using a hairdryer on it for a few minutes to loosen the thermal paste.
REMOVE RADIAL FAN

The Corsair HG10 uses the reference coolers radial fan to cool
the graphics cards memory and VRMs, so youll need to remove this fan
from the stock cooler. Its held on by three small screws, and dont forget to
detach the power cable too.
CONNECT RADIAL FAN TO HG10

The radial fan can be tricky to install, as it only fits one way where
the power cord has enough reach to connect to the PCB. Mount it using the
same three screws from your reference cooler and then connect the fan
to the PCB power connector. The HG10 also has protective film over the
memory and VRM thermal pads, which you now need to remove.
APPLY THERMAL PASTE

If youre using an H75 youve used before, youll need to apply more
thermal paste to the GPU core, but you can ignore this step if your H75 is
new. Alternatively, you may want to use your own high-performance paste
anyway. You just need to apply a small rice grain-sized amount of thermal
paste to the GPU core.
CLEAN OLD THERMAL PASTE

With your graphics cards PCB exposed, clean off all the old
thermal paste using a TIM cleaner or isopropyl alcohol. The H75 has thermal
paste pre-applied, so you dont need any for the GPU core, and the HG10
cooling plate also has thermal pads to deal with the memory chips and
VRM circuitry.
CONNECT PCB TO HG10

The HG10 includes screws to mount it to the PCB. Check the HG10
fits first it should be level all the way around, and youll also need to keep
an eye on the radial fans power cable, which has a habit of getting in the
way. Once youve mounted the radial fan, check that its able to spin freely.
INSTALL H75 TO CPU AND CASE

We opted to mount the H75 thats cooling the CPU in the front of the
case. Remove the S340s front fascia and mount the H75 in the lower fan
mount. You can alternatively use the upper fan mount or even use a cooler
with a double 120mm-fan radiator here, but youll need to remove the
internal white cable-routing cover first.
97
MOUNT H75 TO HG10

Hold the H75 in the rear fan mount to confirm that the pump section
is orientated correctly. We found that mounting it as shown, with the tubes
on the side of the radial fan, allowed for the best mount in the rear of the
case. The HG10 uses different-sized standoffs depending on the type of
Corsair cooler youre using, as there are a couple of different mounting
mechanisms. Make sure you use the correct ones, then mount the pump to
the HG10. It should make firm contact with the GPU.
MOUNT THE SECOND H75 IN THE CASE

Once youve installed the graphics card and the HG10 cooler,
you need to mount the radiator as an exhaust in the rear of the case, with
the fans pushing air towards the back of the case. With the NZXT S340
case were using, we managed to install both Corsair H75s with their full
complement of two fans each.
INSTALL SSD AND PSU

You can now install the remaining components. The SSD secures
to a 2.5in tray before sliding into place beneath the graphics card, while the
PSU requires the removal of a rear mounting plate before it slides into place.
As there are no extra fans, and the power supply section is covered, you
dont need to worry too much about cable tidying.
ROUTE CABLES AND CONNECT POWER

The S340 has several anchor points for cable ties on the rear of the
motherboard tray, so use these points to hold the cables in place and tidy
the interior. The H75 has splitter cables for its fans, so connect these cables
to the motherboards fan headers. The H75s pumps also need power, but
we recommend using Molex to 3-pin adaptors for the pumps, to make sure
theyre provided with a constant 12V power supply.
POWER UP THE PC
Your last job is simply to connect the remaining cables, and then power
up the PC, making sure all the fans are spinning. The all-in-one liquid coolers may
be a little noisy at first, but the noise will soon settle down. You now need to check
your processor and graphics cards
temperatures and tune the stock
radial fans speed. As the graphics
cards H75 cooler is doing all the
cooling, theres no gain from running
the radial fan at a high speed.
You can use AMDs Catalyst
Control Center for this job, or an
overclocking program such as
MSIs Afterburner (which is free
to download from http://tinyurl.
com/afterburner-hg10). Check the
GPU temperature (it should now be
much lower under load than with
the standard air cooler installed)
and force the radial fan it to run at its
slowest speed.
98
F E AT U R E / ANALYSIS
GAMES 2015
Its a new year, and you know what that means! Resolutions, a new diet
and Rick Lanes most anticipated games of 2015
Grand Theft Auto V
Evolve
DEVELOPER Rockstar
DEVELOPER Turtle Rock
Rockstars latest crime epic has been on consoles for over

a year, but this year it will finally drag itself onto the PC. Will
it be worth the wait? Having played it on a console, your
friendly neighbourhood games editor thought it was a grand, if rather
conservative, open-world game. Switching between the various
characters as they went about their business in the detailed state of
San Andreas was interesting, as was the option to complete the
games central Heist missions in different ways. But for all the
fantastic sights to see and activities to undertake, it didnt really gel
together as well as some more recent open-world games.
That said, there are a few new features being added that may
alleviate that issue. The PC version will be playable from a firstperson perspective; when combined with good old keyboard and
mouse controls, this should make gunfights much more enjoyable
on consoles. The other point of interest is the multiplayer
component, GTA Online, which lets players explore the city of Los
Santos together. The PC has always been the optimum large-scale
multiplayer platform, and GTA Online should flourish in this
environment. All being well, well have a full review soon.
Turtle Rocks Left4Dead might be the finest cooperative

game ever, but it came out nearly seven years ago, and
Turtle Rock hasnt released a game since. This year, the
situation changes, or you could say it evolves (sorry). Like
Left4Dead, Evolve is cooperative but, instead of fighting hordes of
AI zombies together, you team up to hunt a single, enormous alien
creature thats controlled by a fifth player. Meanwhile, the alien can
hunt other creatures, and from their sustenance, evolve into a more
powerful, deadly opponent.
Evolve is intended to be more tense and tactical than Left4Deads
frantic action. Each hunter character has a very specific role, so
they need to work together to stand a chance of
overcoming their prey. In addition, there are
several different types of creatures that the
opposing player can select, while both hunter
and hunted will have to contend with AI flora
and fauna. It looks like an intriguing prospect,
although it will require more skill and investment
than Left4Dead.
RELEASE
JANUARY
100
RELEASE
FEBRUARY
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

DEVELOPER CD Projekt
The Witcher 3 also featured in our Games of 2014 list,

before being pushed back to February 2015. Then, last
month, it was pushed back again to May 2015. But its
absolutely definitely coming out this year. Probably. The good news,
at least, is that we have a much better idea of what the game will be
like. We knew CD Projekt was expanding the previous games deep
story and complicated moral decisions into a sprawling open world,
but now we also know what well be doing in that huge environment.
For the first time well see Geralt of Rivia actively hunting monsters
in the wild, using his enhanced senses to track a broad menagerie of
creatures across the games beautiful open terrain. These monsters
are driven by dynamic AI and have life cycles of their own. Some will
only come out at night, while others work together in packs.
Of course, Geralts ostensibly simple life of killing monsters also
brings him into contact with the far more complex beast of humanity.
Interestingly, CD Projekt intends to step away from the usual RPG
convention of rewarding quest completions with XP and loot, as it
doesnt want to influence decision making. Instead, it plans for the
consequences of your choices to be rewards. Your choices may
change the life of a family, the fate of a village or the future of the
entire realm. Its hugely ambitious and risky, but if CD Projekt can
pull it off, the Witcher 3 could well be the game to beat this year.
RELEASE
MAY
Metal Gear Solid V:

The Phantom Pain
DEVELOPER Kojima Productions
Metal Gear Solid hasnt been seen on the PC since the port
of Metal Gear Solid 2 12 years ago. This year, however, the
PC will see its first version of a Metal Gear game released
concurrently with all other platforms. The Phantom Pain sees
players assuming the role of Solid Snakes biological father Big Boss
(also known as Snake), commanding his special ops team in the
mid-1980s. The game mechanics and approach to
tactical espionage action have been completely
reworked. The story will play out in a series of
large open environments, traversable by
horseback, and will involve infiltrating
enemy bases using stealth and tactics
reminiscent of games such as Thief and
Splinter Cell.
The game isnt focused entirely on
solo operations either. Phantom Pain
sports a base-building feature that will
expand your spying capabilities,
including the ability to call in helicopter
support on missions, and even deploy
commando troops to scout out locations.
RELEASE
SUMMER
Rainbow Six: Siege

DEVELOPER Ubisoft
Its been ten years since the last

great tactical FPS, SWAT 4, was
released, but this year Ubisoft
hopes to revitalise the tactical shooter with
Rainbow Six: Siege. Its a multiplayer game
that sees one side assuming the role of
terrorists, and the other the role of Rainbow Six operative. The premise
initially sounds much like Counter-Strike; however, whereas Valves
seemingly immortal shooter emphasises speed and accuracy, Siege
is much more about gadgets and planning.
Players will need to work together, covering each other from a
distance with sniper rifles, protecting a player as they try to move or
liberate hostages, and forming strategies for breaching rooms. The
levels are fully destructible, meaning youll be able to shoot through
RELEASE
Q4
walls and blow up floors and ceilings. Of course, the enemy can do
the same to you, so youll need to gauge the opportune moment to
ambush your enemy. In addition, Ubisoft recently stated that Siege
will be entirely input driven, meaning you wont ever be locked in
a snazzy animation when you need to respond to an event in the
environment. In a way, its sad that this feature is a big deal, but its
hugely important in a game thats all about quick thinking and
forming strategies on the fly.
101
C U STO M I SAT I O N / HOBBY TECH
G A R E T H H A L FAC R E E S
Hobby tech
The latest tips, tricks and news in the world of computer hobbyism,
from Raspberry Pi, Arduino and Android to retro computing
T U TO R I A L
Amiga Gotek Floppy Emulator

H
eres a neat hack for the vintage

computing enthusiasts among you,
although Ill admit its a little niche.
I was prompted by my friend Harry Hakk
Morris into writing the following tutorial, after
he brought the original project by Herv
Messinger to my attention. What Messinger
has cleverly achieved is worthy of applause
and a wider audience: hes figured out a way
to use the cheap and readily available Gotek
floppy drive emulator to read and write
strange Amiga-format disk images on real
Amiga hardware, invisible to the host
operating system. The result is that my Amiga
A500-Plus now plays host to nearly 40GB of
disk images on a 64GB micro-SD.
What you need

Commodore Amiga
Buy one with a broken floppy drive; it
will be cheap, www.ebay.co.uk
Gotek Floppy Emulator
$22, www.aliexpress.com
Soldering iron and solder
10 inc VAT, http://oomlout.co.uk
2.54mm male header pins
1.50 inc VAT, http://oomlout.co.uk
USB-TTL serial adaptor
10.50 inc VAT, http://oomlout.co.uk
102
Its an odd-looking
beast, but the Gotek
floppy drive emulator is a
great tool for vintage computing
enthusiasts
Female-to-female jumper wires

4 inc VAT, http://oomlout.co.uk
1 Prepare the drive

The Amigas floppy drive was special, even
in an era where cross-manufacturer
compatibility was little more than a distant
dream. While the Gotek emulator can pretend
to be an IBM-standard 1.44MB or 720KB
floppy, it cant interface with an Amiga unless
you install some custom firmware.
Take the casing off the drive, and disconnect
the main circuitboard. Insert your header pins
from the top of the

board down through
the programming
header holes near the
data and power
connectors, then secure
them before flipping the
board and soldering them in
place from beneath.
Once soldered, you can
reassemble the drive. You can get
away with just shoving wires into the holes
and securing them with Blu-tack if you like,
but trust me when I say that soldering them is
easier and safer.
When buying your Gotek, have a look at the
pictures to make sure the holes are present:
some Gotek-clone devices use a different
chip and typically leave off the programming
header holes, making them unsuitable for
this project.
2 Flash the drive

The secret sauce in this project is Messingers
painstakingly created custom firmware.
Head to https://cortexamigafloppydrive.
wordpress.com to download the emulator
firmware and supporting menu system (youll
need to rename the file extension from DOCX
The STMicroelectronics programming tool works

well under Windows, but Linux and OS X users will
need an alternative
Youll need to solder headers onto the PCB, or you can

risk a bad flash by shoving bare wires down the holes
to ZIP then extract it) and the

STMicroelectronics flashing software, which is
for Windows only. Linux and OS X users can
find third-party alternatives though look for
any flashing software that supports hex
upload to STM32 microcontrollers.
Install the flashing software plus (if
required) the drivers for your USB-TTL serial
adaptor. Connect the USB adaptor to the
programming headers on the Gotek so that
the USB adaptors RX pin is connected to the
middle pin on the top row, and the TX pin to the
pin on the immediate right of that middle pin.
Connect the USB adaptors ground pin to the
second pin on the Goteks floppy power
connector, and the 5V pin to the rightmost pin
on the same connector. Finally, connect a
jumper wire between the leftmost pin on the
top row and the pin to the right, which will put
the drive into programming mode.
Plug the USB adaptor into your PC, load the
flashing software and set it to a speed of
115,200bps, even parity, echo disabled. Click
Next, followed by Remove Protection, which
will erase the microcontroller, so be sure you
want to proceed. Click OK on the dialogue box,
then Next twice. Select Download to Device,
browse to the Firmware folder from your
extracted ZIP file and find the hex file. Check
Verify After Download and click Next. A
minute or so later, youll be finished and able
to disconnect the USB adaptor.
3 Install the drive

If you have an external floppy drive for your
Amiga, you can install the Gotek inside it;
otherwise, remove the Amigas internal floppy
drive and install the Gotek in its place. You can
use the existing data and power cables, but be
Connect your USB-TTL serial adaptor to the new

programming header, set a jumper and away you go
aware that the data cable is flipped 180

degrees compared to the original drive. Your
next job is to remove the programming mode
jumper from the Gotek and shift the preinstalled jumper to position S0 (the
penultimate vertical pair of pins).
Depending on the model, you may need to
make some modifications; my Amiga A500Plus required the bottom half of the floppy
cut-out on the top shell to be removed with
a hacksaw to provide access to the Goteks
USB port and buttons. Dont worry I used
orphaned plastics my original casing is still
intact and packed safely away.
4 Load your games

The Gotek supports any USB mass storage
device formatted with FAT or a variant, from
USB flash drives to external hard drives.
Choose a storage device, format it and copy
the SELECTOR.ADF file from the ZIP files
Bootdisk folder to the drives root directory.
Fill the rest of the drive with whatever ADFformat disk images you want to use, including
images of physical disks using a KryoFlux (see
Issue 131, p102).
Insert the storage device into the Goteks

USB port, and power up the Amiga. If all has
gone well, youll be presented with
Messingers menu system; using this
interface, you can scroll through the list of files
available to the emulator. Choose an image
with Enter, and select a location for it to be
stored. There are 999 locations available, and
you can swap disks outside the menu system
using the buttons and LED panel on the drive
itself perfect for multi-disk games.
When youve chosen your last image and
given it a location, choose Save and Restart.
The Amiga will restart and load your first disk
image; to choose a different image, use the
buttons. To return to the menu, choose disk
number 000.
For Amigas with IDE hard drive support
such as the A600 and A1200, this hack is
admittedly a poor second to using a device
such as a Compact Flash adaptor.
For the A500, A500-Plus and others,
however, its a life-saver, and a cheap way of
getting more life out of an Amiga with a broken
floppy drive, given the increasing rarity of
compatible replacements.
Installing the Gotek as an internal drive can require

modification of the Amiga chassis, or you could use
an external caddy
103
REVIEW
CubieBoard 4
I
m not going to lie, I was excited

when I heard from Jason King at
low-power computing specialist
www.newit.co.uk that he was going to send
me the latest device from CubieTech. I had
good reason: its the first single-board
computer Ive had a chance to use that has a
whopping eight ARM Cortex processing cores
on-board.
Readers who keep up with advances in
mobile technology will be familiar with ARMs
big.LITTLE architecture: the combination of
four high-performance cores with four lowpower cores on a single die, which provides
on-demand performance alongside the
ability to keep the battery drain to a minimum
in low-power situations.
The AllWinner A80 Octa-Core at the heart
of the new CubieBoard 4 is such a chip, but
with a twist: the four 1.8GHz Cortex-A15 cores
can be run alongside the four 1.2GHz
Cortex-A7 cores to give the host operating
system access to a full eight physical cores.
Theres a PowerVR G6230 graphics
processor with 64 FP32 ALU cores too.
In short, the CubieBoard 4 is a beast. I ran it
through its paces using the Android 4.4.2 build
pre-installed on the NAND flash partition, and
it blazed through the benchmarks. It wasnt
until I installed the BOINC client to give the
CPU cores a workout, though, that I
encountered my first problem: heat.
The PCB is
surprisingly
sparse compared
to its high-density
predecessors
104
The CubieBoard 4 is a true successor to the

CubieTruck, boasting an 8-core processor and 2GB
of DDR3 memory
CubieTech has bundled a few extras with

the board. In addition to a relatively beefy
40mm heatsink for the SoC, theres a twopiece plastic case in the box. When installed,
this case sits on the top of the board and
prevents the heatsink from breathing
properly. The result? When using all eight

cores, the SoC hit over 90C and began
throttling to protecting itself. First, the clock
speed was reduced, so the Cortex-A15 cores
were running at 1.2GHz; next, the high-power
cores started being switched off altogether.
Running the board without the lid improved
matters, but the board was still toasty: the
SoC sat at over 80C while a couple of small
chips on the board, not benefiting from the
heatsink, were too hot to touch. A look at the
kernel showed it bouncing between 1.68GHz
and its full 1.8GHz speed, although at least no
cores were being deactivated. To its credit,
though, the CubieBoard 4 didnt appear to
care about the high temperatures it was
reaching: despite practically glowing in the
dark, the board ran BOINC for three days
without a single hiccough or crash before I
used a micro-SD card to try Linux on it.
At the time of writing, there was only one
distribution available to download: Linaro
14.04, with AllWinners customised (and
outdated) 3.4 kernel. Installation to micro-SD
card is simple, and installing it on the on-board
NAND flash is barely more complicated.
Performance on CPU-driven tasks is
exemplary too: a single-core SysBench 95th
percentile time of 9.25ms puts it just behind
A bundled heatsink tries to keep the AllWinner

A80 Octa-Core tamed, but it doesnt do a great job
The board ran

BOINC for three days
without a single
hiccough or crash
There are a few other sacrifices when
switching to the latest model too: the 96-pin
and 54-pin GPIO headers of its predecessors
have been reduced to 20 pins, and the
traditional SATA connection is nowhere to
be seen. A USB 3 On-The-Go port with a
bundled adaptor cable goes some way to
compensating for the latter, in addition to four
USB 2 ports for other peripherals, but the
lower CPU overhead of SATA would have
been a welcome inclusion.
At 132.95 inc VAT, the CubieBoard 4 may
be a more affordable option than the Tegra K1
for CPU-bound tasks, but its heat output and
limitations make hard to recommend over its
significantly cheaper dual-core predecessors
for use in electronics projects.
processing cores to further

boost the GPU compute
performance either.
Another oddity discovered
during testing was the poor
network performance; we
measured just 190Mb/sec
from the Gigabit Ethernet port,
which is far below expectations.
Whether this issue will be
resolved in a future software
The A80 has great potential for CPU-bound applications,
update is unknown, but the
but the loss of a GPU driver under Linux is a major drawback
lack of firmware to use the
embedded Bluetooth radio
the more expensive Nvidia Jetson TK1s chart- under Linux is at least confirmed to be on the
topping score of 7.31ms and the CubieBoard fix list. The 802.11/b/g/n Wi-Fi system,
4 has twice as many cores, meaning CPUthough, works just fine, and the presence of
bound multi-threaded tasks absolutely fly.
an RP-SMA connector is a welcome bonus in
Sadly, switching from Android to Linux
this new model; chip antennas may be cheap
proper requires a sacrifice: the GPU. For
and compact, but they rarely offer much in the
reasons known only to IP holder Imagination
way of range.
Technologies, the
PowerVR G6230 GPU has
no accelerated graphics
driver for Linux available,
even as a closed-source
binary-blob. The result is
that general Linux desktop
use including, but not
limited to, web browsing
and video playback, is
painfully slow, and theres
no way to make use of the
The loss of SATA is a blow, but the inclusion of a proper RP-SMA
OpenCL compatibility of
connector for a radio antenna, with bundled dipole, is welcome
those 64 graphics
NEWS IN BRIEF
Maker Calendar
UK goes live
Fellow maker Gee Bartlett has taken
the time to put together a curated
Google Calendar containing events
that should interest the UK maker
community. Dubbed the Maker
Calendar UK, it lists events from Maker
Faires to Raspberry jams, hack-days,
science festivals and even trade shows
that will interest readers of this column.
Anyone organising such an event can
contact Bartlett through the site to get
them added, if they dont appear
already. The calendar can be accessed
at www.makercalendar.co.uk now.
105
A N A LYS I S
Crowdfunding pitfalls
Presenting others work as your own, whether youre acting in good faith or not, can
get you into serious trouble, and thats a problem for the Arduino Project Handbook
his page was originally set to feature

a review of a new book from firsttime author Mark Geddes: the
Arduino Project Handbook. A short A5 tome
that packed 45 projects documented and
photographed in full colour, I was hoping to
build a few of the projects, flick through the
rest and say whether it was worth picking up
or not. This plan didnt work out.
As I worked through the book, I was struck
by a lack of consistency in coding style, as
though the code sections were the work of
more than one author. A quick trip to Google
confirmed my suspicions: each piece of code
in the book had its origins elsewhere. Some
projects were pulled directly from examples
bundled with the Arduino IDE software, others
from various websites, while some were
plucked from commercially published books
such as Simon Monks 30 Arduino Projects
for the Evil Genius and Michael McRoberts
Beginning Arduino. In short, while Geddes
photography might be original, you couldnt
say the same for the projects, in terms of
conception or the code that drove them.
I got in touch with Geddes to find out what
had happened. The answer, it seems, is a
fundamental problem with some crowdfunded projects a lack of industry
knowledge and expertise. Geddes admitted
he had cribbed code from various sources, but
appeared to genuinely believe that the codes
publication on the Internet made it public
Geddes self-published the book using a crowdfunding campaign to finance the printing
domain and available for reuse. As for the

code that appeared to be culled from books,
he explained that he had found the code
online without attribution in other words, he
had copied the code from someone who had
copied it from the book first.
When I was writing the Raspberry Pi User
Guide, one section of my contract with Wiley &
Sons stood out: the section on plagiarism.
Should Wiley be sued as a result of copyright
infringement found within the book, I would be
personally liable up to a sum that would leave
me bankrupt and homeless a warning that
self-published authors dont receive.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Maker Faire UK
announced
The annual Maker Faire UK has been confirmed as taking place on 25-26 April 2015 at
the Life Science Centre, Newcastle. The only national-scale event to bear the Maker
Faire name, this annual gathering of makers, hackers and tinkerers is always well
attended and includes small-scale product demos, hands-on workshops and largerthan-life mechanical creations patrolling the grounds. Tickets are expected to maintain
2014 pricing at 8.95 per adult or 6.45 per child per day, increasing to 14 or 9.50 for
weekend entry passes. More details are available at www.makerfaireuk.com
It goes without saying that taking others

work and presenting it as your own is bad
manners, but I believe Geddes when he says
he thought he was acting in good faith. It was
his lack of understanding of copyright law that
let him down, but that could spell financial
hardship should rights holders choose to
pursue him for infringements.
The book was the work of one man,
financed via a crowd-funding campaign. Had
Geddes gone through a traditional publisher,
his inadvertent transgressions would have
been spotted before the book hit the shelves.
With increasing numbers of projects turning to
crowd-funding, its becoming an object lesson
in the risks that can apply to both sides of the
equation: we hear lots about backers who get
ripped off by fly-by-night scammers, but
much less about creators who bite off more
than they can chew and get themselves in
trouble, despite successful funding runs.
Ive spent some time highlighting the
vagaries of copyright law and the true
meaning of public domain to Geddes. Im
pleased to say that my efforts have been
successful: Geddes has opted to remove
the title from shelves, pending a thorough
copyright review and reprinting.
Should that reprinting take place, I will
naturally pen a review on its revised content.
For now, though, let anyone else thinking
about self-publishing learn from Geddes
mistakes: copyright law is serious business,
and you flout it knowingly or unknowingly
at your considerable peril.
Gareth Halfacree is the news reporter at www.bit-tech.net, and a keen computer hobbyist who likes to tinker with technology.
106
@ghalfacree
MODDING
A N TO N Y L E AT H E R S
Customised PC
Case mods, tools, techniques, water-cooling gear
and everything to do with PC modding
Mayhems Havoc 240 radiator
Its pretty rare that a new radiator
manufacturer comes to the market,
but the coolant gurus at Mayhems
have joined the fray with their Havoc
range of radiators. They were also kind
enough to send me an early sample of
the Havoc 240 a double 120mm-fan
radiator thats 60mm thick.
Interestingly, despite being a fullsized radiator, it costs just 50, with
competitors such as XSPCs RX240
and Hardware Labs Black Ice Nemesis
GTX 240 retailing for at least 20 per
cent more. The Havoc 240 includes
5mm and 30mm 6-32 screws, so you
can either mount it directly on your
case, or with fans sitting between
the radiator and the case. The latter
enables you to use the radiator as an
intake or an exhaust, with the fans
pushing (rather than pulling) air
The fins are split

inside, and they
arent solid copper
sheets either
108
made to achieve the low price either.

There are just two G1/4in threads
more expensive models offer at
least two pairs of ports, so it isnt
particularly flexible.
However, the finish on the Havoc
240 is excellent, with no hint of paint
flake. You can see more information
and purchase the radiators themselves
at http://mayhems.co.uk/store
Despite being a fullsized radiator, the

Mayhems Havoc 240
costs just 50
through the radiator in

both situations.
Even more impressive is the
fact that the bundle includes Part 2 of
Mayhems Blitz cleaning solution, so
you can clean out the radiator in future,
and the first 60 radiators sold will sport
a custom fan grille too.
The radiator is available in three
sizes double, triple and quadruple
120mm fans and has a couple of
interesting features too. For example,
the fins are split inside and they arent
solid copper sheets either, which
Mayhems says will help to increase
airflow and surface area. It also uses a
Quad Reflow Chamber for the coolant,
which Mayhems says will allow the
coolant to remain in the radiator for
longer, dissipating more heat.
The count of fin-folds per inch is
fairly low at 9fpi, which should mean
the radiator works well with low-RPM
fans. Not many sacrifices have been
Testing Alphacools NexXxos

GPX waterblock
A few months ago, I mentioned that
Alphacool had come up with an
interesting way to deal with the issue
of GPU waterblock compatibility. There
are so many different PCB designs
available for different variants of
graphics card models, so waterblock
manufacturers have a tricky time
choosing which PCBs to support.
Waterblocks for reference PCBs are
usually the first models out the door,
followed by blocks for popular thirdparty card ranges such as MSIs
TwinFrozr or Asus DirectCU II. Even
moving a capacitor a few millimetres
to make way for a larger cooler can
mean that a reference waterblock for
the same GPU model for example,
an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 may not
fit on that tweaked card.
To solve the problem, Alphacool
asked owners of graphics cards that
arent compatible with any of its
The NexXxos GPX wont show off

your fancy coolant, but its very
reasonably priced
waterblocks to send their

graphics cards to the company
to be 3D-scanned. In return, the
graphics card owners would get
their graphics card back with a free
waterblock for it. The result is that
the company could then offer that
waterblock in its retail line-up.
The first of the resulting new
Alphacool NexXxos GPX waterblocks
have been made available recently,
and Alphacool was kind enough to
send me its ATI R9 290X and 290 M01
block, which is compatible with a
number of R9 290X and R9 290
graphics cards. You can see if your card
is supported by using Alphacools
configurator at www.alphacool.com/
configurator.php
Costing between 60-70 inc VAT,
the new NexXxos GPX blocks are a
little cheaper than traditional full-cover
waterblocks, but the huge range
already offers compatibility with a
number of third-party graphics cards.
The design is fairly basic and perhaps
not as swish as Alphacools nickelplated counterparts, but its easy to
install and looks solid once its fitted.
The block cooled all of our Radeon R9
290 cards memory and VRM
modules, and the backplate deals
with any memory modules on the rear
of the PCB too, while offering cooling
for the back of the GPU core using a
large thermal pad. Unfortunately,
though, this backplate makes the
waterblock incompatible with most
mini-ITX systems.
Performance-wise, it
managed a GPU delta T of 25C
using a Laing D5 pump and double
120mm-fan radiator. This result
trounced the stock air cooler, at 72C,
and it was also 7C cooler than
Corsairs HG10 liquid-cooling bracket
equipped with an all-in-one liquid
cooler. However, it was 4C warmer
than a traditional Aqua Computer
Kryographics waterblock, although
the latter costs around 15 more.
Aesthetics might not be the
NexXxos GPX ranges strong point but,
while the blocks wont show off your
fancy coolant, theyre very reasonably
priced and youre also likely to find one
thats compatible with a third-party
graphics card. Whats more, if your
card isnt compatible, theres a good
chance Alphacool may want to borrow
it and create a new model, giving you a
free waterblock in the process.
are made from birch plywood, some of

which is sprayed silver, while the dark
brown wood effect comes from a
veneer that Jeffrey applied to the
curved top and sides of the roof.
Its a stunning PC that wouldnt look
out of place in a Streamline Modernethemed lounge. Stephensons own
personal website is worth a visit too,
which you can find at http://tinyurl.
com/slippery-skip the majority of
his previous projects are displayed on
the site in all their glory, while you can
see all of the Addison project log in his
forum at http://tinyurl.com/addisonmod
Addison by Jeffrey
Stephenson
Wood is a notoriously tricky material to
work with at the best of times, never
mind with PCs. However, of the select
few modders that have managed it, no
one has shown as much flexibility and
built such a huge range of wooden PC
projects as Jeffrey Stephenson, aka
slipperyskip.
His latest project is called Addison,
named after a 1940s style of radio. The
system uses classic mini-ITX
hardware such as a Gigabyte GTX 970
with a short PCB, a Z97N Gaming-5
mini-ITX motherboard and an SFX
PSU, along with an all-in-one liquid
cooler to deal with the Intel Core
i7-4770K. The main wooden sections
Addison by slipperyskip the main wooden sections are birch

plywood, while the dark brown wood effect comes from a veneer
Antony Leather is Custom PCs modding editor
@antonyleather
109
M O D D I N G / HOW TO GUIDES
How to
Make a PSU
section cover
Antony Leather shows you how to
give your PC a super-clean look
TOTA L P R OJ E C T T I M E / 2 4 H O U R S
1 / REMOVE HARDWARE
Remove all of the PC hardware in your case, except the PSU. You probably
wont be able to slide the cover into place with the motherboard installed,
and you need to leave the PSU in place for the moment so you can measure
around it.
dding a PSU section cover to a case has been a popular

mod for a number of years. It can hide unsightly PSU
cables, drive bays and water-cooling pumps, and it can also
completely enclose your PSU, providing a smooth, clean look to the
base of your case.
Its also common to see water-cooling fittings passing through
these section covers, again providing a super-clean look. Some cases,
such as NZXTs S340 that we reviewed in last months case Labs,
include such a section as standard, but you wont find one in most
cases. Its fairly easy to create one yourself, though, and you only need
basic tools. You can even create an illuminated cover and apply your
own designs too.
TO O L S YO U L L N E E D
2 / MEASURE CASE
To get an idea of the size of acrylic sheet you need, measure the width and
height of the section cover you intend to create. It should stretch from the
motherboard tray to the edge of the PSU housing, then measure down to
the base of the case at a right angle.
Black spray paint /

www.artdiscount.co.uk
Clear varnish lacquer and

Plastic primer /
www.artdiscount.co.uk
Masking and edging tape /

Most hardware stores
Acrylic sheet /
www.ebay.co.uk
Dremel with cutting disc /

Heat gun /
110
Mini blow torch /

3 / CHECK FOR CLEARANCE

Before ordering the acrylic, check that theres room for it to bend around
and sit between the cases fixtures and side panel. Theres usually a couple
of centimetres of clearance, as you can see on this Corsair Obsidian 450D.
4 / CREATE CARDBOARD TEMPLATE
5 / CUT OUT CASE DETAILS
The key to making the acrylic cover is creating a cardboard template. Its
impossible to use a whole acrylic sheet for this job, as youll have various
sections in the way. Its easy to bend cardboard to shape, though, giving you
a template with all the measurements you need.
There may be cable-routing holes or other fixtures you want to cut out in
your template. On our example, we had to make a small cut-out for the PCI
expansion slots. Insert the cardboard into the case, cut out the details, then
trim it to shape and finally bend it so that it fits perfectly.
6 / CHOOSE YOUR ACRYLIC
7 / CHOOSE COLOUR AND ILLUMINATION
As well be bending the acrylic, dont opt for a thickness larger than 3mm.
EBay is one of the better places to get acrylic sheet, as you can often specify
the length and width of the material you need.
If you want a plain colour cover to match your case, opt for black acrylic
sheet. However, if you want to illuminate or paint it to create patterns,
choose the colour you want to light up. Weve used 3mm red acrylic, which
well mask up and spray black, leaving a red pattern that can be illuminated.
8 / USE CARDBOARD TEMPLATE
9 / DRAW AROUND CARDBOARD
Remove your cardboard template from the case and lay it flat on top of
your acrylic sheet. Place longer straight edges along the sheets edges
to reduce the amount you have to cut dont place your template in the
middle of the sheet.
Use a marker pen or biro to draw around the acrylic to transfer the template
shape to the acrylic sheet. If there are any bends in the cardboard that made
your lines wonky, straighten them by drawing over them using a ruler.
111
10 / CUT OUT LARGER SECTIONS
11 / CUT OUT SMALLER SECTIONS
As our case is relatively small, we used a Dremel and cutting disc to deal
with the longer edges. However, if your PSU section is more than 400mm
long, you may want to use a jigsaw or Dremel Trio to cut straighter edges.
For the smaller details, a Dremel and cutting disc comes in very handy.
When using a cutting disc to cut acrylic, use a low to medium speed, to avoid
creating so much friction that you end up melting the acrylic.
12 / FILE SURFACES FLAT
13 / FLAME-POLISH EDGES
There will probably be some rough edges after youve finished cutting, so
sand them down, even if theyre going to be hidden. You can use a metal
file or coarse sandpaper for this job, lopping off any larger sections with a
Dremel and cutting disc.
If any of the edges youve cut manually will be on view, it can be worth
flame-polishing them. This job involves the use of a mini blow torch
(commonly used in baking) to lightly melt the acrylic surface so it becomes
smooth and glossy.
14 / SET UP BENDING JIG
15 / PRACTISE WITH SPARE ACRYLIC
A solid right-angled object is essential for bending the acrylic you cant
do it freehand. The side of your case can often make a perfect subject, but
desks or tables are also good. Be aware that youll need to heat and bend it
in the same place, and it will get very hot.
Practise on a spare piece of acrylic first. This trial run can be useful to see
just how much heat is needed to make the acrylic pliable enough to create
a sharp 90-degree bend. We found that five minutes with an industrial heat
gun was needed on this 100mm section.
112
16 / MARK UP BEND AREA
17 / BEND MAIN SECTION WITH HEAT GUN
Mark up the bend area, but dont use a marker pen, permanent or
otherwise, on the acrylic, as heating it can embed the microscopic fibres in
the acrylic, leaving an unsightly line. A biro works well, and can be removed
afterwards using isopropyl alcohol or household polish.
Use the heat gun on full speed and heat, and move it across the entire
length of the bend section, covering 300mm or so every second. Dont heat
up one area too much, or the acrylic could warp or bend unevenly.
18 / BEND TO SHAPE
19 / TEST-FIT IN CASE
Apply pressure to both sides of the bend to create a sharp angle. Use a
heavy object on top, and a ruler or leveller on the lower section. Youll need
to allow it to cool for five minutes before it fixes into shape. If it doesnt work
well at first, reheat the acrylic on a flat surface to return it to a flat sheet.
Test-fit the cover in the case. Ours proved to be a fairly tight fit, generally
negating the need for any elaborate mounting. If its too tight a squeeze,
you can trim off the edges until it fits. Likewise, if its fairly loose, you can use
mounting tape to fix it in place.
20 / REMOVE BIRO MARKINGS
21 / CLEAN ACRYLIC
If youll be leaving your acrylic this colour, youll need to remove the biro
markings you made earlier when marking it up. Isopropyl alcohol works
really well here (and for removing thermal paste, by the way), and a single
wipe usually gets rid of it.
If you want to spray the acrylic a different colour, or create illuminated

patterns, start by cleaning it using normal detergent and a sponge. This
process helps to remove oils and grime that can spoil the paint finish.
114
22 / APPLY MASKING
23 / SPRAY PLASTIC PRIMER
We chose to only allow light to pass through certain sections of the acrylic,
with the blanked-out sections sprayed black. Use edging tape to mark the
edges of your designs, and masking tape to fill out larger areas.
Its best to use a plastic primer when spraying acrylic, which can help the
paint to bond to the surface more readily, especially on glossy acrylic. You
only need a light coat, and be sure to do your spray painting outdoors, as the
fumes can be noxious.
24 / SPRAY COLOUR COAT
25/ PEEL OFF EDGING TAPE
Spray the colour coat at right angles straight onto the acrylic not from the
sides to help prevent paint creeping into the masking. Apply one coat,
then allow it to dry for at least 30 minutes before applying another until the
acrylic colour doesnt show through.
Peel off the masking gently in long sweeps once the paint has dried. If any
paint-creep has occurred, you can usually clean it up using isopropyl alcohol
and a cotton bud.
26 / SPRAY LACQUER
27 / MOUNT IN CASE
Use lacquer to provide a protective coating for the painted sections. Building
a PC in the case with the cover installed will introduce a hundred different
ways of scratching it.
Mount the cover in the case, using any Molex-powered LED flex lights to
illuminate it you can install them above or in front of the PSU. You could
also cut out your own cable-routing holes or pass water-cooling tubing
through your PSU section cover.
115
M O D D I N G / READERS DRIVES
Readers Drives
Eden
Inspired by the curves of Apples
G5 Mac case, Alain Simpels set
about creating a curvy PC chassis
that combined a wood effect
with clear Plexiglas
CPC: What originally inspired you
to build Eden?
Alain: The idea behind Eden was to
make the case into an object that
you dont have to hide away you
could make it a part of your living
room, like a design object. The
inspiration for this mod came from
the Apple Mac G5, especially the
rounded shape of the case. I like
the combination of raw, natural
materials such as
wood, with industrial
touches such as
aluminium and
plastic. For the wood
parts, I decided to
make the panels from
MDF and then add
veneer to them, using
a colour combination
of black and gold with
/MEET THY MAKER
red details to give it a
Name Alain Simpels
classy look. The result
Age 31
is a mod that can stand
out in your home
Location Antwerp, Belgium
environment, which is
Occupation Harbour
just what I wanted
worker
from Eden.
Main uses for PC Gaming,
multimedia and
CPC: Where does the
showcasing my mod
name come from?
Likes Subway sandwiches,
motorcycles, PC gaming,
creative work, Tron Legacy
and my cat Boris
Dislikes Red traffic lights,
failing Internet
connections, waiting in line
at the store, coriander
116
Alain: The main eyecatching part of the

case is the flow of
wood from the front
to the back of the case,
which reminded me of
the tree of life found in
different mythologies,
hence the Eden name.
CPC: What specs did you choose?

Alain: The build was due to be
showcased at the Paris Game
Week, and then come back to
me afterwards, but the hardware
was chosen by the sponsors of the
event. I didnt have a say on all the
components I would receive the
only parts I chose were the case,
PSU, the water-cooling parts and
the sleeves and cables.
CPC: What other mods have
you built?
Alain: Ive completed five projects
so far. The design of the first one,
Project Umbrella, was inspired by
the fictional Umbrella Corporation
in the Resident Evil games. The
second project was the result of a
friends request, called Black
Obsession. Importantly, this project
saw me using copper pipes in a
water loop for the first time.
The next one was Project White,
which saw me bringing the idea of
using nickel-plated, copper pipes
in a water-cooling loop to the
modding community. Entering this
mod in several contests turned out
to be a winning experience, and it
was also featured in Custom PC (see
Issue 102, p118).
Next up was CM Silencio 550
Limited Edition, which was
specifically designed for a contest.
It ended up having a mix of
different features from my previous
builds, including the copper pipe
water loop, the use of Plexiglas, the
top reservoir and the concept of a
transparent case. Next was the
Grafit mod, with an open design
and fully custom-made top
reservoir, which had a two-tone
colour scheme that stood out this
mod was also featured in Custom
PC (see Issue 117, p108).
CPC: What difficulties did you
come across?
Alain: The hardest parts to make
were the arc shapes on the top and

bottom of the case. To create these
parts, I had to make a mould from
MDF, and then bend the 4mm-thick
Plexiglas over it. My first attempt at
bending the material wasnt really
a success. I only had one heat gun to
get the whole side at the right
temperature (around 200C), and
every time I heated up a side of the
panel, the other side cooled down,
making it impossible to bend the
Plexiglas to the right shape.
When it came to the second try,
I used two heat guns to heat up
one side of the panel. After 15-20
minutes the panel was at the right
temperature, and was flexible
enough to bend around the mould.
I then just had to strap the Plexiglas
to the mould so that its shape
wouldnt change while it cooled
down. I had to repeat this process
four times to create each arc.
SEE THE FULL

PROJECT LOG:
http://tinyurl.com/
EdenMod
SYSTEM SPECS
CPU Intel Core i7-4790
Graphics card MSI GeForce GTX 770 OC
Case Fractal Design Define R4
Memory 8GB G.Skill RipjawsX
1,600MHz
Motherboard MSI Z97 Gaming 9
Storage 250GB Samsung 840 Evo
PSU Fractal 1,000W Newton
Cooling Laing DDC-1 Plus pump, Phobya

nickel-plated pump top, EK nickelplated Heatsink Housing, Swiftech Micro
Res REV2.0 micro reservoir, Phobya
Balancer 250 Silver tube reservoir,
Alphacool NexXxos XT45 420 radiator,
EK FC770 Nickel Plexi
GPU waterblock, EK Supremacy Full
Nickel CPU waterblock
117
M O D D I N G / READERS DRIVES
CPC: What materials did you use?

Alain: For the outside shape of the
case I used 4mm-thick Plexiglas, as
its cheap and easy to work with,
and I had experience of using it in
some of my previous mods.
At first I wanted to use 3mm
aluminium, but it would have
required other tools, such as a
bending machine to make the arc
shapes in the panels.
To make the wooden panels, I
chose MDF for the same reason as
the Plexiglas its cheap and easy to
work with. To give the MDF a real
wood look, I glued Zebrano veneer
to the panels.
BE A WINNER
To enter your machine for possible inclusion in
Readers Drives, your mod needs to be fully working
and, ideally, finished based in the UK. Simply log on to
www.bit-tech.net and head over to the forums. Once
youre there, post a write-up of your mod, along with
some pics, in the Project Logs forum. Make sure you
read the relevant rules and advice sticky threads before
you post. The best entrant each month will be featured
here, where well print your photos of your project and
also interview you about the build process. Fame isnt
the only prize; youll also get your hands on a fabulous
selection of prizes see the opposite page for details.
118
CPC: What tools did you use?

Alain: The tool I mostly used on
this build was my hand jigsaw. Its
a perfect tool for cutting wood and
Plexiglas. To make the cuts in the
case I used an electronic jigsaw, and
a Dremel for small cut-outs in the
frame. All these tools are very easy
to handle, even if youre using one
for the first time. You just have to
focus, and make sure that your cut
follows the line youve drawn on
the object.
CPC: What media interest has
Eden attracted?
Alain: Eden was built for the
Modding Trophy 2nd Edition
competition, organised by www.
ldlc.com, www.docmicro.com,
www.vedayshop.fr and www.
modding.fr. It had a lot of attention
on various forums a week before it
was shown on the LDLC stand at
Paris Game Week.
A video was released to promote
the case, which spread on different
social media, receiving a lot of
media attention. You can find he
video on YouTube if you search for
modding trophy alain-s.
CPC: How long did the build
process take?
Alain: The parts arrived in early

June 2014, leaving me with three
months to complete the project.
The mod had to be finished on 15
September, and one month later it
would be shown at Paris Game
Week, along with six other mods.
CPC: What have you learned from
the build process?
Alain: Ive learned all about
bending Plexiglas. Since the
heating and bending process is
delicate, you need to take your time
over it, making sure the material
heats up evenly and without
overheating it, or youll get burn
marks on the Plexiglas.
I also learned that, when bending
a large curve around a mould, the
material stretches and gets a few
millimetres bigger.
CPC: Are you happy with the end
result, and is there anything youd
do differently if you built it again?
Alain: Im very happy with the
final result. I had an idea of how I
wanted Eden to look, but I never
imagined that the end result would
look so good in real life. If I had to
rebuild it, I dont think Id change a
single part of it I love it in its
current state.
Win all these prizes!

Weve teamed up with some of the worlds leading PC manufacturers and retailers to offer
this great range of prizes to each lucky Readers Drives winner. If your creation is featured in the
magazine then youll walk away with all of the prizes listed on this page, so get in your entries!
Corsair graphite Series 230T case and RM

550w Modular power supply
TOTAL VALUE 150 inc VAT / MANUFACTURER www.corsair.com
Corsair believes that a great PC starts with a great case.

The Corsair Graphite Series 230T is a compact
expression of this core philosophy. With stylish
looks and a choice of three different colours, it
packs in a remarkable number of features to
provide builders with tonnes of room for
expansion and amazing cooling potential. Like all
Corsair cases, its built using the finest materials
and finished to the highest standards, so it will
withstand several years of upgrades. Plus, to
make sure it stand outs from the crowd, the
230T features Corsairs new Air Series LED
high-airflow fans, providing distinctive lighting
with low-noise, high-airflow cooling.
Just as a quality case is essential to building a
quality PC, a high-performance, a high-quality
power supply is also a vital ingredient. The all new
RM series has been built from the ground-up to
deliver unmatched reliability alongside 80Plus
Gold efficiency, and all with the absolute minimum of
noise. It uses specially optimised quality parts to reduce
sound at the component level, and its completely silent
below 40 per cent load, thanks to its Zero RPM fan mode. Its
also fully modular, allowing for the maximum amount of flexibility
during installation. With a Corsair Graphite 230T case and an RM 550W Modular power supply
at the heart of your build, youll have the foundations for a truly awesome gaming machine.
Mayhems coolant
and dyes
VALUE 50 inc VAT /
MANUFACTURER www.mayhems.co.uk
Cooling performance is only one part of the

equation when it comes to kitting out your
rig with custom water-cooling gear. The
other major bonus is that all those tubes and
gleaming fittings just make your PC look
damn sexy, and they look even better when
they're pumped full of fancy coloured
coolant. As such, we're particularly pleased
to have the folks at Mayhems now on board
with Readers' Drives; they're currently
offering two 1-litre bottles of Mayhems'
Pastel Ice White coolant, along with a
selection of five dyes, so you can choose
the colour that best complements your PC.
Check out the blue coolant in our own mini
PC mod on the cover of Issue 109 for an
example of what's possible with some
Mayhems coloured coolant.
Phobya Modding Kit

VALUE 50 inc VAT MANUFACTURER www.phobya.com, www.aqua-tuning.co.uk
The Phobya modding kit is designed with the modder in mind, offering
great value for money and quality products. The kit includes Nano-G 12
Silent Waterproof 1,500rpm multi-option fans,
which use an innovative fan-blade design.
As standard, the fans include braided black
cables to keep your case looking as neat as
possible. The fans are also supplied with a
special cable that lets you run the fan at 5V
rather than 12V, reducing the noise
emitted in order to help you to build
a silent system.
The kit also includes the
60cm Phobya 3-pin Molex to
4x 3-pin Molex Y-cable. This pre-
braided extension cable gives you extra routeing options in your case,
and it also enables you to run up to four fans from one compatible
motherboard header. Meanwhile, the Phobya SATA 3
cables included in the kit offer the same
great quality braiding as the rest of the
Phobya range, while also securing your
connection with latched connectors.
As well as this, the kit includes the
Phobya SlimGuide Controller, which
gives you the option to vary
the speed of other fans in
your case, while the Phobya
TwinLEDs let you shine a
light on your mods.
119
CO M M U N I T Y / FOLDING
Folding@Home
Join our folding team and help medical research
Folder of the month / We catch up with: Ian McDiarmid

CPC: So who is Ian McDiarmid?
IanMcDiarmid: Im a design
engineer at an automotive
consultancy.
supportive, especially my mum who

lost her father to cancer at a young
age. I compete with some of my
friends too, which is half the fun.
CPC: Why did you start folding?

IanMcDiarmid: I found it on the
OCUK forums, and I just wanted to
beat peoples scores using my
Radeon HD 5870 and Core i7.
However, after looking into it more,
folding seemed like a direct way of
helping medical causes.
CPC: Whats your worst folding

experience?
IanMcDiarmid: Crashes and failed
work units. Settings that are stable
in benchmarks and games arent
always stable when folding 24/7,
which is frustrating when youve
almost finished a big work unit.
CPC: What excites you most about

folding?
IanMcDiarmid: Hitting milestones
and seeing how far I can push my
hardware.
CPC: How many machines do you
have folding?
IanMcDiarmid: One. Its a dinosaur,
but it pulls its weight. I have a Core
i7-920 at 4.2GHz, an R9 290 and 6GB
of RAM. The GPU and CPU are watercooled with a Thermochill P120.3, EK
waterblocks and a D5 pump, so the
GPU can run at 1,100MHz with stock
WHAT IS FOLDING?
Folding@home uses the spare processing cycles from
your PCs CPU and graphics cards for medical
research. You can download the client from http://
folding.stanford.edu and our teams ID is 35947. Once
you pass a significant milestone, youll get your name
in the mag. You can also discuss folding with us and
other readers on the www.bit-tech.net forums.
120
voltage. I now only fold on my

R9 290; its average ppd of
180,000 blows my 5870, Core i7
and two 5770s out of the water.
CPC: Do you intend tokeep up your
current production level?
IanMcDiarmid: I plan to fold as
much as possible, but Im a bit of an
opportunistic folder. I got into the
top 20 by leaving my PC folding
when I went on holiday for a week.
It also helps that, at the moment, my
power bills are included in the rent!
I currently have the PC set to fold
when its idle, and leave it on 24/7.
CPC: Any tips for team members?
IanMcDiarmid: If youre struggling
with heat, try undervolting your
GPU at stock speeds, I can use
-40mV, which helps to reduce
temperatures and noise, while
extending the life of your GPU.
CPC: What do your friends and
family think about your folding?
IanMcDiarmid: My family is
CPC: And the best?

IanMcDiarmid: When I bought my
R9 290 and it managed a 150,000
ppd I almost spat out my tea it
was 10 times the speed of my 5870!
CPC: If you could change one part of
your folding setup, what would it be?
IanMcDiarmid: Id love another R9
290, especially with the current low
prices, but its hard to justify when I
only play CS:GO most of the time.
STATS
Team rank 246
World rank 12,390
Score 4,639,541
Work units 128
Daily points average 137,571
TOP FOLDERS: This months

shout-outs go to BeezaBob,
GreenDemon360 and peete. If you
fold under either of these names,
email folding@custompcmag.org.uk
MILESTONES THIS MONTH

USERNAME
POINTS
MILESTONE
USERNAME
POINTS
MILESTONE
USERNAME
POINTS
MILESTONE
USERNAME
POINTS
MILESTONE
Alee4177
20000
TheRepublicofKirkup
200000
Liam266
2000000
rvalkass
7000000
Ganey
30000
Sparrowhawk
400000
RDL_Mobile
2000000
mashspud
8000000
reidmarc
40000
Bob_D
500000
SMauri
2000000
SgtDunk
8000000
DavithD1
50000
Pausanias828
500000
STIG
2000000
Rhddrk
9000000
StuManchu
50000
DJcarrot
700000
Mem
3000000
DrJAG
10000000
HolyCow
70000
moorsey
700000
Taffers1966
3000000
fatchef
30000000
Parmesan
70000
TrekkieStu
700000
IanMcDiarmid
4000000
Desertbaker
70000000
Bleakknave
90000
ejhunter
900000
Humwawa
5000000
Laguna2012
70000000
blotty
90000
Evilpaperclip
900000
BeezaBob
6000000
TheFlipside
100000000
andboo1
100000
Philip_King
900000
SLOcaliKID
6000000
piers_newbold
300000000
Lethaertes
100000
BobN
1000000
loopy
100000
Grimpeeper
1000000
ninjafury97
100000
kcanti
1000000
vacant_machine
100000
only_happy
1000000
ViperB5
100000
Portchylad
1000000
Erkin_Salih
200000
RayCampbell
1000000
robertmather
200000
Clotten
2000000
Sonic67
200000
coffinwarmer
2000000
ssjandu
200000
GreenDemon360
2000000
THE NEXT OVERTAKE

WORLD
RANK
TEAM NAME
POINTS
DAILY
POINTS
AVERAGE
TIME UNTIL
OVERTAKE
www.
overclockers.com
18,315,719,229
14,791,465
10.4 years
TSC! Russia
14,272,468,778
13,469,399
1.1 years
Maximum PC
Magazine
13,388,773,746
14,936,858
3.8 months
Custom PC &
bit-tech
13,252,357,480
16,130,216
TOP 20 OVERALL
RANK
USERNAME
POINTS
TOP 20 PRODUCERS
WORK UNITS
Nelio
1,909,273,879
96,506
RANK
USERNAME
DAILY POINTS AVERAGE
Nelio
5,479,198
1,909,273,879
OVERALL SCORE
DocJonz
863,618,376
167,681
DocJonz
1,278,680
863,618,376
coolamasta
620,775,864
154,883
StreetSam
789,198
376,159,986
Dave_Goodchild
453,858,806
116,650
piers_newbold
730,682
303,200,731
Scorpuk
427,672,300
11,974
Scorpuk
650,311
427,672,300
StreetSam
376,159,986
84,650
Slavcho
649,896
180,208,980
piers_newbold
303,200,731
31,086
coolamasta
602,945
620,775,864
phoenicis
250,044,587
95,660
Laguna2012
557,562
73,796,196
johnim
230,901,787
76,861
johnim
474,995
230,901,787
10
Wallace
212,477,027
6,204
10
The_M2B
443,777
155,006,810
11
zz9pzza
211,014,628
15,794
11
TheFlipside
428,719
111,430,787
12
PC_Rich
198,129,196
67,005
12
Desertbaker
341,950
74,524,740
13
Slavcho
180,208,980
30,315
13
KevinWright
256,657
111,486,816
14
Lordsoth
169,834,475
87,200
14
mmorr
243,157
46,809,674
15
Ben_Lamb
166,053,146
2,891
15
PC_Rich
229,766
198,129,196
16
The_M2B
155,006,810
52,080
16
apeman556
178,914
53,955,426
17
Christopher_N._Lewis
152,360,020
35,841
17
IanMcDiarmid
164,172
4,330,022
18
Lizard
131,878,662
60,132
18
BeezaBob
132,507
6,506,525
19
fir3x
124,015,259
19,856
19
8Core
127,680
49,872,271
20
JEE6
119,791,313
5,408
20
Lordsoth
113,324
169,834,475
121
OPINION
JA M E S G O R B O L D / HARDWARE ACCELERATED
THE RISE OF THE

LIQUID COOLER
In just three short years, the all-in-one liquid cooler
has taken over as the cooler of choice
was a pretty early dabbler in PC water cooling,mucking
around with a medley of kit from companies that
never considered making their products compatible
with each other, and some pretty ropey aquarium-style
components that really werent suitable for use inside a PC.
Since then, the water-cooling market has matured, going
through three distinct phases: bulky external kits from the likes
of Koolance and Zalman; the switch to custom internal loops
using components from different manufacturers; and the rise
of the all-in-one (AIO) liquid cooler.
Fortunately, phase one didnt last that long,
as most of these external kits werent only
really loud, but also eyesores. And, while the
custom loops from phase two still have a
place in the market, theyre now only really
found in high-end PCs costing over 3,000.
While their high cost (at least 250 just to
cool a CPU) is off-putting for many people, the
biggest problem with custom loops is that
theyre technically complex to build and make upgrading a
nightmare, especially when you build a big loop that also cools
your GPU. It was for this reason that I stopped using custom
loops when I retired my X58 rig. The chore of draining,rebuilding
and filling the loop each time I (frequently) upgraded my
graphics card outweighed the benefits of using a custom loop.
In contrast, both my X79 rigs have used third-generation PC
water cooling AIO liquid coolers. These coolers were first
introduced to the market around four years ago by Asetek and
CoolIt, two brands that used to be on the lips of most PC
enthusiasts but are now mainly ODM manufacturers. Although
these early AIO coolers were barely any cooler or quieter than
large heatsink and fan setups, by 2011, they had developed into
very capable alternatives to air cooling.
Wind the clock forwards to the present and the AIO cooler
has become incredibly pervasive, finding its way into most
enthusiast PCs. Looking through Scans recent sales figures
shows that sales of the top AIO liquid coolers now outstrip sales
of heatsinks by at least three to one. This figure is even more
amazing when you realise that the most popular AIO coolers
the Corsair H80, H100 and their variants cost at least double
the price of the most popular high-end heatsinks. In fact, the
only area where heatsink sales still remain
strong is with sub-20 coolers, such as the
Arctic Cooling Freezer 11i. Even then, this great
bargain heatsink sells far fewer units per
month than the Corsair H80, which costs
nearly 50 more.
The switch away from larger and heavier
heatsinks to AIO coolers isnt just about better
cooling for your overclocked PC though; it also
ties in with the trend towards smaller, more compact PCs, be it
a mini-ITX marvel or simply an ATX midi-tower, which have
also become smaller and more stylish in recent years. AIO
coolers might be big, but theyre more likely to fit in a mini-ITX
chassis with a 120mm fan mount than a colossal tower heatsink.
Looking to the future, it will be interesting to see what
happens as Intel continues to drive down its CPUs power
consumption and heat output. After all, its possible that water
cooling may no longer be necessary at some point, in any form.
That said, many of the purchases we make as PC enthusiasts
arent strictly necessary, but what we desire which reminds
me, I still fancy a new 34in IPS monitor with G-Sync.
Scans sales figures show

sales of top AIO coolers
outstrip sales of heatsinks
by at least three to one
James Gorbold has been building, tweaking and overclocking PCs ever since the 1980s. He now helps Scan Computers to develop new systems.
122

Custom PC - March 2015 UK

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How to: Make an illuminated PSU section cover

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DONT TRY THIS AT HOME

C U STO M P C / ISSUE 138

94 Liquid cooling special

26 Samsung SSD 850 Evo

40 Liquid cooler Labs test

66 Quiet gaming PCs

92 Whats free in 2015?

100 Games of 2015

104 Hobby tech

110 Make an illuminated PSU

This ingenious mod can hide PSU

PNY Powerpack T10400

All-in-one liquid cooler

Antec Khler H2O 950

CPC Elite products

Quiet gaming PCs

66 Chillblast Fusion Serenity

From the editor

Folder of the month

122 James Gorbold

B E N H A R DW I D G E / FROM THE EDITOR

THE PROBLEM WITH

into pseudo-science, offering features such as gold-plated USB

Motherboard makers are

cheRRy picked components unbeatable performance

Intel Core i7 5960X processor

tel: 01782 444 455

Overclockers UK | Unit 5 Lymedale Cross, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 9BT

T R ACY K I N G / SCEPTICAL ANALYSIS

Even with a generously sceptical interpretation of the data,

me? Does Creative have a monopoly

Finally, we get a steering wheel

Ben: Wed absolutely love to cover

DAC of the net

Firstly, a merry Christmas and

Ben: And a happy new year to you

Thank you so much for your mince

Great interview on the C64 compendium by @

The Duchy Originals pie has gone from the

of your recommendations, and in

Ben: Glad to be of service Jane! Weve