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Extreme Cooling
hakkikt writes "Icrontic brings us a review about a CPU-cooling device every self-respecting overclocker and cpu-speed freak must get. The device is called MX-EVA3. With a price of US$500, it's not for the faint of wallet, but the performance is awesome."
other customers who bought this item also bought:
2500' suspension bridge: $19.65
pet rock (polished granite): $14.95
enron stock: $87.23
--m
That device is not marketed for your average user--it's aimed at the people who make overclocking CPUs and hardware their hobby. Sure, you might mock the stamp collector or the model train builder for spending thousands of dollars a year on things you would consider 'crap', but do they care? No. So what if the stamp collector spends $300 on a mint-condition stamp from the year 1917--it's to support HIS hobby, for HIS enjoyment, not yours. All the same--so what if the overclocker who buys a $130 Pentium 4 1.6A and a $500 phase-change cooling box (still a bit overpriced for a R-134a compressor, IMHO)? For him, that $500 is well-spent if it lets him clock his 1.6 GHz chip to 2.8 GHz. He doesn't care what the person who is content running a PII 400 MHz chip thinks.
Good things
As you can see the MX-EVA3 can take care of some very high heat load. It is by far the best extreme cooling solution on the market today. I've used all sorts of cooling to get to the top and I was under the impression that my 220 pelt and chilled water cooler was bringing my chip to its limits. I was wrong.
With the MX-EVA3 you can eliminate the use of pelts, extra power supplies and water. Now you use just one simple evaporator hook up.
It also is pretty good for space. It fits under your case so all you're doing is adding about 9 inches to the height of your case. As far as the noise level it is very tolerable for any Xtreme Overclocker. This can only be written up as a good thing.
Bad things
I'll start with the instructions. They are very good for condensation proofing but that's about it. There are no instructions for adjusting the Digital Display as far as setting the boot temperature or setting what ever it is you can set with the 4 buttons on the Digital Display. This would be nice to know.
They have no recommendation on moving your 4 AMD CPU tabs which in my opinion is a critical must.
Mounting is a bit tough but if you take your time you can get it right. It's always a scary moment when it comes to risking frying your CPU. I'm sure the Intel 478 mounting may be a lot easier.
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
1) spend $500 on a gig of RAM
I never use more than 256megs of ram, so buying more ram wont help.
2) Its not all about cpu speed.
You are completely right, thats why, if you read the site and looked at the screenies, the guy overclocked his System Bus (thus affecting ram and all) to 181Mhz (from a default 133). THAT IS A LOT. That is a very noticable speed difference.
3) use the money for something else
call this an investment. If this thing lasts for 3 computers, then you have probably "saved" more money by not having to pay for permium speed. Your example was having a 900mhz and going to 1.4ghz. Thats pretty sweet, but what about going from 2ghz to 3.4ghz. 3.4ghz is beyond any chip in production right now, but i've seen shots from a person who has been able to get that speed. This device isn't for people with a p3 900, it is for the extreme people and for them the benefits outweigh the costs.
Only dead fish swim with the stream...
It would have been better to call it the MX-EVA2 (Asuka's) , since the EVA3 is the black one that goes a bit mental and strange.
graspee