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2:00 AM - 09/28/2009 by Thomas Soderstrom

2.5" SSD to 3.5" Bay Adapter: SNT SNT-SATA2221B Hot-Swappable Backplane

We couldn’t think of a better device to hold two low-heat 2.5” SSD drives than a dual-bay hot-swappable backplane. For a low $22 price, the SNT-SATA2221B offers the conveniences of tray-less design and front-panel access while consuming only a single 3.5" external bay.

Read Customer Reviews of SNT's SATA2221B Backplane


This is actually a far better-designed unit than the one that appeared in our February SBM, as it requires no cable adapters and only a single power plug. The design is also cheaper to produce, though Newegg carries other brands of this product at up to twice its price.

For three-times its price, buyers could even find an upscale version with a single-data connection and built-in RAID controller. The RAID version was probably the original design from which this cheaper version is derived, but we decided to save our $44 and use motherboard RAID instead of an external controller.

3.5" to 5.25" Bay Adapter: Vantec EZ-Swap EX (Accessory-Only)

Our case doesn’t have a 3.5” external bay and the only 3.5” to 5.25” bay adapters at Newegg have a thumb groove for Epson-style floppy drives.

The solution, of course, is to buy the Ultra-ATA EZ-Swap EX, discard the unneeded bits, and use its less-expensive yet better-looking 3.5” to 5.25” bay adapter to hold our SNT backplane.

Component Cooling: Antec SpotCool

Motherboards are designed to use the draft from the CPU cooler to keep the voltage regulator and chipset northbridge cool, but that design puts liquid-cooled systems like ours at risk of instability. Instead of adding a big memory cooling fan and hoping the rear-panel exhaust would keep our motherboard cool enough, we picked a familiar part that can serve both needs.

Read Customer Reviews of Antec's SpotCool


A flexible wand allows Antec’s SpotCool to be aimed in nearly any direction, while a three-speed controller allows it to be set from 2,000 to 3,000 RPM. If that’s not enough to satisfy your purchasing demands, Antec went on to add four blue LED lights to this ultra-flexible $15 part.

Talkback
burnley14 09/28/2009 8:14 AM
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Just thinking about winning this system in the giveaway gets me excited.

jj463rd 09/28/2009 8:17 AM
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Me too this is an awesome build.

DjEaZy 09/28/2009 8:23 AM
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... do the video compression using ATi Streem...

Anonymous 09/28/2009 8:30 AM
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dirtmountain 09/28/2009 8:31 AM
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Anonymous 09/28/2009 8:37 AM
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@Dirtman

http://www.80plus.org/manu/psu/psu [...] =25&type=2

Check your sources because you have it wrong

CMPSU-850HX ATX12V 850 90.38% Gold

one-shot 09/28/2009 8:39 AM
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dirtmountain 09/28/2009 8:40 AM
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139011

Newegg says differently. I did check sources.

dirtmountain 09/28/2009 8:42 AM
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So does Jonnyguru
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.p [...] 2&reid=153
I guess you just can't believe everything you find on a brands site.

winterlord 09/28/2009 8:43 AM
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now that is one slick gaming machine! could'nt imagine them frames rates on a big monitor. love the insides water cooling 3 radeon 4890's with room for a 4th. great pictures by the way lots of eye candy. you can tell alot of work went into tis kmonster. great article.

IzzyCraft 09/28/2009 8:44 AM
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dirtmountain :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139011Newegg says differently. I did check sources.


You going to believe newegg a site that is known to make mistakes in labeling products over the actual official site of the group that freaking does the testing and certification
http://www.80plus.org/manu/psu/psu [...] =25&type=2

http://www.80plus.org/manu/psu/psu [...] Report.pdf

It's gold...

eddieroolz 09/28/2009 8:44 AM
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The overclock was disappointing, but it seems to be one capable system!

Anyone who wins this has an awesome rig on their hands!

IzzyCraft 09/28/2009 8:46 AM
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I'm sure anyone that wins any of the rigs will be quite happy and hopefully happy enough to post pictures and other things on the forums.

Proximon 09/28/2009 8:55 AM
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Your PSU calculations do not include transient loads, which happen too quickly to measure on a Kill-a-watt. 1000HX was the better choice.

Either water cool the GPUs or use a case with better air flow. Perhaps 90C is within spec (although I'm not aware of any published official max temps for 4890s)but it doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

What's with the limited choice for a case anyway? You seem to want to experiment? CM Storm Scout has handles, or Lian Li Lancool has great air cooling and radiator hose grommets.

I did like the inclusion of the Swiftech kit.

one-shot 09/28/2009 8:58 AM
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Corsair says it's Silver

http://www.corsair.com/products/hx850/default.aspx

So...I guess it's really Gold?

(sarcasm)

tipmen 09/28/2009 9:01 AM
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I only fear what a QuadFire 5870 would bring if a tri 4890s does this much damage. Thanks for doing AMD it may not be the best CPU but its always nice to see a change.

Crashman 09/28/2009 9:15 AM
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dirtmountain :
So does Jonnyguruhttp://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.p [...] 2&reid=153I guess you just can't believe everything you find on a brands site.



80 plus is an independant rating site, the 850HX was upgraded to Gold status so unless you're using an old unit you should be fine.

Proximon :
What's with the limited choice for a case anyway? You seem to want to experiment? CM Storm Scout has handles, or Lian Li Lancool has great air cooling and radiator hose grommets.I did like the inclusion of the Swiftech kit.



This editor never uses external radiators because they're too easily damaged, ugly, and make transportation difficult. The only choice not mentioned was the HAF932: There's one in the lab, it's enormous and cheaply built.

Also, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the ventilation of the case used. It's remarkable. It's darned near perfect. The GPU's run hot for two reasons: HD 4890's are horribly inefficient and there's not much space between them.

The other option would have been to face the PSU fan towards the cards so it could draw warm air away from them.

winterlord 09/28/2009 9:40 AM
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this thing is truely alswome anyway you slice it. eye candy galore, and im sure anyone who won this thing would be more then happy. and what makes this beast realy shine is how much performance it gets not only in gaming but alswome productivity/ap[plication scores as well. all the way around it is alswome. also very interesting to see AMD parts stacking up like this in a high end gaming. very interesting.

masterjaw 09/28/2009 9:49 AM
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"Happy birthday", "Happy Halloween", "Merry Christmas", and "Happy New Year" to the lucky one who would get his hands on this one.

anamaniac 09/28/2009 10:05 AM
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Wow...
I would take this over your last $2,500 Intel system no doubt!
This thing is a work of art.

Excellent work.
Wait wait wait... why would I want a phenom when i have a i7? I don't know, but this system is that cool.

I love the case used on it too. Tri-4890, 2x80GB SSD etc. even on a 2.5k budget is admirable.
Making me wonder were all the money on my build went...

Also nice to see a cheap motherboard being promoted. I paid over $300 for my mobo, and I regret it (good overclocking mobo... crappy overclocker cpu). >_<


Keep up the good work.


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