Some of us love compact gaming builds, but the best of these have always been pre-configured into custom enclosures. Is ASRock’s M8 the perfect open-architecture alternative? We load this $550 barebones up with hardware and test its mettle.
Adobe After Effects loves two things, at least in the context of our benchmark workload: high clock rates and as much memory per core as you can give it. With memory capacity and core count matched between my M8 and our previous $1300 builds, frequency takes priority.
The old saying that hot air rises is usually true because it's less dense. To take advantage of this phenomenon, I flipped the bottom exhaust and top intake fans. Both bottom fans were now intakes, both top fans were now exhaust, and all I needed to do was:
Completely gut the system, since the bottom panel is secured from the inside with four screws.
And then slice up the wire sleeves, since the guide on each fan frame was farther apart.
CPU load temperature immediately dropped by roughly 20°, but at the expense of messier cabling.
It doesn't need extra thickness to support the larger fans, just a minor redesign of the top and bottom panel. But the top panel redesign would include a different locking mechanism, so the tooling cost would be high.11789583 said:This case looks like a good idea, that just needs some refinement to make it even more generic. Another 10mm of thickness to allow 80mm fans (and possibly a full-size optical drive) could go a long way.
Does the added trace length or extra connection required to use a riser card impose any kind of penalty on graphics cards? Please test this, by using one on a typical motherboard just for some measurements.