Arctic Cooling Silentium T1 - Page 6
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Conclusion and Thoughts
With the gaming industry growing at a rapid rate, companies are smothering the market with "gaming" cases that come with flashy looks. Arctic Cooling is one of the few companies that actually try to improve upon what's really important--cooling. A case that provides good cooling is very important, but as long as you have the proper intake and exhaust fans, you really have nothing to worry about. The downside of providing proper case airflow is the noise level. Sometimes a system can be too loud due to the extra case fans. Arctic Cooling stepped in and designed a different case with pure cooling performance in mind. Although the performance isn't much to brag about, the noise level is. The system was very tolerable during the entire testing process. At idle, the system was silent. Only a slight hum was audible, and that was only from sitting next to the case. The system did get louder under full load but still more tolerable than a regular ATX case with intake and exhaust fans.
Like many companies on a first attempt, Arctic Cooling's Silentium T-series comes with many flaws. The main imperfection is the motherboard tray. There just isn't enough space for ease of installation. It wouldn't hurt to add an inch to the width so that the motherboard can slip in easier. The second is the number of drive bays available. With so many accessories available today, it's not very surprising to see enthusiasts take up more than two 5.25" drive bays. The last major flaw would be the included power supply. Although Arctic Cooling claims to be able to power a 3.8GHZ and a 6800 Ultra, the moment I installed a BFG 6800 OC, the system showed instability. The problem wasn't with the graphic card either; I made sure of that. Arctic Cooling sure gets a good pat on the back for their great innovations, but they need to do a lot of work to fix these flaws.
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We would like to thank Arctic Cooling for providing us the sample. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to hit us up in the forums. You can also check out more of our latest reviews on the front page.
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