Raijintek Morpheus meets GeForce RTX 3080 – DIY rebuild á la MacGyver and the pitfalls of the hot GDDR6X | Practice

While cleaning up in the storage, I found a virtually unused Raijintek Morpheus prototype that was supposed to clarify the difference between copper and aluminum heatsinks on RAM and VRM ages ago. Fittingly, the GeForce RTX 3080 reference board is also on the shelf of good deeds in the test lab, including a universal backplate that could be [...]


Sharkoon Silent Storm 140 mm ARGB Case Fan Review – High throughput, lots of static pressure and perfect on radiators

Since readers explicitly asked for the Sharkoon Silent Storm 120 mm ARGB case fan and we recently reviewed it, we have now also taken a closer look at the equally expensive 140 mm model. With street prices of also under 11 Euros, you get an ARGB case fan in 140 mm that could not only convince in the test, but is also easy on the wallet. Of course [...]


German Engineered Bend Aids for Intels LGA1700 – Thermal Grizzly CPU Contact Frame and Alphacool Apex Backplate Thermal Testing | Review

The LGA1700 socket, which Intel introduced for the 12th generation of their Core CPUs last November, is known to have one or two problems with bending hardware. For context, I recommend our other two posts if you haven’t read them already. But in short, the problem is that the clamping force of the ILM (Integrated Loading Mechanism) is [...]


Alphacool Eisblock Aurora Acryl GPX-A (2022) with Sapphire Radeon RX 6950 XT Nitro+ Pure Review – 2.8 GHz++ are not a problem

Alphacool has given the Aurora Acryl GPX-A Eisblock a complete redesign, promising better flow and lower temperatures across the block. So why not test the 2022 version together with a Sapphire RX 6950XT Nitro+ Pure, which was already disassembled in the 3D scanner anyway? Of course, I don’t want to spoil anything, but the temperatures as [...]


High-End Gaming PC 2021/2022 with Custom Water Cooling | Part 2 Assembly

Time is running out and many are already waiting for the second part and today is the day (who missed the first part: click here). We take a look at the finished high-end gaming PC including the peripherals. The focus will be on the topic of custom water cooling. So if you expect there to be much on the subject of PC assembly in general today [...]


Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING OC WATERFORCE WB – When aluminum destroys the cooling circuit | Investigativ

Due to a given occasion, I now even have to add a third part to my water cooling investigations. It will unfortunately show what happens when you combine (without knowing it) an aluminum cooler with copper components and I will specifically question why the result turns out so extreme, as in this case. Of course, you also have to differentiate the [...]


Missing flux compensator: Flux residues in cheap radiators – why so many AiO water cooling systems really die | Investigative

I did not make it easy for myself, but worked on this topic for almost half a year. In the first article last year I had already written about clogged radiators and tubes, defective pumps and the theory behind the coolants on their additives. After a very complex analysis with the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and with the help of energy [...]