"Do you still benefit from having a quad-core, high-clocked i5 over a dual-core i3? Can you get away with a cheaper Pentium for all your 1080p gaming needs?"
1 COOLING ISSUES
Cooler Master’s latest 240mm AIO was a headache, as it deviates from the traditional Asetek mounting design. With most coolers, you secure the backplate to the motherboard using double-ended screws of varying sizes, depending on whether you’re attaching it to a 2011 board, a 1150/51 board or an AMD offering. Then you place the CPU block on the four screws, and secure it with four thumb screws. With the MasterLiquid Pro, Cooler Master has removed the screw between the board and the backplate, so you have to position the backplate through the board, with long pre-attached screws. Then, while holding the backplate in place, you position the block on the screws. Finally, while somehow holding it so it doesn’t move, you use the thumb screws to secure it. Pro tip? Find a buddy or, as we did, literally use your head to hold the block in place.
2 DUST CONUNDRUMS
One of the few complaints we have about Corsair’s 270R stems from the uppermost fan mounts — primarily that they lack any form of dust cover. Being an awkward size and not supporting 360mm radiators either, regardless of its dimensions, makes things even more frustrating when you’re on the hunt for a dust filter. Your best bet, if building in this particular chassis, would be to use two 120mm fans to blow air out of the top of the chassis. This should at least prevent too much dust entering your system while it’s running, although it will need some loving maintenance to keep it truly clean in the long term.
3 GPU CABLE ISSUES
Oh, the problems of using bits and pieces from our storage cupboard: We wanted to use a custom cable kit in conjunction with our Corsair RM650X power supply, just to spruce it up a bit, but our only kit had already been cannibalised for our Dream PC from two issues ago (see 438, page 92), so there were only a few bits remaining. A single CPU power, one spare ATX power (specifically designed for the RMX, as the HXi has different 24-pin requirements), and a single GPU cable. The GPU cable in question, however, was a dual connector, so we were left with one part hanging out just below the GPU, which we couldn’t hide around the back, or behind the cable cut-out situated below.
5 PSU COVER
Although Corsair still doesn’t have quite as clean and beautiful a PSU cover as a lot of its competitors, it’s damn good to see one included here. Three-quarter sized, it provides plenty of ventilation for multiple orientations of power supply, and easily lets us hide the vast majority of our excess cables below. One thing that still haunts us from our water-cooling days, however, is fan orientation. We always advise that you install your power supply with the fan facing down wherever possible, because a leak from the AIO or a GPU block, for instance, is likely to kill it.
4 CABLE MANAGEMENT SORTED
We went all-out with this little build to get the cable management just right. Using a plethora of cable ties, we secured what we could to the back of the chassis, to make sure airflow wasn’t restricted, and to ensure that the rear side panel was easier to replace — and, to be honest, to keep everything looking a little tidier. Take your time on this bit: Figure out which cables go under what, and where you can hide stuff, without it being too much of a major issue.
6 LED CORNUCOPIA
Colour coordination wasn’t at the front of our minds when we built this machine, but we’re actually quite impressed with how it turned out. We threw in a Corsair ML120 Pro in red in the back to spice it up a little, and help the air shift around efficiently inside, but the combination of the red motherboard with the blue cooler and green GPU actually kinda works, especially considering the price. You could install additional LED strips if you do want to change out to another colour — but, hooey, that’s a lot of effort for not a lot of gain.