4

10. What sucks and should not have been bought?

The 150mm EK reservoir from FrozenCPU. Both installation clips shattered in the same place when I went to install the res. I talked directly to FrozenCPU's CEO, who told me this was a known, common issue.

You'd expect that statement to be followed up with "which is why we will no longer carry this product," or "we are working with EK to resolve this, and will send you replacement clips." Instead, he told me it was both a known issue AND my fault, and that my only option was to buy replacement plastic clips they conveniently sold. I purchased the clips... from Performance-PCs, thank you very much

11. Did you modify anything ?  cases/video cards/other? Did you do it yourself? Walk us through it.

The entire case. I removed all the original paneling, fans, and HDD racks. Clearance was made for a 3x120mm radiator. The entire front of the chassis was removed to replace a single 120mm fan mount with a 200mm (main) + 120mm (drive chamber) intake.

The PSU area has a huge cutout so you can see the back of the drives, the PSU, and the bundles of cable descending into the chassis. HDD mounting was moved to the 5.25" bays with the RaptorX clear-top on display.

All paneling was designed by me and laid out by a kind former girlfriend in drafting programs, then laser cut, sanded, painted, etc. All fans are controlled by the chassis-mounted controller, configured for an upper and lower air chamber. Everything from the chassis to the switch brackets to the side panels was sanded and painted by hand. There's really nothing stock about it except the motherboard and RAM. Oh, I did the uni-sleeving too, it was my first sleeving project .

12. Your 3DMark06 / 3DMark Vantage score (P+GPU)

Vantage = P25,061 

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1966414

13. Do you have any Future updates planned ?

I actually sold most of the system very recently to recoup costs. The next system will still be high performance, but will be passive-cooled and very compact. Focus will be on refined, stable, and efficient power rather than leaving the system on the bleeding edge 24/7.

Congratulations to this months winner. You will be contacted through email regarding address information. The OCZ Z Series 850W Modular PSU will be shipped to you worldwide for free, courtesy of OCZ.

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