We’ve got to admit, when we first heard Gigabyte was moving into the realm of CPU cooling, we weren’t quite sure what had made them come to that conclusion. While the market is a little more stable in the sense that socket changes are more rare, there are still a plethora of companies who are already competing in the cooling arena. Gigabyte’s 3D Cooler Pro however definitely stands out.
Gigabyte starts by fusing heat pipe cooling to an Orb-shaped heatsink design. The heat pipes are tall, giving the cooler more room to work with, while it’s encapsulated inside an aluminum-finned heatsink. At the heart of all this are dual fans which are capable of providing enough air to not only keep the heat pipe and heatsink cool (and thus, your CPU), but nearby system components cool as well -- when Gigabyte says 3D they really mean it.
The whole package is then topped off with blue LEDs. This gives the 3D Cooler Pro an added level of panache and is perfect for those of you with case windows.
For more control, the 3D Cooler Pro also features a 3.5” fan control panel which can be mounted on the front of your case, or with the provided adapter, in the PCI slot on the back of your computer. The speed of the dual intake fans can be adjusted from 2,000-4,000 RPMs.
The whole system is compatible with Athlon XP, Athlon 64, and Pentium 4, so if you want to use it on your existing K7 or Pentium 4 system now and also for that shiny new Socket 939 Athlon 64 FX you plan on upgrading to at the end of this year the 3D Cooler Pro is ready. Installation is a snap and is completely tool-less.
In short, we were very impressed with Gigabyte’s 3D Cooler Pro and we weren’t the only ones, the rest of the industry has taken notice also. Thermaltake has recently launched its Tower Series, which incorporates many of the features found in 3D Cooler Pro such as the heat pipe design and compatibility with a variety of processors. But the Thermaltake tower lacks 360-degree cooling and fan control, two features Gigabyte has in the 3D Cooler Pro.
So what’s the downside? Price. Online prices for the 3D Cooler Pro start at about $50, which is quite a bit to pay for a cooler, even if it does cool more than just your processor. Gigabyte does produce a cost-reduced version of the 3D Cooler Pro, the 3D Cooler. It features the heat pipe design and dual fans, but lacks the blue LEDs and fan control (RPMs are fixed at 2,500 RPM).
Gigabyte’s 3D Cooler Pro is a remarkable piece of work. It looks good, performs well, and can be configured to run quietly. In addition, it essentially can be used to help keep your other systems components cool. But with the 3D Pro’s high price and Gigabyte’s all-copper cooler right around the corner, we want to wait and see how much additional performance the copper unit brings before we come to a final verdict. Hopefully the introduction of the all-copper 3D Cooler Ultra will drive prices on the Pro model we tested today down a little bit. But if you just can’t wait until then, the 3D Cooler Pro definitely won’t disappoint.
Mass Effect 3 PC Demo Impressions Mass Effect 3, EA/BioWare's third iteration in their series of sci-fi action RPGs and one of the most anticipated titles of the year, is fast approaching its March 6th release. This week, though, they released a playable demo on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 that offers a glimpse into both the single-player and multi-player portions of the full game.
Whether you're waiting impatiently for your download to finish or don't have the time to check it out yourself, go ahead and read some impressions of the demo from resident FSers Synch and Vandy in today's article!
Batman: Arkham City PC Review Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s smash-hit action game Batman: Arkham Asylum. As the name suggests, you will be reprising your role as the Caped Crusader and going against an even larger 'prison' filled with Gotham's criminals and villains. A textbook example on how to do a proper sequel, Arkham City takes what worked in the original, excised or improved upon what didn’t, and elevated everything to an even greater scope. The PC version suffered from a few months of delay, but in that time, Rocksteady worked closely to NVIDIA to implement some familiar technologies from the last game, such as PhysX and 3D Vision, along with new DirectX 11 optimizations. But how well was the whole package executed? Read on to find out!
Saints Row: The Third PC Review Saints Row is one of most unique series of games to build upon the open-world action template forged by Grand Theft Auto, and has met with plenty of critical and commercial success since it began on consoles back in 2006. This latest iteration, titled Saints Row: The Third promises the most outlandish fun and freedom of customization of them all, and in a much more PC-friendly package than its predecessor. Does it live up to those expectations and, more importantly, is it worth the price of admission? Find out in Will's latest review!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Softworks’ latest offering in their series of epic fantasy RPGs, as well as one of the most highly-anticipated PC titles of 2011. As the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, prepare to take the fight to the mythical beasts that have returned to the realm after centuries of slumber, all the while exploring a huge and highly-detailed open world.
The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
Intel Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E Performance Review
Today marks the launch date for Intel’s Sandy Bridge-E line of processors, a new family of high-end Core i7 products based on the LGA 2011 platform. This new socket is poised to replace the existing LGA 1366 specification used by the more powerful Nehalem and Westmere parts from the past couple years, specifically Bloomfield and Gulftown, the Core i7-9xx+ line of CPUs.
With 6 cores, 15MB of cache, and support for quad-channel DDR3-1600 memory, the Core i7-3960X sounds like quite a catch. Want to know more about it and how it performs? Read on!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 Review
The self-appointed "most anticipated game in history" launched worldwide this past Tuesday. Why, it's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, of course (of course), what else? Unsurprisingly, the military FPS debate between this and Battlefield 3 rages on, but now that both have been released, surely we can take a look and objectively evaluate them both? Luke's taken the Xbox version of MW3 for a spin this week, so to find out what he thinks of it in today's review!
Stronghold 3 Review
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Wrecked: Revenge Revisited Supersonic Software Interview
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Do you think Gigabyte made the right move by introducing a CPU cooler? What do you think about the 3D Cooler’s unique design? Voice your thoughts in the comments section!
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