- Nov 27, 2001
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In my younger years, I may have settled more fancy, blinking, colorful LEDs and fans that could rival a vacuum cleaner, but as I've aged a bit, I really enjoy more subtle computers. While noise level is usually not the biggest deal for a fancy, schmancy gaming PC, it's definitely something that you may want to take into account when building a HTPC. That's especially true if you are placing it in a bedroom!
When I saw Streacom's FC8 Evo, I knew that I wanted to build one of these machines. The Streacom case is completely fan-less as it builds a large heatsink solution into the case, which connects to the processor through heatpipes. Streacom lists the FC8 Evo is rated for 95W, but I wanted to keep the possible heat dispersion down; however, I wanted a modest amount of GPU power. Intel mostly equips their lower-end processors with the weaker HD2500, but they recently released the i3-3225 with a HD4000.
Here are the full stats:
While building the machine last night, it was rather hard to ignore the fact that it had to have been the hardest computer build that I've ever done. Streacom has pretty much ignored the current trend of "tool-less is best" as you not only need tools, but some fairly specific tools. You'll need a Phillips-head screwdriver with a rather thin neck to reach the screws that are between the heatsink fins. My bit screwdriver wouldn't fit... even with an extended 8" long Phillips-head bit, and I was rather lucky that I had a very small screwdriver that also had a very long neck. To add, a screwdriver is required to take the top of the case off.
The second aspect that made it hard was that the cooling solution is made up of a few different pieces: lower heatsink, upper heatsink, four heat pipes and two heat pipe clamps. To note, there are two separate upper heatsinks: one for AMD and one for Intel. That in itself doesn't make it the most difficult build, but when you consider that the instructions (more on the instructions later) state that you should put thermal paste on various cooling parts can make it difficult to then handle the parts while trying to put them in place. I ended up placing the lower heatsink on the CPU with thermal paste on the CPU and the grooves in the lower heatsink. The TIM (Thermal Interface Material) helped keep the lower heatsink from simply sliding off the CPU. I used Zalman's STG-1 on the portion of the heat pipes that connects to the heatsink as the brush applicator (similar to what you see on nail polish) made it significantly easier to apply and not smear everywhere (since I wasn't relying on pressure to disperse the TIM). Imagine having to hold those heatpipes in place while trying to put the screw back in place to lock the clamp down.
What makes this even more difficult is that while you're working with this rather unique case, you aren't even provided any instructions. Personally, I thought the instructions were good looking but I wasn't really impressed with the organization or the guidance. I still have no idea what the c-clamps are for. They apparently go somewhere below the upper heatsink and with the spring-loaded screws. The instructions don't really have a cohesive flow when it comes to assembling the heatsink. Although, thankfully, I was able to load up the instructions my tablet and use that instead.
The heatsink performance seems alright. I loaded up Speedfan on the PC, and while running 1080p h.264 MKVs and even just loading Windows Updates, I watched the temperatures. To reiterate, the CPU has a 55W TDP compared to the 95W recommended maximum, and I was seeing between 50 to 60 Celsius on one core and 45-55 Celsius on the other core. It was definitely interesting to see how core usage would quickly affect the temperature. A core would operate at around 50C, and I would watch it jump up to 100% usage and the temperatures would almost instantly shoot up to 55-60C. Although, I'm honestly not too sure if my numbers are too high for my processor.
I'll try and get some photos out, but I'm honestly not too sure how they came out. I spend too much money on computers to buy a good SLR.
When I saw Streacom's FC8 Evo, I knew that I wanted to build one of these machines. The Streacom case is completely fan-less as it builds a large heatsink solution into the case, which connects to the processor through heatpipes. Streacom lists the FC8 Evo is rated for 95W, but I wanted to keep the possible heat dispersion down; however, I wanted a modest amount of GPU power. Intel mostly equips their lower-end processors with the weaker HD2500, but they recently released the i3-3225 with a HD4000.
Here are the full stats:
Code:
Case: Streacom FC8 Evo
Processor: Intel i3-3225
Motherboard: ASUS P8H77-i
Memory: G.Skill DDR3-1600 2GBx2
Storage: Intel 320 SSD 80GB
Power Supply: Wesena 150W Nano-PSUThe second aspect that made it hard was that the cooling solution is made up of a few different pieces: lower heatsink, upper heatsink, four heat pipes and two heat pipe clamps. To note, there are two separate upper heatsinks: one for AMD and one for Intel. That in itself doesn't make it the most difficult build, but when you consider that the instructions (more on the instructions later) state that you should put thermal paste on various cooling parts can make it difficult to then handle the parts while trying to put them in place. I ended up placing the lower heatsink on the CPU with thermal paste on the CPU and the grooves in the lower heatsink. The TIM (Thermal Interface Material) helped keep the lower heatsink from simply sliding off the CPU. I used Zalman's STG-1 on the portion of the heat pipes that connects to the heatsink as the brush applicator (similar to what you see on nail polish) made it significantly easier to apply and not smear everywhere (since I wasn't relying on pressure to disperse the TIM). Imagine having to hold those heatpipes in place while trying to put the screw back in place to lock the clamp down.
What makes this even more difficult is that while you're working with this rather unique case, you aren't even provided any instructions. Personally, I thought the instructions were good looking but I wasn't really impressed with the organization or the guidance. I still have no idea what the c-clamps are for. They apparently go somewhere below the upper heatsink and with the spring-loaded screws. The instructions don't really have a cohesive flow when it comes to assembling the heatsink. Although, thankfully, I was able to load up the instructions my tablet and use that instead.
The heatsink performance seems alright. I loaded up Speedfan on the PC, and while running 1080p h.264 MKVs and even just loading Windows Updates, I watched the temperatures. To reiterate, the CPU has a 55W TDP compared to the 95W recommended maximum, and I was seeing between 50 to 60 Celsius on one core and 45-55 Celsius on the other core. It was definitely interesting to see how core usage would quickly affect the temperature. A core would operate at around 50C, and I would watch it jump up to 100% usage and the temperatures would almost instantly shoot up to 55-60C. Although, I'm honestly not too sure if my numbers are too high for my processor.
I'll try and get some photos out, but I'm honestly not too sure how they came out. I spend too much money on computers to buy a good SLR.
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