UPDATED: SVC celebrating the takeover of SVC.com with HOT deals More sales 2/20

[BubbaJudge]

i ordered just by coincidence to this thread

my order of fans, $9 thermalright sk6 , cold cathode, vantec nexus, $1.99 laser cut fangrills, and other assorted deals, shipped in just over a day, and arrived perfect.

will buy from again.

 

[RobsTV]

Originally posted by: Dead Parrot Sketch
Robstv,

I'd like to re-ask the question asked earlier. How do you tell the new GSC68 from the old GSC68 ?

Unless I missed it somewhere the only difference you've given is it came in a different box. I don't understand how coming in a different box is going to affect cooling ability.

What are the physical differences ? material, fan, number of fins ?

TIA

While I'm not going to measure and check all the differences, you can easily tell just by looking at the new GC68.
New GC68 is lighter, has less fins, fan is mounted further away, has less ridges, whimpy clip, and uses a much lower output fan.
Old GC68 felt like a brick and seemed "tough", while this feels like a toy in comparison, and seems "whimpy". (exaggerating somewhat).
Old GC68 had to have the fan removed during install, as clip and size were too big for most jobs if fan was left on.
New GC68 has no problem installing with the whimpy clip, even if you leave the fan on, although size is still the same.
It is not something you have to examine closely to see, as it is clearly visable that one is built better than the other.

Salesman can say all they want, but those that have bought many of these in the past can see what is going on.

Also as stated in every post, get the GC69, as it is still by far the best cooler for the new price of $10 that you can get.

EDIT:
Actually just looked at the photos of GC68 and GC69.
Before the GC69, they only had the GC68. It came in a box labled GC118.
Other websites sold a similar looking HSF, and called them different names.
But looking at the photos of the old GC68 (GC118) and what the other websites were selling, and you could clearly see the difference.
There have been a lot of threads about the GC68, search for them to see the difference between what SVC GC68 was, and what other websites were selling.
The units sold by SVC always got great praise, while the imitaions sold by other websites received poor reviews from buyers.
The GC68 sold now by SVC is NOT the same as the GC68 they used to sell. It is now the same as what the other websites sold, and poorer quality.
Looking at the photo of the new GC69, that too is not the same.
I am guessing that the good old GC68 (GC118) has been upgraded as the GC69 text indicates. (more material and denser fins)
And to keep a $5 HSF available, they now use the same distributor that sold the original imitations.

More editing:
Here is a comparison review of what we used to get:
Cooler Roundup: March 2002
The SVC GC68 used to come with 2 fans, but to lower the price they went with the single cheaper fan.
The many ordered last year all were the same as the comparison, except they all cost $5, and had only the one fan.
Still, was a great cooler, and is NOT like the new GC68 I just got.

 

[corinthos]

Well that's false advertising... they should give a refund to you and everyone else who bought a GC68 recently who thought they were getting the original higher quality version...........

 

[RobCur]

^update^
orders shipped, wow fast service even thought they have alot of orders on hand.

 

[Thump553]

Well their site is pretty bogged down (must be the AT effect) but my order of approximately six items went through, was shipped fast and in perfect condition. Two day shipping was very reasonable, too.

 

[N8]

Only ever had 1 problem w/ SVC & I've prolly ordered from them 15 times by now. The took care of it well. I recommend them

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the additional info Robstv.

I just received one of the "new" GSC68, I assume, I didn't have the old one to compare it with. It seems like a pretty nice HSF for $5.
(actually it seems insanely nice for $5)

Its keeping my temps low enough and is quieter than the old 60mm cooler I was using, which is what I was after.

If I was planning to overclock much I would have spent the extra $5 for the GSC69.

 

[corinthos]

I got this message at the top of an e-mail from SVC about a sale they're having:

"Note: There has been some confusion in some online forums about the GC68. The GC68 has not changed in any way since its introduction over a year ago. The GC69 is all new and completely different than the so called "old GC68." The fan specifications also have remained unchanged."

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: corinthos
I got this message at the top of an e-mail from SVC about a sale they're having:

"Note: There has been some confusion in some online forums about the GC68. The GC68 has not changed in any way since its introduction over a year ago. The GC69 is all new and completely different than the so called "old GC68." The fan specifications also have remained unchanged."

Regardless, I don't see how you can blame something like this on SVC. This is more an issue of whomever manufactures the GC-68/69. That's like saying last year's model car is better than this year's model, so its the car dealerships fault.

Chiz

 

[amdskip]

The GC68 has not changed at all. They have however labeled them differently and the fans but nothing else has changed at all.

 

[RobsTV]

I too got the same email and sent SVC a reply.
Don't know how many times I need to say this here, but it IS different.
True, to them it may be the same, and their supplier may have made the change.

One quick, simple and easy way to see a difference is in the important clip.
As most overclockers know, a clip that holds the HSF on very tightly cools better than a lose clip.
Check out the review link I posted above, and they mention the clip we were getting.
The old GC68 had a clip that was locked into the heatsinks fins with a couple tabs.
It could not slide. It also was very difficult to install, and most had to remove fan first.
The new GC68 has a clip that does not lock to heatsinks fins, and allows heatsink to slide around.
Clip is also wimpy, and allows you to easily install the HSF without removing the fan first.

But the cooling is what's important, and I get a 5c difference between old GC68 and the new GC68.

This will not stop me from buying from them, as they still have some of the best prices.
They also screwed up on shipping my last order, but it was the only time that's happened, and everyone makes mistakes.

 

[solarsx]

i've ordered from them once and the only problem i saw was they put 9 instead of 10 screws in my order... not a big deal but kinda made me feel disappointed a bit that they didn't count them right

 

[yellowperil]

I also noticed that the GC68 is loose compared to other heatsinks (e.g. Thermaltake Volcanoes which actually leave an imprint of the core on the bottom) but I haven't had any problems. It did concern me a little bit that there would be sliding, and the ease at which the clip attached suggested the possibility that the entire HSF could fall off (not good). But the core is making contact with the bottom so I think it'll be alright. I'm getting lower temps & noise on a XP1800+ than the retail HSF.

FWIW SVC also screwed up my order but sent me the missing item. Good service but whoever's packing the orders should put down the bong.

 

[Tom]

Just to reiterate, the GC68 I just got kicks a$$ for a $5 HSF !

 

[RobCur]

Originally posted by: Dead Parrot Sketch
Just to reiterate, the GC68 I just got kicks a$$ for a $5 HSF !

 

[RobCur]

UPS is the suck! 1week and no package in sight! if I ordered using prioritymail, it would have gotten here wednesday/thursday already! for only 4 dollars more. GOD, I hate UPS, slow and not so cheap! :Q

 

[ElectricLegs]

THe diff on the GC68 is that the clip slot was milled slightly wider so the clip doesn't catch the fins. This has no functional effect at all unless you're stupid enough to rest the edge of the HS on the CPU socket. The center of the clip still is directly over the cpu core.

Compared to other heatsinks performance and prices this should be a $15+ unit. Most others that cool as well are 40-50db too. Throw the $5 blue led fan with the variable speed control and you'll really see it shine for overclocking. Just crank the fan up until the temps under full loads are acceptable.

 

[breweyez]

RobsTV is right on the money...I have both the old & new GC68's in front of me...the new one has a weak clip on it...I should add that the new one came with a smooth finish, a lot of the older GC68's had to be lapped to get good temps

 

[ElectricLegs]

Lol... The ones with the clip that feel weaker is like that because it actually goes to the bottom of the HS slot. The ones that feel tight are catching on the top of the hump of the casting so it has to be compressed about 1/4" more to get it hooked on the tab. (about 1/8th" at the center) If you want the extra tight feel put a flat spacer in the slot. I've looked at 8 of varying ages.

 

[BTSpope]

ordered thrice from the fellows at svc.....never a problem

 

[RobCur]

I bought a few gc21 cooler for 1.99, extremely noisy@ 5700 RPM :Q Worthless, can't hear anything else throwing this down the trashcan. Why didn't they say it is 46DBA ,very NOISY!!! I just ordered 4 more GC68, this actually cost me more in the long run.

 

[m1ke101]

got my slk-800, 3 smart fans, and my sunbeam rheobus yesterday. SVC is great! The slk-800 is one heavy mother, and the smart fans are pretty heavy for fans.

 

[Tom]

Has anyone bought the $2.50 NMB 80mm fans advertised as ultra quiet ? Looking for opinions about how quiet the are ?

I'm thinking of putting one on my new GC68 and using a couple as case fans to make a quieter Athlon system. Do you think this could be adequate cooling for a 1800+ system, not overclocked much ?

Also is this fan much quieter than the fan that comes with the GC68 ? The stock fan is quieter than my old 60mm HSF but I'd like to get an Athlon system that's as quiet as possible and still inexpensive.

 

[BMdoobieW]

I placed an order with SVC on Feb 6 and I think it just shipped yesterday. I'm kind of annoyed about that.

 

[frogster220]

I've had 2 orders with SVC in the last month without a problem. I usually use 3 day UPS shipping so as to avoid long shipping delays.

I've ordered 3 of the GC69s. I really think the 3 prong clips are essential. CPU temps are always below 40C.