Is there any reason to pick the Sparkle Titan over the Acer Nitro? At $100 CAD difference 😅 Or is it just for the aesthetics, OC, triple fans?
I got the Acer Nitro for $400 CAD; the Sparkle Titan is listed at $500. Would the Sparkle be a better choice for reliability and better temperatures down the road? I don't plan to upgrade for a while.
[Update] I am keeping the Acer Nitro! Thanks for the replies
Just got mine from Amazon this morning, and so far I'm really impressed. It was the same price as the Arctic Freezer 36 here.
As you can see from the photos, they've improved the single tower cooler design, by using assyemtrical fins, and also by leaving ample space between the fins and fan blades. It doesn't have the annoying high pitched whine that other single tower push/pull coolers have.
It comes with their new TL-N12-R9 (push) and TL-N12R-R13 (reverse pull) fans. The R13 is quiet, but the R9 is quite loud above 90%. The fans are available on AliExpress; I'm thinking of getting a few for my case fans.
So far, performance and temperatures are very good on my R5 7600X using the stock thermal paste.
Just got mine off Amazon, and so far it's pretty awesome. It comes with the new TL-N12-R9 push and TL-N12R-R13 (reverse) pull fan. From the photos, you can see they've designed it so there's plenty of space between the heatsink fins and the fan blades on both sides. Also, the fins are angled in different directions. Because of this, it doesn't have the annoying high pitched whine like other push/pull coolers have (like the Arctic Freezer 36). Fans are quite loud above 90%. Will probably have to play with the fan curve.
Performance so far is much better than my last dual tower cooler. Getting around 73-75 degrees Celsius while gaming, compared to previous 78-80 degrees on my r5 7600x.
I got it for $100 CAD (regular price $140) mainly for the aesthetics.
Contrary to reviews, I found the installation on AM5 extremely difficult. I checked multiple times that I installed the brackets and standoffs correctly, but it was just that the spring-loaded screws were incredibly stiff and refused to reach the bracket. Maybe it was just mine.
Also, it would have been better if they didn't make the included screwdriver magnetic, as it kept sticking to the sides of the heatsink during install.
Wasted the whole tube of thermal paste, but it's much easier to install after the first time. I guess the springs loosened or something. I've never had issues with any other air cooler like this.
I'm kind of annoyed that a 'premium' cooler has visible blemishes on the plastic casing. Probably just the way the plastic was molded, but it's very visible under lighting. Tried polishing with plastic restorer, but didn't help unfortunately.
Also, I had to disable the LED light, just as with all Deepcool PC cases, it's cyan color and can't be changed.
If I didn't like the look of it so much, I probably wouldn't keep it honestly. Performance isn't any better than my cheaper air cooler. It is pretty quiet though.
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It took me a few weeks to settle on the CH260, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. After downsizing, I now have a tiny desk, and needed something with a small footprint that's relatively easy for first-time builder.
This one is just about perfect, except for the cyan power LED. I ended up covering the LED with black electrical tape; problem solved! There are a lot of screws for this case, and I wish it was easier to take apart.
I was confused by the PSU installation at first, as I assumed the fan should be facing outward for fresh air intake. But this made it impossible to plug in the power extention cable for the case (it's a left angled connector). But I like how it looks with the fan facing inward, although it's not optimal.
Case: Deepcool CH260
Motherboard: MSI Pro B840M-P WiFi 6e
PSU: Montech Century II 850W
CPU: Ryzen 5 7600X
GPU: AMD Radeon 9060 XT 16GB Dual
RAM: 16GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR5
Case Fans: 3x Pure Wings 3 120mm PWM
CPU Cooler: BeQuiet! Pure Rock 3 (with additional Pure Wings 3 high-speed fan in push/pull configuration)
Thank you for everyone here for the inspiration and advice. I never thought I'd be able to build my own PC!
Newbie here.
I got a good deal on a prebuilt, but I’m replacing the fans, cooler, psu and case. I tried out the Asus Prime AP201, and it was great, but then I discovered the A3 which looks a lot nicer to me.
Just a question about the rear intake airflow method. I have a Scythe Mugen 6, and Scythe Wonder Tornado for case fans. If the 2x CPU cooler fans are the 2000rpm, but the case fans are the 2500rpm version, should I swap out the air cooler fans to match the same ones? Just curious, because the rear intake fan will be pretty close to the first fan on the cpu cooler (dual fan, push/pull, single tower). But I understand, the fans are pwm and CPU fan and intake fan won’t be in sync anyway.
I ordered 6 fans because I thought I needed them, until reading some of the posts here, so I have extras.
Thank you for you help 🙏
I’ve been looking for a cheap monitor for school and gaming, and came across this one from Benq. It’s a 27” 1440p, 200hz, IPS monitor on sale for less than $200 USD. It’s one of the few with amd freesync premium, 65w usb c display alt and built-in speakers. It’s marketed as an “entertainment” monitor, so it won’t show up in a lot of search results.
So far it’s been better than expected. Of course it’s not the best picture, or contrast, or hdr. But I can honestly say it’s better than a lot of more expensive IPS monitors I’ve used in the past. Build quality and backlight bleed/ips glow levels are pretty good for ips. And finally! some decent speakers for those who don’t have a lot of room on their desk.
I had to downgrade when I lost my job, but I’ve mostly used miniLED monitors in the past. Hoping this one lasts me until I can afford to upgrade to another MiniLED or OLED.
Only wish this one can with a better stand, and in black.
AMA
Pre-orders didn’t even ship apparently, back ordered.
I sold my last gaming PC (14400F, 4070 Super, 16GB, 1TB) when I lost my job last year. I think I paid around $1700 at the time (2024)
I’m finally, looking to get another gaming desktop. I’ve been dabbling with handheld PC’s, but I realized they are crazy overpriced, and I’d rather have another desktop instead.
I’m just looking for a low-midrange desktop for Helldivers 2 mainly.
How bad of a deal is this one? $1592 - $318 = $1275. It’s less than I paid for the MSI Claw 8ai+ at Costco.