3D Aurora Chassis
All things considered, Gigabyte has hit a home run with the new 3D Aurora case. Like any case, there is room for improvement (I’m still wanting a slide-out motherboard tray in every case – I can dream). At first, I was concerned that having twice as many exhaust fans as intake fans would create a negative pressure situation promoting dust. But considering how close the large side vent panel is to the exhaust fans, they will most likely draw a lot of air though it which only means occasional cleaning of the panel.
Some people don’t like doors (it can be removed if you don’t mind losing the security of locking it up tight) and some may not like blue. These are all subjective. Setting personal preferences aside, the 3D Aurora is damn impressive. It is rare that I have come across a computer case with this quality of build. The fit and finish of every single part is really amazing, it’s built like tank. The liberal use of the very quiet 120mm fans provides superior cooling at a very low noise level. My system monitoring revealed ambient case temps at a consistant 37C with the fans running below 1000 RPM.
This makes the 3D Aurora is highly recommend. At $140 US / £85 it is phenomenally priced and, consequently, amazingly good value.
3D Galaxy Water Cooling Kit
Bringing liquid cooling into the mainstream is tough enough and typically kits can never do as good as individually chosen components. But, a lot of people don’t want to pick every, individual piece and part. Gigabyte has done about as good a job as you can do at kitting a simple liquid cooling solution. It pairs up with the 3D Aurora case very well, they were obviously designed together. But on that note, it's hard to recommend for users who don’t have the 3D Aurora case. From routing your tubing to fastening the pump/reservoir to the chassis, this kit should really only be viewed as an accessory to the 3D Aurora case all things considered.
One very bad aspect of the kit I found the hard way. With the pump/reservoir installed in its prescribed location on the bottom of the 3D Aurora case, I could not install my video card because the reservoir was in the way. I originally installed an ECS KN1 Extreme motherboard with a NVIDIA 6800GT video card and it simply would not go in. I switched the motherboard out to a MSI KN8 Platinum SLI motherboard. With the primary PCI x16 slot higher, I was able to install the card, but I would not be able to install a second video card. If I didn’t have another motherboard on hand I would’ve been forced to improvise something, probably involving a new location for the pump/reservoir. Since most people don’t have spare motherboards lying around this could be a big problem. I would like to see a gigabyte SLI configuration installed in an 3D Aurora Case with the Galaxy water cooling kit installed, I’m not sure it could be done.
Hardcore watercoolers will scoff at the lack of GPU and Northbridge cooling. This kit is not intended to satisfy their needs. The kit does perform well, after hours of BF2 play, my CPU maintained a nice 34C temp. It is simply an easy to install and quite cooling solution for your Aurora case, unless you can’t install your video card.
And finally, some parting glory shots with it all put together.
All things considered, Gigabyte has hit a home run with the new 3D Aurora case. Like any case, there is room for improvement (I’m still wanting a slide-out motherboard tray in every case – I can dream). At first, I was concerned that having twice as many exhaust fans as intake fans would create a negative pressure situation promoting dust. But considering how close the large side vent panel is to the exhaust fans, they will most likely draw a lot of air though it which only means occasional cleaning of the panel.
Some people don’t like doors (it can be removed if you don’t mind losing the security of locking it up tight) and some may not like blue. These are all subjective. Setting personal preferences aside, the 3D Aurora is damn impressive. It is rare that I have come across a computer case with this quality of build. The fit and finish of every single part is really amazing, it’s built like tank. The liberal use of the very quiet 120mm fans provides superior cooling at a very low noise level. My system monitoring revealed ambient case temps at a consistant 37C with the fans running below 1000 RPM.
This makes the 3D Aurora is highly recommend. At $140 US / £85 it is phenomenally priced and, consequently, amazingly good value.
Gigabyte 3D Aurora Chassis
3D Galaxy Water Cooling Kit
Bringing liquid cooling into the mainstream is tough enough and typically kits can never do as good as individually chosen components. But, a lot of people don’t want to pick every, individual piece and part. Gigabyte has done about as good a job as you can do at kitting a simple liquid cooling solution. It pairs up with the 3D Aurora case very well, they were obviously designed together. But on that note, it's hard to recommend for users who don’t have the 3D Aurora case. From routing your tubing to fastening the pump/reservoir to the chassis, this kit should really only be viewed as an accessory to the 3D Aurora case all things considered.
One very bad aspect of the kit I found the hard way. With the pump/reservoir installed in its prescribed location on the bottom of the 3D Aurora case, I could not install my video card because the reservoir was in the way. I originally installed an ECS KN1 Extreme motherboard with a NVIDIA 6800GT video card and it simply would not go in. I switched the motherboard out to a MSI KN8 Platinum SLI motherboard. With the primary PCI x16 slot higher, I was able to install the card, but I would not be able to install a second video card. If I didn’t have another motherboard on hand I would’ve been forced to improvise something, probably involving a new location for the pump/reservoir. Since most people don’t have spare motherboards lying around this could be a big problem. I would like to see a gigabyte SLI configuration installed in an 3D Aurora Case with the Galaxy water cooling kit installed, I’m not sure it could be done.
Hardcore watercoolers will scoff at the lack of GPU and Northbridge cooling. This kit is not intended to satisfy their needs. The kit does perform well, after hours of BF2 play, my CPU maintained a nice 34C temp. It is simply an easy to install and quite cooling solution for your Aurora case, unless you can’t install your video card.
And finally, some parting glory shots with it all put together.
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