cooling component color matching :D

[xkon]

alright... so my ram sticks are dual sided naked teamgroup dimms, and i had an urge to buy some heatsinks/spreaders for them. then i got carried away and wanted to glorify my current setup with matching cooling components. to save on shipping each set is from one retailer. i left out copper because i have a buddy who already has a copper/black setup. here's my list of stuff so far... opinions please! (forgive me, the numbers are rounded all funky like, so the math will be all off ;p) links are to sites with lowest prices (shipping included to my neck of the woods).



black: Newegg.com $93 + $14 shipping = $117
I'll start it off with black. This was one of the hardest sets to find because even thought it's a nice color it is very rare. I cheated on the chipset coolers because i couldn't find any black heatsinks made for chipsets. Not the best performance in the bunch but should be quite a looker. quite cheap too.

cpu: $44 Silverstone SST-NT02 CPU Heatsink and Fan
ram: $3 x2 Evercool EC-MC-BK Aluminum Heatspreaders (check out these black corsairs ;p)
vga: $23 Arctic Cooling Accelero X1 Fluid Dynamic VGA Cooling Fan /w Heatsink
northbridge: $10 Swiftech MC21 Anodized Aluminum Heatsinks
southbridge: $10 Swiftech MC21 Anodized Aluminum Heatsinks

blue: Newegg.com $87 + $15 shipping = $102
This one was more common as blue is very popular. The only thing lacking was a newer VGA cooler that was blue, so I had to settle for an older heatpipe cooler (still works fine nonetheless). Cheapest set to find.

cpu: $34 Thermaltake CL-P0257 Blue orb II HSF
ram: $4 x2 Coolmax 12102 Aluminum Heatspreaders
vga: $30 Zalman ZM80D-HP Dual Heatpipe Noiseless Cooler
northbridge: $10 Zalman ZM-NBF47 Aluminum Heatsink
southbridge: $5 Zalman ZM-NB47J Aluminum Heatsink

red: Directron.com $101 + $13 shipping = $114
Due to the Fatal1ty series this one was easier to fill than the black set. Although the VGA and CPU coolers are last generation they still pack a whallop. This is probably the best bang for your buck. My favorite color set at the moment.

cpu: $46 Zalman Fatal1ty FS-C77 Cooler
ram: $5 x2 [URL="http://www.directron.com/mh101rd.html"]Red Logisys MH101RD[/URL] Aluminum Heatspreaders
vga: $32 Zalman Fatal1ty FS-V7 Cooler
northbridge: $7 Vantec CCB-A1A Chipset Cooler Bundle
southbridge: $7 Vantec CCB-A1A Chipset Cooler Bundle

silver/aluminum: Coolerguys.com $186 + $10 shipping = $196
If looks and price weren't an issue this would be ideal. I like the aluminum feel of everything, but like some people say the inside of the case would look like a bunch of heatpipe skyscrapers. Undoubtedly the best performing set; it's also the most expensive. It costs two times as much.

cpu: $46 Thermalright Ultra-120
ram: $24 x2 Thermalright HR-07 Heatpipe Memory Module Heatsink
vga: $49 Thermalright HR-03 VGA Cooler
northbridge: $19 Thermalright HR-05 Northbridge Chipset Heatsink
southbridge: $24 Thermalright HR-05-SLI Northbridge Chipset Heatsink

Copper: Acousticpc.com $205 + $18 shipping = $117 This e-tailer cost too much, but it was the only place I could find that had a CNPS9700 and a Jing Ting chipset cooler. All copper is good performance and would probably cost a lot less if I looked up prices. Thanks for the horse.

cpu: $75 Zalman CNPS9700-LED Super Aero Flower CPU Cooler
ram: $10 x2 Akasa All Copper Memory RAM Coolers Heatspreader w/ShinEtsu Thermal Interface MATERIAL
vga: $40 Zalman vf-900
northbridge: $35 Jing Ting Forcetake Chipforce (JTS 0006) Offset Chipset cooler
southbridge: $35 MCX159-CU Chipset cooler

looking at the total cost of the thermalright set, i wonder if it's better to just shell out the cash for a fairly nice water cooling setup. cpu/vga/chipset/ram... mmm... water... i've never delved into water so i'm sure if i looked it up, it'd be a horrible disaster. the zalman reserator set looks like a nice blue setup though, corsair nautilus for black, swiftec for silver (kinda), danger den for copper, no red that i know of...

i also discovered a little place called zlappy.com very nice prices on some items. ;p

edit: i have an antec p180b and so i'll probably be the only one that sees it.

edit: added copper

 

[Zinn]

what about copper...? i'm pretty sure i could arrange some copper air cooling that would match on all the component and blow your aluminum set up away PUN IN TENDED get it BLOW THEM AWAY? AIR CO0LInG?! ! Ahhaa ha ahaaaaaahaa

get it?

Copper: Newegg.com $155 + $11 shipping = $166

cpu: $48 ZALMAN CNPS9500 CPU Heatsink and Fan
ram: $3 (x 2) EVERCOOL EC-MC-CO Copper Heatspreaders
vga: $37 Zalman VF900 Copper Heatpipe Heatsink/Fan for VGA
northbridge: $32 Swiftech MCX159-CU Copper Heatsink/Fan
southbridge: $32 Swiftech MCX159-CU Copper Heatsink/Fan

BTW I think intentional PC hardware color-coordination in most cases is best left undiscussed. It's one of those things that you do but you don't talk to others about, and everyone else knows you did it but they don't judge you because they do it too. Like masturbating.

 

[xkon]

lol true.
i dunno bout the copper "blowin" the aluminum colored set away because the thermalright stuff rocks the zalman stuff (it is the best all copper hsf out there though), and the set does cost less. hard to find jing ting all copper chipset coolers too...

bwahaha... pretty much looks like this..

the heatpiped heatspreaders are a little over kill but still.. go a little, might as well go all the way. got bored of matching up the best parts, now just tryin to make the computer look good. LOL at your last comment.

 

[Zinn]

Hmmmm that is pretty sexy. Alright I'm gonna go to bed now

 

[Dark Prodigy]

Color matching FTW.. From my worklog. Though I probably should have color matched the northbridge cooler...

 

[xkon]

whoa ho, gots some christmas spirit in yah eh? red and green. awesome. looks damm nice. just like i thought it would.

 

[Dark Prodigy]

heh, I actually did the build over christmas... however, I couldn't help the board color. I wanted mATX w/ SLi and of course the only board like that in existence is the one from eVGA, so I had no other options.

Also "color matching" sounds so.... metro/semi-homo sexual. Lets used 'themed'. . Regardless, its a testament to a well thuoght out case and design, rather than the rabble of thrown together systems I see these days.

 

[NordicRX8]

You guys gotta have windows to show off the bling!

I have no window in my case... so the internals of my system looks like how Erkel dresses (striped shirt, plaid tie, checkered pants, white belt, etc...)

 

[NordicRX8]

Regardless, its a testament to a well thuoght out case and design, rather than the rabble of thrown together systems I see these days.

LOL!

I think more people are concerned with matching up components that WORK, rather than how it will "look" inside.

Kinda like.... I'd rather spend $600 on a catback system for my car, than $50 on a fartcan. I'd also rather plunk down $2500 for a turbo system than spending that same money on a body kit so the car "looks" nice.

 

[Deejay3d]

I got bashed awhile back, cause I was color-matching components. I wanted all black PCBs. I was tying to get ahold of the Crucial Ballistix with the black heatspreaders, and they were veryhard to find. Guys kept chiming in about "performance is what matters, not the looks". If that's the case, then what's with all these windows in our cases? The way I see it, if you're dropping hundreds (sometimes thousands ) of dollars on your rig, and a nice case with a window, you may as well get hardware that is pleasing to the eye. As long as you're not buying products based solely on looks. Luckily, most of the companys that make the highest performance stuff are also trying to appeal to "modders". So we get the best of both worlds. Everyone wants their rig to look great, color matching rocks. I am not ashamed of it. Just don't do it too much or you'll go blind!

Color-matching does it for me.
Black PCB's, green leds, and silver (aluminum, nickel-plated copper, chrome trim)
just flows together

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As a matter of fact, the blue LEDs on the Ballistix and the red SATA cable bother the #@!# outta me. lol

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[NordicRX8]

The way I see it, if you're dropping hundreds (sometimes thousands ) of dollars on your rig, and a nice case with a window, you may as well get hardware that is pleasing to the eye. As long as you're not buying products based solely on looks. Just don't do it too much or you'll go blind!

You have a valid point... but I've seen some really cheap cases come with windows on the side panel. I plunked down around $250 for my Lian-Li, but it doesn't have a window... my case sits on the floor, under my desk, and the only one who gets to "see" my computer is the family dog. Now if I had the desk space, maybe I would have gone with a Windowed case, but since I don't I didn't bother with it.... besides, the color combo of the DFI lanparty series of motherboards is aweful!

LOL@ your last sentence.

 

[xkon]

that's an awful nice setup Deejay3d. even if the blue leds do throw things off.

yah, it's trouble enough finding parts that work together, but once you do, might as well get them to look good together also. i have a p180, i dont even get to see the inside of my case unless i'm working on it. it's a comfort knowing it's got a good clean look though.

i should have put a better name on it, but it was early in the morning and i was talking phone accessories with someone at the same time. might have melded into this as well. "yah... you need to get a pink hr-03 errr... h500 to match your razr..."