X-bit labs

Friday, September 16, 2005

Water-Cooling for Everyone. Consumer Water-Cooled Desktop PC from NEC

HardwareZone has posted a small article about new water-cooling solutions from NEC. 

On September 13^th NEC launched two new desktop PCs with preinstalled water-based radiator cooling. Water-cooling isn’t really that new in the PC market with plenty of components and kits to choose from. The majority of offerings are targeted for enthusiasts and overclockers, which automatically implies that they are not that easy to install. NEC on the other hand, intends to bring water-cooling into homes as part and parcel of a regular consumer desktop system.

“As thermal management becomes a bigger issue with faster and faster CPUs, NEC believes water-cooling represents a natural way to move forward. Earlier in the year, NEC unveiled a whole range of water-cooled PCs from entry-level Celeron based models to high-end dual core Pentium Ds as part of their Valuestar G series. However they were only available to the Japanese market, up till now that is. 13th September marked the launch of two new desktop ranges, the entry-level PowerMate MT and high-performance PowerMate DL by NEC Asia Pacific’s CEO, Mr. Chak Wong. Among these, the highlight of the night was actually the top-end PowerMate DL T8000 w, which was the only model to feature NEC’s advanced Water-Cooling Technology. Due to market trends and differences, NEC will not at the moment introduce water-cooling for their lower-end models like they did in Japan. However, NEC is working closely with component manufacturers so users can expect further improvements to the high-end setups in the future,” reports HardwareZone.

The PowerMate DL T8000 w will be available by the end of September and will come with a three-year standard warranty and a possibility of extended warranty program of up to five years.

• HardwareZone: NEC Water-Cooled Desktop PC Launch Event.

What Not to Do During PC Assembly. Guide on Hardware Failure Leading Mistakes

PC Mechanic has posted a rather unusual article about hardware parts and computer as a whole. The author describes several stages of the PC building process where common mistakes occur. They are absence of thermal paste, damage from the screwdriver, static electricity and some others. Each of the described false actions may lead to dramatic component failures.

“Most of us, at one point or another, have had to modify the insides of our computers. Whether it was adding a new memory stick, fixing a cable, or even more advanced stuff like actually building the computer. Every time you open your computer case, new risks arise. There is always the danger of you doing something wrong (knowingly or unknowingly) that can cause major, and usually permanent, damage to the computer.  It is a horrible feeling to find out that something you did has now ruined your computer (I speak from experience). So in order to reduce the number of stupid mistakes people make, we need to educate the people,” begins the article.

• PC Mechanic: Destroy Your Computer in 7 Easy Steps.