With regard to the MA612, the reverse edition Sickleflow is much louder than the standard Sickleflow in my testing, so I don't have very high hopes for this cooler to have great noise-normalised performance. I was also very disappointed to find out that the Sickleflow 140 actually lacks smooth commutation - something which every decent fan on the market should have. The regular 120 is pretty nice though imo.
You dropped new video on my birthday and precised when we can expect video I promised never again ask about - awesome :D About CM 212, I think especially channel like yours should have it covered and compared. It seems legendary cooler in States, just synonym of budget cooler and it would be great to see it how it endures the passage of time in your budget cooler round-up.
I think Corsair's strategy regarding RGB airflow cases is that they want to give the consumer the option. Their 4,5,7000 AF cases come with 2 stock fans. The consumer has their pick of the Corsair RGB fans.
This is a very good theory. Basically, the AF models include just enough fans to be functional, but without raising the cost much. That allows people to replace those fans with whichever RGB fans they want.
That is very, very niche. I don't plan on doing a roundup of these cases, but here are a few examples: (1) Phanteks Enthoo Pro: amzn.to/3aw0kkR #ad (2) Thermaltake Core V71: amzn.to/3FBLKq5 #ad One that was released but never became widely available was the Cooler Master CM694: www.coolermaster.com/catalog/cases/mid-tower/masterbox-cm694 This market for these types of cases is shrinking so fast that manufacturers aren't even keeping current SKUs in stock, so I don't foresee a lot more being released like this.
And as it relates to this particular video, probably the best case ever to feature this layout was the Corsair 750D Airflow, but it seems to be discontinued, although there is some old stock still available: amzn.to/3AvaigH #ad
There are multiple pump settings in the iCUE software. The presets are quiet, balanced, and extreme. I agree extreme is very loud, but did you try the two other presets before returning it? Quiet is very quiet and still works fairly well.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru I found Variable to be the best of a bad bunch but could not put up with it even at idle. I don't want to have to wear headphones all the time or play background music. Went back to air and all is good now.
Just so you know, Cooler Master keyboards are actually very decent, or at least their higher end mechanical boards. For a lot of people invested in keyboards they are up there with Ducky, Varmilo, Anne Pro and similar high quality mechanical keyboards in quality and feel. I would also like to point out that Corsair ram is popular and cheap, but not good, their Vengeance ram most often use crappy dies like Samsung C-Die that can barely even hold XMP speeds, the reason I say often is because they also mix dies, so you really don't know what you're getting. I've even heard people who recieved a kit with different dies on different sticks as well, and hear pretty often that they won't boot on XMP (this is mostly because of aforementioned Samsung C-Die). Their Dominator series are pretty good though, it's mostly their Vengeance sticks that are bad. Overall I definitely recommend people getting ram from either Crucial or G.Skill, Crucial because they always use good high quality dies, and G.Skill because of their high quality and support combined with generally good dies and pricing. Picking up a 16GB 3200 CL-14-14-14 B-Die kit from G.Skill for ~$100 is probably my top choice, as you can pretty consistently crank up the voltage to 1.5-1.55v or higher if you can cool it and overclock it to 3800 CL16 or similar, so it's a very good budget choice. (Just FYI, would personally skip their Ripjaws V if you're going B-Die, the heatspreader on it is pretty bad, so you won't be able to get the voltage on it high enough to get anything decent out of it) Apologize for the wall of text 😅 Will be waiting for your next video :p
Actually, I'm aware Cooler Master has been putting out some sweet keyboards and mice. I haven't tested them myself, so I can't speak personally, but I certainly wasn't implying they were making junk. Just that they probably used the same factory as their competitors. As for Corsair RAM, I have a lot of their kits, and the newer Vengeance has used weaker dies, but I also have has some Vengeance with Samsung B-die. That stuff is really hard to find these days, so most manufacturers are not offering it, or at least not guaranteeing it. The reason Crucial is very consistent (and very good) is that they use their own Micron dies that no one else has access to, and nothing but Micron dies. So either it's good stuff, or they don't have anything to sell.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru It's pretty easy to find guaranteed B-Die kits actually, at least in my experience, you just need to look at the timings. You just need to find one with timings that only B-Die kits can get. 3200 CL14-14-14 is B-Die while 3200 CL14-18-18 is not. For 3600, CL16-16-16 is always going to be B-Die, while CL16-18-18 won't. Also, I have been wondering how the Phanteks Halos look on fans that already have RGB. Specifically the Arctic P12 but really any other RGB fan as well. Since you have some halos, have you tested that and how well did it look according to you?
Great tips! But that good stuff is going to be hard to find because it's not being produced. That was my point, not so much that it's hard to identify. Also, b-die used to be so common that it could be on cheaper kits. In terms of the Halos, I'll say more about them in my case fan roundup, but I won't promise that I'll test them on anything but the T30s. There's enough for me to discuss just in terms of their potential performance impact.
Cooler Master's NR200 ITX case is probably the best choice on the *market (thanks autocorrect). It was engineered with just about everything in mind. Lian li Tu case just cant compete on this one.
Game changer for sure, although the new Lian Li Q58 looks like it has the potential to be just as well-engineered and a nice step up in terms of looks and size: click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=WAzU8cLhuCU&mid=44583&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2Fp%2F2AM-000Z-00082
In the case of the ma612, I wonder of there is any difference in performance if you swap the front and rear fans. I was thinking that the “arms” holding the hub to the frame, has an impact on cooling/noice, depending if they are right up against the heatsink or not.
That's a really interesting concept! I'm not sure I'll test it, as it will make the RGB lighting look odd, but maybe something to consider for the future!
Corsair power supplies are top notch and worth every penny like Seasonic. Everything else is HORRIBLY OVERPRICED. I'm disappointed in my K90 Keyboard. Software is junk and construction quality is sub par as it's easily damaged. If you buy something like the RGB Towers at $80 I have a bridge to sell ya. It just goes to show how ridiculous their peripheral line is.
I think they're amazing if you can get cheap (used) I got my K70 Rapidfire RGB for 50€ (was less than 2 years in the market then) at least in terms of looks they're unreached but yeah I'd never buy them for MSRP
It's interesting hearing your comments on the Hyper 212. Your video last year, The Best 120mm CPU Cooler Shootout (ruclips.net/video/HZOGK49NGLQ/видео.html) ended with you calling a certain popular 120mm cooler in the $30-$40 price bracket as "garbage". Although you refused to name names, all this time I thought you were referring to the Hyper 212 because it indeed is the most popular cooler in that price bracket but wasn't in your roundup.
Ha, ha, you are connecting the dots! But the truth is Cooler Master has definitely improved the 212 a lot recently, and the new Evo V2 is a huge step up, and something I'd like to test. Offset design for better clearance, and an actually good fan: amzn.to/3oQPIFv #ad The problem with the 212 generally is that it stuck around for too long in its original design, and with fans that just weren't up to spec. It was good in 2007. The competition caught up in about 2010...
Thank you for the briefing of the upcoming products!
You're welcome!
Great history lesson Ari, look forward to the next video. 🍻
Thanks for watching!
With regard to the MA612, the reverse edition Sickleflow is much louder than the standard Sickleflow in my testing, so I don't have very high hopes for this cooler to have great noise-normalised performance.
I was also very disappointed to find out that the Sickleflow 140 actually lacks smooth commutation - something which every decent fan on the market should have. The regular 120 is pretty nice though imo.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll listen for that.
You dropped new video on my birthday and precised when we can expect video I promised never again ask about - awesome :D About CM 212, I think especially channel like yours should have it covered and compared. It seems legendary cooler in States, just synonym of budget cooler and it would be great to see it how it endures the passage of time in your budget cooler round-up.
Happy birthday, I was wondering where you were. Having fun I hope!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Honestly I was working, but now two days off :]
Thank you for the market update
Thanks for watching as always!
I think Corsair's strategy regarding RGB airflow cases is that they want to give the consumer the option. Their 4,5,7000 AF cases come with 2 stock fans. The consumer has their pick of the Corsair RGB fans.
This is a very good theory. Basically, the AF models include just enough fans to be functional, but without raising the cost much. That allows people to replace those fans with whichever RGB fans they want.
"Cheap" good SFF cases are actually good for us boutique manufacturers, they are great entry into SFF cases. I started my journey with node 202 :)
I was thinking of you, glad to hear your positive perspective!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru yeah, they really give the boost to the whole sff market and make people more aware of it
Thank you Ari.
Thanks for watching!
How about a survey or review of airflow ATX cases with support for simultaneous optical drive and at least one 240 radiator?
That is very, very niche. I don't plan on doing a roundup of these cases, but here are a few examples:
(1) Phanteks Enthoo Pro: amzn.to/3aw0kkR #ad
(2) Thermaltake Core V71: amzn.to/3FBLKq5 #ad
One that was released but never became widely available was the Cooler Master CM694: www.coolermaster.com/catalog/cases/mid-tower/masterbox-cm694
This market for these types of cases is shrinking so fast that manufacturers aren't even keeping current SKUs in stock, so I don't foresee a lot more being released like this.
And as it relates to this particular video, probably the best case ever to feature this layout was the Corsair 750D Airflow, but it seems to be discontinued, although there is some old stock still available: amzn.to/3AvaigH #ad
Thermalright has TL-C12 and its reversed version TL-C12-R
I hope Corsair do something about the pump noise on their new AIO's. I had the H100i Elite Capellix but had to return it. Way too loud for my liking.
There are multiple pump settings in the iCUE software. The presets are quiet, balanced, and extreme. I agree extreme is very loud, but did you try the two other presets before returning it? Quiet is very quiet and still works fairly well.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru I found Variable to be the best of a bad bunch but could not put up with it even at idle. I don't want to have to wear headphones all the time or play background music. Went back to air and all is good now.
Fair enough. Air takes that pump unknown out of the equation. As shown in my recent Phanteks AIO review, it can be a serious issue.
Apparently the reverse orientation Sickleflow v2 120mm and the regular 140mm version are inferior to the regular 120mm versions.
I'll be looking into that when I bench the MA612.
Just so you know, Cooler Master keyboards are actually very decent, or at least their higher end mechanical boards. For a lot of people invested in keyboards they are up there with Ducky, Varmilo, Anne Pro and similar high quality mechanical keyboards in quality and feel.
I would also like to point out that Corsair ram is popular and cheap, but not good, their Vengeance ram most often use crappy dies like Samsung C-Die that can barely even hold XMP speeds, the reason I say often is because they also mix dies, so you really don't know what you're getting. I've even heard people who recieved a kit with different dies on different sticks as well, and hear pretty often that they won't boot on XMP (this is mostly because of aforementioned Samsung C-Die). Their Dominator series are pretty good though, it's mostly their Vengeance sticks that are bad.
Overall I definitely recommend people getting ram from either Crucial or G.Skill, Crucial because they always use good high quality dies, and G.Skill because of their high quality and support combined with generally good dies and pricing.
Picking up a 16GB 3200 CL-14-14-14 B-Die kit from G.Skill for ~$100 is probably my top choice, as you can pretty consistently crank up the voltage to 1.5-1.55v or higher if you can cool it and overclock it to 3800 CL16 or similar, so it's a very good budget choice.
(Just FYI, would personally skip their Ripjaws V if you're going B-Die, the heatspreader on it is pretty bad, so you won't be able to get the voltage on it high enough to get anything decent out of it)
Apologize for the wall of text 😅
Will be waiting for your next video :p
Actually, I'm aware Cooler Master has been putting out some sweet keyboards and mice. I haven't tested them myself, so I can't speak personally, but I certainly wasn't implying they were making junk. Just that they probably used the same factory as their competitors.
As for Corsair RAM, I have a lot of their kits, and the newer Vengeance has used weaker dies, but I also have has some Vengeance with Samsung B-die. That stuff is really hard to find these days, so most manufacturers are not offering it, or at least not guaranteeing it. The reason Crucial is very consistent (and very good) is that they use their own Micron dies that no one else has access to, and nothing but Micron dies. So either it's good stuff, or they don't have anything to sell.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru It's pretty easy to find guaranteed B-Die kits actually, at least in my experience, you just need to look at the timings. You just need to find one with timings that only B-Die kits can get. 3200 CL14-14-14 is B-Die while 3200 CL14-18-18 is not. For 3600, CL16-16-16 is always going to be B-Die, while CL16-18-18 won't.
Also, I have been wondering how the Phanteks Halos look on fans that already have RGB. Specifically the Arctic P12 but really any other RGB fan as well. Since you have some halos, have you tested that and how well did it look according to you?
Great tips! But that good stuff is going to be hard to find because it's not being produced. That was my point, not so much that it's hard to identify. Also, b-die used to be so common that it could be on cheaper kits.
In terms of the Halos, I'll say more about them in my case fan roundup, but I won't promise that I'll test them on anything but the T30s. There's enough for me to discuss just in terms of their potential performance impact.
Cooler Master's NR200 ITX case is probably the best choice on the *market (thanks autocorrect). It was engineered with just about everything in mind. Lian li Tu case just cant compete on this one.
Game changer for sure, although the new Lian Li Q58 looks like it has the potential to be just as well-engineered and a nice step up in terms of looks and size: click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=WAzU8cLhuCU&mid=44583&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2Fp%2F2AM-000Z-00082
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Now THAT is a sleek looking case!
In the case of the ma612, I wonder of there is any difference in performance if you swap the front and rear fans.
I was thinking that the “arms” holding the hub to the frame, has an impact on cooling/noice, depending if they are right up against the heatsink or not.
That's a really interesting concept! I'm not sure I'll test it, as it will make the RGB lighting look odd, but maybe something to consider for the future!
Corsair power supplies are top notch and worth every penny like Seasonic.
Everything else is HORRIBLY OVERPRICED. I'm disappointed in my K90 Keyboard. Software is junk and construction quality is sub par as it's easily damaged.
If you buy something like the RGB Towers at $80 I have a bridge to sell ya. It just goes to show how ridiculous their peripheral line is.
I actually love the Corsair Virtuoso headset. Probably best built on the market.
I think they're amazing if you can get cheap (used)
I got my K70 Rapidfire RGB for 50€ (was less than 2 years in the market then)
at least in terms of looks they're unreached
but yeah I'd never buy them for MSRP
It's interesting hearing your comments on the Hyper 212. Your video last year, The Best 120mm CPU Cooler Shootout (ruclips.net/video/HZOGK49NGLQ/видео.html) ended with you calling a certain popular 120mm cooler in the $30-$40 price bracket as "garbage". Although you refused to name names, all this time I thought you were referring to the Hyper 212 because it indeed is the most popular cooler in that price bracket but wasn't in your roundup.
Ha, ha, you are connecting the dots! But the truth is Cooler Master has definitely improved the 212 a lot recently, and the new Evo V2 is a huge step up, and something I'd like to test. Offset design for better clearance, and an actually good fan: amzn.to/3oQPIFv #ad
The problem with the 212 generally is that it stuck around for too long in its original design, and with fans that just weren't up to spec. It was good in 2007. The competition caught up in about 2010...