12/10/2023 0 Comments Gaming rdy element clWater cooling, though, does require a tad more maintenance, and simple upgrades like a CPU swap become much more complex when you have to drain the loop and deal with the intricacies of hardline tubing. I love building PCs, but I know that some people would prefer to be up and gaming without the hassle (I like eating cake, for example, but I don’t love baking). As much as PC builders may scoff at prebuilt systems, they have a place. This highlights the main challenge of a system like this: finding the right audience. Most Intel CPUs are available, but graphics are currently limited to only the RTX 2070 Super and 2080 Super. Like most iBuyPower prebuilts, you can swap many of the components yourself, although the CPU and GPU are more limited in their upgradability, since their water blocks are only designed for the specific components offered on Element CL rigs. There’s also a dust filter along the bottom, preventing dust from getting into the bottom-mounted PSU, and a dust filter along the top vent, where you can mount up to two extra fans if you feel the need. In theory, it should still prevent most dust from making it into the main chamber of the PC, but it is a bit unorthodox, and you will have to remove the side panel for occasional cleaning. This feels like a slightly strange decision, since it does allow dust to get into the case before it reaches the filter. Traditionally, positive air pressure means less dust as long as you have filters on the intake fans, though in this case the filter is inside the case, between the side panel and the radiator. A single 120mm fan at the rear of the case acts as exhaust, for fairly positive air pressure inside the case. The fans draw fresh air from outside the case through a mesh on the right side panel, heading through a fan filter before blowing through the radiator and into the case. This didn’t seem to be listed anywhere in the paperwork I was given, which may lead to some confusion for users that want to adjust the fan curves themselves.įrom the reservoir, water feeds into a 360mm radiator against the right side panel, with three RGB intake fans attached in a pull configuration. I found the fan configuration a bit confusing, though – the pump was plugged into the CPU FAN header and the four fans were connected to a daughter board that split them among two headers – the bottom two radiator fans on one CHA FAN header, the top radiator fan and rear exhaust on another CHA FAN header. The BIOS allows you to tweak the fan curve to your preferences, provided you’re willing to sacrifice a bit of cooling potential. The pump was rather quiet unless under full load, though fans were rather loud at their default settings. For example, iBuyPower is using aluminum blocks instead of copper, which does limit the cooling effectiveness compared to a system you could build yourself (more on this later). It’s a clever design, though it comes with some small sacrifices. Custom fittings keep a strong grip on the tubing so it can be shipped without as much risk for leaks. This, iBuyPower says, allows for a faster build time to keep costs down, as well as adjustability – so the company can fit different CPUs and GPUs into the system without having to re-bend the tubing. The hardline tubing leads straight from their blocks to the reservoir with only one bend per tube. The front glass panel is a window into iBuyPower’s custom D5-compatible reservoir, which takes up most of the 8x7-inch panel. The Element CL lives inside a steel case with tempered glass panels on the side and front, for a crystal-clear look at the badass hardware inside. The non-Plus version of the Element CL downgrades the CPU to an i7-10700K, the RAM to 16GB, and the GPU to a 2070 Super, with Best Buy offering two similarly-tiered models that use slightly downgraded motherboards and SSDs.
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