In my most recent post, we went over the Cooler Master Elite 360′s design and features.  We highlighted its versatility and how it represents one of the best value propositions available in the PC case market.

Because of its design and compact dimensions, though, building a PC in the Elite 360 might present a few challenges that you may not encounter in PC cases with more interior space.  Mind you, these are not insurmountable challenges; surmounting them requires nothing more than using good ol’ common sense.

This week I’ll show you how to get the most out of the experience of building a PC in the Elite 360. Read more

We’ve done a lot the last couple of weeks, haven’t we?

During that time, we’ve gone through a cycle of upgrades to our gaming PC.  We’ve upgraded the CPU cooling, going from the stock heat sink to fitting an aftermarket CPU cooler, to lapping the CPU cooler and the CPU’s IHS, until finally further optimizing the heat sink’s aerodynamics.  The upgrades were done all in the name of improving the CPU’s peak temperatures at full load, and they all come into their own in situations where the PC is situated in a warm or hot room.

Air cooling, though, has its limits.  You reach a point of diminishing returns once your ambient temperature starts to go up past a certain point.  Once you reach that point, a heat sink’s efficiency drops dramatically, widening the difference between the ambient temperature and the CPU’s peak temperature.  At this point, you’ll need something other than just a plain old air-cooled heat sink to keep your CPU’s temperatures in check.

What can we do?  Read on to find out! Read more

A note from txtmstrjoe:  This CMHD.tv Blog miniseries is respectfully dedicated to my OCN brother, Syrillian.  Syrillian, a saint of a man, left this world far too early.  He leaves his family, friends, and OCN family.  He is sorely missed.

Welcome to Part 4 of this how-to miniseries.  For the past three weeks, we’ve walked through how to install the motherboard in Part 1, how to install hard drives, optical drives, and a solid state drive in Part 2, and installed the CPU, CPU cooler, and RAM in Part 3.  Part 4 will be all about how to install a discrete video card, the power supply, and how to manage the various power and data transmission cables in your new PC. Read more