Gigabyte 3D Mercury Water-Cooled Case Review

Cases & PSU/Cases by geoffrey @ 2007-12-03

Going deaf from all those noisy fans cooling your high end hardware? Not skilled enough to switch to water-cooling without turning your room into an Olympic swimming pool? Gigabyte has the solution: a case with build-in water-cooling. Just snap the water blocks in place and your ready to go cool & quiet.

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Size comparison & Outside overview

Size Comparison

Before we get into the details, let's have a look at how big this case really is. Looking at the case from the front, we see that the Galaxy 3D Mercury is a bit higher than normal cases, due to the water-cooling radiator which is located in the top of the case.

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Looking from the side, you see how the depth of the case is on par with the Antec P182B.

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Outside overview

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The side panel can be configured with steel mesh or transparent acrylic; both options are added inside the box so it's up to the user to decide the look of his side panel.

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At the back side we'll find the usual motherboard I/O rear panel with above it the PSU bay. Higher up you'll find an air vent which releases hot air from the liquid cooling system, at the center more outtake fans are located. Assisted by clear blue LEDs, the system does not only offer enough cooling abilities, it also has been given a trendy eye-appealing look. At the lower backside Gigabyte added room for up to 7 expansion slots, with just next to it two tube outlets, this way users can expand the liquid cooling circuit with more components. Interesting detail, Gigabyte applied rubber rings around the screws holding the two outtake 120mm fans, to help reduce vibration noise.

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A total of five 120mm fans have been installed inside this housing: two inside the top compartment, two at the backside, and in front one will find another 120mm led-fan with a dust filter. The filter can be removed and cleaned out, only downside is that you have to remove the front panel which also requires removing both side panels.

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Power and reset buttons are at the top front side of the case. Because of the size of this case it is not recommended to place this housing on top of your desk, this way you'll limit access to the front bay which has 4 USB 2.0 ports, one microphone mini-jack, one headphone mini-jack, and a Firewire "1394" port.

One can check HDD and power-good status via clear blue LEDs, you can also check the flow of the water in the liquid cooling circuit. Even the amount of available liquid can be monitored, supported by blue LEDs this feature is usable day and night. At the center of the control bay you'll find a potentiometer which allows adjusting the speed of the double 120mm fans used to feed the internal radiator with ambient air. Fan speed can be set between 1000rpm (Silent) and 2600rpm (OC).

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Comment from thorgal @ 2007/12/03
Very complete review Geof, congrats !

I completely agree with your conclusion though : hard to recommend such an expensive case/cooling system when equal air cooling annex nice case can be had for half the price or less. A bit alike Koolance products imho.
Comment from Massman @ 2007/12/03
Yeap, really good work
Comment from shaolin95 @ 2007/12/05
Nice job although I have to disagree on the performance been matched by air. At least with my OCed Opteron 165 (3ghz) it was able to beat my Scythe Ninja with a Delta Fan (136CMF and loud as hell) even at normal mode and low speed mode.
The price though is high but I got it cheaply as a local guy bought it to get the newegg rebate and then decided to sell it (got scared) essentially making it only $69 and he sold it to me fore $100...at the price, it was just a insane deal.
Comment from geoffrey @ 2007/12/08
Bargain indeed

 

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