I must say it would have been nice if you had compared this to the HSPC Tech station, which is cheaper, plastic (special insulation material), and just plain simpler (which is good).
There is no need to any screws (at least I don't bother with them). It is taller, which means you can stack more components.

Since you reviewed the Cooler Master, would you have a go at the HSPC, too?

I thought the review was good; comprehensive and explanatory, which is what a review should be, right?

That there's no manual included is no surprise to me, as things should be pretty clear to folks who tend to use these set-ups for testing.

The complaint about the rudimentarity and the fact that the rig hasn't space for a second hard drive, to me doesn't hold ground, because the rig is for testing/overclocking purposes, so, how many discs do you want to hang onto a test set-up? Granted, if/when you would be testing a new PSU, a multi disk set-up could come in handy. But then again, if the discs are already built into the case, it could prove easier to just connect the new PSU to the computer harbouring the discs, instead of disassembling your computer to connect the lot to the testing rig...

My two Eurocents.

having space for multiple disks does come in handy, especially for benchmarks, some apps work better under a certain OS, with multiple disks installed you don't need to swap them out, just connect the sata/power plug differently

@Faiakes: we have another test bench incoming for review, not a HSPC though

@ jmke
Thanks, that will be interesting!

I forgot to add that even the buttons are not necessary. Quite a few boards have them onboard now or you can buy a very cheap set for your motherboard




Here is my old setup.





The cooldrive contained a Raptor and as you can see I could easily add a second one.

effective setup

Thanks jmke
I know you're not a fan of no case 24/7 setups

Since I'm showing off...I might as well show what the whole setup looked like:



(that's my 24" BenQ FP241W, Accoustic Energy - Aego Series M 2.1 speakers, Enermax Aurora keyboard)

never said I'm not a fan of it
if I were to test motherboards, ram, hard drives, it would be an essential part of my test gear; but for case, cooling and video card tests it's not needed

you got a clean desk, was that on purpose for this pic?

Fair enough

No, I'm a bit of a neat freak. I like minimalistic, clean environments.

Plus when I play I don't want anything interfering. I tend to set the keyboard to the left and use the arrow keys instead of WASD, so I need the space.

my desk is a little bit more... uhm.. populated?

JESUS H. CHRIST !!!

But that is a working space, right?
(please tell me that it is. Otherwise I may fly to Belgium just to sort that room out).

on the left 2x24" for VGA benches, on the right case/CPU cooler test bench hooked up to 20"; in the middle 24"+22" for workstation. yes it's working space

Few...I feel better now

Why would you need 2*24" to test a graphics card?
I fact, why do you need more than 3 monitors?

speeds up testing, I can test 2 VGA cards at the same time, head to head
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=953


there are 7 working PCs in that room

OK, too many PCs for me...

I use only 1 for data, others are test

I don't think you want to see my 'working space'. It'll give you a stroke for sure.

Actually, I have more than three harddisk drives to begin with: Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The reason is quite simple: when installing a new operating system, there will be no issues with the multi-boot options.

Having more than 1 space for a harddisk drive is, for me, quite a disappointment.

Yes. I'd rather you didn't.
I think I'll have trouble sleeping tonight, after seeing jmke's work space

our places are squeaky clean compared to some other bench setups


src:http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...52&postcount=1

that keyboard

Jmke I nearly threw up...

Did you have to do that? Are you purposely trying to keep me awake tonight?

Sure, but when you're more or less in the do-it-yerself business, you can make a separate rig for hard drives, like the slip-in HD-area from an 'old' chieftec BA-tower, or the modules from some Antec or Chieftec Dragonmaster cases. The latter even have the possibility to build-in a cooling fan.

I like the CoolerMaster Lab Bench, but should I use a lot of my spare time (in fact, time is usually all that I have left) doing multi-testing, I would still build my own test-bench/rig/set-up/whatever, just like most of you guys 'n' dolls do.

I mean, why spend the better part of 100 euro, or more, on a rig that doesn't meet the general idea of what you need, when you can build it yourself and pretty cheap at that.

Okay, the above doesn't change one iota to the fact that indeed, there's no space for more discs in the CoolerMaster rig, but you catch my drift. I hope.

then you can also make a bench table without much problem
the aim of buying a pre-build unit is not to have to waste time building one

That was the general idea of/behind my reply...

Absolutely correct amigo, so open-up the window and shout "pull" and we can have a at the thing...

I haven't used a case in years.

This looks tidy isn't it ?

On the left :


And on the right :




Oeps

Hey Gamer, can I come over for a slurp of an overfull cup of coffee, in the close vicinity of yer rigs? yes-yes-yes-phulleeze???

With a zip of whiskey in it ?

Always welcome !!

Nutty professors and experts never have a clean desk Sorry Faiakes... I won't even post my piccies of my desk under normal circumstances as it will scare you to death ( CPU's,GPU's, rams everywhere) only thing I put in boxes are the mobo's (unlike Massman)

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!

(although not as bad as jmke's )

I like the glass but I don't trust myself not to break it.

thanks for that. You haven't seen the other side of the office either... imagine 120 heatsinks in a huge tower

No....no.....NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

well, at least in my office I can throw around a beach ball without worrying it will destroy my computer

hehehe
love that one from Hipro

That is not a rule, don't try to pretend that it is

The REALLY cool people have everything under control, neat and tidy (that's what I like to think anyway )

Oh no! I thought it was a rule and made a mess of my room this weekend.

At best it might be a geek identification tendency but I think even that is a stretch.

Some people are just messy (and lazy )

I'm both multiplied by both.

Hmmm......messy, lazy, technology obsessed and completely honest about it....definitely a geek

I do indeed sound like one ... I described a characteristic of me in terms of a mathematical equation.