Page 4 -- More Hardware
The last component to look at is the memory. The LANShark comes with 6 Gigs of Corsair Dominator DR3-1600 RAM.
The Rampage II Gene has 6 DDR3 memory slots, three of them are filled with the 3x2GiB Corsair kit. The timings are 8-8-8-24@1600MHz, and while the Gene wanted to run them at 1600 MHz at 9-9-9-24, it was easy to set them to spec. To note, it makes only a slight difference in performance in lowering the latency, but it is our view that lower latency is better than just raw speed.
The jokes abound, on the front you get latches.
And on the back you get the hinge. All thats missing is the handle on top.
The funny story is when I unpacked it in the office, the folks standing around remembered the commanding presence of the Neptune, but it took them a few minutes to even find the little LANShark. Its not just small, it is downright tiny, and the paint job actually works as camouflage. If its not turned on, the LANShark literally disappears into the murky clutter of the office, especially if its surrounded by recent vintage Dells with their silver and black color scheme.
Two blue LED Yate-Loon D12SH-12 are on the job to push air through the LANShark. These are not quiet, nor are they weak. You can feel the push of air from several meters away. Aw-yeah! Ever see those shampoo commercials where the smiley models get their hair blown around by the magic wind? These fans are like that. They are extremely loud too, easily exceeding 60dB (spoken voice level).
My wife comments that the LANShark is perfect for flight sims. The fans add that extra immersion sound effect. And you know, I cannot disagree ;).
After installing the GTX295 and hooking up all the peripherals, we push the big chrome on button. With 850 Watts of power supply, there is the potential for a massive shadow bolt between the eyes (479dmg). The LANShark roars to life and it is surprisingly loud in every dimension. In the LAN gaming environment, loudness wont be too much an issue, everybody is using headphones. But having it roaring next to your desk at home is a bit too much. First thing youd do is figure out a way to reduce the voltage on the fans, or replace them altogether with something a little less noisy.
But the Gene's BIOS should allow for this without any effort.
So I fired off a quick email to SmoothCreations to hear them out, and sure, and they mention that the fans are connected to the Genes fan headers, so you control them through the BIOS. Ah. That worked great actually, but Im wondering why they didnt just tweak that at the factory.
All in all, the machine booted perfectly the first time, factory overclocked. Mean and menacing, it terrorizes any patches of dust directly behind it like Deaths own leaf blower. It was actually fantastic, muahahaa.
I had a lot of left over photos, so Ill just post a page of em. Next page, please.
