Frederik S
09-19-2007, 11:30 AM
[page=Introduction & Specifications]
Introduction
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/CoolerMaster/Stacker_832/images/logo.jpg
I would like to thank CaseKing.de (http://www.caseking.de) for supplying the review sample.
CaseKing is one of the few companies out there, which will not just sell anything. They only offer hardware that performs well and is of high quality. The shop offers quite a few exclusive parts and devices from all around the world and it is also the official distributor for a long list of well known manufacturers. Their assortment has grown greatly in recent years, while great service and support is still a very important part of the shop philosophy. The website may be in German, but they do ship to most European countries. One of the companies of which CaseKing is the distributor for is GIGABYTE, so you will surely get the latest and greatest from that manufacturer at CaseKing.
Today I have the pleasure of reviewing GIGABYTE's first chassis with integrated water cooling. What makes this case with water cooling so special is the fact that it's not just a case where a company has remounted a water cooling setup for you. The 3D Mercury is built around GIGABYTE's own 3D Galaxy water cooling system which means that every little aspect of the case has been designed with the Galaxy system in mind. This is what makes the 3D Mercury stand out from the crowd.
Specifications
<table>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Color</th>
<td scope="row"> Black</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Drive Bays </th>
<td scope="row">5.25” bay x 4 , 3.5” internal x 6, 3.5" bay x 2 (can be used internally for mounting 3.5" hard drives as well)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Material</th>
<td scope="row">Aluminum</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Form Factor </th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">From mini-ATX to extended-ATX</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Expansion Slots </th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">7 standard slots </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Case Fans </th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">12cm ball bearing fan x 5, Liquid cooling system everything included</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Dimensions</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row"> 205 x 620 x 535 mm (W x H x D)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Switches</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Power, Reset</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Top Access </th>
<td valign="top" scope="row"><p>USB 2.0 x 4 , iEEE 1394 x 1 , Mic x 1, Ear x 1, Fan controller, Flow indicator</p></td>
</tr>
</table>
[page=Package]
Package
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_3.jpg)
The GIGABYTE 3D Mercury ships in a huge package! I have never seen anything like it. As you can see on the picture above the package is absolutely huge, approximately three times the volume of my Antec P182 case.
The reason for the package being so large is of course the fact that it's protecting a full tower case from being harmed during transportation. It lies neatly cushioned in some Styrofoam.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_1.jpg)
After you have removed a piece of Styrofoam you get to see just how large the case. I initially thought that they had used more Styrofoam, but this didn't turn out to be the case. It's simply because the case itself is so large.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/bundle_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/bundle.jpg)
The 3D Mercury case comes with a pretty decent bundle. In it you get two 600 ml bottles of premixed coolant, all the stuff you need for installing your hardware, and some thermal paste. The entire bundle, except the coolant and MOSFET cooling fan, is contained in the small black plastic box you can see at the top of the picture, this can be mounted in two vacant 3.5" internal drive bays if needed. For example you can use it to house some screws and screwdriver when you are going to a LAN party. Even though most PSUs today have SATA power connectors GIGABYTE ships two molex to SATA power adapters, which is nice if you plan on using this case with an old PSU.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/wc_block_in_case_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/wc_block_in_case.jpg)
The CPU block for the water cooling is mounted in the case. GIGABYTE’s motherboard plate has four holes that match the dimensions of those on a LGA775 board. The water block is mounted using the same fittings that you need when you install the block on an LGA 775 system.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/lga_775_back_plate_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/lga_775_back_plate_2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/lga_775_back_plate_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/lga_775_back_plate.jpg)
GIGABYTE's very own 3D Galaxy water cooling system has a simple mounting system for LGA 775. All you got to do is install the back plate pictured above so that it aligns with the holes on your LGA 775 board. For AMD systems the installation process is even simpler, all you got to do is strap the water block on with a small plastic spring mechanism.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/coolant_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/coolant.jpg)
The 3D Mercury ships with two bottles of premixed coolant. GIGABYTE calls their coolant mixture "GBT Coolant". It doesn't say what it contains, but I think judging from the clear blue color that we are talking about some blue dyed distilled water with one or more anti algae and corrosion fluids. The dye used isn't UV reactive which I think is a shame, with a UV additive in the water spotting a potential build up of air or a leak much easier. Of course this means that you have to invest in a couple of UV spots or cold cathodes, but if you got the money for a case with liquid cooling you should be able to come up with an extra $20 for some lighting. The tubing used in the 3D Galaxy system is, however, UV reactive which means that you could get a nice effect by just adding some UV lights to the chassis.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/mosfet_cooler_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/mosfet_cooler.jpg)
One of the interesting options that the Galaxy water cooling system offers is the addition of a MOSFET cooling fan. The fan clips on to the water block and helps to cool motherboard components around the CPU socket. It seems to be a nice way to improve air circulation around the socket and will definitely help to cool down the power phases around the socket. When using normal air cooling, the CPU cooler will create some airflow around the CPU socket, cooling the MOSFETs. With watercooling this would be missing and there could be a risk of your MOSFETs overheating.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/well_protected_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/well_protected.jpg)
The 3D Mercury case has a non scratch proof surface. It is covered with a plastic overlay from the factory making sure that all of the plastic or acrylic parts arrive in mint condition, nothing worse than receiving a case where the window is scratched.
[page=Closer Examination: External view & Top compartment]
Closer Examination
External view
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/the_case_1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/the_case_1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/the_case_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/the_case_2.jpg)
The moment you get this case out of its package you are bound to be dumbstruck. It's simply taller, wider, and deeper than any of the cases I have ever laid my eyes on. Besides being big it also has a certain aesthetic quality to it. Even though it’s huge it doesn't look all that clumsy (which most extra high full towers usually do). The fact that the case is an all aluminum design helps to keep its weight at a minimum, fully assembled with water in the cooling system it weighs about 19 kg which isn't all that bad considering the size of the thing.
From the factory GIGABYTE ships this case with an acrylic window mounted on the side of the case, but included with the case you also get a mesh plate that you can install instead of the window. This option is really nice. Later on in the review I will show you how to install the mesh plate.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_of_case_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_of_case.jpg)
The front of the case looks really sweet with mesh drive bay covers. As with the side panels the front is held in a clean black look. The black brushed aluminum makes it look different than most cases. Near the top you can see some of the extra features that this case has. The mesh drive covers actually have small foam inlays preventing dust from entering the case through the drive bay (this is a real problem with a case such as this where you have twice as much air going out as you have coming in from the front fan).
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/back_of_case_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/back_of_case.jpg)
The case's back plate is nickel plated and looks really nice put up against the brushed aluminum sides. Since the back of the case is nickel plated it's a real fingerprint magnet.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/back_detail_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/back_detail.jpg)
One of the things worth noticing on the back of this case is the rather odd layout near the PSU. In order to install a PSU you need to remove the PSU bracket on the back of the case. This is done via four thumbscrews which are located around the PSU bay. Once you get the PSU bracket and the PSU screwed in place all you got to do is stuff the cables inside the case and put the four thumbscrews in place again. This hassle free installation method worked flawlessly for me. Gigabyte even includes an extension for the PSU mounting plate which enables you to install large 1 kW and up PSU without having to modify the case.
Top compartment
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail.jpg)
The 3D Mercury sports a front panel with a lot of neat features right from USB connectivity to flow and fan control. Right under the panel GIGABYTE has inserted a small window that gives you a clear view of the reservoir. Both the flow meter and reservoir window are accentuated by a polished metal piece. This draws a lot of attention because they are the only two details on the front of the case that are polished.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/reservoir_cap_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/reservoir_cap.jpg)
The reservoir cap is also nickel plated and looks really nice. It's quite large and easy to remove. The seal between the cap and the reservoir is really tight and has a silicone seal. Even though the reservoir cap seal is good I still wouldn't recommend laying this case on its side due to the fact that it will allow air to re-enter the system from the reservoir / pump.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/flow_meter_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/flow_meter.jpg)
In the middle of the front panel you find the water flow indicator which is a small "fan" inside a round plastic chamber that is hooked up to the water system in the case. When water is going through the plastic chamber it turns the fan giving a nice clear indication of whether water is flowing through the system. The flow indicator has a blue LED that illuminates it so that it's easy to tell if something is blocking the water system’s flow.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/power_reset_buttons_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/power_reset_buttons.jpg)
Here you can see the power and disk usage LEDs in actions. The power and reset button are somewhat unconventional in their shape. The power button is a short travel length rectangular design which goes well with the rest of the front's design.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_fan_speed_control_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_fan_speed_control.jpg)
On the front panel there is also a fan control knob. This allows you to adjust the two fans that are used to cool the radiator. The fan controller can adjust the fans from 1000 RPM to 2800 RPM according to the sticker on the controller. At 1000 RPM the fans are dead silent, but when you crank it all the way to the maximum they make quite a lot of noise.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/usb_front_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/usb_front.jpg)
As with most new cases the GIGABYTE 3D Mercury has four USB 2.0 connectors that are easily accessible. Besides USB 2.0 it also has Firewire connectivity and Line-In and Line-Out.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail_3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail_3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail_2.jpg)
Like the flow meter the reservoir is also illuminated by a blue LED, this gives the reservoir a nice blue glow and lights up the entire water cooling compartment on top of the case. The 5.25" mesh covers means that it's possible to catches glimpse of the components installed inside the case from the front. Combined with three 120 mm blue LED fans and one 80 mm LED fan this case emits a nice blue glow at night.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/wc_compartment_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/wc_compartment.jpg)
With the top compartments cover removed we can see into the water cooling compartment. The water cooling compartment is roughly three 5.25” drive bays tall and extends to about mid length of the case where it slopes upwards making room for a PSU underneath. It's in this separate compartment where all the water cooling components are housed. From the front of the case we have: reservoir, pump, fan, radiator, fan and slope.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/radiator_and_dual_fans_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/radiator_and_dual_fans.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/radiator_mouting_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/radiator_mouting.jpg)
The radiator is mounted with two 120 mm fans in a push / pull configuration. Behind the radiator the water cooling compartment becomes smaller in order to make more room for the PSU which is mounted at the back of the case right under the cooling compartment.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/intake_vents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/intake_vents.jpg)
The two fans located on the front and back of the radiator pull cold air in from the room via some vents on either side of the case and the mesh plate in front of the reservoir.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_3.jpg)
The amount of work that GIGABYTE has put into the building process of this case and water cooling is just amazing. All of the edges that one may come in contact with have a nice rounded edge. Even the cabling in the top compartment of the case has been fixed in place. The routing of the cables from the front panel into the case is really nice and neatly tugged behind the 5.25" drive bay. The only problem is that the USB cable for two of the front USB connectors is too short in order to be able to connect with my motherboard. I have a GIGABYTE P35C-DS3R and all of the internal USB 2.0 headers are placed at the bottom edge of the motherboard, I guess that the cable is long enough for use with a more standard motherboard.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/plate_work_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/plate_work.jpg)
The plate work on this case is really good. Even compared to my Antec P182 the quality of the finish of the GIGABYTE 3D Mercury is way ahead. All of the mounts in the top compartment are quite solid, either boxed aluminum or feature an extra profile with a 90 degree angle making it very durable and stiff.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/side_door_hatch_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/side_door_hatch.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hatch_mechanism_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hatch_mechanism.jpg)
Removing and installing a side panel of a case can be a bit of a problem. GIGABYTE's solution is to incorporate an "easy click" hatch mechanism. When removing the side panel all you do is push it forward and the side panel pops right out. Installing it is really easy as well. All you do is place the front of the side on its circular hinge and then press the side onto the case forcing the hatch mechanism to lock in place.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/side_panel_1_SMALL.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/side_panel_1.jpg)
GIGABYTE has been so kind as to give the end user a choice between going with a mesh type "window" and a clear acrylic one. If you want to swap out the "window" all you do is release some screws in the side and then take the "window" out while pressing down the plastic pins, further fixing the "window" in place.
[page=Closer Examination: Internal & Water cooling components]
Internal view
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/525_lock_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/525_lock.jpg)
GIGABYTE has gone ahead and designed their own 5.25" drive bay lock mechanism which works flawlessly. You insert the drive from the front and then push the leaver forward and then secure it by pushing down the tab. The drive is now held in place by a spring and two metal tabs inside the drive bay.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cable_and_tube_management_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cable_and_tube_management.jpg)
On the picture above you can see how the tubing is cleverly routed in an indent in one of the chassis strengtheners.
One of the things that amazed me with this is case is the way GIGABYTE has prepped it for watercooling. Every little detail in its construction seems to be tweaked in order to accommodate the 3D Galaxy liquid cooling system. All of these small, but important details are what makes this case so unique.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/PCI_braket_retain_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/PCI_braket_retain.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/PCI_braket_retain_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/PCI_braket_retain_2.jpg)
The PCI bracket features an easy clip system that replaces the need for screws to fix PCI cards in place. The fastener system works, but it isn't that efficient because PCI cards have a tendency to bend down a bit, and when you like me have three cards it’s quite hard to hold them all in place manually and then find a spare hand to press the lever back into fixed position. As you might also have noted, the chassis back plate features two holes for feeding water cooling tube through. And with the two 120 mm exhaust fans it would be easy to upgrade the water cooling system by adding a 240 mm radiator mounted on the outside of the case. Besides that the case is 10% deeper than a normal one which should leave you with plenty of space to install extra water cooling components such as pump and reservoir inside the case.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage_3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage_3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage_2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage.jpg)
Inserting 3.5" hard drives into this case is quite easy. All you do is place two plastic rails on each side of the hard drive. The rails then slot into two groves in the hard drive bay. The drive locks in place once it's fully inserted. In order to get the drive out all you do is compress the two finger locks on the rails and the drive just slides right out.
Water cooling components
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/water_block_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/water_block.jpg)
The water block is of the flow type which should perform well in combination with a high flow pump. The pattern of which the copper rods are mounted to the copper block is quite normal you have all the rods mounted in a square with the water going diagonally across the square maximizing the time water is in contact with the base and rods without blocking flow.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/finish_base_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/finish_base.jpg)
The finish of the base of the water block is about average. Minor milling marks are visible, but they are really shallow and shouldn’t affect performance at all. Another thing worth noticing is that it's perfectly flat. No dents or bumps on the surface or near the edges.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/clamp_and_pushon_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/clamp_and_pushon.jpg)
The 3D Galaxy liquid cooling system uses barb fittings with finger operated clamps. The fit between tubing and clamp couldn't be better. One of the advantages of running a barb / clamp system is that it's less likely to leak than a push-in system. The only real disadvantage of such a system is that the fitting that you push the tubing over blocks the flow somewhat. The choice of going with a barb fitting system by GIGABYTE is the right one, especially when taking into consideration that this case is aimed at first time water cooling buyers.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/splitter_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/splitter.jpg)
GIGABYTE has their own manifold system which allows the user to easily upgrade their water system with more cooling blocks. The manifold enables you to install up to a total of three blocks in parallel which should give a bit better performance than the same block mounted in serial fashion.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_4.jpg)
The pump and reservoir in this system are hidden underneath an aluminum plate in the top compartment of the chassis. The pump used is a 400 l/hr pump. GIGABYTE has opted for a reservoir which the pump is permanently mounted to, this is ok from a space saving point of view, but does make disassembly all that more complicated. The mounting of the pump is rock solid, the only problem is that GIGABYTE hasn't installed any anti vibration grommets under it. This means that even though the pump is a high quality one its vibrations are passed on to the case. This annoyed me a bit because every other design aspect of the water cooling setup is well thought out. Since the pump is permanently fitted to the reservoir it's hard to retrofit that part of the system with vibration dampening silicon grommets.
One of the nice features that this water cooling system sports is a low water level alarm. If the amount of water in the system goes below a certain amount the alarm will go off.
When it comes to radiator GIGABYTE has opted for an all aluminum one with two 120 mm high performance fans mounted on it. The fans are mounted in a push / pull configuration optimizing airflow across the radiator. The fans are quite silent while running at "low", but at full speed they make a lot of noise.
[page=Installation]
Installation
Hardware
Installing my hardware in this case was a breeze because there was so much room to move the components around in. To start off with I installed my motherboard which is a GIGABYTE P35C-DS3R based on the P35 Northbridge. It's standard ATX form factor and installation was easy. I just put the back plate on the motherboard and the brass standoffs in all the right holes and installed it.
The motherboard tray in the 3D Mercury aren't removable, but that didn't cause a problem for me because there was so much room inside the case for maneuvering the motherboard into position. The spacious interior of this case makes installing any piece of hardware a breeze.
Besides being larger than your normal case, both height and depth wise, it's also 10% wider than a standard case. This is really nice because it gives you more options when it comes to cable management and cooling installation options. Further improving room conditions inside the case is the fact that GIGABYTE hasn't left any room behind the motherboard tray. The fact that the motherboard tray is fixed almost on the back side panel means that less space is wasted in the main chamber. This does, however, create a minor problem for the user and that is cable management because you can't hide any connectors behind the motherboard tray (there is not even enough room for a Molex connector laying flat against it!), however, I can't see this becoming a real issue with this case because it's so large that you can easily stuff your excess cables in a 5.25" drive bay.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/round_edges_all_around_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/round_edges_all_around.jpg)
The finish of the edges on this chassis is immaculate. I didn't find any sharp edges. All of the edges that a normal user might come into contact with feature a bent aluminum edge which is nice and skin friendly.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_installed_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_installed.jpg)
Above you can see the hard drive cage with my two normal drives installed. Even with the hard drives installed right underneath each other there is still enough space between them to allow air to pass by. This is quite important if you plan on filling the drive cage up with Western Digital Raptors or other high performance disks.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/120mm_area_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/120mm_area.jpg)
The two 120 mm fans at the back of the case are quite close to the socket of your motherboard. The fans are mounted with anti vibration grommets helping to reduce the noise transmitted from the fans.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/socket_area_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/socket_area.jpg)
As you can see on the picture above there is plenty of space around the socket of my motherboard. The PSU is mounted above the motherboard, but they don't interfere with each other’s installation because there is about 10 cm of clearance between the edge of a ATX motherboard and a standard form factor PSU.
Water cooling
Installing the water cooling was a relatively simple operation in this case, but it can still be tricky if you aren’t used to handling water cooling. I definitely recommend to go through the manual to everyone who is not familiar with water cooling to ensure proper installation.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/TIM_on_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/TIM_on.jpg)
In order to see what the contact was like between the water block and the CPU I applied some Arctic Silver 5 to the surface of the water block and then mounted the block. The water block itself was quite easy to install. All I had to do was put a back plate on my motherboard and screw the four spring mounted screws in place.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/contact_1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/contact_1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/contact_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/contact_2.jpg)
Immediately after installation I pulled off the water block to see what contact was like between the block and my CPU. As you can see on the pictures above the contact between the CPU and water block was close to perfect. The thermal paste was evenly spread out from the center out and only left a paper thin amount at the center of the core. When screwing the water block's screws in place I tightened them up diagonally which helps to ensure a good fit and equal distribution of pressure. Due to the way the mounting system is made, the water block is slightly off centered compared to the CPU socket, but it’s still centered enough to cool the CPU properly.
After this little test I pulled off the water block and started to fill up the system. In order to prevent damage to my hardware I unplugged everything I had installed in the case and hot-wired my PSU with a small paper clip. All you do is short-circuit green and a black cable on the 24-pin ATX cable, this enables the PSU to start up without being hooked up to a motherboard.
As with any water cooling system you should bleed the system before use. With the PSU hot-wired I filled the reservoir to about 80% of its full capacity and then started the PSU making the pump turn on. It only took about a second or two before the low water level alarm came on and then I shut down the PSU. It's all the process of filling the reservoir up to about 80-90% of its full capacity until every piece of the water system is free of air. It took me about six refills in order to get like 95% of the air out of the system. In order to get the last small air pockets out of the system I gently tipped the case from side to side forcing air bubbles stuck in tubes and in the cooling head to escape. After doing this there were still some small bubbles of air left inside the tubing, to get rid of those I gently struck the tubes with the tip of my finger with the vibrations causing the air bubbles to lose their grip of the tube. When all the air was out of the tubes I topped off the water level and started leak testing. I left the system running for four hours with paper tissue around all the fittings and at the lowest point in the system. After four hours without any leaks I plugged off power and hooked up everything inside the case.
[page=Performance]
Performance
The performance of the water cooling kit was tested by running Orthos Prime 2004 "Small FFTs". The test lasted two hours where I had no other program taking up CPU time. The general idea is that after two hours of 100% CPU load the water should have reached its maximum temperature. This type of test was repeated three times with the fans on the radiator set to "Silent", "Normal" and "OC".
The tests were performed both with my CPU running at stock speeds and in an overclocked state. The temperatures were collected with CoreTemp version 0.95 and RivaTuner version 2.02. The room temperature in all of the tests was 20° Celsius.
Specifications for the test rig:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 2133 MHz stock, overclocked to 3200 MHz
2 GB CellShock DDR2-1000 RAM @ 4-4-4-12 on 2.3 V
GIGABYTE P35C-DS3R motherboard
Inno3D 8800 GTS 320 MB overclocked to 648 MHz core and 2000 MHz RAM (effective)
Western Digital Raptor 36 GB, Hitachi Deskstar 400 GB
Case: GIGABYTE 3D Mercury and Antec P182
Cooling: Scythe Infinity, GIGABYTE 3D Mercury with 3D Galaxy water cooling.
First let's take a look at cooling performance with my Core 2 Duo E6420 running at stock speeds and voltages.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cpuidle213.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cpuload213.gif
The difference between the two cooling solutions isn't all that big when running the CPU at stock speeds, but the decrease in temperature is noticeable both in terms of idle and load temperature. It's pretty clear that the amount of air flowing over the radiator doesn't matter much with the CPU at stock speeds, in other words the limiting factor isn't the radiator's performance at least not with a moderate heat load.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cpuidle32.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cpuload32.gif
When increasing the heat load the difference between air cooling and water cooling becomes clearer. It's quite obvious that the 3D Galaxy system is much better at dealing with high heat loads than my Scythe Infinity. Even with the fans at "Silent" the 3D Galaxy outperforms the Infinity by 8° Celsius. The noise level with the Galaxy's fans at "Silent" was really low even compared to my Scythe Infinity with two low noise Yateloon fans. With the fans set to normal the Scythe Infinity and the Galaxy make about the same amount of noise. So from a noise / performance point of view the Galaxy is a better cooling system.
The performance of the 3D Galaxy system is by no means enthusiast level, but it's still substantially better than high-end air coolers.
[page=Value & Conclusion]
Value & Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
The GIGABYTE 3D Mercury can be had for a whooping 359.90€ over at CaseKing.de (http://www.CaseKing.de).
</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Water cooled!
Good noise / performance level
Big (10% wider than a normal full tower)
Spacious interior
Cooling capability (3 x 120 mm in the main compartment and 2 x 120 mm on the radiator)
Performance
Internal and external design
Light weight
Brushed aluminum panels
Easily upgradeable
Good internal layout
Build quality
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Pricey!
Too short cables
Big
</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.2</th>
<td>
The GIGABYTE 3D Mercury is an interesting blend of water cooling and a high-end full tower. What makes this case so special is that the case is essentially built around the 3D Galaxy water cooling kit and not the other way around. This means that GIGABYTE has been able to incorporate water cooling without compromising the performance of either case or water cooling equipment.
The build quality of this case is nothing short of amazing. Everything is well thought out and it's evident that a lot of work has gone into perfecting this case. GIGABYTE has successfully combined a case and watercooling without making installation of hardware inside the case overly complicated. With all of the water cooling components (besides splitter valves) neatly mounted in the top compartment the main chamber of the case is uncluttered and spacious.
Of course it isn't all roses with this case. The performance of the water cooling components could be better. Its performance isn't really enthusiast grade, but it's still substantially better than that offered by most high end air coolers at a lower noise level.
Even though the performance of the water cooling isn't ground breaking I still think the 3D Mercury is a successful fusion of case and water cooling. The fact that it's so easy to install and maintain makes it very useful, especially for less experienced computer users.
</td></tr><tr><th></th><td>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/editorschoice.gif</td></tr>
</table>
Introduction
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/CoolerMaster/Stacker_832/images/logo.jpg
I would like to thank CaseKing.de (http://www.caseking.de) for supplying the review sample.
CaseKing is one of the few companies out there, which will not just sell anything. They only offer hardware that performs well and is of high quality. The shop offers quite a few exclusive parts and devices from all around the world and it is also the official distributor for a long list of well known manufacturers. Their assortment has grown greatly in recent years, while great service and support is still a very important part of the shop philosophy. The website may be in German, but they do ship to most European countries. One of the companies of which CaseKing is the distributor for is GIGABYTE, so you will surely get the latest and greatest from that manufacturer at CaseKing.
Today I have the pleasure of reviewing GIGABYTE's first chassis with integrated water cooling. What makes this case with water cooling so special is the fact that it's not just a case where a company has remounted a water cooling setup for you. The 3D Mercury is built around GIGABYTE's own 3D Galaxy water cooling system which means that every little aspect of the case has been designed with the Galaxy system in mind. This is what makes the 3D Mercury stand out from the crowd.
Specifications
<table>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Color</th>
<td scope="row"> Black</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Drive Bays </th>
<td scope="row">5.25” bay x 4 , 3.5” internal x 6, 3.5" bay x 2 (can be used internally for mounting 3.5" hard drives as well)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">Material</th>
<td scope="row">Aluminum</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Form Factor </th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">From mini-ATX to extended-ATX</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Expansion Slots </th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">7 standard slots </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Case Fans </th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">12cm ball bearing fan x 5, Liquid cooling system everything included</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Dimensions</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row"> 205 x 620 x 535 mm (W x H x D)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Switches</th>
<td valign="top" scope="row">Power, Reset</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th valign="top" scope="row">Top Access </th>
<td valign="top" scope="row"><p>USB 2.0 x 4 , iEEE 1394 x 1 , Mic x 1, Ear x 1, Fan controller, Flow indicator</p></td>
</tr>
</table>
[page=Package]
Package
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_3.jpg)
The GIGABYTE 3D Mercury ships in a huge package! I have never seen anything like it. As you can see on the picture above the package is absolutely huge, approximately three times the volume of my Antec P182 case.
The reason for the package being so large is of course the fact that it's protecting a full tower case from being harmed during transportation. It lies neatly cushioned in some Styrofoam.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/package_1.jpg)
After you have removed a piece of Styrofoam you get to see just how large the case. I initially thought that they had used more Styrofoam, but this didn't turn out to be the case. It's simply because the case itself is so large.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/bundle_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/bundle.jpg)
The 3D Mercury case comes with a pretty decent bundle. In it you get two 600 ml bottles of premixed coolant, all the stuff you need for installing your hardware, and some thermal paste. The entire bundle, except the coolant and MOSFET cooling fan, is contained in the small black plastic box you can see at the top of the picture, this can be mounted in two vacant 3.5" internal drive bays if needed. For example you can use it to house some screws and screwdriver when you are going to a LAN party. Even though most PSUs today have SATA power connectors GIGABYTE ships two molex to SATA power adapters, which is nice if you plan on using this case with an old PSU.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/wc_block_in_case_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/wc_block_in_case.jpg)
The CPU block for the water cooling is mounted in the case. GIGABYTE’s motherboard plate has four holes that match the dimensions of those on a LGA775 board. The water block is mounted using the same fittings that you need when you install the block on an LGA 775 system.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/lga_775_back_plate_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/lga_775_back_plate_2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/lga_775_back_plate_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/lga_775_back_plate.jpg)
GIGABYTE's very own 3D Galaxy water cooling system has a simple mounting system for LGA 775. All you got to do is install the back plate pictured above so that it aligns with the holes on your LGA 775 board. For AMD systems the installation process is even simpler, all you got to do is strap the water block on with a small plastic spring mechanism.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/coolant_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/coolant.jpg)
The 3D Mercury ships with two bottles of premixed coolant. GIGABYTE calls their coolant mixture "GBT Coolant". It doesn't say what it contains, but I think judging from the clear blue color that we are talking about some blue dyed distilled water with one or more anti algae and corrosion fluids. The dye used isn't UV reactive which I think is a shame, with a UV additive in the water spotting a potential build up of air or a leak much easier. Of course this means that you have to invest in a couple of UV spots or cold cathodes, but if you got the money for a case with liquid cooling you should be able to come up with an extra $20 for some lighting. The tubing used in the 3D Galaxy system is, however, UV reactive which means that you could get a nice effect by just adding some UV lights to the chassis.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/mosfet_cooler_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/mosfet_cooler.jpg)
One of the interesting options that the Galaxy water cooling system offers is the addition of a MOSFET cooling fan. The fan clips on to the water block and helps to cool motherboard components around the CPU socket. It seems to be a nice way to improve air circulation around the socket and will definitely help to cool down the power phases around the socket. When using normal air cooling, the CPU cooler will create some airflow around the CPU socket, cooling the MOSFETs. With watercooling this would be missing and there could be a risk of your MOSFETs overheating.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/well_protected_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/well_protected.jpg)
The 3D Mercury case has a non scratch proof surface. It is covered with a plastic overlay from the factory making sure that all of the plastic or acrylic parts arrive in mint condition, nothing worse than receiving a case where the window is scratched.
[page=Closer Examination: External view & Top compartment]
Closer Examination
External view
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/the_case_1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/the_case_1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/the_case_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/the_case_2.jpg)
The moment you get this case out of its package you are bound to be dumbstruck. It's simply taller, wider, and deeper than any of the cases I have ever laid my eyes on. Besides being big it also has a certain aesthetic quality to it. Even though it’s huge it doesn't look all that clumsy (which most extra high full towers usually do). The fact that the case is an all aluminum design helps to keep its weight at a minimum, fully assembled with water in the cooling system it weighs about 19 kg which isn't all that bad considering the size of the thing.
From the factory GIGABYTE ships this case with an acrylic window mounted on the side of the case, but included with the case you also get a mesh plate that you can install instead of the window. This option is really nice. Later on in the review I will show you how to install the mesh plate.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_of_case_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_of_case.jpg)
The front of the case looks really sweet with mesh drive bay covers. As with the side panels the front is held in a clean black look. The black brushed aluminum makes it look different than most cases. Near the top you can see some of the extra features that this case has. The mesh drive covers actually have small foam inlays preventing dust from entering the case through the drive bay (this is a real problem with a case such as this where you have twice as much air going out as you have coming in from the front fan).
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/back_of_case_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/back_of_case.jpg)
The case's back plate is nickel plated and looks really nice put up against the brushed aluminum sides. Since the back of the case is nickel plated it's a real fingerprint magnet.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/back_detail_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/back_detail.jpg)
One of the things worth noticing on the back of this case is the rather odd layout near the PSU. In order to install a PSU you need to remove the PSU bracket on the back of the case. This is done via four thumbscrews which are located around the PSU bay. Once you get the PSU bracket and the PSU screwed in place all you got to do is stuff the cables inside the case and put the four thumbscrews in place again. This hassle free installation method worked flawlessly for me. Gigabyte even includes an extension for the PSU mounting plate which enables you to install large 1 kW and up PSU without having to modify the case.
Top compartment
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail.jpg)
The 3D Mercury sports a front panel with a lot of neat features right from USB connectivity to flow and fan control. Right under the panel GIGABYTE has inserted a small window that gives you a clear view of the reservoir. Both the flow meter and reservoir window are accentuated by a polished metal piece. This draws a lot of attention because they are the only two details on the front of the case that are polished.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/reservoir_cap_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/reservoir_cap.jpg)
The reservoir cap is also nickel plated and looks really nice. It's quite large and easy to remove. The seal between the cap and the reservoir is really tight and has a silicone seal. Even though the reservoir cap seal is good I still wouldn't recommend laying this case on its side due to the fact that it will allow air to re-enter the system from the reservoir / pump.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/flow_meter_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/flow_meter.jpg)
In the middle of the front panel you find the water flow indicator which is a small "fan" inside a round plastic chamber that is hooked up to the water system in the case. When water is going through the plastic chamber it turns the fan giving a nice clear indication of whether water is flowing through the system. The flow indicator has a blue LED that illuminates it so that it's easy to tell if something is blocking the water system’s flow.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/power_reset_buttons_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/power_reset_buttons.jpg)
Here you can see the power and disk usage LEDs in actions. The power and reset button are somewhat unconventional in their shape. The power button is a short travel length rectangular design which goes well with the rest of the front's design.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_fan_speed_control_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_fan_speed_control.jpg)
On the front panel there is also a fan control knob. This allows you to adjust the two fans that are used to cool the radiator. The fan controller can adjust the fans from 1000 RPM to 2800 RPM according to the sticker on the controller. At 1000 RPM the fans are dead silent, but when you crank it all the way to the maximum they make quite a lot of noise.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/usb_front_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/usb_front.jpg)
As with most new cases the GIGABYTE 3D Mercury has four USB 2.0 connectors that are easily accessible. Besides USB 2.0 it also has Firewire connectivity and Line-In and Line-Out.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail_3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail_3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/front_detail_2.jpg)
Like the flow meter the reservoir is also illuminated by a blue LED, this gives the reservoir a nice blue glow and lights up the entire water cooling compartment on top of the case. The 5.25" mesh covers means that it's possible to catches glimpse of the components installed inside the case from the front. Combined with three 120 mm blue LED fans and one 80 mm LED fan this case emits a nice blue glow at night.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/wc_compartment_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/wc_compartment.jpg)
With the top compartments cover removed we can see into the water cooling compartment. The water cooling compartment is roughly three 5.25” drive bays tall and extends to about mid length of the case where it slopes upwards making room for a PSU underneath. It's in this separate compartment where all the water cooling components are housed. From the front of the case we have: reservoir, pump, fan, radiator, fan and slope.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/radiator_and_dual_fans_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/radiator_and_dual_fans.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/radiator_mouting_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/radiator_mouting.jpg)
The radiator is mounted with two 120 mm fans in a push / pull configuration. Behind the radiator the water cooling compartment becomes smaller in order to make more room for the PSU which is mounted at the back of the case right under the cooling compartment.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/intake_vents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/intake_vents.jpg)
The two fans located on the front and back of the radiator pull cold air in from the room via some vents on either side of the case and the mesh plate in front of the reservoir.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_3.jpg)
The amount of work that GIGABYTE has put into the building process of this case and water cooling is just amazing. All of the edges that one may come in contact with have a nice rounded edge. Even the cabling in the top compartment of the case has been fixed in place. The routing of the cables from the front panel into the case is really nice and neatly tugged behind the 5.25" drive bay. The only problem is that the USB cable for two of the front USB connectors is too short in order to be able to connect with my motherboard. I have a GIGABYTE P35C-DS3R and all of the internal USB 2.0 headers are placed at the bottom edge of the motherboard, I guess that the cable is long enough for use with a more standard motherboard.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/plate_work_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/plate_work.jpg)
The plate work on this case is really good. Even compared to my Antec P182 the quality of the finish of the GIGABYTE 3D Mercury is way ahead. All of the mounts in the top compartment are quite solid, either boxed aluminum or feature an extra profile with a 90 degree angle making it very durable and stiff.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/side_door_hatch_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/side_door_hatch.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hatch_mechanism_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hatch_mechanism.jpg)
Removing and installing a side panel of a case can be a bit of a problem. GIGABYTE's solution is to incorporate an "easy click" hatch mechanism. When removing the side panel all you do is push it forward and the side panel pops right out. Installing it is really easy as well. All you do is place the front of the side on its circular hinge and then press the side onto the case forcing the hatch mechanism to lock in place.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/side_panel_1_SMALL.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/side_panel_1.jpg)
GIGABYTE has been so kind as to give the end user a choice between going with a mesh type "window" and a clear acrylic one. If you want to swap out the "window" all you do is release some screws in the side and then take the "window" out while pressing down the plastic pins, further fixing the "window" in place.
[page=Closer Examination: Internal & Water cooling components]
Internal view
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/525_lock_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/525_lock.jpg)
GIGABYTE has gone ahead and designed their own 5.25" drive bay lock mechanism which works flawlessly. You insert the drive from the front and then push the leaver forward and then secure it by pushing down the tab. The drive is now held in place by a spring and two metal tabs inside the drive bay.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cable_and_tube_management_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cable_and_tube_management.jpg)
On the picture above you can see how the tubing is cleverly routed in an indent in one of the chassis strengtheners.
One of the things that amazed me with this is case is the way GIGABYTE has prepped it for watercooling. Every little detail in its construction seems to be tweaked in order to accommodate the 3D Galaxy liquid cooling system. All of these small, but important details are what makes this case so unique.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/PCI_braket_retain_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/PCI_braket_retain.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/PCI_braket_retain_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/PCI_braket_retain_2.jpg)
The PCI bracket features an easy clip system that replaces the need for screws to fix PCI cards in place. The fastener system works, but it isn't that efficient because PCI cards have a tendency to bend down a bit, and when you like me have three cards it’s quite hard to hold them all in place manually and then find a spare hand to press the lever back into fixed position. As you might also have noted, the chassis back plate features two holes for feeding water cooling tube through. And with the two 120 mm exhaust fans it would be easy to upgrade the water cooling system by adding a 240 mm radiator mounted on the outside of the case. Besides that the case is 10% deeper than a normal one which should leave you with plenty of space to install extra water cooling components such as pump and reservoir inside the case.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage_3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage_3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage_2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_cage.jpg)
Inserting 3.5" hard drives into this case is quite easy. All you do is place two plastic rails on each side of the hard drive. The rails then slot into two groves in the hard drive bay. The drive locks in place once it's fully inserted. In order to get the drive out all you do is compress the two finger locks on the rails and the drive just slides right out.
Water cooling components
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/water_block_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/water_block.jpg)
The water block is of the flow type which should perform well in combination with a high flow pump. The pattern of which the copper rods are mounted to the copper block is quite normal you have all the rods mounted in a square with the water going diagonally across the square maximizing the time water is in contact with the base and rods without blocking flow.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/finish_base_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/finish_base.jpg)
The finish of the base of the water block is about average. Minor milling marks are visible, but they are really shallow and shouldn’t affect performance at all. Another thing worth noticing is that it's perfectly flat. No dents or bumps on the surface or near the edges.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/clamp_and_pushon_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/clamp_and_pushon.jpg)
The 3D Galaxy liquid cooling system uses barb fittings with finger operated clamps. The fit between tubing and clamp couldn't be better. One of the advantages of running a barb / clamp system is that it's less likely to leak than a push-in system. The only real disadvantage of such a system is that the fitting that you push the tubing over blocks the flow somewhat. The choice of going with a barb fitting system by GIGABYTE is the right one, especially when taking into consideration that this case is aimed at first time water cooling buyers.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/splitter_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/splitter.jpg)
GIGABYTE has their own manifold system which allows the user to easily upgrade their water system with more cooling blocks. The manifold enables you to install up to a total of three blocks in parallel which should give a bit better performance than the same block mounted in serial fashion.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/nice_cable_management_4.jpg)
The pump and reservoir in this system are hidden underneath an aluminum plate in the top compartment of the chassis. The pump used is a 400 l/hr pump. GIGABYTE has opted for a reservoir which the pump is permanently mounted to, this is ok from a space saving point of view, but does make disassembly all that more complicated. The mounting of the pump is rock solid, the only problem is that GIGABYTE hasn't installed any anti vibration grommets under it. This means that even though the pump is a high quality one its vibrations are passed on to the case. This annoyed me a bit because every other design aspect of the water cooling setup is well thought out. Since the pump is permanently fitted to the reservoir it's hard to retrofit that part of the system with vibration dampening silicon grommets.
One of the nice features that this water cooling system sports is a low water level alarm. If the amount of water in the system goes below a certain amount the alarm will go off.
When it comes to radiator GIGABYTE has opted for an all aluminum one with two 120 mm high performance fans mounted on it. The fans are mounted in a push / pull configuration optimizing airflow across the radiator. The fans are quite silent while running at "low", but at full speed they make a lot of noise.
[page=Installation]
Installation
Hardware
Installing my hardware in this case was a breeze because there was so much room to move the components around in. To start off with I installed my motherboard which is a GIGABYTE P35C-DS3R based on the P35 Northbridge. It's standard ATX form factor and installation was easy. I just put the back plate on the motherboard and the brass standoffs in all the right holes and installed it.
The motherboard tray in the 3D Mercury aren't removable, but that didn't cause a problem for me because there was so much room inside the case for maneuvering the motherboard into position. The spacious interior of this case makes installing any piece of hardware a breeze.
Besides being larger than your normal case, both height and depth wise, it's also 10% wider than a standard case. This is really nice because it gives you more options when it comes to cable management and cooling installation options. Further improving room conditions inside the case is the fact that GIGABYTE hasn't left any room behind the motherboard tray. The fact that the motherboard tray is fixed almost on the back side panel means that less space is wasted in the main chamber. This does, however, create a minor problem for the user and that is cable management because you can't hide any connectors behind the motherboard tray (there is not even enough room for a Molex connector laying flat against it!), however, I can't see this becoming a real issue with this case because it's so large that you can easily stuff your excess cables in a 5.25" drive bay.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/round_edges_all_around_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/round_edges_all_around.jpg)
The finish of the edges on this chassis is immaculate. I didn't find any sharp edges. All of the edges that a normal user might come into contact with feature a bent aluminum edge which is nice and skin friendly.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_installed_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/hdd_installed.jpg)
Above you can see the hard drive cage with my two normal drives installed. Even with the hard drives installed right underneath each other there is still enough space between them to allow air to pass by. This is quite important if you plan on filling the drive cage up with Western Digital Raptors or other high performance disks.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/120mm_area_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/120mm_area.jpg)
The two 120 mm fans at the back of the case are quite close to the socket of your motherboard. The fans are mounted with anti vibration grommets helping to reduce the noise transmitted from the fans.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/socket_area_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/socket_area.jpg)
As you can see on the picture above there is plenty of space around the socket of my motherboard. The PSU is mounted above the motherboard, but they don't interfere with each other’s installation because there is about 10 cm of clearance between the edge of a ATX motherboard and a standard form factor PSU.
Water cooling
Installing the water cooling was a relatively simple operation in this case, but it can still be tricky if you aren’t used to handling water cooling. I definitely recommend to go through the manual to everyone who is not familiar with water cooling to ensure proper installation.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/TIM_on_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/TIM_on.jpg)
In order to see what the contact was like between the water block and the CPU I applied some Arctic Silver 5 to the surface of the water block and then mounted the block. The water block itself was quite easy to install. All I had to do was put a back plate on my motherboard and screw the four spring mounted screws in place.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/contact_1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/contact_1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/contact_2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/contact_2.jpg)
Immediately after installation I pulled off the water block to see what contact was like between the block and my CPU. As you can see on the pictures above the contact between the CPU and water block was close to perfect. The thermal paste was evenly spread out from the center out and only left a paper thin amount at the center of the core. When screwing the water block's screws in place I tightened them up diagonally which helps to ensure a good fit and equal distribution of pressure. Due to the way the mounting system is made, the water block is slightly off centered compared to the CPU socket, but it’s still centered enough to cool the CPU properly.
After this little test I pulled off the water block and started to fill up the system. In order to prevent damage to my hardware I unplugged everything I had installed in the case and hot-wired my PSU with a small paper clip. All you do is short-circuit green and a black cable on the 24-pin ATX cable, this enables the PSU to start up without being hooked up to a motherboard.
As with any water cooling system you should bleed the system before use. With the PSU hot-wired I filled the reservoir to about 80% of its full capacity and then started the PSU making the pump turn on. It only took about a second or two before the low water level alarm came on and then I shut down the PSU. It's all the process of filling the reservoir up to about 80-90% of its full capacity until every piece of the water system is free of air. It took me about six refills in order to get like 95% of the air out of the system. In order to get the last small air pockets out of the system I gently tipped the case from side to side forcing air bubbles stuck in tubes and in the cooling head to escape. After doing this there were still some small bubbles of air left inside the tubing, to get rid of those I gently struck the tubes with the tip of my finger with the vibrations causing the air bubbles to lose their grip of the tube. When all the air was out of the tubes I topped off the water level and started leak testing. I left the system running for four hours with paper tissue around all the fittings and at the lowest point in the system. After four hours without any leaks I plugged off power and hooked up everything inside the case.
[page=Performance]
Performance
The performance of the water cooling kit was tested by running Orthos Prime 2004 "Small FFTs". The test lasted two hours where I had no other program taking up CPU time. The general idea is that after two hours of 100% CPU load the water should have reached its maximum temperature. This type of test was repeated three times with the fans on the radiator set to "Silent", "Normal" and "OC".
The tests were performed both with my CPU running at stock speeds and in an overclocked state. The temperatures were collected with CoreTemp version 0.95 and RivaTuner version 2.02. The room temperature in all of the tests was 20° Celsius.
Specifications for the test rig:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 2133 MHz stock, overclocked to 3200 MHz
2 GB CellShock DDR2-1000 RAM @ 4-4-4-12 on 2.3 V
GIGABYTE P35C-DS3R motherboard
Inno3D 8800 GTS 320 MB overclocked to 648 MHz core and 2000 MHz RAM (effective)
Western Digital Raptor 36 GB, Hitachi Deskstar 400 GB
Case: GIGABYTE 3D Mercury and Antec P182
Cooling: Scythe Infinity, GIGABYTE 3D Mercury with 3D Galaxy water cooling.
First let's take a look at cooling performance with my Core 2 Duo E6420 running at stock speeds and voltages.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cpuidle213.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cpuload213.gif
The difference between the two cooling solutions isn't all that big when running the CPU at stock speeds, but the decrease in temperature is noticeable both in terms of idle and load temperature. It's pretty clear that the amount of air flowing over the radiator doesn't matter much with the CPU at stock speeds, in other words the limiting factor isn't the radiator's performance at least not with a moderate heat load.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cpuidle32.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/3DMercury/images/cpuload32.gif
When increasing the heat load the difference between air cooling and water cooling becomes clearer. It's quite obvious that the 3D Galaxy system is much better at dealing with high heat loads than my Scythe Infinity. Even with the fans at "Silent" the 3D Galaxy outperforms the Infinity by 8° Celsius. The noise level with the Galaxy's fans at "Silent" was really low even compared to my Scythe Infinity with two low noise Yateloon fans. With the fans set to normal the Scythe Infinity and the Galaxy make about the same amount of noise. So from a noise / performance point of view the Galaxy is a better cooling system.
The performance of the 3D Galaxy system is by no means enthusiast level, but it's still substantially better than high-end air coolers.
[page=Value & Conclusion]
Value & Conclusion
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The GIGABYTE 3D Mercury can be had for a whooping 359.90€ over at CaseKing.de (http://www.CaseKing.de).
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<td>
Water cooled!
Good noise / performance level
Big (10% wider than a normal full tower)
Spacious interior
Cooling capability (3 x 120 mm in the main compartment and 2 x 120 mm on the radiator)
Performance
Internal and external design
Light weight
Brushed aluminum panels
Easily upgradeable
Good internal layout
Build quality
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Pricey!
Too short cables
Big
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<tr><th>9.2</th>
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The GIGABYTE 3D Mercury is an interesting blend of water cooling and a high-end full tower. What makes this case so special is that the case is essentially built around the 3D Galaxy water cooling kit and not the other way around. This means that GIGABYTE has been able to incorporate water cooling without compromising the performance of either case or water cooling equipment.
The build quality of this case is nothing short of amazing. Everything is well thought out and it's evident that a lot of work has gone into perfecting this case. GIGABYTE has successfully combined a case and watercooling without making installation of hardware inside the case overly complicated. With all of the water cooling components (besides splitter valves) neatly mounted in the top compartment the main chamber of the case is uncluttered and spacious.
Of course it isn't all roses with this case. The performance of the water cooling components could be better. Its performance isn't really enthusiast grade, but it's still substantially better than that offered by most high end air coolers at a lower noise level.
Even though the performance of the water cooling isn't ground breaking I still think the 3D Mercury is a successful fusion of case and water cooling. The fact that it's so easy to install and maintain makes it very useful, especially for less experienced computer users.
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